USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 30
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Henry Clay Cupp, for many years prominent as fruit raiser, has been president of the Adams County Fair Association, was levee commissioner of the Quiney levee, president of the Mississippi Valley Apple Growers' Association, president of the Central Illinois District Horticultural Society, was appointed delegate to the National Farmers' Congress, and has held other positions of honor and trust.
Judge Carl E. Epler in June, 1904, gave the writer of this history the following information about his ancestors: "The Epler family originally lived in Switzerland and from there emigrated to the Black Forest in Southwest Germany. In the year 1734 a number of Luth- erans, among them an Epler family, eame to this country, settling down in Berks County, Pennsylvania. In 1768 John Epler bought a traet of land in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : he died in 1782.
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Abraham Epler, a son of John Epler, born February 28, 1769, in Lancaster County, Pa., was married to Miss Anna Ohlweiler in 1791, and seven years later, in 1798, the comple emigrated to Kentucky, where they located at the falls of the Ohio river, six miles south of Louisville. In the year 1800 they crossed the river, and settled down in Clark County, Indiana. March 26, 1832, Abraham Epler emigrated to Illinois, landing at Beardstown and settling on Indian Creek in Morgan County, where he died Jannary 22, 1837, his wife departing this life May 3, 1847. John Epler, a son of Abraham Epler, born April 15, 1795, was married in Clark County, Ind., to Miss Sarah Beggs, a daughter of Capt. Charles Beggs. In 1831 the family emi- grated to Morgan County, Ill., where a son, Cyrus Epler, born No- vember 12. 1823, on the second day of August, 1852, was married to Miss Cornelia Nettleton, a daughter of Dr. Clark Nettleton at Jackson- ville. Ill. Cyrus Epler studied law, became prominent in his pro- fession, and was elected as state's attorney in several counties of the district, In 1872 he was elected circuit judge, and later was re-elected three times, altogether serving in that office for 24 years."
Carl E. Epler, a son of Cyrus and Cornelia (Nettleton) Epler, born November 20, 1857, after attending different schools, graduated from Illinois College, being elected as valedictorian of his class. He then went to Yale College, receiving the degree of Master of Arts in .Inne. 1876. Later he attended the University of Ann Arbor, Miehi- gan, where he studied law. graduating in 1879. April 27, 1880, Carl E. Epler came to Quiney, where he began to practice law. In the spring of 1881 he was elected city attorney, which office he held for three successive terms. being re-elected in 1882 and in 1883. In 1885 he revised the City Code of Quiney, comprising the constitutional provisions and statutes of the State of Illinois, affecting the govern- ment of the city, and the ordinances of the city council. In June, 1891. he was elected to fill a vacancy in the office of state's attorney. In November, 1894, he was elected to the office of county judge of Adams County, and in 1898 he was re-elected to that office, After the expiration of his term in December, 1902, he resumed his practice as attorney-at-law.
It was in the fall of 1904 when the writer of this history, in conversation with Homer M. Swope, the well known attorney, made the assertion that the latter's ancestors came from Germany, and that the name originally was written Schwab. Mr. Swope smilingly admitted the truth of the assertion, having in his possession a book entitled "History of the Swope Family and their Connections, 1676- 1896." The book, a volume of 390 pages, was published by Gilbert Ernest Swope, who lived in Newville, Pennsylvania, and was pro- prietor of a drug store in Pittsburgh. P. D. and J. B. Cochran. of Lancaster. Pennsylvania, printed the book. Gilbert Ernest Swope must have been a man of means, and also must have been possessed by an indomitable will-power, coupled with an inexhaustible amount
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of patience, to collect all the data contained in that book. He traced back his ancestry to Jost Schwab, who was born in Sinsheim, Baden, Germany, February 22, 1678, his father being burgomaster of Leimen, a town of about 2,700 inhabitants on the Bergstrasse near Heidelberg. In 1720 Jost Schwab, with his wife and five children, emigrated to America, where he bought 1,000 acres of land in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, settling down there, his death occurring in 1735. Gilbert Ernest Swope traced his family through nine generations, and published the names of 2,318 descendants of Jost Schwab, distributed all over the United States, finding many emi- nent men among them in all walks of life. In the Archives of Pennsyl- vania the author found the names of twenty families by the name of Schwab, who came to this country before the War of the Revolu- tion, between September 18, 1727, and September 20, 1764, but was unable to establish any connection between them and his ancestor Jost Schwab, who came from Sinsheim, Baden, in 1720.
