USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Portrait and biographical record of St. Clair County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 44
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Henry Voskamp, Jr., undertook the task of self- support when he was twenty-one years of age. Ilis first business venture was in a general merehan- dise store in Fayetteville, which position he occu- pied for two years. He then sold goods and elerked for several firms for a number of years, and after- ward took the position of collector and general agent for the News-Democrat and the Zeitung, two papers published in Belleville, III. In the year 1888, our subjeet married Miss Emma, daughter of Rudolph and Anna (Hermann) Heimberger. The result of this union has been two children, namely, Hermann and Anna.
Although now only thirty-four years old, Henry
g.g. Rayhill
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Voskamp is recognized as one of the prominent citizens of his county, and is a man calculated in every respect to make for himself and family a place in the front ranks of Fayetteville society. llis political sympathies are with the Democratic party, and he has ever manifested a high degree of public spirit, interesting himself in every move- ment which would tend to advance the interests of his county.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Voskamp are liberal and in- telligent thinkers and together take an active in- terest in matters of local importance, both of a social and public nature, and wield a decided in- fluence throughout the- community and even be- yond the vicinity of their home.
The heritage of sturdy ancestry has ever been an element of progression in this country, and in this instance it is one clearly recognized as a lead- ing factor in that which goes to make up the best of our citizens. No family can boast better pro- genitors than the one whose representative is the subject of this sketch, and the characteristics dis- played by father and grandfather have descended unto the third and fourth generation.
OHN JACOB RAYHILL is now the oldest living settler of Engelman Township, and one of the most honored pioneers of St. Clair County. He was born on the farm which is yet his home on section 3, his birth of- curring on the 4th of March, 1824, and for almost seventy years he has witnessed the growth and upbuilding of this county and aided in its devel- opment. His father was born and reared in Bote- tourt County, Va., and was married in Alleghany County to Sarah Dew, sister of Rev. John Dew, who was born in Ilampshire County, Va.
In the State of his nativity, Mr. Rayhill followed farming for several years, and was for three months a soldier in the War of 1812. He also engaged in teaching sehool. It was in 1818 that he emigrated to St. Clair County, Ill., locating three miles east of Belleville, on what is known as the John Ryder
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farm. A year later, he went to Engelman Town- ship and bought land on sections 2 and 3. At one time he owned over one thousand acres, and, with the exception of a quarter-section, he entered the entire amount from the Government. In the fam- ily were four children who grew to manhood and womanhood, but only two are now living: John Jacob, and Virginia, widow of James Michell, a resident of Marion, Kan. Charles died in 1882, and Betsy Ann died on the 6th of April, 1841. Mr. Rayhill, father of this family, was a faithful member, active worker and liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican. IIe died on the 2d of October, 1867, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years, and his wife departed this life July 28, 1862.
We now take up the personal history of our sub- ject, who was educated in the subscription schools of this county and grew to manhood upon the home farm. On the 7th of May, 1856, he married Miss Adeline, daughter of Pintcher and Elizabeth Pitts, early settlers of this county. They began their domestic life upon the farm which is now the home of Mr. Rayhill, and unto them were born four children, but three are now deceased. Vir- ginia M., who became the wife of William II. Dug- ger, a farmer on section 3, Engelman Township, died in 1888; George died in 1880, and Sarah died in infancy. Charles Edward is still living on the old homestead. Ile married Miss Bertha, daughter of Jacob Eisenmayer, who came to Mas- contah in an early day. The daughter was reared and educated in Mascoutah. Unto Charles and his wife have been born two children, Wallace and Edna. The mother died November 28. 1866, and was buried on the old Rayhill farm. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Rayhill owns five hundred and thirty-six and one-third acres of land in Engelman Township, of which three hundred acres are under a high state of cultivation and improved with all the acees- sories of a model farm. As before stated, he is , one of the oldest residents of the county, and can remember when the Indians were still residents of the neighborhood and when deer and other wild game were to be had in abundance. Throughout
