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 50
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Mr. Evans was married, in Princeville Village, February 25, 1879, to Miss Cynthia J. Graves. She was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, a daughter of William and Rebecca (Stretch) Graves. Mr. Graves was engaged in the teaming business while in Ohio,
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but after coming to this county he bought a farm in Princeville, and now lives retired on section 3. this township. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have five chil- dren-Myrtis, Irma, Vernis, Mervin, and Leila.
A man of decided character and of excellent mental and executive capacity, our subject is a conspicuous figure in every movement looking to the advancement of his township. Ile interests himself greatly in educational matters, and is Pres- ident of the Board of School Directors, serving his third term. He is a member of the Horse Thief Detective Association at Princeville. Ile is promi- nently identified with the Patrons of Husbandry, having joined them at Salem when eighteen years of age, fifteen years ago. He is Master of the Monica Grange, of which he was a charter mem- ber, and was elected to liis present position the first night of its organization, and has held it for two terms. In his religious belief he has a tendency to Methodism. Politically, he is a stanch Republican. Ile has served on the petit jury.
P IIILIP T. MATTHEWS. The leading estab- lishment in Chillicothe for the sale of dry- goods, boots and shoes, and clothing ,is that of the above-named gentleman, which occu- pies a fine two-story double brick store and base- ment, 41x120 feet. It is well filled with a choice stock of the fabrics in his line, and a substantial business is being done which has been developed from a small beginning. The establishment is one of the finest and best equipped of the kind in the county, doing credit to the men who instituted it and the taet which has carried it to so high a stand- ing. Too much cannot be said of the arrangement of the store, which is conducted on the department plan, the furnishing goods being under the man- agement of Mr. Matthew's son John, and the dry- goods under that of Mr. Sidney Wood.
Mr. Matthews has long been known as an active participant in worthy enterprises of the municipal- ity, where he first began his residence in 1842. IIe was born in Essex County, Va., March 6, 1824. and as early as 1835 had visited Ft. Dearborn. He
had gone thence by stage to St. Louis. the land over which he passed being mostly wild and un- broken, inhabited chiefly by Indians, with an oc- casional cabin. clearing and fiekl to mark the abode of a hardy frontiersman.
For some time prior to his removal to Chilli- cothe, Mr. Matthews had been living in Richmond, Va., developing the business qualities which have been markedly shown here. For two years after coming to this point he occupied himself in various ways, being still a young man, but in 1844 he es- tablished the business which has grown to such dimensions as to fill a large place in the financial element of the city. Ile was one of the founders of a large private banking institution started in Chilli- cothe as early as 1868, and he has since held a fourth interest in the same. No enterprise in which he is engaged languishes for lack of vim, but is pushed forward to the utmost limit.
Mr. Matthews won as his wife Miss Minerva Moffett, their marriage rites being celebrated near Chillicothe. Mrs. Matthews is a daughter of John and Margaret (Dawson) Moffett, who came from Ohio to this county when she was very young. They were the holders of large tracts of real estate. embracing as much as fifteen hundred aeres of good land which the father saw put under cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Moffett resided upon their estate until their death, passing away in the same week.
Their daughter, now Mrs. Matthews, was care- fully reared, and combines with an intelligent mind the qualities of a true wife and mother. Of the children born to her and her husband, two. Maggie and an infant unnamed, have been taken from them. The survivors are: Lucy, wife of Sidney Wood, of Chillicothe; Minnie, wife of William Mead, the leading druggist of this place; John P., who married Miss Jennie Ripley, of Muskegon, Mich., and also lives in Chillicothe, and William, who has charge of the clothing department of his father's store. Mrs. Matthews is a leading mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Matthews votes with the Democratic party.
Our subject is probably of Scotch ancestry, but for several generations past the family has been numbered among the best in Virginia. There his father, John R. Matthews, was born and reared,
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developing into a prominent attorney. He died in the prime of of life, when our subject was but a small child. The wife and inother, formerly Miss Frances A. Temple, was also a native of Virginia and of Scotch descent. She survived Mr. Matthews and came West after her marriage with James H. Temple, who, although bearing the same surname as her own, was not a relation. She died at the home of her daughter, Lucy W .. in Lexington, Mo., at an advanced age, after having spent many years in Illinois and Missouri. She was an active mem- ber of the Baptist Church.
