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 96
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The marriage of our subject was fruitful of nine children, namely: Mary, wife of J. Wolfe, of Whiteside County, Ill .; Margaret S., who died November 9, 1864; Caroline F., who died August 14, 1874; Christian F., who died August 30, 1874 ; Charles H., a farmer; Joseph G., and William F. at home with their father; Louisa F., wife of J. Stein- man, of Johnson County, Kan; and Godfrey W., who married Catherine Nies, a native of Germany.
During his long residence here Mr. Fritz's hon- orable course in life has been such as to win him universal respect and he is a great favorite with all who have come under the genial influence of his guileless, manly character, his pleasant, helpful ways, and his unswerving adherence to the right. He has long mingled in the public life of the town- ship, and his fellow. citizens have found him to be a safe counselor and a good worker in the various oflices he has held. He has been School Director for years and School Trustee for several terms, and has often been Supervisor of Roads. He is identified with the Princeville Grange and belongs to the Detective Thief and Mutual Benefit Asso- ciation. In politics he is a Democrat, but is not radical in his views. Religiously he is a Luth- eran and faithfully and liberally supports his church. He has been a petit juryman.
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AMES WICKWIRE, one of the oldest and most respected of the early settlers of this county, was an early pioneer of Trivoli Township, with whose interests he has been closely connected for many years as one of its most practical and successful farmers and stock-raisers, and here he is passing the closing years of a long and useful life in retirement in one of its most pleasant homes.
Grant Wickwire, father of our subject was born in Litchfield County, Conn., August 7, 1781, at South Farms. His father, James Wickwire, was also a native of that State, where he carried on business as a tanner and currier, until his death. He reared a large family, and two of his sons-Barnes and Alvin, enlisted for five years in the Regular Uni- ted States Army and took part in the War of 1812. The Wiekwires trace their ancestry back to the Morehouse family of Scotland. The father of our subject was a shoemaker by trade and also followed' farming in his days. In 1807, he moved to Oneida County, N. Y., and located in Florence. He bought a farm of seventy acres north of Camden, improved it and engaged in its cultivation until he retired. Our subject went to bring him here and brought
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him as far as Southport, where they stopped at the house of one of his sons, where he was stricken with paralysis and died October 20, 1858, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was a member of the State militia that was called out at Sacketts Harbor in the War of 1812. He was a Congregationalist in religion and a Democrat in politics.
Mary Throop, mother of our subject, was born December 8, 1782, in Litchfield, Conn., and was a daughter of Benjamin Throop, a native of that State, and a farmer and mill owner. Ile was of French descent. The mother came here and died at the home of a son in Orion Township, Fulton County, February 12, 1860. She had ten children, one of whom died when a babe; the others were named: Mary, James, Benjamin, Sarah, Deborah, Alvin, Iloratio, Sabrina and Merritt.
James Wickwire, was born near Florence in Oneida County, N. Y., February 1, 1808. Reared on a farm he used to belp burn brush, drive oxen, plow and cut grain with a sickle. He was educated in the subscription schools and had to ride on horseback a distance of three miles to the school- house. When he was twenty years old he left home to serve an apprenticeship to the trade of carpen- ter. He subsequently worked at that and at farm- ing, buying sixty acres of land. But it was stony and hard to cultivate, so he sold it and in 1833 took a trip to Michigan, going by canal to Buffalo, and by boat to Detroit and thence set out on foot through the wilderness of Oakland and Shiawassee Counties. But he found the country too much in- fested with ague and returned home. The next spring he came here, traveling by water to Cleve- land, thence on the canal to Portsmouth, whence he went to Cincinnati, and from there by river to St. Louis and to Peoria, which he found a small place of about one hundred and seventy-five inhabitants. He was three weeks and five days in performing the journey hitler, arriving June 3, 1834. Ile lo- cated in Peoria, and engaged in carpentering. In 1835 he helped raise the cupola on the old court house. June 25, 1835, he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 7, Trivoli Town- ship, from the Government. The settlers in the township at that time were Alonzo Green, Joel Brown, James, David and Isaac Harkness, two of
the Clark family and Eli Wilson. Our subject had helped build the jail in l'eoria, and here he erected a small frame house the timber for which he had hewed and split bimself, and he drove every nail.
