USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Portrait and biographical album of Peoria County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 16
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Miles of main lines and branches .. 2204
From the above main line and branches as in- dicated, it will readily be seen that the Wabash connects with more large cities and great marts of trade than any other line, bringing Omaha, Kansas City, Des Moines, Keokuk, Quincy, St. Louis, Chicago, Toledo and Detroit together with one continuous line of steel rails. This road has an immense freight traffie of the cereals, live-stock, various productions and manufactured articles of
TRANSPORTATION.
the West and the States through which it passes. Its facilities for rapid transit for the vast produc- tions of the packing houses of Kansas City and St. Louis, to Detroit, Toledo and the Eastern marts of trade, is unequalled. A large portion of the grain productions of Kansas, Nebraska. Iowa, Mis- souri, Illinois and Indiana, finds its way to the Eastern markets over the lines of this road. The Wabash has always taken an advanced position in tariffs, and its course toward its patrons has been just and liberal, so that it has always enjoyed the commendation of the business and traveling public. The road bed is one of the best in the country, and is ballasted with gravel and stone, well tied and laid with steel rails. The bridges along the var- ious lines and branches are substantial structures. The depots, grounds and general property of the road are in good condition. The management of the Wabash is fully abreast of the times. The road is progressive in every respect. The finest passenger cars on the continent are run on its lines, and every effort made to advance the interests of its patrons. The passenger department is unex- celled for the elegant and substantial comfort afforded travelers. On several of the more im- portant branches of the system, dining cars are run.
Other Roads.
MONG the other roads may be mentioned the Toledo. Peoria & Western, which ex- tends from East to West across Illinois, from State line to Warsaw and Keokuk on the Mississippi River. This road places Peoria in
direct communication and connection with many of the leading roads of Illinois, having special traffic arrangements with the Wabash and the Jackson- ville Southeastern, for Chicago and St. Louis. with headquarters in Peoria, with a total of about two hundred and thirty miles. The Jackson- ville Southeastern and the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville, with their varied traffic arrangements, have opened up a territory for the large commer- cial interests of the city to the southeast, and the Lake Erie & Western and the Ohio, Indiana & Western, together with the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & St. Louis, and the Peoria & Pekin Union, have extended in a marked degree the field and traffic for the operations of the growing commercial and manufacturing metropolis of the Illinois Valley.
The freightage done by the steamers plying on the Illinois River in the early days, furnished the first transportation facilities, and is even now a lively competitor for the trade between Peoria, St. Louis and other Southern markets.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy with its vast system and ramifications through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, brings to the doors of Peoria the exten- sive cornfields of the localities through which it passes, and lays down by cheap rates, to the exten- sive distilleries of the city, the cereals of the great Northwest. This road also is a large competitor for the passenger and freight business between Peo- ria and Chicago.
The Central Iowa, like the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, taps the great corn belt through which it passes, Ind besides has opened up in the south- ern portion of the county a vast coal field, thereby assisting largely in the development of the wealth of the county and city.
e
PEORIA COUNTY.
ILLINOIS.
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INTRODUCTORY.
HE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme- tery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.
Tobias & Bradly
Lydia Brawley .
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
OBIAS S. BRADLEY. The record of the life of Mr. Bradley is an interesting one ; it is a record of energy, of perseverance in the face of difficulties, and of success. Through the fifty-six years of his life, some of it in shadow, some of it in sunshine, he re- tained his simplicity, his eheer- fulness and his belief in human nature. We do not measure a inan's life by years, but by inten- sity. If we measure the life of Mr. Bradley by the work he accom- plished, then he is the most venerable of men, not- withstanding the fact that death called him hence when less than three-score years of age. As a prominent citizen of Peoria in its earlier history, we are pleased to present his biography and portrait to our readers. In connection with it the portrait of Mrs. Bradley is also presented.
Kentucky was the early home of Mr. Bradley, and in Mt. Sterling, that State, he was born Janu- ary 21, 1811. He eame of substantial stock that originated in Ireland, and was a son of Judge Will- iam and Rebecca (Smith) Bradley, the former of whom was Circuit Judge and lived for many years in Switzerland County. Ind. He served as a mem-
ber of the Indiana Legislature two terms, and for a number of years was engaged in mercantile pur- suits. Later he became interested in farming.
