USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > Portrait and biographical record of Macoupin County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with biographies of all the governors of the state, and of the presidents of the United States > Part 89
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Mr. Westermeier is descended from excellent Ger- man stock, both parents having been born in the Old Country. His father, for whom he is named, was a native of Prussia, and his mother, Anna Marie Deekemeier, was born in Hanover. The latter came to America with friends when a young Jady, being the only member of her family to cross the ocean. She was married in St. Louis, Mo., where Mr. Westermeier had located almost imme- diately after his migration. Ile had served his time in the German army, entering at the age of
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eigliteen years, in accordance with the eustom of the empire, and soon after his discharge came to Ameriea. Ile was a carpenter by trade and in St. Lonis he worked as a journeyman for a time and then became contractor. In 1861 he removed to Bunker Hill, this county, and in 1884, their chil- dren having all left home, they removed to Car- linville, where the two eldest sons resided, and is retired from active life, although for several years he carried on his business at Bunker Ilill. The faithful wife and mother died May 25, 1889. She had reared three sons-Casper, John and Joseph.
The subject of this notice was born in St. Louis, Mo., July 22, 1846, and received his early educa- tion in the Catholic parochial schools there. When he was sixteen years old he began clerking in a general store in Gillespie, where he remained a year and a half. He then returned to Bunker Hill and for four years was a clerk and bookkeeper, and then removed to Litchfield and embarked in busi- ness. carrying a stock of general merchandise. After a year of business life he sold out and after the November election in 1868, came to Carlinville to accept and assume the duties of Chief Deputy in the Circuit Clerk's office. under 11. W. Burton, Esq. lle aeted in that capacity nine years and during this time, in the spring of 1872. he was elected and served one term as City Treasurer of Carlinville, and was then next elected County Clerk. This was in the fall of 1877, and after serving a five- years' term, he was re-elected and acted four years longer, and one of the chief duties and responsibil- ities with which he had to contend in the adminis- tration of the office of County Clerk was the re- funding of the $1,500,000 courthouse bonds of Macoupin County, with eleven years' interest at ten per cent. acerued, outstanding into six per cent. bonds on compromised propositions, and hav- ing determined to adopt a different line of life he was no candidate for re-election, but opened the of- fice as before stated.
The lady who presides in Mr. Westermeier's pleasant home was known in her maidenhood as Margaret Carlisle and their marriage was solemn- ized October 15, 1867, at Litchfield, Ill. The bride was born in Dumfries, Scotland. Her father, William Carlisle, was a Government baker, He eamc
to America with a party of pleasure seekers, was stricken with yellow fever and died. Subsequently the widow of Mr. Carlisle came to this country with her two daughters, in company with her parents, who were MeVeighs. They settled in Ohio and later made their home in Covington. Ky. In that State the widow was married to Mr. William Manty and the family removed to St. Louis, Mo. A second removal was made to Bunker Hill and thence Mr. and Mrs. Manly went to Litchfield, which is still Mrs. Manly's home. Mrs. Westermeier was two and a half years old when her mother brought her across the water and her education and training have been received in the city of St. Louis and the towns above mentioned. She has the sterling qual- ities of the Scotch and the progressive spirit of the American and her eare of her family is devoted. She has ten children, whose respective names are Joseph, Emma, Nellie, Mae. William, Margaret, Edward, Aloysius, Reha and Genevieve. all born at Carlinville except Joseph, who was born in Litchfield, Ill.
In exercising the right of suffrage Mr. Wester- meier votes with the Democrats. The connection of the family is with St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Mr. Westermeier is a very enterprising man and one who is likely at all times to make his way in business, as he has so far in life been doing.
ILLIAM A. TROUT, M. D. This young gentleman has been established in practice in Atwater for ten years, and has acquired a good reputation as a physician, skilled in his work, and constantly on the alert to add to his effi- ciency. He was born in St. Charles County. Mo .. June 14, 1853, and spent his early years as do farmer's sons generally. He attended school as opportunity offered, both in Missouri and in this county and in the winter of 1872-73 taught in Cuba, Mo. He returned to the farm and remained thereon until December, 1878, using every spare moment in reading medicine. He then entered the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis, and was graduated after a three years' course of study. He
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF: "INIM
Respectfully AG Corr In, D.