In the course of his investigations Gilbert Ernest Swope dis- covered the ancestors of Homer M. Swope, and recorded them in his book, as follows: Rev. Benedict Schwab, born in Germany in 1732, studied theology, became a minister in the Reformed Church, emi- grated to this country, where he was engaged as a missionary; he was married to Miss Susanna Welker, and in 1759 was pastor in York, Pennsylvania, preaching in German and English ; Rev. Benedict Schwab died March 30, 1811, his wife having preceded him in death in 1795. George Schwab, a son of Rev. Benedict and Susanna (Welker) Schwab, was born January 9, 1758, in Spencer County, Kentucky, became a merchant, and was married to Miss Margaret Hoffheim, March 10, 1777; later George and Margaret (Hoffheim) Schwab moved to Maryland, locating near Baltimore, where on May 8, 1794, a son was born to them, whom they named Michael. But the family again returned to Kentucky, where the son grew up, learned the shoemaker's trade and became a merchant. And here we find the name in the record changed to Swope. Michael Swope, on December 3, 1813, was married in Kentucky to Miss Jane Ringo, she being born of German parents, September 23, 1792. In 1835 the family emigrated from Kentucky and settled down in Scott County, Indiana. Michael Swope died August 11, 1877, his wife having pre- ceded him in death August 11, 1866. Albert F. Swope, a son of Michael and Jane (Ringo) Swope, was born near Lexington, Ken- tucky, March 10, 1819, and came with his parents when they located in Scott County, Indiana, in 1835. He followed farming, and was married to Caroline T. Sullivan, September 2, 1842. Albert F. Swope died in this city November 20, 1909, his wife preceding him in death June 18, 1899. Homer M. Swope, the son of Albert F. and Caroline T. (Sullivan) Swope, was born May 15, 1857, in Vienna, Scott County, Indiana, and came to Illinois with his parents, where they, in October, 1857, located on a farm between Camp Point and Clayton in Adams County. He attended the district school and then entered Carthage
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College for four years, graduating in 1879. Taught school at Wag- ner's Bridge, eleven miles south of Beardstown, Cass County, Illinois, for one year. Came to Quincy, where he read law in Sibley, Carter & Goverts office for one year. In 1882 he entered the law depart- ment of the university at Ann Arbor, Michigan, which he attended for two years, graduating in June, 1884. Locating in Quincy. where he began practicing law, he on May 18, 1887, was married to Miss Hallie Bradley. In April, 1891, he was elected to the office of city attorney, which office he held for four successive terms, being re-elected three times. In 1896 he was appointed as a member of the school board by Mayor John A. Steinbach for a term of two years. In 1903, under the general school law, he was elected as a member of the school board for a term of three years, being re-elected for two more terms, he served eleven years altogether on that board. At present he is presi- dent of the board of directors of the Quiney Public Library. Mr. and Mrs. Homer M. Swope have three children, Lillian. Alma and Homer J. Swope.
George Washington Goodner in Quiney is a descendant of early German pioneers, that located in North Carolina, more than 150 years ago. The name evidently was written Gutner (pronounced Gootner). and this in the course of time led to the name Goodner. What today is known as North Carolina originally was called Carolana, named after Charles I. King of England, Scotland and Ireland, who in 1630 granted the land located between the 31st and 36th degrees of latitude, and for a distance of 1,000 miles west from the coast, to Sir Robert Heath, his attorney general, who later transferred the grant to Earl Arundel. But neither of the two grantees complying with the con- ditions of the grant, namely, to induce immigrants to locate in that vast territory, the grant was revoked in 1663 by Charles II. As far as known the first settlement of Germans was established at New Bern, North Carolina, in 1709, by Christoph Von Graffenried, and Louis Michel, 650 of the first immigrants coming from the Palatinate ( Pfalz) and 1,500 from Switzerland. Sixty of those pioneers were massacred by Indians at the conflux of the Neuse and Trent rivers. The ancestors of George Washington Goodner came from the Palatinate and settled down in Guilford County, North Carolina, in the forepart of the eighteenth century. His grandfather was Conrad Goodner (Gutner). and his grandmother Elizabeth Scherer, a daughter of Jacob Daniel and Sophia (Dick) Scherer, of Guilford County, North Carolina. When one considers the condition of things at that time existing. especially in the Palatinate, in Germany, the results of the Thirty Years' war from 1618 to 1648, making themselves felt for a century and more, it may be readily understood what indueed untold thou- sands of people to leave that country and look for a home in the new world, which appeared to them as the promised land, according to the old saying: "distance lends enchantment."