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his entire life, he has followed farming, exeept in , 1850, when he went across the plains to California. While en route, they were attacked with cholera and two young men of the party died. On reach- ing his destination, Mr. Rayhill engaged in min- ing. The return trip was made by the Isthmus of Panama and New York. As there were no rail- roads, he had to go by steamer back to New Or- leans and thence came up the Mississippi to St. Louis. He left San Francisco on the 1st of April, and arrived home on the 3d of May. In early life, he was a supporter of the Whig party, but has voted the Republican ticket since the organization of that party and is one of the stanch advocates of its principles. He is a prominent and influential citizen, widely and favorably known, and his ster- ling worth and striet integrity have won him the confidence and high regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
OSEPHI A. KURRUS. The old saying that industry brings sure reward, as surely as does virtue, is proven in the life of the gentle- man whose name opens this sketch. He be- gan at the bottom of the ladder of fortune, but now is regarded as one of the financial pillars of East St. Louis. Ihs livery and undertaking estab- lishment is located at Nos. 104, 106 and 108 Third Street, with a frontage of seventy-two feet, running through to Main Street. The buildings are all of brick, and are made to accommodate the necessary equipages and paraphernalia necessary for the ear- rying on of the largest business of the kind in this city. 1 -
Our subject's grandfather was in the wars of Na- poleon, and had removed in 1792 from Alsace, France, to Baden, Germany, where he died in 1814. The father of our subject, Frank, was born May 4, 1794, in Baden, Germany, where he con- ducted a trade as locksmith. Frank followed the example of many of his countrymen and came to America, reaching here in 1860, and locating at
East St. Louis, as a locksmith, where he died Ang- ust 28, 1867. The mother of our subjeet was a de- vout Catholic, born in Baden, Germany, February 2, 1802, and lived in this country until she was eighty years and fifteen days old.
The gentleman of whom these lines are written was the fifth of a family of six children, and was born March 13, 1840, in the city of Endingen, which is a historie old fortified town of Baden, with but three entrances. Ile received the rud- iments of an education in the German schools and made himself generally useful to his fa- ther and also to his uncle in the grain business. When twenty years of age, Joseph eame by way of the sailing-vessel "William Frothingham" to America, landing (after a voyage of fifty days, forty of which were stormy) in New York, and then traveled to different places, until he finally rested at East St. Louis, April 19, 1861. The young man did not wait for work to find him, but began immediately as a carpenter, then as a coal heaver, and at last worked on the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad as night watchman and night baggage man on Front Street for twelve years, until 1873, when long frugality enabled him to go into the grocery business on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets. Ile there continued until 1883, when he began his present business. This was begun on a small scale, he first buying out Meyer & Strotman, and when the business war- ranted it, built his present large establishment, stocking it with everything in his line; he also does embalming.
Mr. Kurrus is a large owner and dealer in real estate in the city. He laid ont the Kurrus place in 1891 on the Belleville turnpike, and sold all of the twenty-aere tract one mile east of the city court house. Our subject also sold the one hun- dred and three acres laid out as Forest Lawn, and has on hand a number of residences and four brick biocks, besides a farm in this county. and is a stockholder and Director in the Glenn Manufactory here. In November, 1865, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Johannes. She was of German birth and passed her whole life in this place. She died and left her sorrowing husband six chil- dren: Frank J., who is with his father in the liv-
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ery business, Elizabeth, Joseph A .. Charles, Lena and Frederick. Mr. Kurrus believes in the prin- viples of the Democratie party, and gives his vote for the candidates selected by it. He is a member of St. Henry's Chureb, and is a man who stands very high in the financial circles of this city.
C
E P. RAAB, M. D. There are some doctors who diagnose cases and administer medi- cines very much after the manner of a priest administering extreme unction. Their pro- ceedings are characterized by a solemnity that makes the patient feel himself, even when his ail- ment is not a serious one, almost within the grasp of the Grim Destroyer. There are other physicians who seem to look upon the patient as a machine, the parts of which have in some way or other been thrown out of gear, and, losing sight of the faet that the machine has sensibilities as well as func- tions, they proceed with hammer and tongs to remedy the difficulties complained of. Still an- other class of physicians, recognizing the fact that there is something more than a barren ideality in ininistering to a mind diseased, or in other words, that the mental condition of the patient has in many cases much to do with his physical condi- tion, always leave their patients in that happy frame of mind which contributes in no small de- gree to speedy recovery, providing the nature and character of the ailments or the intensity of suffer- ing are not such as to make a placid condition of the mind impossible.
