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 91
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Returning to Peoria, Mr. McDermott engaged in the wholesale notion business, but this not prov- ing sufficiently remunerative to satisfy him, he closed out at the expiration of a twelvemonth. For a few years following he was in the employ of O. P. Bissell, then traveled for V. Ulrich, wholesale grocer, for eighteen months. Ile was then ap- pointed United States Gauger and afterward served as Deputy Collector for the Fifth Collection Dis- triet under Maj. Whiting and Howard Knowles. We next find Mr. MeDermott engaged as a claim agent and also insurance agent. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Grand Army of the Republic.
At the home of the bride, in this city, in Au- gust, 1862, Mr. MeDermott was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Fulton, an estimable and 1
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Mm. W. Aword.
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educated lady, who graciously presides over his pleasant home. The union has been blest by the .birth of two sons and two daughters --- Mary Au- gusta, Clara, Robert and Blaine, the last two being twins. All yet brighten the home fireside by their presence. Mrs. McDermott is a daughter of .Jo- siah Fulton, an old settler of this county, whose sketch will be found on another page in this ALBUM.
ILLIAM W. ATWOOD. The reader will notice on the opposite page a lithographie portrait of this gentleman, who occupies a leading place among the most enlightened and pro- gressive farmers and stoek-raisers of Peoria County. He has long been prominently identified with the Grange movement which has done so much to ad- vanee the agricultural interests of Illinois, and is still a conspienous figure in the eouneils of the Pat- rons of Husbandry. He was appointed Postmaster of Orange Prairie post-office, in Kickapoo Township, by Postmaster General Wanamaker, and attends to the duties of that position while managing his large farming and stock interests on section 11, Kickapoo Township.
Our subject comes of fine New England stock, his father, Hiram Atwood, being a native of Ver- mont, and his mother, whose maiden name was Aurilla Douglass, a native of Connecticut. After marriage they settled in Macomb County, Mich., being among its pioneers, and there passed the remainder of their lives. The father was a ship earpenter by trade and pursued that calling in connection with his farm work. He died about 1875 and his wife died about 1884. They had a family of four children, of whom our subject was the second in order of birth.
He of whom we write was born in Clinton, Ma- comb County, Mieh., April 10, 1836. The early years of his life were passed on his father's farm until he was thirteen years old. From the Abo- riginees, who still lingered there, he had learned the Indian language, and at the youthful age of thir- teen was employed as an interpeter at different places on Lake Superior for about three years. At
the expiration of that time he engaged in carry- ing the mail between Eagle River and Houghton, and between the latter place and Ontonagon and was appointed assistant-Postmaster. Nearly a year later he became employed as a trader and interpre- ter for the American Fur Company, and was with it for about one year, and then became an attache of the Hudson Bay Company, working for it nearly a year and a half.
We next hear of Mr. Atwood on the Pacific Coast and Puget Sound, where he had been sent by the Hudson Bay Company, and where he left their employ, to enter that of a company wishing him to go to Southern California to engage in pros- pecting. lle was thus employed one season in that part of the country and in Mexico, also. From there he wended his way back to the Lakes and purchased an interest in a sailing vessel, engaged In carrying merchandise between Chicago and Lake Superior. In 1865, having sold out his maritime interests, he came to Peoria County and was em- ployed at different occupations until the time of his marriage, when he settled in Peoria and engaged in the manufacture of spruce beer for about five years. At the expiration of that time he resolved to give his attention to farming and coming to Kickapoo Township, rented land for three years and then purchased the fine farm where he now lives. This eomprises four hundred and four acres of as rich and productive land as ean be found in the township. Ile has made many valuable im- provements, having his farm well stocked, and dle- voting considerable attention to that branch of agriculture.