George Washington Goodner has in his possession a letter, dated
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April 19, 1764, and written by George Theobald Scherer, residing in Oberbexbach, Rhenish Bavaria, to his brother, Jacob Daniel Scherer (the great-grandfather of G. W. Goodner), in Guilford County, North Carolina. The contents of this letter afford an insight into conditions prevailing at that time. George Theobald Scherer wanted to join his brother Jacob Daniel Scherer "in the new country," and sold his land, having exeented a deed to the party buying the estate. But before he was able to consummate the deal, he was officially notified by the magistrate, that the sale would have to be revoked, otherwise his property and that of his brother would be confiscated. Conse- quently the sale was annulled. The reason for all this was explained as follows: After suffering for many years from continued wars, the Palatinate was slowly recovering and the authorities were averse to allowing people to emigrate and taking the money (gold), which they received for their possessions, out of the country to a far distant land.
The genealogy of the Scherer family for five generations is as fol- lows: (1) Jacob Daniel Scherer; (2) Frederick Seherer; (3) Jacob Seherer; (4) Rev. Simeon Scherer; (5) Rev. M. G. G. Seherer, D. D. The latter formerly was professor at Mount Pleasant Seminary, and at present is a Lutheran pastor in Charleston, South Carolina. He has been in correspondence with his relative, George Washington Goodner in Quiney, and in one of his letters stated that the college known as Whitsett Institute is located on the old Seherer homestead, near Allemanee Postoffice, North Carolina. Jacob Daniel Scherer's grandson. Jacob Seherer, was married to Elizabeth Moser, a danghter of Michael Moser, who had four or five brothers in Tennessee and Ohio. Conrad and Elizabeth (Seherer) Goodner were married in Guil- ford County, North Carolina, and emigrated to Sullivan County, Tennessee, where their son, Benjamin Goodner, was born June 6, 1795. Later the family moved to Smith County, Tennessee. Either in 1812 or in 1813 the family emigrated to Illinois, loeating at Fort Massac. Johnston County, and finally settling in St. Clair County, where George Washington Goodner, the son of Benjamin and Nancy (Jackson) Goodner, was born May 13, 1833. Benjamin Goodner had six brothers. George Washington Goodner in 1863 was married to Miss Mary Huff (Hoff) of Decatur, Illinois; she died in 1877. In 1881 he was married to Aliee E. Demsey, now living. George Washington Goodner has four children living, namely: George Wil- liam Goodner, in Southern Missouri: John Lewis Goodner, in Omaha, Nebraska : Mrs. Lennie Goit and William Raphael Goodner, both in Chicago.
It was in the fall of 1903, when the writer of this history met Hiram Franklin Cassell, who gave an interesting story about the genealogy of his family, which was of German origin: Michael Cas- sell. born in Hessen-Cassel, with his wife and one son came to Ameriea
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in 1696. Their emigration no doubt was due to the adverse conditions existing in the country of their birth, as the result of the Thirty Years' war, 1618-1648. They settled down in what now is Wash- ington County, Virginia, where the son, Abraham Gabriel Cassell, born in the fatherland 1695, grew up, and in 1762, being in the sixty- eighth year of his life, married Miss Bessie Fleener (Fliehner ?), nineteen years of age. January 14, 1763, a son was born to them, whom they named Michael; when this son was in the fifteenth year of his life, he enlisted as a fifer in the Amerienn army during the War of the Revolution, taking part in the battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, under Gen. John Stark. It was on this memorable occasion when General Stark, pointing at the enemy, said to his soldiers, that he would gain a vietory, or Molly Stark should be a widow that night ; then Michael Cassell, the youth still in his teens, picked up a gun, also taking an active part in the engagement, which resulted vie- toriously for the Americans. Later on he served under Gen. William Henry Harrison against the Indians, who at that time under Chief Tecumseh were committing all kinds of depredations, killing the set- tlers, pillaging and destroying their settlements. He took part in the Battle of Tippecanoe, on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, November 5, 1811.