Mr. and Mrs. Wickwire, were the first couple ever married in this township, and the ceremony that made them one was performed May 17, 1837, in the home in which they now live, by the Rev. George Sill. Mrs. Wickwire's maiden name was Julia Wilson, and her father was Eli Wilson, a na- tive of Harwinton, Conn. Her grandfather, also bearing that name, was a farmer of English ex- traction, born in that old New England State of a prominent family. The father was educated in Yale College and in 1818, settled in the wilds of Oneida County, N. Y., where he cleared a farm, and also engaged in teaching in the schools besides being a teacher of vocal music and a leader of the choir. In 1834, he came to this county with his family at the same time that our subject came, ar- riving in Farmington in a prairie schooner, June 4. He became wealthy and the owner of several hun- dred acres of land. He was connected with the educational interests of the township and was a Whig in politics and a Congregationalist in religion. During the latter part of his life he lived retired until his death at the age of eighty-five in 1875. His wife was named Julia Candee and she was born in Connecticut, a daughter of David Candee, a large and wealthy land-owner of that State. She died in 1881, at the age of ninety-three years. Mrs. Wiek wire was one of eight children and was born September 22, 1817, in Connecticut. She was well educated and was a teacher by profession and tanght the first school ever taught in Farmington, which was conducted in the rudest of school-bouses.
In 1856, Mr. Wiekwire bought this present place of his wife's father, and has since made many valuable improvements. His residence is a large stone, two and one-half story house, 28x56 feet, which he completed himself, and he has two sub- stantial barns, one 30x50 feet, and other necessary buildings. The farm is fenced and is well drained with sixteen thousand tiles, and has fine orchards and groves. He gave one acre of his land for the schoolhouse. Mr. Wilson and Ed Harkness laid out a town which included part of his farm, calling
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it Harkness. But it is now extinet and our subject has bought back the lots that he sold. He has rented his farm sinee 1875, and it is now under the man- agement of his son. Mr. Wickwire is justly con- sidered one of our best citizens; he has been As- sessor for one year, Commissioner of Highways several years and has been Township School Trus- tee for a number of years. He was a member of the U'nion League during the war, and before that time was an active Abolitionist and was a conductor on the underground railroad and led many a negro to Rochester, on the Spoon River. on their way to Canada and freedom. He is a stalwart Republican, voted for W. Il. llarrison, in 1810, and for his grandson in 1888.
Mr. Wiekwire and wife have had three children; Mary E .; Maria, who died when four years old, and Charles W. Mary married C. E. Pettit, of Henry County, and died there leaving a family of five children, four living.
Charles W. Wickwire was born in Trivoli Town- ship, on the old homestead December 31, 1846. Ile was well educated in the public schools and in Lom- bard University at Galesburg. When he was seven- teen years old, he enlisted May 2, 1864, in the One Hundredth and Thirty-second Illinois Infantry. in Company D, and was mustered in at. Chicago, as Corporal. Ile was sent with his company to Cairo, and thence to Columbus, Ky., where he engaged in skirmishes and did guard duty and was similarly engaged in Tennessee. lle was sent to Chicago to be mustered out, when Gen. Forrest began his depre- dations in the South, and he was then dispatched to St. Louis whence he returned to Chicago, and was honorably discharged October 17, 1864.
Mr. Wickwire remained at home until his mar- riage October 11, 1870, to Miss Almeda Beals, a native of Clinton County, Ohio, and a daughter of Jesse and Mary A. (Bowen) Beals. Her parents came here in 1856, from their old home in New Vienna, Ohio, and located at Galesburg. Mr. Beals was out of health when he came to Galesburg, and died in that city. llis widow still resides there. Mrs. Wickwire was a graduate of Lombard in the class of '68, and was teaching when she first met our subject. In 1874, he went to Central America and remained there a year, then returned home and in
1876, bought a farm adjoining the old homestead and lived there until 1877. when he removed to Prairie City, Jasper Connty, Iowa. He bought a farm of eighty aeres, improved and fenced it dur- ing his residence there of five years. In 1882, he sold that and took up his residence in Prairie City, where he managed a meat market and engaged in the stock business until he returned to his old home, and in 1883 he located on his father's farm and has since carried it on with excellent success.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wiekwire have four chil- dren: Jessie W. attended the High School at Farmington two years and was then a student at Lombard University, until she left to engage in teaching when seventeen years old, and is con- sidered one of the best teachers in Trivoli Town- ship; the names of the others are-Lila J., Alice W .. and John W.
