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 56
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He had accompanied his parents to Medina Town- ship, this county, where the remainder of his youth was passed and the many years of his active life. In this township he married Miss Elizabeth Dick- ison, who proved a true helpmate to her good hns- band, working hard with him to accumulate the fine property in which she now holds her dowry rights. She was born in Switzerland County, Ind., November 10, 1825, coming to Illinois with her parents in 1837. She was the recipient of very careful home training and a practical education, and is now numbered among the kind matrons and genial neighbors of the section in which she lives. ller beautiful home is gladly sought by her ac- quaintances, and many are the social hours spent by them under its roof.
Mrs. Sturm is a daughter of John and Polly ( White) Dickison, natives of the Blue Grass State, of Southern parentage and mixed ancestry. Soon after their marriage they located in Switzerland County, Ind .. among the early settlers. There their seven children were born, three of whom are yet living, all on farms, and two in Medina Township. In 1837 they made the overland journey to Central Illinois, bringing such articles as were necessary to furnish their home in a new country. They located on a tract of wild prairie which they reclaimed from its primitive condition. finally acquiring a large property. A part of the land upon which Mossville is located belonged to them. Mr. Dick- ison died in 1852 and his wife about two years later, each having reached the age of sixty-five years. They were highly regarded among the early settlers of the township as honest, upright and hos- pitable citizens.
Our subject and his good wife became the parents of eight children. A son, John, died in the flower of of manhood soon after reaching his majority, and Alvin when four years old. The living members of the family are: Mary, wife of Frederick Webster, a farmer in Champaign County ; Wallace, a farmer in his native township. who married Anna Bland; Frank, a farmer in the same township, who married Jane Bland, and after her death Elizabeth Schil- watcher; Albert, who married Nancy Buttles, of Indiana, and occupies a farm in this county, Mark, who operates and lives upon his mother's farm;
Laura, wife of William Johnson, a farmer in Wood- ford County. Mark was first married to Miss Jenny Knupp, of Iowa, who died leaving one child, after which the widower married Sena Kruse, of Chilli- cothe.
OHN R. HARRISON has been an almost life-long resident of Radnor Township, wherein he has successfully prosecuted the work of an agriculturist, winning from the fertile soil so large a share of its products that he has been enabled while still in middle life to retire from active labors with the prospect of spending his remaining years without undue exertion. He is the owner of a fine property consisting of two hundred and ninety acres, the greater part of which is on seetion 10, Radnor Township. The estate is now rented.
Mr. Harrison was born in Hampshire County, W. Va., where his parents had settled immediately after their marriage. His mother, Mary Susan (Evans) Harrison, was a native of that State, and his father, James Harrison, was born in England. In 1834 the worthy couple removed to Peoria County, III., settling in Rosefield Township, later residing in Princeville Township, and still later in Akron Township. They finally removed to Henry, Marshall County, where they passed their last days. They were the parents of eleven chil- dren, of whom our subject was the eldest.
The natal day of John R. Harrison was June 25, 1833. He was therefore but a year old when his parents came to this county, in which he was reared to manhood, acquiring a good education and be- coming skilled in agriculture, to which he has given his chief attention since youth. In the township in which he now resides he was married, August 21, 1855, to Miss Amanda Hatfield, soon after re- moving to Boone County, Iowa, where he and his bride sojourned a short time. Returning to the Prairie State they located permanently and until December, 1888, Mr. Harrison was actively engaged in farming. He has held various offices. his intelli- gence. trustworthiness, and zeal for the public wel- fare, being recognized by his fellow-citizens. For
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four years he was Township Assessor, an office in which he is now serving satisfactorily. As School Director and School Trustee he has promoted the interests of education, and as an active member of the Republican party has labored for good govern- ment.
The wife of Mr. Harrison is a native of the Hoos- ier State and a daughter of John and Phebe (Cod- dington) Hatfield, who settled in this county about 1845. After residing in Radnor Township for a long term of years, they removed to Taylor County, Iowa, dying there some years later. Their family consisted of twelve children, Mrs. Harrison being the fifth in order of birth. She was born June 3, 1835, in Parke County, Ind., has received a good education, is an excellent housekeeper and has been a devoted mother to her offspring. She has made many and warm friends in the neighbor- hood in which she has long so resided.