In the family of Judge Bradley by his first wife there were seven children, of whom Tobias S., our subjeet, was the eldest. The latter was edu- cated in the common schools of Vevay, Ind., where he commenced his business career as a elerk in the store of Judge Malin, and with him he remained several years. Finally going to New Orleans, he began dealing in produce along the river, and in the meantime was married, May 11, 1837, to Miss Lydia Moss. This lady was the daughter of Zela and Janet (Glasgow) Moss, the former of whom was a elergyman of the Baptist Church and a Quar- termaster in the Revolutionary War. IIe also held a Captain's commission. After the war he re- moved to Kentucky, of which he was a pioneer settler, during the Indian troubles repairing to Bryant's Station for safety. After his first visit to Kentneky he returned to the Old Dominion, mar- ried and lived there about three years, then again settled in Kentucky, in 1794. After a residence of ten years in Clark County, he went to Boone County, and subsequently to Switzerland County, Ind. While on a visit to his son in Peoria in 1839, he died, and was buried in the Springdale Ceme- tery.
After his marriage Mr. Bradley lived ten years
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in Switzerland County, Ind., and in 1847, remov- ing to Peoria, this State, occupied himself in saw- milling, farming. distilling and banking. At the time of his death, May 4, 1867, he was President of the First National Bank and of the Mercantile Library Association, also City Treasurer, Politi- cally he was always a stanch Democrat.
Of the six children born to Mr. Bradley and his estimable wife all died in infancy with the excep- tion of one who lived to be fifteen years old. Mrs. Bradley is a lady of many noble qualities. being benevolent, charitable, and active in all good works. She built. in 1885, what is krown as the Bradley Home for Aged Women, which furnishes a comfortable retreat whither a goodly number have already resorted to spend their declining years in peace and quiet. She was one of the largest contributors to the founding of the Brad- ley llospital, and seemingly employs her leisure moments in devising some method by which she may aid the unfortunate. She gave to the city of Peoria forty acres, which, in honor of her de- ceased daughter, is known as the Laura Bradley Park, and is located at the city limits on Main Street. It is her purpose at her death to add more land to this. Nature has done much towards mak- ing it a desirable spot for a park, which when handsomely improved will be an ornament to the city.
It is also the intention of Mrs. Bradley to have established in the city of Peoria, after her death, a Polytechnic school for girls and boys, which will be located on Main Street, on a tract of ten acres ad- joining or near the Home for Aged Womeu. Around this tract will be a broad avenue. The school will be as nearly free as possible, and its doors will be opened especially to the boys and girls of the city and county of Peoria. In religion Mrs. Bradley is a Universalist, belonging to the church of this denomination in Peoria. She was left with ample means by her departed husband, a goodly portion of which she disburses in a manner characteristic of her well-known thoughtfulness and generosity. Her charities have always increased in the ratio of her growing fortune. Honor and friends have come to her, and an old age crowned with blessings, but even more welcome is a con-
sciousness of a life well spent, and the glad re- joicing in the inward voice sounded from the depths of her being, " Inasmuch as ye bave done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
6 HIOMAS S. LANE. No element has been more potent in the rise and progress of the immense agricultural interests of Peoria County than its native-born citizens, and as a rep- resentative of such this gentleman occupies an honorable position in its farming community. Ile has a well-conducted and finely-improved farm. in Trivoli Township, and his home here is one of the most attractive in the locality.
Our subject comes from one of the earliest and best families of the township. (For an account of his ancestry see biography of George J. Lane on another page of this volume.) He was born April 17, 1847, in the humble log house which consti- tuted the pioneer home of his parents on section 29, Trivoli Township. He had excellent school advantages and as soon as he was old enough was set to work to assist his father in his labors. At the age of twenty he received a certificate to teach. but never availed himself of it as his attention was de- voted entirely to agricultural pursuits. When he was twenty-one be undertook the management of the home farm on shares, and carried it on suc- cessfully for some years. In 1873 he bought one hundred acres of his present farm for $4.800, and subsequently sold twenty acres of it which was timber land.
Mr. Lane did not take up his residence on his farm until 1882. By the quiet force of persistent labor, directed by a thoughtful, well-trained mind. wise judgment and constant devotion to duty, lie has greatly improved his estate, and increased its valuc. Ile is the proprietor of eighty acres of land on section 29, forty acres on section 22, and seventy acres of the old homestead that belonged to his father, on section 29, comprising in all two hun- dred and ten acres of highly cultivated land. It is well-fenced and well-drained, having twelve thousand and three hundred tiles on it; beautiful
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groves and a fine orchard adorn the place, _which is amply supplied with buildings of a substantial order. Mr. Lane's farm is well stocked, be having some good cattle and draft horses, using two teams in his farm work, and he makes a specialty of Po- land-China hogs. He only operates one hundred and twenty acres of his land and from the rental of the rest has a good source of income.