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at onee located in Atwater, where he has remained and where since 1885, he has also carried on a drug store.
The father of Dr. Trout was a native of Trimble County. Ky., and bore the given name of Elkanah. llis father in turn was Daniel Trout, a native of Pennsylvania and the son of German parents. The father of our subject grew to manhood in his na- tive State and removed thence to Missouri about 1840. He was a pioneer settler in Warren County. whence he went to Clarke and from there to St. Charles County. He lived on a farm there until the spring of 1865, when he came to this county and bought his present property in Shaw's Point Township. His wife, formerly America C. Ander- son. was born in Kentucky, December 1, 1827. Their family consists of seven sons and daughters.
Dr. Trout takes much interest in the work of medical societies, finding them a source of personal improvement, and greatly enjoying association with other professional men, in conversation with whom he can brighten and strengthen his ideas. Ile belongs to the Society of Macoupin County for Medical Improvement, Illinois State Medical So- ciety and American Medical Association, and is also connected with the Illinois Pharmaceutical As- sociation.
LBERT CAMPBELL CORR, M. D., of Carlinville, a specialist in diseases of the EYE, EAR and THROAT and associated with his wife, Dr. L. H. Corr, in practice, is one of the foremost physicians in this part of the State. He is a native of this county, a descendant of one of its earliest and best-known pioneer fam . ilies and was born in lloney Point Township, Feb- ruary 10, 1840. IIe is a son of Thomas Corr, who was born in King and Queen's County, Va., in 1800. Ilis father was of English birth, and coming to America in early life with his brothers, he ever after made his home in Virginia until his life was rounded out by death.
Thomas Corr went to Kentucky when quite
young and there married at the youthful age of sev- enteen years, Miss Preshea Wood becoming his wife. She was a native of Mississippi and a daugh- ter of Micajah Wood. She died at Monroe, Iowa, October 9, 1888, at the age of eighty-six years and six months. After marriage Mr. Corr located in Oldham County, and there engaged in farming, operating his land with slave labor. His sentiments, however, were not in sympathy with that degrading institution of the South. and in consequence he decided to emigrate to a free State. In pursuance of that resolve he visited Illinois in 1832 and bought a squatte"'s claim to a tract of land on sec- tion 18, of what is now Honey Point Township, and he entered that and some land adjoining, his being the lirst or second entry of land in that township. After he had secured the title to his land he returned to Kentucky on horseback, as he had come.
Mr. Corr settled his business in Kentucky, and in 1834 removed his family to their future home, making the journey with teams. There was a log house on the claim that he had bought, and into that humble dwelling the family moved, and he at once commenced the hard pioneer task of develop- ing a farm from his wild land. The county was but thinly inhabited and deer, turkeys and other kinds of game abounded. There were no railways and the nearest market was at Alton, thirty-five miles distant. In 1849 Mr. Corr erected a sawmill on Honey Creek and shortly after removed his fam- ily to that neighborhood and there dwelt until his well-spent life was brought to a close in January, 1852, ere old age had come upon him.
Ile was a man of pure and lofty character and was greatly beloved in his community, as he was untiring in his efforts to benefit his fellow-men and to do good. His wife possessed the same kindly nature, and among their benevolent deeds was the rearing of eight orphan children. Both were active members of the Baptist Church, and he was Clerk of the Apple Creek Association. He was a well educated man, and though never ordained he occasionally preached. He served as Justice of tlie Peace several years, and in that office he was a peace-maker indeed, as by his wise arbitration many a neighbor's quarrel was settled without
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litigation. Politically, he was an anti-slavery Whig. Ile served bis township as School Trustee and was one of the County Commissioners when the second court-house was built in this county.
The parents of the subject of this sketch had eleven children of their own, namely: Robert S., James B., Columbus W., William, Frances, Thomas Jefferson, Martha Ann, John, Franklin R., Albert C. and Milton B., only three of whom are living- James, Martha and the subject of this sketch. The family was well represented in the army during the Civil War. Franklin R. was in Company B, First Missouri Cavalry, and nobly sacrificed his life for his country, being killed in a cavalry charge at Sugar Creek. Ark., February 17, 1862. James was a physician and enlisted in Company F. One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, serv- ing as Assistant Surgeon of the regiment. Lucian C., an adopted son, served in Company C. Four- teenth Illinois Infantry, three vears, and in Com- pany K. Seventh Illinois Infantry, one year and was four times wounded at the battle of Shilob.