November 24, 1858, Mr. Atwood and Miss Mar- garet Fry took an important step in their lives which has resulted in their mutual benefit, as by their marriage on that date he seeured the assist- ance of a cheerful and helpful companion, and she a devoted husband. Mrs. Atwood is a daughter of Smith and Nancy (Shepler) Fry, natives of Washington County, Pa. They married and set- tled in that State and from there came to Peoria about 1835, and became pioneers of Richwood Township. Mr. Fry was prominent in public affairs and was Sheriff of Peoria County, for two terms. He was a contractor for the railroads and
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had also served as con luctor. During the latter part of their lives,he and his wife removed to Peo- ria, where they died, hie June 23, 1860, and she January 21, 1882. Mrs. Atwood was the seventh of their eleven children, and she was born in Rich- wood Township, March 29, 1839. Ten children have blessed her marriage with our subject, who are named as follows: Charlie L. who married Miss Hattie Gordon, and died in Dakota, August 3, 1888; George W., who married Miss Hedges, and lives near Bennett, Neb .; Mary A., the wife of William Enders of Dakota; Smith F., who mar- ried Fannie Harris and resides in Peoria; William W. Jr., who married Lena Dornbus, and lives in Dakota; Douglass L., of Kickapoo Township, who married Hattie Ames; Henry A., Perey G., Au- rilla A. and Phœbe C.
As we have seen, Mr. Atwood wields a potent influence in promoting various schemes for the further improvement of township and county, and his name will ever be linked with various plans that have greatly advanced their standing. As a loyal eitizen he takes an earnest interest in the po- litical situation of the day, and favors the Repub- lican party by voice and vote. He and his wife were charter members of Orange Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, with which they are still connected, and he has been very prominent in an official ca- pacity. He has been Master of the Grange and also of the county Grange and was for two years, (from 1878 to 1880) Master of the Grange Store located in Peoria. Mr. Atwood is a man of exeep- tional personal habits, and of a fine character, pos- sessing many genial attributes and with his ami- able wife, stands high in social circles in this com- munity.
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W ILLIAM H. CRANDELL, a resident of of Peoria, and at present in the employ of the Government as United States Store- keeper, a position to which he was appointed in November, 1889, has long been identified with the agricultural element of this county, and represents the brave citizen soldier of the late war, who, since those trying times has quietly done his duty in
whatever position he has been placed. In the ex- citing and momentuous days that followed the breaking out of the rebellion, our subject early re- sponded to his country's call, and with noble self sacrifice went forth to aid in fighting its battles and to brave the hardships of a soldier's life, and the privations he suffered uncomplainingly during his long and almost constant service throughout the entire war testify to his loyalty and devotion to the Union.
Mr. Crandell is a native of this county, born in Hollis Township, November 26, 1840, and is a son of one of its pioneer families. His parents, Will- iam Zanes and Mary (Johnson) Crandell, were na- tives of Ohio and came to this State in the early days of its settlement. The father died in Missis- sippi in 1863, the mother having died when our subject was about three years old.
William Crandell began life as a farmer, having received a very good education in the public schools. Ile was conducting agricultural pursuits when the war broke out, and as soon as he could arrange it he volunteered to defend his country's honor, enlisting on the 15th of May, 1861, at Peo- ria. becoming a member of Company A, Second Illinois Light Artillery, better known as the Peo- ria Battery A. Ile went with his regiment to Alton, whence he and his comrades were sent to St. Charles, Mo., where they were prepared for the army, and were then sent up the Mississippi River. The first campaign in which our subject took part was that in which Fremont chased Mc- Cullough and Price. Ile returned immediately to Springfield, Mo., after the battle of l'ea Ridge, and some months later took an active part in a battle at Prairie Grove. He was found to be admirably fitted for the ardnous and dangerous work of seonting and was thus engaged in Missouri.
Mr. Crandell subsequently accompanied Gen. Grant to Black River Bridge and fought bravely in the battle at that place, and again was in the encounter with the enemy at Jackson and also was in the battle of Champion Hills. After that en- gagement he was sent to New Orleans, and took part in the defense of that city. He remained there till he went to Mobile, and was active in the cap- ture of Fts. Morgan, Fisher and Gaines. Our
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subject again returned to New Orleans, and there they manned the fort at Burwicks Bay, and kept that position till the expiration of his term of service. He was transferred from there to Spring- field, and was mustered out August 27, 1865. He had veteranized January 1, 1864, and was kept in the same battery all the time, with the exception of sixty days furlough, and it is remarkable to note that he was never disabled or in a hospital, was never on detached service and was not away from his command during the war.