K ENNETH GRANT has been a resident of this county for thirty-five years. When he came here it was still in the hands of the pioneers and he joined them in their work and has since performed his share of the vast la- bor that was needed to make this county what it is to day, one of the wealthiest and best developed regions in all the State. Our subject has been greatly prospered in the pursuit of his calling as a farmer and stock-raiser, and owns a choice farm on section 34, of Millbrook Township, where he has a pleasant and happy home.
Our subject was born in the Highlands of Seot- land June 7, 1818. When he was about twelve years old, his parents, Donald and Anne Grant, emigrated to this country, taking passage at Glas- gow for Liverpool, on a sail vessel and from there to New York, where they landed in safety after a long ocean voyage of seven weeks and four days. The father was a stonemason and for a short time carried on his calling in Philadelphia, then in Pitts- burg, and finally crossed the Pennsylvania State line into Ohio, and became a pioneer of Columbiana County.
Kenneth Grant grew to manhood in Ohio and re- ceived his education in its early subscription schools, which were conducted in a primitive log house with puncheon floor and a chimney of rude construction. When a young man he became em- ployed in a grist and saw mill.receiving $8 a month and his board for his services. In the spring of
1855, thinking he could make more money on the rich virgin soil of the l'rairie State, he came here with his family, traveling by the river route, and the first season rented land in Brimfield Township. That gave him an opportunity to look around him and select a suitable location, and he subsequently purchased land in that township and in the course of years improved it into a good farm, on which he resided until 1876, when he moved to his present home in Millbrook Township. Here he has two hundred and forty acres of fine farming land that is cultivated to a high degree and is supplied with a neat set of farm buildings and machinery of a good class to carry on his agricultural operations.
In the summer of 1876, Mr. Grant visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and after- wards took a trip across the water to his native Scotland and revisited the scenes of his boyhood, enjoying his journey very much and then returning contented to the home he had built up in Illinois.
Our subject was married February 14, 1841, to Isabelle McIntosh who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, December 9, 1818. They have shared the joys and divided the sorrows of life for nearly half a century. for if they should live they will cel- ebrate their golden wedding in little less than a year. Theirs has been a happy and peaceful union and has been productive to them of a large family of whom the following are still living: Wins- low, in Brimfield Township; Anne, wife of Willard Brooks of Oak Hill; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. O. B. Will of Peoria; Belle, wife of Dr. Robert A. Kerr of Dunlap; William, in Stark County, and Ulysses K. in Millbrook Township. The names of the de- ceased are, William, Geneva, Milton and Mary J.
Mrs. Grant was born December 9, 1818, being the daughter of William and Jeanette (McCoy ) McIntosh, early pioneers of Ohio. Her father was a native of Scotland and her mother of Pennsyl- vania. The former was an early settler of Colum- biana County. They were the parents of five children, of whom the following three are living: Mrs. Grant ; Elizabeth, now the widow of Mr. Martin of Elmwood Township,and Mary the widow of Mr. Waters, living in Brimfield Township.
This brilliant record of a busy life shows that our subject is possessed of more than ordinary abil-
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ity for conducting business to a successful issue, that he has an acute, discerning mind and is prompt and methodical in his habits,or else he could not manage his large interests so easily. He takes a deep interest in all movements that look to the advancement of township and county, and his liberality often is the cause of their success. He is a conscientious and upright Christian, and he and his wife are valued members of the Presbyterian Church at French Grove, and contribute generously to the support of religion. In his political views Mr. Grant is a firm adherent of the Republican party.