Mr. Lane was married in Trivoli Township in his present house, before breakfast, June 11, 1868, to Miss Ann M. Ralston. She is a woman of ex- ceptionally fine character and her zealous help has greatly lightened the burden of his toilsome years. She was born in Salem, Westmoreland County, Pa., September 2, 1845. fler father, Samuel Ralston, was a native of the same county, and was a son of one John Ralston, who was born in Ireland and after his emigration to this country, made his home in Pennsylvania, where he carried on farm- ing until his death. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Lane's father was a farmer in his native State until he came to this county in 1865, and settled in Trivoli Township. Later he bought a place here, and a few years after that he bought a residence in Farmington,and died there in Septem . ber, 1877. He was a Presbyterian in religion and strong in the faith. The maiden name of his wife was Jane Buchanan, and she was born in the Key- stone State, a daughter of David Buchanan, also a native of that State, and a farmer and blacksmith. Ile was a soldier in the War of 1812. Ile came bere in 1870 with his wife and they died in Farm- ington. Mrs. Lane's mother departed this life in 1878.
Mr. and Mrs. Ralston were the parents of eleven children, namely : Margaret, now Mrs. Leahman of Yates City; Ann M., wife of our subject; Alex- ander, a resident of Montana who enlisted in 1862, in the Eighty-sixth Illinois Cavalry in which he served until the close of the war; James C., a grocer of Farmington who enlisted in the Eighty- sixth Illinois Infantry, and served until the close of the war; David B., a resident of Lexington; John C: Lizzie, who died in 1870; Elijah M .. a resident of Trivoli; Samuel H., commission mer- chant and dealer in horses at Chenoa; Laura, now Mrs. Seeiber, of Denver; Frank, who died in Den-
ver in 1888. Mrs. Lane's marriage with our sub- jeet has been blessed to them by the birth of three children, of whom two are living: Wilbert C., and James Otis. Their daughter Emma died at the age of twenty-six months.
Mr. Lane is a man of superior intelligence, of sound principles and of a blameless life, and is a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. Ile is serving his eighth year as School Director, and his hand is seen in all plans to promote the educational, religious or material status of the community. lle is one of the leading members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, has been Steward and held other church offices,and is Superintendent of the Sunday-School. No man has done more to establish the Methodist faith here than he. In 1884, he was one of the most prominent of the men who were interested in the building of the new church; he was one of the building committee and did nearly all of the work in connection with the erection of the building, and he is now Trustee of the church. Our subject has served on the Petit and Grand Juries. Ile is a Democrat in his political views but is not radi- cal.
C HIARLES A. KRUMPE. The dairy busi- ness is by no means an unimportant in- dustry, nor the man who ably conducts it undeserving of consideration among the capable and industrious citizens of any locality. Among those in this section who are carrying on this bus- iness is Charles A. Krumpe, who resides upon see- tion 13, Kickapoo Township. He owns a fine farm of three hundred acres, and a herd of about one hundred cows. The dairy products are dis- posed of in Peoria, where his reputation is thor- oughly established. Although Mr. Krumpe gives his chief attention to the dairy business, he has by no means neglected the improvement of his estate, but on the contrary has placed upon it an attrac- tive residence and a full line of excellent farm buildings.
Mr. Krampe was born in Germany November 28. 1833, and reached the age of eleven years in the land of his birth. He then went to live with an
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unele in Russia, remaining there until nearly six- teen years old, when he embarked for America, and, landing at New York, went to Butler County, Pa., where he was engaged in farm work until about twenty-two years old. He then came to Peoria, I[1 .. soon afterward entering the employ of Peter Fry, on whose farm he worked about fourteen months. Since that time he has been engaged in different occupations for himself, gradually aeeu- mulating property, and since early in the '70's giving his attention to the stock business, farming and dairy work. He carries on an extensive bus- iness in the latter line, as has been previously in- timated.
The rites of wedloek were celebrated between Mr. Krumpe and Miss Sabine Ditewig, in Peoria, in April. 1865. The bride was born in Germany in 1842. She is a notable housewife, a woman of intelligence, kindliness and devotion to her family. Mr. and Mrs. Krampe have four living children, named respectively, Minnie, Frederick, Edward and Ida. Minnie is now the wife of Frank Apple. The parents have buried two children: Emma, who died when about two years old; and Charles, at the age of eighteen months.