After our subject returned from his lengthy ex- perience of life on Southern battlefields, he re- sumed his former pursuit as a farmer, and in the course of a few years established pleasant domestic relations by his marriage, January 1, 1868, to Miss Mary C. Wallace, a native of New York, and a daughter of Robert C. and Margaret (Gaily) Wallace. Her father is still living. Three chil- dren have blessed the wedded life of our subject and his wife, of whom the eldest, a son, Charles Franklin, is deceased; the names of the living are Cora Isabelle and Mary Margaret, who live in this county. Cora Isabelle married William Giv- ens, a miner by occupation.
Our subject is a quiet, unobtrusive man and is universally esteemed. 1Ie possesses a clear, intel- ligent mind, and, of a natural religious tempera- ment, is liberal in his views and has a preference for the Universalist faith, as have his wife and children also. Ilis career in the army is held in remembrance by his connection with the Joe llanna Post, No. 117, G. A. R., in Pekin.
OSEPH BRADLEY, Supervisor of Chilli- cothe Township, and residing in the city of the same name, is a sturdy Englishman, on whom his fellow-men look with respect on account of his shrewdness and straightforward dealings with mankind. Ile was born in Groyles- teen, Lancashire. England, April 27, 1828, and worked in a cotton factory until the age of four- teen years. Ile then began an apprenticeship at the trade of a wagon-maker, and after mastering
his handicraft set up a home of his own, taking as his companion Miss Mary A. Story, who has shared in all his joys, sympathized in his disappointments and aided him, as none but a loving woman can, in every scene through which they have passed, re- ceiving in return the deepest regard and kindest consideration.
In 1851 Mr. and Mrs. Bradley determined to emigrate to America, and having crossed the At- lantic, located in Wyoming County, N. Y. There Mr. Bradley carried on his trade two years, then changing his loeation to Chillicothe, Ill., he, in the fall of 1853, established a business which he con- ducted until 1887. Ile had not been in this place long before he became known as an excellent work- man and a man of honor in business relations, his trade increasing in proportion as his reputation be- came established. Ilis fellow-citizens have called for his services in their behalf as Supervisor of Chillicothe Township, in which capacity he has served eight years, and as one of the Aldermen of the city,he having filled that position for nine years. He is a sound Democrat in his political views. To him and his wife one daughter has been born, that event having transpired in the Empire State. This daughter, Jennie, is the wife of Edgar Heath, a grocery dealer in Henry, this State. They have three children, named respectively, Pearl B., Jo- seph W. and Orris R.
The father of our subject was John Bradley, a native of Yorkshire and dsccendant of English an- cestors. lle married Miss Esther Hughes, who was born in Wales, of Welsh parents, but reared in Lancashire, England. In that shire Mr. and Mrs. John Bradley passed their wedded life, dying when past the age of seventy. The wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our subject was the second of three children born to his parents. llis brother, Thomas, spent his entire life in his native land,leaving a widow and four children when called hence. lle was a baker by trade. Ann, the youngest member of the parental family, became the wife of James Miller, and she also died in Eng- land, leaving one child.
Mrs. Bradley, of this sketch, was born in Pockle- ting, Yorkshire, England, November 5, 1826, being the only daughter and the oldest child of David
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and Jane (Craig) Story, who were likewise natives of Yorkshire. She was well reared, remaining with her parents until hier marriage. Her parents came to America when she and her husband emigrated, and spent their last days with their daughter in Chillicothe. Mr. Story was nearly seventy-nine years old and his wife seventy-six when eallel hence. Mrs. Story was of the Presbyterian faith. The three brothers of Mrs. Bradley also came to America, and all are yet living.
LBERT ERNST. A visitor to the farm of this gentleman, on section 5, Medina Township, would find there a tract of land under thorough cultivation and supplied with a complete line of fine buildings which pro- vide adequate shelter for crops and stock and a home of great comfort for the family. Although not a native of the I'nited States, Mr. Ernst has manifested his loyalty to his adopted country on fields of battle, winning the confidence of his com- manding officers and fellow soldiers by his gal- lantry and ready obedience to the word of command. As a private citizen he is respected by reason of his interest in the good of the people and the up- building of the country, and his own industrious, thrifty, law-abiding conduct.