To Mr. and Mrs. Harrison eleven children have been born, the most of whom are married and oe- eupying homes of their own. Mary S. is the wife of Samuel Lamay ; Ida E., of John Brassfield; Levi I. married Miss Carrie Manker; Adelia is the wife of Wally Smith; Maggie, of Flavius S. Barrett; Alice, of George Newkirk; Rachel, of George Tay- lor; Lettie and Ella still linger under the parental roof; James II., who was the second child, died when about thirteen months old, and Phebe, who was the eightlı, when two years old.
RANCIS A. SWITZER. Among the well- regulated estates of Rosefield Township is one consisting of one hundred and sixty aeres on seetion 4, which under the careful and intelligent control of our subject, is yielding a satisfactory income, while presenting an appear- anee of order and comfort attractive to the pass- er-by. The owner of this estate is numbered among the substantial men of this township to which he came in 1871 from Kane County, where he was born November 15, 1852. Having been reared on a farm he early became acquainted with all that is necessary to a successful agricultural life, being led
to prosecute his researches in that direction by a desire to engage in the work of his ancestors. He received a good common-school education to which he has added by reading and observation, now ranking among the most intelligent men of this vicinity.
John W. Switzer, the father of our subject, was born in Elizabeth, N. J., on the 8th of August, 1810. When eight years old he went to Canada with his parents who settled near Toronto. He learned the trade of a carpenter, following it in that country until November, 1837, when, on account of the rebellion in Canada, he and his brother Martin, returned to the United States. Going to Chi- cago Mr. Switzer entered one hundred and sixty acres of land near that city, improving the same and residing thereon until 1864. lle then re- moved to Dowagiac, Mich., where he sojourned seven years, after which he settled in Peoria County, of which he is still a resident. His chosen loca . tion was on seetion 1, Rosefield Township, where he now has a fine farm of two hundred and eighty- four acres, all of which he has had thoroughly improved. lle has been blind for more than thirty years. In politics he is a staneb Republican and in religion devoted to the principles of the Methi- odist Episcopal Church, having the entire sym- pathy of his wife, who is also a member. Mr. Switzer has been so fortunate as to witness several notable events, having in May, 1816, seen Fulton's first effort to run a steamboat, and in January, 1819, seen the first half-mile of canal dug at Al- hany, N. Y.
The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Mary JJ. Gaddis. She was born in Inis- killin, County Fermanagh, Ireland, February 9, 1819, being a daughter of William and Deborah (Blair) Gaddis, who were natives of the same county. They came to the United States in 1822, settling in Albany, N. Y. Mr. Gaddis was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and in 1837 was sent from the Troy Conference to the Illinois Conference. lle and his wife died in La- Fayette, Stark County, he at the age of sixty-seven and she when sixty-five years old. They had two sons and five daughters, named respectively : Henry, John, Elizabeth, Keziah, Mary J., Deborah and
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Jemima. All reared families except the youngest. Henry died in California; John is now living in Wisconsin and the daughters in Illinois.
To John W. and Mary J. (Gaddis) Switzer nine children were born, of whom those reared to maturity are: Charles W. of Brown County, Minn .; William H., a millwright of Pullman, Ill .; Edmund B. of Chicago; George of Brimfield Township; Francis A., onr subject; John S., of Elmwood. William H. was in the Union army three years as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry. George Switzer was born August 10, 1849, and with the excep- tion of six years spent in a grist-mill in Michigan has lived upon a farm. In 1870 he came to Illi- nois, locating in Kendall County, whence he came to Peoria County in January, 1889, since that time making his home with his parents. On June 12, 1870, he married Mary Ella, daughter of Nich- olas and Mary (Hopkins) Congdon, a devoted Christian, a member of the Congregational Church, who was removed from him by death, April 1. 1888. She left six children-Albertus H., Arthur E., Martha L., Ralph, Mary J. and Frances P.