It is to the latter class of physicians that Dr. Raab belongs. He was born in Belleville, October 20, 1859, a son of Hlenry Raah, the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois. The latter was born June 20, 1835, and fortun- ately received his education in a gymnasium in Germany. When seventeen years of age, he left home, friends and native land, to seek a home in the New World, and in 1852 resided for some time in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio; the follow- ing year he was in both St. Louis, Mo., and Belle-
ville, Ill. He followed the calling of a teacher in these places, and so proficient was he that for many years he held the position of Superintendent of the eity schools. In this capacity his fame as an educator and disciplinarian went abroad, and in 1882 he was elected State Superintendent of Publie Instruction, and was re-elected to the posi- tion in 1890, during the interval being a resident of Belleville. In him are strikingly exemplified those characteristics and principles which conduce to the occupation of positions demanding the display of great mental abilities, and which have made him distinguished as an educator and his career a succession of honors. Ile was married to Miss Matilda Von Lengerke, a native of Hanover, Germany, and their union resulted in the birth of five children, three of whom are living: Dr. E. P .; Lena, wife of Hugo Eyssell, of Kansas City, Mo .; and Matilda, the private secretary of her father.
Dr. E. P. Raab received his literary education in the publie schools of Belleville and in Washington University, of St. Louis, Mo., and later graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Fol- lowing this be read medicine with Prof. A. W. Miller, of the University of Pennsylvania, and at the same time took lectures, graduating in the Class of '81. For some time thereafter he was the resident physician of the German Hospital of Phil- adelphia, and still later was assistant to Dr. James M. Collins, of Philadelphia. During this time he continued to pursue his medieal studies with ear- nestness and zeal in the University of Pennsyl- vania, taking the auxiliary course of medicine and receiving his third degree, and in the month of June, 1882, was graduated as Doctor of Philosophy. Hle immediately came West and located at Iligh- land, Ill., where he was successfully engaged in the practice of his profession until February, 1885, when he went to Europe for the advantages of further study and preparation for his work. Ile spent some time in Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Leipsic, in the renowned medical institutions of which places he further fitted himself for his call- ing. He spent two very profitable years abroad, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the Ger- man language. He then returned to his home in
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America, and in December, 1886, located at Belle- ville, where he at onee entered into an extensive practice, for which he had thoroughly fitted him- self during his eight years of preparation and study.
Our subject is possessed of much native taet and a | broad knowledge of mankind, and while diagnos- ing a case carefully and administering expedi- tiously the proper remedies, he has also the happy faculty of getting that class of patients who are not quite sure whether they want to live or die, with whom every physician has more or less to do, very much in the notion of living. There is a sunshine in the presence of the man which pen- etrates and dispels the gloom hanging about the chronie sufferer, and there is a heartiness in his
1 greeting, coupled with a generous sympathy, which forces upon even the confirmed hypochondriac the conclusion that life is, after all, worth living. He is eminently fitted for his ealling, both by nature and training, is very popular and is highly hon- ored by his professional brethren.
Ile was married to Miss Minna Fleer, a daugh- ter of .1. 11. Fleer, a native of Herford, Germany, their union taking place October 31, 1883. It has resulted in the birth of three bright little children: Else Charlotte, Henry Frank and Anita Emma. Dr. Raab is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Illinois Medical Society, the St. Clair County Medical Society and the Belleville Medical So- ciety, being Secretary of the latter, and ex-Sec- retary of the county association. His office and residence are at No. 301 South High Street.
ILLIAM WINKELMANN. The honest dis- charge of every trust reposed in his hands, the unusual ability shown in different di- rections, and the interest he has taken in the ad vancement of measures for the good of St. Clair County, have caused William Winkelmann long since to be classed as one of the leading citizens of this part of the State. All that he has achieved or gained has been the result of his own good fight-
ing qualities. He is now one of the prominent legal lights of the State and is noted for his legal attainments.