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ACOB WACHENHEIMER. There are per_ haps few young men in the State of Illi- nois more successful in his vocation than Jacob Wachenheimer, and 'certainly none who has the details of the insurance business more thoroughly at his command. He has been bred to the business, having first engaged in it when but sixteen years old, and his schooling in large offices has proved of great value. Ile is deserving of honorable mention in this volume as a business man of ability and honor, and likewise for his manly character and general intelligence.
The birthplace of Mr. Wachenheimer was in the city of New York, March 14, 1855. He is the son of Abraham and Fanny (Levy) Wachenheimer, and has three brothers and sisters. These are: Marens, a merchant in Vicksburg, Miss .; Julius, a whole- sale liquor dealer in Jersey City, N. J .; and Bes- sie, wife of James Louchien, of New York. The father was a merchant in the American metrop- olis, whence he removed to Peoria in 1858. At the time of his death, December 24, 1874, he was in the Government employ as storekeeper. His widow died in Peoria in 1879.
Our subject was well schooled in his early years
* لياليفـ
Of, C, N/Carton
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and at the age of fifteen entered a dry-goods store as clerk. A year later he entered the office of Robinson & Callender, insurance agents, with whom he remained some three years. Ile was then called to Philadelphia as Assistant to the Manager of the Franklin Fire Insurance Company, and remained there six years. On the death of Mr. Robinson, in 1880, Mr. Wachenheimer resigned his position in Philadelphia, returning to Peoria to become a part- ner with Eliot Callender and manager of the larg- est agency in the State outside of Chicago. They make a specialty of securing large lines of insur- ance.
At the home of the bride, in Philadelphia, Pa., June 15, 1876, Mr. Wachenheimer was united in marriage with Miss Susie E. Hood, a charming young lady of culture and refinement who has be- come very popular in Peoria. Mr. Wachenheimer is a member of the Masonic fraternity and one of the few who have taken the thirty-second degree. His political adherence is given to the Republican party.
W ILLIAM C. H. BARTON, a man of wealth and one of the largest landowners in Peoria County, is the proprietor and founder of Bartonville. His name is indissolubly associated with the growth and progress of Peoria County, al- most from its origin, as he has always been fore- most in all enterprises to promote its development, and there has been no scheme evolved to advance the business and social interests of Limestone Town- ship, where he makes his home, with which he has not been prominently connected. Ile has also been a conspicuous figure in public life, and has held of- fices of trust and responsibility. He has been largely identified with the agricultural interests of the county and owns one of the finest farms to be found in this part of the State.
Mr. Barton is a native of Licking County, Ohio, where he was born May 14, 1818, to Vincent and Mary (Wright) Barton. The family on the Bar- ton side was related to Gen. William H. Harrison, and our subject was named for him and for his brother Coatsworth, the former being then but a
Lieutenant in the army. The parents of our sub- ject were of old Virginia stock and were married in Ohio. Ile was seven years of age when they came to this State and to Peoria, then but a trad- ing-post. There was one store here and two in the village of Wesley, then a larger and more important place than Peoria, and where the Bar- tons and their neighbors had to go to do the most of their trading. A Frenchman by the name of Crozier kept a little trading store in Peoria for the sale of such articles as he could barter with the In- dians.
Our subject has a distinct remembrance of the red men who once made their home here, and knew Shackle, who had a large family and used to camp on the hills opposite Peoria, a little above the town. Old Shabbona, with his family, used to camp just below where Mr. Barton now lives, so- journing there several winters. The squaws were very virtuous, as to lose their chastity was to have their noses cut off, and Mr. Barton can remember seeing several who had been thus punished. The In- dians here were mostly Pottawatomies, a few Sauks and Foxes, and an occasional Ottawa. To illus- trate the Indian character, Mr. Barton tells the following story: "At one time an Indian killed a Frenchman at the ferry where the bridge now stands, and he was arrested and given a trial and sentenced to be hanged. A Mr. Jolin L. Bogardus was the only lawyer here at the time, and was Court Constable and Sheriff, and also Judge of the Court, and in his capacity of Sheriff he was given the custody of the prisoner for safe keeping. Ile had no room in which to imprison him as his house was but a small log cabin, and he had to allow him to sleep in the corn crib. The Indian made no attempt to effect an escape. Mr. Bogardus thought to put him to good use, and set him to work in his garden to pull weeds. That was too much for the Indian, who ran away and was never heard of afterward. He could stand it to be hanged, but drew the line at work."