Tecumseh's brother, prophet of the tribe, in the absence of the chief, who was attempting to form an alliance with tribes from the south for hostilities against the whites, demanded a parley and a conneil was proposed for the next day, But while General Harrison's little army, consisting of 300 regulars and 500 militia men, were sound asleep, the Indians suddenly attacked the camp at 4 o'clock in the morning. A desperate fight ensued, lasting till daylight and the In- dians finally were defeated and dispersed. Michael Cassell in the course of time attained the rank of colonel. His son, John Franklin Cassell, born Jannary I, 1799, in Washington County. Virginia, in- herited the martial spirit of his father, enlisting in the American army as a fifer during the War of 1812, and took part in the Battle of New Orleans, which was fought at Chalmette, about four miles below the city. January 8, 1815. General Jackson, in command of the Americans, with a force of 6.000 men, repulsed Sir Edward Paken- ham's army of 12,000 British veterans. Pakenham lost his life, while 700 of his men were killed, 1,400 wounded and 500 taken prisoner. The loss of the Americans amounted to 8 men killed and 13 wounded. This remarkable result is accounted for by the fact that General Jackson's men were entrenched, and protected by sandbags and cotton bales. Later John Franklin Cassell served in the Blackhawk war, attaining the rank of major; he also served in the Mexican war as colonel. In 1848 he settled down in Clayton, Adams County, Illinois ; he was a smith and gunsmith, which trade he learned from his father. Ile died March 23, 1886, aged eighty-seven years.
Iliram Franklin Cassell, a son of John Franklin Cassell, was born August 28, 1843, in Fort Des Moines, lowa, his father at that time
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being in command of the post. At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, serving four years and five months to the end of the war. In 1866 he enlisted in the Third Regular Cavalry, in which he served six years and seven months, taking part in the different Indian wars. At the massacre of Julesburg, Colorado, perpetrated by Indians in 1868, he saved the life of Charles Boone, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the famous backwoods- man and trapper. In 1869 Hiram Franklin Cassell was captured by Cheyenne Indians at Plain Creek, sixteen miles from Fort Kearney ; they traded him for four ponies to the Red Cloud Sioux, being held by the latter in captivity for eleven months, until Gen. George A. Custer (Kuester) defeated those Indians at Devil's Lake, Idaho, and Cassell was rescued. (Custer's ancestor, a Hessian soldier, was paroled 1778 after Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga. His name Kuester, hard to pronounce for English tongues, was, like so many others, changed to a form of easier pronunciation. Custer was a graduate of West Point. As a commander of cavalry divisions he fought in many battles of the Civil war, and was appointed brigadier-general for gal- lantry. With great distinction he served in several campaigns against the Indians. But on June 26, 1876, when he with 250 men dashed into overwhelming masses of Sioux Indians, he became surrounded. In the desperate battle Custer, as well as his brother, First Lieutenant Thomas Custer, and all soldiers were massaered to the last man. The fight is known as the Custer massaere at the Little Big Horn River, Montana.)
Solomon Cassell and William Cassell, neles, and James Cassell, a brother of Hiram Franklin Cassell, also served in the Eighth Illinois Infantry; besides these, two brothers, Abraham Cassell and Gabriel Cassell, and a nephew, Anderson N. Cassell, served in the Fiftieth Illinois Infantry. Finally a grand-nephew, Alonzo G. Cassell, served in the Forty-third United States Regiment in the Spanish-American war. Hiram Franklin Cassell took part in twenty-two battles and engagements during the War of the Rebellion. His uncle, William Cassell, lost his life in the second battle of Jackson, Mississippi, July 7, 1864. Hiram Franklin Cassell and his only daughter are at this writing living in Kansas City, Missouri; his only son, Warren L. Cassell, is sergeant of the police foree in Quincy.
After the foregoing record of old pioneers, who came to America in the early Colonial days, as far as the writer of this history was able to learn that record, we now get down to those who came some- what later.