Mr. Winkelmann was born in Destel, Prussia, February 28, 1829, and is the son of Christian and Wilhelmina Winkelmann, the father a practicing lawyer and a large property-holder. He was a man of much prominence in his country and one whose mental capacity was far above the average. He was the second of ten children, three of whom are now living, a brother in Germany, and a sister, now a widow, residing in St. Louis, Mo. He had every opportunity for receiving a good education, but he was satisfied with a public- sehool education, being of such a disposition that he could not submit to the dull and irksome routine of school life. His knowledge, therefore, is not derived from books, but from actual experience and contact with the world.
To a youth of his pushing energy and ambition. the better chances of the United States became a temptation that could not be resisted, and he de- termined to seek his fortune on this side of the ocean. On the 25th of April, 1849, he left his native country and came direct to St. Louis, where he ar- rived on the 2d of July of that year. without money, or relations or friends to apply to for assist- ance. He was a complete stranger in the city. Right then and there, for the first time in his life, he realized that henceforth his success in life must depend upon himself. Ile soon found work at teaming, for which he received $10 per month and board, but after following this for six months his employer failed with some of our subject's money in his pocket. The latter began driving a team at a sawmill in St. Louis, receiving as com- pensation $25 per month, and continued at this for eighteen months, when the men and teams were removed to Jefferson County, Mo. There he con- tinued the same occupation.
At the end of six month, young Winkelmann bought a wagon and team and hauled iron ore from Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain to St. Gene- vieve, a distance of twenty-five miles. At the end of two years, he sold his wagon and traded his horses for a saloon in Caledoma, Washington County, Mo. On the 7th of November, 1855, he
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was married at Judge Perryman's to Miss Elizabethi Ilanger, an American lady, and the next day left for the Prairie State, landing at Monroe City, Monroe County. At that place he conducted a successful saloon business for two years, and during this time he became convinced that:
"Ilonor and shame from no conditions rise. Act well your part, there all the honor lies."
While thus engaged in business, our subject be- gan the study of law, secured a dictionary, "Walk- er's American Law," and "Haine's Treatise," and with the assistance of his wife and the dictionary overcame the difficulties of the language. Ile be- gan practicing in justice courts and met with signal success from the first. While in court at Waterloo, he applied to Hon. . I. B. Underwood, of Belleville, to read law in his office and in a week had read "Blackstone" through. The following spring he was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court, and his first year's fees amounted to $1,500. In 1868, he came in contact with Judge Gillespie on a question concerning an injunction suit, which resulted adversely, but he removed his case to the Supreme Court, where he became victorious. The better class of citizens began to recognize his mer- its and to employ him, so that his practice soon brought him in from 88,000 to $10,000 per year. He made large investments in landed property and at the present time is the owner of twenty farms, all highly cultivated, and comprising forty-six hundred acres in St. Clair, Clinton and Monroe Counties. Ilis real estate aggregates not less than *200,000.
Alwaysa Democrat, Mr. Winkelmann frequently, ' in heated campaigns, takes the stump, and his speeches are noted for good, sound sense and a thorough familiarity with the questions of the day. Ile is a gifted orator and commands and holds the attention of his audience by his earnest- ness, logical statements and forcible delivery. As a lawyer, he is well read, and as a criminal lawyer, he excels. His aggressiveness is frequently displayed, as indicated in the following: The judge presiding over a trial of a case at one time, being in a bad humor, said to our subject: "Mr. Winkelmann, you give me more trouble than any other member of the Bar." Quick as a flash came the answer from
Mr. Winkelmann: "May it please the Court, I have more business than any other member of the Bar." The Judge smiled and business proceeded. The se- cret of his success lies in his self-reliance, industry and indomitable will, trained in the hard, rough school of adversity. At an early age, he learned to depend upon himself, and as a consequence has met with enviable success in all his attempts. He has a library composed of eleven hundred volumes and is thoroughly posted on all subjects.