Mr. Erust is of pure German ancestry, descended from respected families of Hesse-Cassel. His father. Peter Ernst, a sturdy miner, worked in the silver mines of his own State all his life; he died in 1832, when about fifty years of age. llis wife, formerly Catherine Bowman, died in middle life, when her son, our subject, was quite small. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Ernst consisted of two sons and one daughter. The latter died young, and a son-Jolin-having come to America. married in New York, and died there when quite old.
Our subject was born in Hesse-Cassel November 20, 1818, and was not yet fifteen years old when he began to earn his own living. lle learned the trade of broadeloth-making, and after completing his apprenticeship, worked as a journeyman until twenty-two years of age, when he took passage at
Bremerhaven for the United States. After a te- dious voyage of forty-seven days he landed in New York City, remaining there eighteen months. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., but a few months later changed his place of abode to Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Ernst had been living in the capital about a year when,in August, 1846. he enlisted in a regiment of mounted riffemen for service in the Mexican War. He participated in the battles of Chepaultepec and the capture of the city of Mexico, together with the other prominent engagements of the two year's campaign. During that time he was in some very dangerous places, but he escaped with only a flesh wound above the right cheek bone, near the eye. Ile likewise avoided capture, and reported for duty every day. The events of the two years are fresh in his memory, as are the names and characteristics of many members of the regiment and his superior officers. For Gen. Winfield Scott he had an ad- miring love, believing him the kindest commander that ever lived.
At the close of the hostilities Mr. Ernst was hon- orably discharged, and coming to Peoria in the lat- ter part of 1848, remained there until his marriage the following year. when he took up agricultural life in Medina Township. Ile and his good wife are among those who have helped to build up Pe- oria County, interesting themselves as far as they were able in movements which would tend to that end, Mr. Ernst being particularly interested in the educational affairs of his district. Ile votes with the Democratic party, and is a devout member of the Catholic Church, of which his wife is also a communicant.
The lady who for many years has been exhibit- ing her good qualities at the head of the household of our subject, was formerly Miss Theresa Muller. She was born in Alsace, then a part of France, February 8, 1828, and came to the United States in 1847, when about grown to womanhood. Her parents lived for a time in Peoria, and later on a farm in Medina Township, where her aged father, An- drew Muller, still resides. Her mother passed away in 1886, at the age of eighty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Ernst are the parents of thirteen children, two of whom are deceased. These are Joseph and Molly, who died unmaried at the age of twenty-
Joseph Collier
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four years. The living children are Mary, wife of Peter Wilhelm, a farmer near Tolono, Champaign County; Theresa, wife of John Backest, a farmer in Akron Township; Albert, a cigarmaker in Peo- ria, who married Lizzie Rett; Katie, wife of John Knoblock, whose home is in Burlington, Iowa; Matilda, wife of Frank Williams, who owns and operates a farm in Medina Township; Josephine, wife of Jacob Wagner, a farmer in Pasoteem Township, Champaign County; John, who carries on the home farm; Robert, who resides with his parents and runs a threshing machine ; Bertha, Anna and Julia A., who are still with their parents.
OSEPH COLLIER. The attention of the reader will be claimed by the portrait and biography of this gentleman who is a widely known and greatly respected citizen of Peoria County. He has for many years been prominently connected with its mining interests, and is now the owner of a valuable mine in Bar- tonville, which he leases to a company and de- rives from it a substantial income. He has a beau- tiful home in Limestone, located about five miles south of the court-house on the brow of the bluff, overlooking the whole city of Peoria, with a fine view of Pekin in auother direction.
Mr. Collier was born in Somersetshire, England, August 16, 1817, receiving his early education in in the schools of that shirc. He followed the busi- ness of a mason which he had learned wlien young, and going to Wales, did mason work in the mines, and from that developed into a miner or an opera- tor of the mines, doing a large business. While in that line he did some of the finest and most scien- tific work in the Welsh and English mines, as each rock for the shafts was eut and numbered and had its place in the wall, which when completed was a specimen of much better work than is seen in the mines of this country. Mr. Collier says that work was done for all time, the mines being put Into proper shape before they were formally
opened and it would take years to get them ready.