Dr. Corr received his early education in a pio- neer school taught in a log house near the line of sections 18 and 19. The building was a primitive affair, chinked and daubed with mud to keep out the cold, and heated by a rude fireplace with an earth and stick chimney ; it had a puncheon floor. seats made of slabs without back -. There were no desks in front of the seats, but a board against the wall on the west side of the house answered the purpose, as it was placed there for the larger scholars to write upon. Above this board there were two crooked logs comprising a part of the side of the building and placed one above the other in such a manner as to leave a large crack to admit the light on the desk. When not in school our subject assisted in the farm work, but he was de- sirous of completing his education, and in 1861 he prepared for three years steady attendance at school. Ile was, however, destined to be disap- pointed in that aspiration, for the war breaking out and his brother next older than himself enlisting in defence of the Union, the care of the farm de- volved upon him, and he attended school only a part of each year. In 1863 he entered Blackburn Seminary and was a student at the institution one
year. During the early part of the war he did duty in a posse of the Deputy Marshal, and in May, 1864, enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, in which he served four months.
After this Dr. Corr resemed his duties on the farm with his widowed mother and soon began the study of medicine, which he read diligently at such times as was possible amid the farm work. In October, 1865, he entered for a three-years' course the Chicago Medical College, now the medical de- partment of the Northwestern University, and con- tinued as a faculty student for two years. During the vacation of his last year he studied in the office of Drs. J. P. Mathews and L. Mathews, of Carlin- ville. Ile was graduated March 4, 1868 and was the first physician in the county who took so ex- tended a course as three years in a medical college. He was also the first to graduate from a school of graded instruction as his Alma Mater was the first to establish such a course of instruction in this country.
Dr. Corr commenced the practice of his profes- sion in Chesterfield and remained there seven years before he established himself in Carlinville, where he has ever since lived. He has always taken an active interest in the development of the efficiency of the practice of medicine in his native county and State. He was one of the instigators and char- ter members of the Society of Macoupin County for Medical Improvement, which was organized September 16, 1873. For a number of years this society hield its meetings quarterly and during the first ten years of its existence the Doctor was most of the time acting Secretary. In April, 1880, he was chosen its President, and in 1883 he wrote and contributed to the society its decennial history, from which it appears that during those years he had not missed a meeting,and had contributed more papers and topics for discussion and deliberation than any other member.
The population of Macoupin County having in- creased to over forty thousand in 1886, Dr. Corr relinquished by public announcement the general practice of medicine to which he had so largely contributed, in order to devote himself exclusively to the development of a more efficient practice in
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the special department of disease of the eye, ear and throat, a branch of the practice hereto much neglected in whole or in part by all the physicians of the county. To prepare himself for this work the Doctor pursued special studies; first by private course while in college, and more recently before assuming the responsible work, by a course in Man- hattan Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, and the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago, besides special instruction under Dr. A. E. Prince, of Jacksonville, and special dissections in the dissect- ing rooms of his Alma Mater.
In his chosen line Dr. Corr has already won a reputation for skill and success. He was the first resident physician of Macoupin County to perform the operation for cataract, June 10, 1887-and de- termine errors of refraction, and has performed many other minor operations on the eye requiring delicacy of touch steady nerve, clear brain and ability on the part of the physician. In this way he has helped to bring the practice of medicine to as high a standard in this county as it is in any other part of the State.
The Doctor was married April 20, 1865, to Miss Lucinda Ilall, of whom sce sketch on another page of this volume. They have a pleasant, well-ap pointed home, and their many friends are ever sure of an hospitable welcome whenever they cross its threshold. The Doctor is a prominent and val- ued member of various medical societies. Ile be. longs to the Society of Macoupin County for Med- ical Improvement, is a member of the Illinois State Medical Association, to which he has contributed several papers, and of the National Medical Asso- ciation. Ile was the first delegate from the County Medical Society to the State Medical Society, and the third physician from this county admitted to membership in that organization, Dr. John A. Ilal- derman, one of its charter members, being the first, and Dr. J. P. Mathews the second.