Mr. Krumpe has served as School Director, but does not aspire to official honors. In polities he gives his vote to the man whom he considers best qualified to serve the people. Not only has he arquired a good reputation as a farmer and dairy- man, but he is regarded as one who deals honor- ably by his fellow-men, is deeply interested in the public welfare and willing at all times to do what he can to promote the best interests of the commu- nity.
years.
OIIN H. FRANCIS. This gentleman is one of the most prominent business men of Peo- ria, which has been the seat of extensive financial operations on his part for some Whatever he has undertaken has been en- tered into with a full determination to make of it a success, in so far as that end depended upon his efforts, and he has been rewarded by a first-class reputation in commercial circles and a large share
of worldly goods. His palatial residence ocenpies a commanding site on the bluff overlooking the eity, in the neighborhood considered most desira- ble for dwellings, and is fitted up in a manner that is in keeping with the position occupied by those who dwell therein.
The subject of this notice is the eldest son of Littleberg and Polly (Hubbard) Francis, natives of Kentucky, in which State the preceding generation in both lines had been pioneers. Pennsylvania had been the former home of the grandparents. the an- eestors being German in the maternal line and Scotch in the paternal. The parents of our subject removed from Kentucky to Dearborn County, Ind., during his childhood, he having been born in Lex- ington, Ky., May 7, 1829. His youth was spent in the Hoosier State, in attendance at the common school, and in assisting in the labor performed on the home farm.
When he had reached his nineteenth year young Francis started out to battle for himself, drifting West as far as Peoria, Ill., where he began to work at the cooper's trade, which he had learned at his old home. After following his trade some five years he bought a sinall interest in the distillery business of Moss, Bradley & Co., continuing in the firm until 1866, when a change was made and he purehsed the interest of his partners. He then took in a Mr. Zell, the style of the firm being changed to Zell & Francis, and the business continned by them a number of years. In 1878 Mr. Francis disposed of his entire interest in the business, but not being satisfied to remain idle, he built what is known as the Monarch Distillery at Peoria, but which was owned by the Monarch Distillery Com- pany. The same year he organized what became the Great Western Distilling Company and had built. the Great Western Distillery, and also an interest in the Peoria Distillery, where he operated exten- sively until he disposed of his entire interest to the Whiskey Trust in 1887.
For some time past Mr. Francis has devoted his time to looking after his financial interests in the city, enjoying the pleasures which his abundant means allow and the society of family and friends as he could not do when deeply immersed in busi- ness affairs. He is a stock-holder in the First Na-
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tional Bank of Peoria, holding the office of Director, and in the Spring of 1865 became a stockholder and Director in the Adams Street Railway lines, but has since disposed of his interest. He was also a Trustee in the Cattle Dealers' Trust. For seven consecutive years he represented the First Ward as an Alderman and he is at present an Alderman from the Seventh Ward. In politics he is somewhat conservative, voting with the Republican party in National matters, but in local affairs giving his ballot to the man he thinks best fitted for the place.
Mr. Francis has been twice married, his first companion having been Miss Harriet Ingall, of this city, who was removed by death in 1872. She left five children, viz: John H., Jr., William E., Hattie, Josephine and Bruce. Hattie is the wife of William McMullen, an extensive lumber dealer in Minneapolis, and Josephine, the wife of John C. Wind, of Peoria. After having remained a widower some two years, Mr. Francis became the husband of Miss Mary Ingall, a sister of his first wife and the youngest daughter of William and Chastine Ingall, of this city. This union has been blest by the birth of one danghter-Maude. It would naturally be supposed that the family of Mr. Francis would re- crive the best advantages for mental and social culture, and such has been the case.
D R. JOHN MURPHY has long been promi- nent among the leading men of the medical profession in Peoria, having practiced there longer than other living physician, although another eminent member of the faculty, Dr. R. Boal, is some years his senior. He came to Peoria in 1816 from New Orleans, where he had gone from his na- tive place, near Belfast, Ireland, to succeed to the practice of a relative, long a distinguished phys- ician of the southern metropolis. The climate of the South not agreeing with Mrs. Murphy, he was compelled to leave there, and after traveling ex- tensively over the then West, finally settled in Peoria.
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