During his stay in Wales Mr. Collier met and married Miss Ann Kear, who was of English de- scent. After ten years of married life they came to America and cast in their fortunes with the pioneers of Peoria County, having first sojourned'two years in Mercer County, Pa., where Mr. Collier was en- gaged in the management of some coal mines. After he came here he commenced to operate a coal mine for T. C. Moore, which was one of the first opened in the settlement of Bartonville, before the village was started, that being in the year 1850. He has been very prosperous and acquired valuable property by his operations. He first built a home on his farm in 1853,about four miles south of the court- house and there he and his wife dwelt for twenty years and reared their family of eight children, four now living. Their daughter Jane is the wife of Otis Wilder, of Limestone, now of Lexington, Johnson County, Neb., and they have eight children. Ann is the wife of Griffith Hopkins, of Ohio, now a res- ident of Maquon, Knox County, and they have five children. Sarah, at the age of nineteen, met her death by a stroke of lightning while standing in her father's door yard. Emma is the wife of Jacob Strasser, a native of Limestone Township, where they now reside, and they have four children. Franklin Joseph is the manager of the company op- erating the coal bank at Bartonville, leased from his father. This company is one of the most sue- cessful in the State. It was first started about six years ago by Mr. Collier, who interested in the venture thirty-five men, who were bound by an ar- ticle of agreement to keep the bank running, and pay him half a cent a bushel for the coal and one- fourth of a cent a bushel for the improvements until the machinery, which cost $6,600 was paid for, and this year will find them all out of debt, with their franchise greatly improved in value. Frankllin J. Collier's wife, whose maiden name was Kate Strassers, is a native of Altona, l'a., where her parents now live. She and her husband have six children-Ernest, Edith Jane, Joseph, Chester, Ethel, and Annie M. Our subject gave all of his children fine educational advantages and educated his girls as teachers, giving them a course in the Normal School of Peoria, from which they
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were graduated, and his house has always been a home for teachers.
Mr. Collier was for a long time a conspicuous figure in the public life of township and county. le has served as Road Commissioner and as School Director, and in the latter office has been very in- fluential in the establishment of one of the best schools in the county in his district. For ten years he represented Limestone on the County Board of Supervisors, and was one of the foremost in bringing about any enterprise that was calculated to benefit the county, and he will long be held in grateful respect for his active work in securing the building of the court-house. Ile cast the de- ciding vote when the resolution for building the new court-house was under discussion before the Board, while many of the others voted against it. He fought hard for it and finally won the day, and justly feels more proud of that than any other act of his life. It is greatly dne to his personal efforts that the building stands to day a monument of strength and durability, and is an ornament to the city. He looked vigilantly after the work of the contractors, and often got out injunctions and stopped work until the builders would proceed ac- cording to the contract. On his return home from the C'entennial he found that they had put in con- crete pillars instead of solid as had been agreed, and in other ways had slighted the work. lle at once took steps to have their blunder corrected and did so after a long fight. When they were putting up the dome he told the contractors it would not stand, and it had to be taken down and rebuilt.
In the fall of 1888, Mr. Collier, accompanied by his wife, went back to visit their Welsh and En- glish friends in Pennsylvania, and while there cel- brated their golden wedding, having an enjoyable time on that memorable occasion and receiving many appropriate and elegant gifts. Mr. Collier has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for over fifty years, and his children are nearly all connected with it, his daughters have been active workers in the Sunday-school. This fine old English gentleman respects the Lord's Day, and believes that all the good the world knows comes from the fact that England with her manu- facturers has pushed the Bible into all lands, and
where the people would not accept it as a gift, has forced it upon them at the cannon's mouth, and also from the fact that England, having always kept Sunday and made others keep it, has been blessed for its observance.
AMES H. RICHARD. Many decades ago the contest between Protestantism and Catholicism became so serious in Scotland, that many families fled from their homes there to find refuge from the oppression of the ruling powers among the mountains and bogs of County Antrim, Ireland. They were cordially welcomed by the natives of the Emerald Isle and in the fair valley of the Bann they lived and la- bored for many years, handing down to their de- scendants the frugal habits, calculating minds, persevering spirits and devotion to principle which make their history interesting and their progeny honored. The subject of this notice is a descend- ant of one of these old families, the home of his more recent ancestors having been that part of Ircland adjacent to the North Channel, which has become so famous by reason of that wonderful ob- ject, the Giant's Causeway, whose columns attract the attention of tourists and are a source of won- der to scientists.
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