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FG RED E. ROELFS, Among the fine estates observed by one who travels through Peo- ria County, that operated by our subject is especially noted for its abundance of fruit, large, neat hedges, and beautiful groves. There are sev- eral of the latter, one of the finest and largest be- ing fitted up with benches, tables and speaker's stand for the use of pienie parties and forming a pleasant resort, much patronized by those who in- habit this section. The estate comprises one hun- dred and eighty-four acres on sections 26 and 27, Limestone Township, and was brought to its pres- ent Ene condition by the father of our subject, who reclaimed it from its wild state. It is located within a mile of Bartonville, on the Lancaster Road, and is one of the most valuable pieces of property in the vicinity on account of its excellent improve- ment, the good buildings which stand upon it and the fruit to which so large a portion of it is devoted.
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The original owner of this fine estate was Ed- ward Roelfs, who took possession of it in 1860, immediately after his marriage, and who died here in 1872. During the smallpox scare of that season he was vaccinated on his arm, which failed to sup- purate, the vaccine taking effect only by swelling and finally going to his heart, causing his death. He took a great interest in political affairs and the general welfare of the community, participating in the movements made to improve the condition of the country and citizens, and voting the Demo- cratic ticket. He and his estimable wife had quite
a large family, of whom the only survivors are our subject and his sister Margarette.
The wife of Edward Roelfs and mother of our subject was formerly Miss Christina Schonemann, a member of one of the oldest families in this ser- tion. Her parents, George and Reinee (Johnson ) Schonemann, came to this county early in the '50s, residing in the county seat until their decease. There the daughter was reared, and married in carly womanhood to Mr. Roelfs. Sometime after his decease she became the wife of John Eiser, of Peoria, and he removed to the Roelfs' estate, which is still the home of the family. Mr. Eiser makes a business of buying and selling cattle, while the farm, as before stated, is under the control of our sub- ject, who is successfully conducting the affairs con- nected with general agriculture.
Fred Roelfs received his early education in the district schools of his neighborhood and has added the more practical education which is only to be obtained by contact with mankind and use of the talents which one possesses. He is a young man of fine physical appearance, which does not belie his natural ability and sterling traits of character. He is looked upon as one of the rising agriculturists of this section of the fertile Prairie State and makes many friends among both young and old.
G EORGE STURM. Few, if any, of the dwell- ers in Medina Township have a higher standing or are better acquainted with the growth of this section of the country than George Storm. He was born on his father's homestead on section 9, October 2, 1830, reared to manhood in this township, and became a farmer as soon as he could hold the plow handles. Ile has owned the farm on which he now lives thirty-five years, having on section 16, a fine property consisting of more than two hundred acres, all well improved and supplied with substantial, commodious buildings.
Our subject is a son of Nicholas Sturm. who was born in Ohio, coming of good stock. the male members of the family having been generally en- gaged in agriculture. Nicholas Sturm was reared
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in his native State, early in life taking up farm work. He married a German lady who had become a resident of the United States when young. After their marriage they came to Illinois at a period not later than 1826, making settlement in the wilds of Medina Township, this county. On land secured from the Government they lived until the wife was called hence in 1837. She was then in the prime of life, regarded highly as a woman of intelligence and the virtues that are especially revered in front- ier settlements.
Nicholas Sturm was a second time married, subse- quently going to Iowa, where he lost the fortune he had gained in the Prairie State. Hither he re- turned, finally dying at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Dickinson, in Medina Township, when sev- enty-three years old. He was a good citizen, a member of the Democratic party and earnest in supporting what he thought wise and progressive. Our subject was the second child born to his par- ents in this county, and is the only member of the family now living.
Mr. Sturm has been twice married, his first wife having been Miss Louisa Joseph, a native of New Jersey, who came West when a young woman. She died at the birth of hier first child, being then less than twenty years of age. Her son, Jacob, is now married and operating a farm in this township. The present wife of our subject was Mrs. Emma Grable nee Harrison. She was born in Maysville, this State, September I, 1836, was reared and cdu cated in Randolph County, and there married David Grable. That gentleman died when com- paratively young, leaving no offspring. The union of Mrs. Sturm and her present husband has been blessed by the birth of five children, two of whom, Ilenry and George, died in childhood. The sur- vivors are: Johan Clinton, a farmer in this township; Robert B., a student with Dr. Keith in Chillicothe; Joseph C., who carries on the home farm. The sons follow the example of their father in voting the Democratic ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Sturm are num- bered among the leading citizens of the county, having the respect of their fellow-men wherever they are known.