The parents of our subject died in 1834, one in August and the other in December, and are now lying sleeping their last sleep near Mossville, where they owned a farm at the time of their death. Our subject has lived within six miles of Peoria and
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much of the time in the town since he came here more than half a century ago. As a boy he traded with the Indians, which was an easy matter if one could secure a jug of whisky. There were no schools in or about the town, though once in a while some one would start a subscription school, so that he was twenty years of age before he obtained any schooling, with the exception of three weeks he went to a Mr. Ward, who opened a school in a small log cabin on the ground where our subject's house now stands. In 1826 a Mrs. Clark started a school in a little log house on Farm Creek, in Taze- well County. She conducted it for awhile with good success, and then a number of Mormons came and got so many to join them and go back to Missouri that the school was broken up for want of sup- port, and the teacher married a Mormon by the name of Cooper and went away with him.
Our subject went to a school on LaSalle Prairie in 1838-39, taught by Mr. Archibald Sayborn. Af- ter leaving school he went into the lumber business upon the Kickapoo, and subsequently bought a mill in Peoria, located on the river near the Moss dis- tillery. This he operated for three years and then sold out to Capt. Moss in 1847. In the meantime he had bought a large tract of land along the Kick- poo River Bottoms, comprising one thousand acres, which he had purchased for the timber. IIe felled the trees standing on it, manufactured the logs into lumber at bis mill, and then located on the land thus cleared and commenced to place it under cul- tivation. Ile can truly say that he has made four hundred acres of fine farming land from the pri- meval forest. He now owns about six hundred acres, having sold some four hundred acres to his brother. His farm comprises two hundred and fifty acres of the finest bottom land in the world. It is surpass- ingly productive, and under judicious tillage yields him fine harvests and a solid income. He has pro- vided it with substantial, roomy and well-appointed buildings, and first-class machinery, and everything about the place wears the air of thrift and shows the best of management.
Mr. Barton was married, in 1850, to Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Isaac Ricketts, of Peoria. Her family came to this county from Indiana and were pioneers of this region. Mr. and Mrs. Barton's
pleasant wedded life has been productive to them of three children : Harry Spencer, a farmer on his father's farm, is married and has one child, Pearl ; Naney J., wife of Samuel Brewer, of Shelby County, has two children; William Warren is at home with his parents. They were all given excellent educa- tions in the public schools and the boys are gradu- ates of the commercial college at Peoria.
A residence here of more than sixty years bas given Mr. Barton the advantage of witnessing al- most the entire growth of the county in whose de. velopment he has so ably assisted, and his name is connected with many a worthy enterprise to pro- mote the the welfare of the community. He has a wide and extensive acquaintance, and the con- cluct of his life has been such as to win him the re- spect and regard of all. His fellow-citizens have honored him by electing him to various offices of trust, which he has filled with characteristic fidel- ity and ability. Ile has served two terms as Super- visor of the town, being a member of the Board at the time the new courthouse was built, and in this connection we may remark that when a young man he assisted in the erection of the old courthouse. He has been Director of schools and School Trustee for the past twenty years, and to his faithful work the town is greatly indebted for its present excel- lent school system. In his early years Mr. Barton was a Whig, and on the formation of the Repub- lican party naturally took his place in its ranks, and has been in the line ever since. He cast his first vote for William II. Harrison and supported the grandson of that gentleman at the time of his election in 1888.
A portrait of Mr. Barton is presented on another page.
LBERT G. POWELL is one of the oldest and best known settlers of Ioilis Town- ship, to which he came in August, 1837. At that time the only residents of the township were Messrs. Thomas and Topping, two Englishmen, who had come hither in 1836; John Duffield, who lived on section 20, and John Essex and Nat Richardson, who lived upon the hill. All
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these have passed to the bourne from which no traveler returns. A few years later William S. and Mary II. (Davis) Powell, the parents of our subject, also came hither accompanied by their two sons-Isaac and Abraham, their son-in-law, Robert Buchanan, and a Mr. James Jones. These are all now deceased, the last to pass away having been Abraham, who breathed his last in October, 1889.