Grandfather Switzer was born in County Tipper- ary, Ireland, was a blacksmith, wagon-maker and farmer. He married Mary Maurice of Queens County, rearing four sons and three daughters. three of the sons becoming residents of the Prai- rie State. He came to the United States in 1804. spending four years in Maine, and eight years at Elizabeth, N. J. His next residence was in New York, whence he emigrated to Canada two and a half years later, taking up land in the Dominion and abandoning his trade for farm - life. Having taken an interested part in the Patriot War he was thrown into prison, but having been released in 1838, he and his wife came to Kane County, Ill .. where he died in 1852, at the age of seventy-four years and his wife in 1866, at the age of eighty- four. He was a warm personal friend of the late John Wentworth of Chicago.
Martin Switzer, just mentioned, was a son of John Switzer, a native of County Limerick, whose first wife, Mary Sparrow, bore him three children, all of whom emigrated to Canada. The second wife of John Switzer was Nancy Ryan, who bore
him nine sons and two daughters, one of these be- ing the grandfather of our subject. The Switzer family is traced to one of three brothers, all officers under the Prince of Orange in 1688, who being sent to Ireland to quell troubles there, remained a resident of the Emerald Isle.
Grandfather Gaddis was the first of his family to come to the United States. His parents were Henry and Eliza (Hieks) Gaddis, natives of Ire- land to which a former generation of the Gaddis family had been driven from Scotland during re- ligious dissensions. Three of the brothers of the Rev. William Gaddis,-James, John and Adam- followed him to America. Another brother, Henry, was killed in the battle of Salama nea. Spain. The wife of William Gaddis was Deborah Blair, a daughter of Edward and Deborah (Gaddis) Blair.
G EORGE HOLMES. This young gentleman and his charming wife occupy a pleasant home in Akron Township, their fertile land being supplied with a full line of adequate struc- tures, such as are needed to shelter the stock. house the crops, and afford comfort to the family. Hos- pitality is dispensed with a bounteous hand, both Mr. and Mrs. Ilolmes being genial and social, and having the characters that make their home a fa- vorite gathering place of the intelligent, respected members of the community. Mr. Holmes has al- ready become quite prominent as a progressive farmer and public-spirited man. He is now serv- ing as Township Supervisor for the second term, having been first elected in the spring of 1889, and re-elected in 1890.
Our subjeet is the fourth child in a family com- prising seven sons and three daughters, born to John and Lydia (Chambers) Holmes, of Medina Township. He was born there December 2, 1859, and reared to man's estate, acquiring a practical education chiefly in the common schools. He re- mained with his parents until his marriage, which occurred in Peoria February 21, 1883, after which he set up his own home in Kickapoo Township. He sojonrned there but a year, removing thence to
I wish Heehnerly
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Radnor Township, and a twelvemonth later still, to Akron Township, where he has since been a resi- dent.
Mr. Holmes led to the hymeneal altar Miss Effie Keach, daughter of Charles and Marian (Fash) Keach, of Kickapoo Township, whose life history will be found on a page of this ALBUM. The bride was born in that township, January 18, 1863. She had the school privileges in which the Prairie State takes just pride, and stored her mind with useful knowledge, adding to that she learned at school the domestic and social wisdom that fitted her for the spheres of wife, mother, and member of society. She has borne her husband one daughter, Nellie M., who is the fourth generation now living in the Keach line.
The estate of Mr. Holmes consists of eighty acres of fine land on section 23. Prior to his election to the office he now holds, Mr. Holmes had filled that of Township Collector two years in the same Town- ship. He is well posted regarding political matters, his judgment concurring in the principles of the Democratic party, to which he therefore gives his suffrage. As he is quite young, the prominence of Mr. Ilolmes in the township proves his ability and popularity, and gives promise that as years are added he will become one of the most influential men in the county.
ACOB HEPPERLY. Fortunate is the boy who, thrown upon his own resources at an early age, has the skill to do and the strength to endure until he acquires a footing among men ; more fortunate he who combines with his manual skill and bodily strength, the moral princi- ples and self-respect that bring with his financial success the esteem of those who know him. Such was the case with the late Jacob Hepperly of Peo- ria whose portrait we present on the opposite page. He was long an honored resident of the city to which he first came when it was but a frontier set- tlement, and in which, from 1853 until the day of his death, he had continuously made his home. His substantial fortune was built up by dint of great
energy and enterprise, and his life was characterized by those sterling qualities and habits that secured the confidence of his fellow-men.