The Doctor is of a scientific and mechanical type of mind, rather than literary, and is a member of the Blackburn University Science Club. He is a charter member and Surgeon of Dan Messick Post No. 339, G. A. R .. and has prepared a roster of all the enlisted men from Macoupin County. He is also Secretary of the Board of Pension Examiners of
Montgomery County. A radical Republican, he believes in national and State prohibition and practices total abstinence; and also exerts his in- fluence in behalf of universal suffrage. Ile is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is indeed an influence for good in his community and none know him but to honor him. lle and his wife have acted the part of foster parents to sev- eral orphan children.
A lithographie portrait of the Doctor appears on the preceding page of this volume.
ILLIAM F. BURGDORFF, President of the Carlinville National Bank, and a mem- ber of the firm of William F. Burgdorff & Bro., dealers in clothing, gentlemen's furnishing goods, also merchant tailors, is one of the leading citizens of the county and an able representative of its financial and business interests. He was born in the town of Steinbrueck, Hanover, Ger- many, March 19, 1846. His father, Carl Burg- dorff, grandfather Daniel Burgdorff, and great- grandfather, John Henry Burgdorff, were all natives of the same county. The latter was in the employ of the Government as a Collector, and spent his entire life in his native land.
flis son, Daniel Burgdorff, was a miller by trade, and followed that occupation in the okl country until he came to America. After his arrival in the United States he bought a tract of land in Adams County, Wis., and devoted the remainder of his life to farming there until death closed his career in the fall of 1883 at a ripe age. He was the only one of his father's family to come to this country.
The father of our subjeet learned the trade of a miller, and continued to carry it on in the Father, lard until 1857, when he sold his mill, as he had resolved to emigrate to the New World, and accom- panied by his wife and five children he set sail for these shores from Bremen on the 31st of August. and landed at. New Orleans on the 7th of the fol- lowing November. From there they went to St. Louis, stopping there six weeks, and then came to Carlinville, arriving here on the very last day of
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the year. Mr. Burgdorff soon purchased a lot and erected a dwelling here, and opening a grocery store, continued that business here some years. After that he retired from active business, and May 31, 1883, departed this life. The maiden name of his wife, who is still a resident of Carlin- ville, was JJohanna Cramm. She was born in the same German town that was the birthplace of her husband, and is the daughter of Henry Cramm. She is the mother of six children, namely :- William F., Jacobina, Lena, Charles H., Minnie and Bertha, the latter of whom was born in Car- linville.
William F. Burgdorff commenced to attend school when he was six years old, and went quite regularly until he came to America. He then at- tended the public school here, also the German school, and advanced his education by attendance at Blackburn University. In the summer season he was employed in the duties of the farm. For six months he worked at cigar-making when he first started out in life on his own account, and in 1861 entered upon his mercantile career as a clerk in a general store for Boyce & McNeill. He was thus employed for various firms until 1867, when he began business for himself, opening a clothing and gentlemen's furnishing store, which he has conducted successfully ever since. On the 1st of January, 1877, his brother Charles H. became a partner, and this connection still continues So well have they managed their business it has stead- ily increased in size, and March 30, 1889, they opened a branch store at Greenfield, Ill., which has been a success.
October 22, 1868, Mr. Burgdorff was united in marriage with Miss Lina Lieber. Mrs. Burgdorff was horn February 18, 1847, at Hersfeld, Hesse- Cassel, Germany, a daughter of Dr. Alexander Lieber, a native of Amsterdam, Holland, his birth taking place January 19, 1818. His father, Fred- erick Lieber, was born at Regensburg, Germany, May 1, 1789, a son of Nicholas Lieber, also born at Regensburg, the year of his birth being 1759. The father of the latter, great great-grandfather of Mrs. Burgdorff, was Joseph Anton Lieber. He was a teacher of music, and also a Government employe in its service, his entire life heing passed in his
native land. His son Nicholas held a position in the king's palace, called in German "Hofrath," and was also a member of the Reichstag at Regensburg. His death took place in 1839. Frederick Lieber was a violinist at a theatre at Munich, and later tenor in a theatre at Mannheim, Amsterdam and Casell. He was at length appointed Hofsinger to the wife of the Duke of Hesse-Cassel. He died in 1867 full of years and honors.