In 1882, Mr. Winkelmann became the owner of the Belleville fair grounds, and the purchase price and improvements he has made on this have cost him $40,000. This is one of the finest in the State and stands next to that of St. Louis. It is a gen- eral resort, He is also a member of the Fair Asso- ciation. Mr. Winkelmann had, in the early part of 1882, the misfortune to lose his wife, and on the 5th of December, 1883, he married Mrs. Lucretia Shook, widow of Isaac Shook, and the daughter of Maj. Wooters, of Monroe County. Iler husband, Isaac Shook, was a farmer near Belleville. One son, William, was born to our subject's first union. He died in 1885, when thirty-two years of age. Mrs. Winkelmann is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a woman of truc culture and refinement. Their pleasant home is located at No. 417 B Street.
C APT. MILTON MCFARLAND. The original of this notice is the pleasant and accommodating Superintendent of the Wig- gins Ferry Company under Capt. Sackmann. Hle lias a thorough understanding of his business and is one of the most efficient men in the employ of this company.
The grandfather of our subject was a planter in North Carolina, of Scotch descent, and the father was born in the same State, where he turned to agricultural pursuits. When a young man, he emigrated to Missouri and made a settlement at Farmington, where he married and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved
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and operated until 1866, when he came to St. Loms. Ilere he lived retired until his death in 1873. Ile was a quiet, casy-going man, and a Democrat in politics, often serving in township otlices. Hle was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The mother of our subject was Amanda Frezelle, who was born in North Carolina, and died at her home in 1865. She was the mother of twelve children, and all grew to maturity and ten are now living. Three brothers of our subject, John, Newman and George, were in the Civil War in the Confederate army.
The original of this sketch was reared on the farm until he was seventeen years of age and was given the rudiments of knowledge in the little log schoolhouse of the district. His birth took place at Farmington, Mo .. December 14, 1849, he be- ing the third youngest. He was reared on the farm until he was tired of its duties, and as there was no school during the war, he learned little in books in those disastrous years. In 1866, he came to St. Louis and obtained employment with the Chi- cago & Alton Railroad Transfer Company in Fast St. Louis, and remained there until the spring of 1871, when he began with the Wiggins Ferry Company as a deck hand on the "Ed C. Wiggins" for Capt. Pernoe, and then for Capt. Trendley on the same boat. lle worked his way until he be- came pilot on the old "Simon C. Christy," and for five or six years he remained as pilot, but in 1880 he became Captain of the old "Springfield" and ran it for four years. He then became Captain on the tng "Samuel C. C'lubb," and for three years he ran that noisy little boat and had charge of various other boats until in 1890 he was made Assistant Superintendent under Capt. Il. Sackmann and this . important post, requiring a man of energy and ex- perience, he has held ever since.
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Our subject was married in East St. Louis, in 1873, to Charlotte Miller, a native of Buffalo, N. Y. They have five children living: Harvey, Floyd, Lotta. Pearl and Freddie. The Captain is a member of the Knights of Honor and the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Honor, and in politics is a Democrat, but tives too busy a life to care for office. Ile has clung to the faith of his ancestors and attends the Presbyterian Church.
C'apt. McFarland, like all the other captains in the employ of the Wiggins Ferry Campany, is a whole- souled man and is also a thorough business man. We cannot account for it, but there seems to be a peculiar spirit of friendliness about these good captains which makes them pleasant men to meet, and they all have long tales of experiences which never happen to men in other lines, which they tell for the stranger's entertainment. Long live Capt. McFarland.
ILLIAM J. MILLER. One of the finest farms in Smithton Township and the first in St. Clair County proper that was set- tled, is the one upon which our subject resides. It is comprised in Survey 389. Mr. Miller came of French parentage, being the son of Michael Miller, born in Alsace, France, in 1811. The grandfathers of Mr. Miller on both sides fought under the great Napoleon, during and after the French Revolu- tion, one of them having an eye shot out. Two relatives of his father fought under La Fayette in the Revolutionary War in America. The father of William came to this country when a boy and located with his parents in New York State, and some time in the '30> came to Illinois. Ile selected Ridge Prairie as a home, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land from the Government, and after making some improvement sold it and bought eighty acres; but in 1818 came to the Turkey Hill farm, which he bought and there lived until seven years before his death, when he moved to Belleville, and died July 16, 1883.
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