The natal day of Mr. Hepperly was April 11, 1813, his parents, Conrad and Mary (Eckhardt) Hepperly, natives of Wurtemburg, Germany, and his birthplace Gettysburg, Pa. He secured a some- what limited education during his boyhood and learned the trade of shoemaking from his father. At the age of sixteen years he left his home, and after visiting various places, arrived in Peoria March 19, 1831. His trip was not a continuous one, but such as a boy would be compelled to make if obliged to recruit his finances on the way. This was done by our subject by plying his trade at various points. He made his way from Pittsburg down the Ohio and up the Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis, whence he went to Jacksonville, Ill., on horseback.
Feeling the need of a better education, young Hepperly attended school in Jacksonville for a time, supporting himself by working at his trade in bours not devoted to study. Upon reaching Peoria he went to work in a cabinet shop, soon afterward securing employment with Mr. Moffatt, the miller, for whom he hauled flour to market with an ox team. The persistent industry and frugal economy of Mr. Hepperly met with their reward and he was finally able to purchase a mill in Tazewell County. After sojourning there for a time he returned to Peoria in 1853. He accumulated a fine property, erected a number of houses and several business buildings in the city, a gristmill in Woodford County, and some years since retired to enjoy the affluence his efforts had secured.
Mr. Hepperly died February 8, 1888, at his resi- dence in Peoria. He had heen a strong robust man, able to enjoy every reasonable recreation to which his tastes led him, and to assist in the various en- terprises for the public welfare in which his abun- dant means enabled him to take part.
Mr. Ilepperly was married December 6, 1842, to Mrs. Clarissa Meacham, who was born in the Empire State, February 5, 1810, and began her residence in Peoria in 1833. Soon after the death of Mr. Hepperly she began to exhibit symptoms of mental derangement, finally acquiring the habit of
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leaving her bed at all hours of the night and wan- dering abont the premises. Her only daughter. with whom she lived, slept on a lounge near the door of her apartment in order if possible to pre- vent accidents, but in spite of these precautions the aged lady left the house unknown to the family and it is supposed committed suicide, as her body was found floating in the cistern. Mrs. Hepperly had lived in Peoria more than fifty years, had witnessed its growth, had assisted her husband in accumula- ting his substantial fortune, but not able to survive the loss which befell her in the sunset of life, met this sad fate June 23, 1890.
Mr. and Mrs. Hepperly were the parents of two children, one of whom is still living. This is Mrs. Harriet C. Hotchkiss, widow of James M. Hotch- kiss, a railroad man who met his death on a train on the Mexican Central Railroad, in Mexico not far from Chihuahua, while acting as conductor, October 19, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Hotchkiss were married April 9, 1868, and became the parents of two chil- dren-Mary T. and Robert J., now grown almost to manhood and womanhood. Their intelligence, good breeding and deep affection, prove a source of consolation to their widowed mother in the afflic- tions which have befallen her in the loss of her trusted companion and the more recent deaths of her revered parents. Although for some years a resident of Central America, at San Jose, Costa Rica, she has more recently been occupying the parental homestead at No. 200 Fourth Street.
S ANFORD M. GREEN. This gentleman is senior member of the firm of S. M. Green & Co., wholesale and retail fish dealers at the foot of Main Street, and although not an old man, may be ealled an old business man of Peoria as he has been established here since 1863. For several years he has been interested in real estate, buying and selling quite extensively. His reputation in business circles is good, and by all the patrons of his establishment he is considered worthy of trust.
Burean County, Ill., claims Mr. Green as one of
her sons, he having been born there January 8, 1840. His parents, George and Mary (Reed) Green, were among the earliest settlers of that county, to which George Green came while yet a young man with his father, Jolin Green, in 1828. His birthplace was near Dover, Tenn., and in the same State his wife was born, although at the time of their marriage she was living in Gallatin County, Ill. Until within two years of his death, George Green resided in Burean County, his demise taking place in Shelby County, in 1846. The widow and family returned to Bureau County the following year and there our subject lived until 1860.
Soon after the breaking out of the late Civil War the subject of this sketch enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, which was sent to St. Louis and wintered at Cape Girardeau. Thence they went into active service, participating in the noted engagements at Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, Miss., Iuka and Bolivar, and enduring the hard marches, the dangers of skirmishing and the monotony of camp life during the weeks and months which intervened. After the battle of Bolivar, Mr. Green was discharged for permanent disability incurred in the service.