The father of Mrs. Sturm was Julius Harrison, 9 native of France, who came to the United States
when a young man, living in New York City until years of maturity. He became a teacher early in life, subsequently going to Kentucky, where he married Orpha Ferris. Still later he removed to Illinois, following his profession until his death, his wife also breathing her last, in this State, in mid- ale life.
S AMUEL P. PERKINS. Among those who have been for some years cultivating the soil in Hallock Township to good purpose and, secure in the respect of their fellow- men, are peacefully pursuing their avocation, is the gentleman above named. He has become very well known in this section, not only as the pros- perons owner of a fine estate, but from his promi- nent connection with local politics, his advocacy of temperance and strict morality, and bis personal character. On more than one occasion he has re- fused to run for the Legislature, because he was not willing to favor saloons.
The Perkins family in this country dates back to the early settlement of Salem, Mass., by the Pil- grim fathers. In those days five brothers came from England, one of whom afterward went with a colony to New Hampshire, settling at Dover. From him has descended a large family, now scat- tered in many of the States of the Union. Our subject belongs to this line. Many of the descend- ants of these Puritan ancestors have taken up arms during the wars of their respective periods and have been well known in educational and religious affairs, and to some extent in the law, in the New _ England States. Wherever they are to be found their record is of those interested in the promotion of educational affairs, honest and thrifty.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Joshua Perkins, a seafaring man, the most of whose active life was passed on merchant vessels. His birth and his death occurred at Dover, N. H., the latter event transpiring when he was in the prime of life. Ile had married Joan Rusk, a native of Wolfboro, N. H., and a member of an old New England family. After the death of Mr. Perkins she married a second time, removed to Maine, and
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died there when quite full of years. She was iden- tified with the Universalist Church, having been one of the first of that body in this country. To her first husband she bore one son and two daugh- ters, and to her second husband five children.
Morris Perkins, the only son of Joshua Perkins, was quite young when he lost his father. Some years later he went to Wolfboro, N. H., where he learned the trade of a carpenter, which he after- ward followed in Dover with considerable success. While on a visit to his mother in Maine, he sud denly died, his life being cut short in his forty- third year. He was a prominent citizen, active in the local political work of the Whig party, and in the promulgation of the Universalist belief, his home being the headquarters for the Universalist ministers of New England and a church having been founded by him in Dover. He was also a correspondent of the Boston Trumpet, the only paper published in this country at that time under the auspices of the Universalist Church.
The wife of this gentleman was Abigail Paul, a native of Dover and daughter of Samuel Paul, a native of the same State and of Scotch ancestry. About the time of the siege of Londonderry, Ire- land, the Paul family, which had taken refuge in the North of Ireland during the Scottish troubles, emigrated to America. Samuel Paul was a seafarer who visited most of the prominent ports of Europe and America and while in the West Indies is be- lieved to have contracted yellow fever from which he died soon after reaching his home and when about forty-five years old. His daughter, who be- came the wife of Morris Perkins, died about eight months prior to her husband's decease, leaving four children of whom our subject was the only son. She was a member of the Universalist Church.
The gentleman whose name introduces this sketeli is the only survivor of the parental household. IIe was born May 15, 1821, in Dover, N. H., and was but little more than ten years old when left an or- phan. Since that time he has battled for himself, beginning as a hard-working boy, and after a time serving an apprenticeship of four and a half years at the trade of a machinist. After becoming skilled in his calling he did journeywork in Dover until twenty-four years old when he became foreman for
the Washington Manufacturing Company, at that time established in Philadelphia, Pa. After having worked for the company seven years he eame West with the view of taking charge of a new manufae- tory on the Mississippi River. south of Louisville, Ky.