The father of Mrs. Burgdorff received a univer- sity education, and was a Doctor of Philosophy at the lligh School at lesse-Cassel, also Professor of Mathematics and Natural History. His death in 1867 at Hesse-Cassel deprived it of a citizen who stood high among the educators of that part of Germany. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Amanda Rauch. She was born at Nieder- rodenbach, Germany, May 17, 1819, and died March 6, 1854. She was a daughter of Metropoli- tan Henry Rauch, a minister in the Lutheran Church, and holding a position much the same as that of presiding elder in this country, Ile spent his whole life in the German Fatherland.
Mrs. Burgdorff and her sisters, Cornelie and Mary, set sail for this country July 9, 1864, on the steamer "Borussia," landed at New York, and thence came directly to their aunt in Carlinville. The following is the record of the birth of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Burgdorff: Hattie C. was born July 17, 1869; Amanda J., December 13, 1870; Alexander Charles, January 28, 1873; and Flora H., June 3, 1875. Both our subject and his estimable wife were reared in the Lutheran Church, and to its tenets are faithful adherents.
Mr. Burgdorff is prominently connected with various enterprises that have advanced the growth of the business interests of this city of his adop- tion, and he has also borne a conspicuous part in the administration of its public affairs. When the Carlinville National Bank was organized in May, 1896, he was elected its President, and his capacity for financial matters and clear judgment have un- doubtedly been of great service in establishing it on a firm foundation. Ile has also served as Presi- dent of the Carlinville Building and Loan Associa- tion. Ile has been elected to various offices of trust, and has attended to the duties thus thrust
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upon him with the same close attention and effi. ciency that characterizes his management of his private business. lle was a member of the Board of Education eight years, and for one year was its President. He was at one time Mayor of the city, and he has also served it as a member of the City Council. Socially, Mr. Burgdorff is a member of Mt. Nebo Lodge, No. 76, A. F. & A. M. Politi- cally, he is one of the leading Republicans of this section, and has been a delegate to various State and county conventions.
FG RANK M. SOLOMON, a retired farmer re- siding in Palmyra was born on a farm on see- tion 32, North Palinyra Township, Septem - ber 6, 1838. His father, the llon. Lewis Solomon Was born in Muhlenberg County, Ky., April 1, 1812. The family from which he has descended is of Welsh and English origin and the first ancestors in this country settled in Maryland and North Carolina. Lewis Solomon, the grandfather of our subject, took part in the Revolutionary War and was one of the gallant Marion's band which did such good service in the campaigns in South Carolina, striking terror into the hearts of the British invaders. lle was married about the year 1798, to Sarah Bowden, a daughter of John Bowden, a prominent citizen of Franklin County, N. C. In 1811 he removed into Kentucky and Judge Solomon, the seventh child, was born in that State.
The home of the Solomon family in Muhlenberg County, was in a rough and poor strip of country, and the father of our subject attended for a few months a subscription school kept by a man named Shelton, and this was the only schooling he received in Kentucky. In 1825 the family emigrated to Ill- inois, making a tedious and wearisome journey as most of the family came on foot. They had lost their financial means by the breaking of a bank and when they reached the new home, had no money to invest in land. Their first home was made near Jacksonville, in Morgan County, and they spent the winter in a log cabin part of the floor of which
was composed of mother earth. In the spring they moved to the head of the Sandy, five miles from Jacksonville, and the following year settled in Pal- myra Township, Macoupin County. Ilere Judge Solomon's father lived and engaged in farming un- til his death in August 1849. Ilis mother died the preceding February.
The father of our subject was a boy of exceed- ingly bright faculties, especially in the line of . mathematics and made excellent progress in his studies, although his opportunities were so poor. Besides helping his father in carrying on the farm, he and his brothers were hired out by the month and thus aided in raising the necessary money for family purposes. The father had to borrow the money with which to enter his first eighty acres of land, paying for its nse the exorbitant interest of twenty five per cent. But, by the family industry and economy, ail debts were paid and when the grandfather of our subject died, he possessed a clear title to two hundred and fifty-six acres. Lewis the second, was a volunteer in the Black Hawk War and saw hard service during his short two monthis' campaign.
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