When he could do no more to insure the safety of his country, Mr. Green returned to Bureau County, and in the fall of 1863, came to Peoria. He took up work at his trade in a horse-collar shop, continuing there some two years. He then entered the fire department, but in 1867, turned his atten- tion to city expressing and freight hauling, which he followed successfully for nine years, owning and running five teams. In 1879, he established him- self at his present location in the fish trade, which he has built up until his wholesale and city business is larger that of any other dealer here. He imports fish from Wisconsin and various points in the East. The company has remained the same since the busi- ness was established.
Mr. Green won for his wife Miss Louisa, daugh- ter of Jacob and Mary (Calhoun) Farrell, old set- tlers of Peoria, at whose home the wedding was celebrated November 4, 1864. After a happy wedded life of nearly twenty-five years Mrs. Green passed away May 12, 1887. She had borne her husband four children, three of whom have crossed
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the river of death. Carrie M., the only survivor, still remains with her father. Mr. Green has had little to do with polities, except to cast his ballot with the Republican party. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Although not identified with any religious body, he is a regular attendant of Union Chapel on East Bluff.
b ON. WILLIAM ROWCLIFFE. It is with pleasure that we trace the history of this prominent resident of Peoria County through the principal events of his past life. We cannot follow it through every changefnl year. every devious path, but can only record the chief events in a life that covers a period of three-score and ten years, which since maturity have been passed in useful toil for his family, his neighbors and his country. Although not a native-born American, Mr. Roweliffe is as loyal and patriotic a citizen as the broad State of Illinois can boast. During the late Civil War he was active in pro- curing recruits and having himself enlisted did gallant service in camp and field from September, 1862, until July 31, 1865. At present a resident of Jubilee Township, he is enjoying the comforts which adequate means can obtain and good health will allow, respected by all who know him for his honorable character and years of usefulness.
Our subject belongs to an old Devonshire family, his father having lived on the same place until fifty years old. IIe held parish offices in Swine- bridge, in which parish he was born in 1785. In 1836 he set sail with his family to found a home in America, and reaching Huron County, Ohio,bought one hundred and forty acres of land on the San- dusky River, on which he continued his olden oc- cupation of tilling the soil. Ilis political views were expressed in the platform of the Whig party and his religious faith by the creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He departed this life July 1, 1862, sincerely mourned by many friends as well as by the children to whom he had been a kind and considerate parent.
The wife of John Rowcliffe was Grace, daughter
of Peter Facey, a Devonshire farmer. She died on the voyage to America in May, 1836. The subject of this notice is the oldest of the parental family. His brothers are Jobb, who died in Ohio in 1847; James, now living in Iluron County, that State; George, a resident of Akron Township, this county, and his only sister is Mrs. Mary Ann Ford, of Ohio.
Our subject was born in Devonshire, England, March 12, 1818, reared on the farm and was the recipient of somewhat limited school privileges un- der the subscription system. Ile was eighteen years old when the family left Biddeford, England, on the sail-vessel "Ebenezer" which after a stormy voyage finally reached New York, seven weeks having been occupied in the passage. He remained with his father in Iluron County, Ohio, nntil lie was of age, then began working out by the month and year, continuing his education at night schools and on Sundays. For two or three years he rented a farm, then buying a tract near Norwalk, he im- proved and operated it until the spring of 1853.
Selling then, Mr. Rowcliffe turned his footsteps toward Peoria County, Ill., to which he had been induced to come by the representations of ac- quaintances, although his original intention had been to settle in Will County, near Joliet. He shipped his goods to Chicago, whence he was con- veyed to Peoria by a team, finding but a small town where now a flourishing city stands. Locating in Kickapoo Township he farmed the James Voor- hees place the first summer, the following spring renting one hundred and sixty acres in Jubilee Township. In 1855 he bought one hundred and sixty acres on section 11, the following year add- ing one hundred and sixty acres on section 12. The land was raw prairie, bare of improvements. It was necessary to use five yoke of oxen on the breaking . plows with which the tough sod of the prairies was first turned. Mr. Rowcliffe made various improve- ments upon the place prior to his departure for fields of civil strife.
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