Owing to some delays and misunderstanding Mr. Perkins returned to the East, and was engaged in putting machinery in a cotton factory in Lancaster, Pa., and worked there until attacked by the cholera. He then abandoned his enterprise, and returned to New England remaining for a time there, then went to Gloucester, N. J. Here he remained two years, then determined to remove to Illinois, in which State he had some time before purchased a tract of wild land. 'HIe therefore in 1852 came to Peoria County, made it his permanent home and began a successful career as a farmer. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres of as fine land as Hallock Township contains. while upon it have been erected excellent farm buildings, com- prising every needful and convenient structure. Everything about the place betokens that Mr. Perkins is a true New Englander in his careful oversight of land, buildings, machinery, and the products of his industry, and that his domestic affairs are under the control of an equally efficient house wife.
The lady to whose prudence and taste the com- forts of the home are due, bore the maiden name of Miss Lydia Pierce, a daughter of Daniel and Betsy (Fall) Pierce. She was born in Wakefield, N. II., March 31, 1820, and became the wife of our subject in June 23, 1845. She comes of the old New Eng- land stock and is the youngest child of her parents. Iler father having mistaken the oil of tansy for some innocent compound, died very suddenly after swallowing the drug. Mrs. Perkins was carefully reared by her mother and a stepfather with whom she remained until her marriage, which took place in Dover. She is a highly intelligent woman of noble Christian character, to whom husband and children not only owe physical comfort, but much of good counsel and enjoyable companionship. Her mother came West with her and died here when full of years.
Mr. and Mrs. Perkins have five children. two
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deceased and three living. The deceased are Ed- win, who died when ten months old, and George, who died at the age of ten years. Morris, the old- est of the surviving children, married Mattie Owens . and now owns and occupies a good farm in this township; Charles W. still remains at home, help- ing his father on the homestead; Sumner married Fanny Sims and they occupy another farm in this township. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and their children belong to the Congregational Church at Lawn Ridge, with which Mr. Perkins has been officially connected for years.
ILLIAM CUTTER. As a business man and a citizen, Mr. Cutter occupies an en- viable position among the leading residents of Peoria, and is well known as the junior member of the wholesale and retail grocery firm of Wrig- ley & Cutter. The business is located on the cor- ner of Fulton and Jefferson Streets, occupying Nos. 201-203-205, on the latter. Mr. Cutter is the active manager of the business, Mr. Wrigley having been nearly a silent partner since 1884.
Mr. Cutter was born in Brimfield Township, this county, June 11, 1842, and is a son of Isaac and Sarah ( Metcalf) Cutter, who came to this county at an early day. The father secured a tract of land and engaged in farming. William remained under the home roof until a youth of eighteen years, then went to Delphos, Ohio, where he lived with an uncle five years. In the meantime he completed his education, and upon the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted, in 1861, in Company C, Thirty-second Ohio Infantry. for three years, his regiment being assigned to the Army of the Po- tomac. lle participated in many of the important battles which followed, being in the first and sec- ond engagement at Bull Run, and subsequently was transferred to Sherman's army, and went through the Atlanta campaign and on the famous march to the sea. At Atlanta he was slightly wounded by the bursting of a shell, which struck him in the forehead. Aside from this he escaped injury, and was mustered out at the expiration of
his term of enlistment shortly before the close of the war.
Upon leaving the army Mr. Cutter returned to his home in this county, and occupied himself the following winter as a teacher. Wishing, however, to gain further knowledge he, in 1865, attended a course in the commercial college at Peoria, from which he was duly graduated. Thereafter for six months he was occupied as clerk for George B. McClellan, and afterward by his successors, Auer & White, in the clothing business. Upon the dis- solution of this firm he engaged in the grocery business with Philip Auer, under the firm name of Auer & Cutter, on South Washington Street, which was then the business center of the city. Five years later Mr. Wrigley purchased the interest of Mr. Auer, and the firm assumed its present style. The wholesale department was added in 1880, and the firm enjoys the largest retail trade in the city, carrying probably twice the amount of stock of any other grocery in the city, and employing nine men besides the manager. Mr. Cutter gives his entire attention to his business, which accounts for its phenomenal success.
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