SETTLERS OF 1833
The first German family locating in Quincy was that of Anton Delabar, who with his wife and daughter, Juliane, aged ten years, eame to this city in 1833. Anton Delabar was born in 1798 in Schelingen, Grand-duchy of Baden, while his wife, Barbara, nee
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Linnemann, was born in 1799 in Herboldsheim, Baden. Anton Delabar was a carpenter, and erected the first sawmill on the creek at Third and Delaware streets, being assisted by Henry Grimm, an old pioneer who came to this city in 1834, the mill being run by water-power. Delahar also erceted the first brewery on Kentucky, between Fourth and Fifth streets, later removing it to Front and Spring streets, where he continued the business for many years. Anton Delabar was one of the first judges of election in 1840, when the question of incor- porating Quincy as a city was voted ou by the people. When the votes were eanvassed on March 18. 1840, it was found that 228 votes were in favor and 12 votes against a city charter, which thus was adopted. In 1845 Anton Delabar organized the second German military company in Quiney, the "Quiney Jaeger" (the first German military company. the Quiney German Guards, being organized in 1844 by John Bernhard Schwindeler, taking part in the Mormon war). The "Quiney Jaeger" Company continued in existence until the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, when it formed the nucleus of Company H. the German company of the Sixteenth Illinois In- fantry. Capt. Anton Delabar was for many years prominent as a business man in this eity. His wife dying in 1860, he in later years returned to his old home in Baden, where he died in 1880. Juliane, the eldest daughter, who with her parents eame from Germany, grew up in this eity and was married to Adolph Kaeltz, one of the pioneers of Quiney. Lonise, another daughter of Anton and Barbara (Linne- mann) Delabar, was born in Quiney March 21, 1835, being the first child of German parents born in this eity. She was married to Her- man C. Sehroer, one of the pioneers of Quiney, who died September 5, 1866. Lonise Sehroer departed from this life Mareh 9, 1909. One son. P. A. (Duke) Sehroer, city clerk of Quiney, was born September 19, 1865. After acquiring his edneation in the publie schools, he learned the printer's trade in the offices of the Manufacturers' Ex- change, the Modern Argo and the Quincy Journal, serving on the reportorial staff of the latter paper and also on the Quiney Herald. He was private secretary to the Hon. J. Ross Mickey, representative of the Fifteenth Congressional District of Illinois, from December, 1901. to March 4, 1903. A vaeaney ocenrring in the office of city clerk in 1910. he was appointed by Mayor John A. Steinbach to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term, after which he was elected to the office by a vote of the people, for three successive terms. Novem- her 25, 1894, P. A. Duke Schroer married Miss Mary Ellen Brophy, daughter of George Brophy, for many years cireuit clerk of Adams County. They have one son, George Carl, and one daughter, Catherine Julia.
Charles Delabar, a son of Anton and Barbara (Linnemann) Dela- bar, was born in Quiney, in 1839. He grew up to manhood in this city and became interested in the business ventures of his father. At the beginning of the Civil war Charles Delabar rallied to the defense of the Union, enlisting in Company H. Sixteenth Ilinois Infantry, and
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was elected as second lieutenant of the company. But his father, being well along in years, needed the assistance of his only son in business, and so he resigned and came home. He married Miss Anna Thompson, whose father for many years held a responsible position with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, having charge of what is known as Thompson's Switch, north of the city. Charles Delabar at this writing lives in Chicago Heights, where he has two daughters, Mrs. John Cordes and Mrs. Charles Lepper, his wife having died many years ago.
As far as known, several other German families came to Quiney in 1833, namely : Christian Gottlob Dickhut, who was born in Muehl- hausen, Thuringia, Germany, January 4, 1804. In the year 1828 he married Johanna E. Schmidt, also born in Muehlhausen, February 8, 1810. They came to America in 1831, locating in Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania. In 1833 they came to Quincy and shortly afterward moved to the Mill Creek, seven miles south of the city, where Mr. Dickhut built a log cabin and went to farming. But he was taken down with malaria, and after suffering for a whole year, he tore down his cabin, brought the material to Quincy, where he rebuilt it and made his home in the city, where he occupied a prominent position in husiness, as a contractor and a merchant. While in the contracting business he, together with the early pioneers, Paul Konantz and Anton Guth, carried out the work of grading Maine and Hampshire streets from Third Street to the river front, quite an undertaking, consider- ing the high bluffs and the primitive implements of those days. During the "gold fever" of 1850, Christian Gottlob Diekhut, in company with his son Charles W. Dickhut, Charles Pfeiffer, and another pioneer, crossed the plains with two prairie schooners drawn by oxen. After an absence of one year they returned by crossing the Isthmus of Panama, thenee to New Orleans and from there by river to Quincy. Christian Gottlob Dickhut died in Quincy, August 12, 1878, his wife died August 17, 1885, in California, where she had gone with some of her children.
Charles W. Dickhut, a son of Christian Gottlob and Johanna (Schmidt) Dickhut, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1833, and came to Quincy with his parents in the same year. He grew up in this county and followed farming in Ellington and Mel- rose townships. During the war he served in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry. He finally located in Kansas, where he died in 1910. His wife, Margaret, nee Stork, at this writing resides in Nickerson, Kansas. George Diekhut, the next son of Christian Gottlob and Johanna (Schmidt) Diekhnt, was born in this city May 24, 1835 ; he married Catherine Dingeldein, daughter of the old pioneer Sebastian Dingeldein, and became a farmer. His first wife died and he married Mary Schuchmann. Later he came to Quincy and was humane officer for some years. He died May 18, 1912. One daughter, Mrs. Addie Tilden, lives in Chicago; one son, William, in Denver,
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