The Powell family is of Welsh extraction and the father of our subject was a native of Loudonn County, Va. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, as was also his brother Charles, who was killed at the siege of Norfolk. After his marriage he made his home in Guernsey County, Ohio, until 1844, when he followed his son to Illinois. He of whom we write was born in Cambridge, the county seat of Guernsey County, July 16, 1818, and was nine- teen years of age wlien he came to what was then the Wild West. It took a letter over a week to reach Ohio, whither it now gocs in less than twenty- four hours, and the carriage of it cost twenty-five cents. During the first few years of Mr. Powell's residence here, Peoria was but a hamlet with two or three stores, that of Griswold and Cortenius, on what is now Water Street, being the first and most important, and another being opened by a Mr. Varis. Milling was donc at Hale's Mills, upon the Kickapoo River.
The gentleman of whom we write learned the trade of a carpenter with his father, and worked at it many years. Some twenty years ago he aban- doned it and settled upon land which was then covered with forests, but which he has cleared and made into a fine estate. It comprises two tracts of three hundred and sixty-seven, and eighty acres re- spectively, the entire four hundred and forty- seven acres lying within a range of two miles. His son Grant is now his chief assistant in the man- agement of the estate, the father feeling that his years and long labors entitle him to a certain with- drawal from the cares of life. He is by no means inactive, however, but does a fair share of mental and physical work.
The first marriage of Mr. Powell was celebrated in October, 1844, his bride being Miss Eliza Jones, who bore him three children. Of these Smith is now deceased, having died at the age of forty
years; John is now living in Hilton, this State, is married and has four children; Emily is the wife of John A. Calhoun, of Hollis Township, her fam- ily consisting of ten children. The mother of these three children having been removed by death, Mr. Powell contracted a second matrimonial alliance in 1865. lle won as his wife Mrs. Margaret Starts, who has borne him five children-Charles Grant, Maggie, Scott, Albert and Walter, all of whom arc yet at home. Mrs. Margaret Powell is the mother of three children by her former marriage. They are: Melissa; Mary, wife of Walter Hought- aling, of Warren County, Iowa, and the mother of two children ; and Hugh, also of Iowa, who mar- ried a Kansas lady and has two children.
Mr. Powell is a Republican and a member of the La Marsh Baptist Church. Ile was the first Assessor of Hollis Township, but has taken no act- ive part in public affairs since those early days. An intelligent and law-abiding citizen, honorable in his dealings with humanity and kindly in his domestic relations, he is highly regarded by those who know him, irrespective of the esteem which his labors as a pioneer have earned,
OIIN P. WILEY is numbered among the skillful and business like farmers and stock- raisers, who are active in the agricultural interests of Logan Township. Born Sept- ember 22, 1835, he is a native of Piqua, Ohio, and a son of Samuel and Sarah (McCullough) Wiley. His father was born in Juniata County, Pa., Octo- ber 21, 1810, and his mother in Adams County, Ohio, October 29, 1809. lle was a son of John Wiley, who was a farmer and served in the War of 1812, as a Major. About 1812, he settled amongst the pioneers of Miami Connty, Ohio, where he spent his remaining day's on a farm. Ile acquired wealth and gave to each of his sons one hundred acres of land and at the time of his death was still proprie- tor of two hundred acres. He had three sons and one daughter, Samuel, William, Jobn and Margaret. Samuel and John left families. The grandfather of our subject was a member of the Associate Re-
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form Church, now the United Presbyterian Church. Ile was the son of one Samuel Wiley, who served throughout the Revolutionary War.
The mother of our subject was the daughter of Jolin Mccullough and her mother's maiden name was McClung. Her parents removed to Ohio in the early days of its settlement, and became pio- neer farmers of Adams County. Later they re- moved to Shelby County, where her father was engaged as a merchant. They had eight children, named Samuel, James, Saralı, Eliza, Mary, John, Thomas P., and Hadassah, all of whom married and reared children except James.
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