USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124
Mr. and Mrs. Martin have three children : Edna M., wife of Clarence Ram- sey, a machinist living in Nevada; Harry J., who is first sergeant in the Field Artillery of the United States Army; and William Eldon, still at home with his parents.
WILLIAM O. MCCORMICK. As noted elsewhere in this publication, some of the biggest work in modern times besides the improvement of Adams County land has been the reelamation of wet areas and swamps by the construction of drainage ditches and levees against the encroachment of river and creek waters. A large part of this work has been carried on within the present century, and credit for the improvements belongs especially to the Board of Levee Commis- sioners, one of whom since 1910 has been William O. McCormick. Mr. MeCor- miek is a practical farmer and knows the problems of drainage in the bottom lands by long and practical experience. He has one of those bottom farms. located five miles west of Ursa. His own residence is in the Village of Ursa.
Mr. McCormick has come to success in business and civic affairs from a
e
791
.
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
humble beginning as an orphan boy. He was born near the Village of Loraine in Keene Township August 4, 1868, a son of William and Emily (Pryor) McCormick. His parents were both natives of Ireland but were married in Adams County. William O. McCormick was only three years old when his mother died and at the age of fourteen he was left an orphan by his father's death. His father was twiee married, and by his first wife had five children : Mary, living at Dayton, Ohio, widow of James Loynds; Mrs. George Simmer- macher, of Keene Township; Rose, who lives at Loraine, widow of Joseph Hart- man; Thomas, who died at the age of fourteen; and William O., who was the youngest of his mother's family. The father married for his second wife Jane Taylor, who is still living. Her children are: Ella, Mrs. Thomas Payne, of Nebraska ; Theresa, who is married and lives in Nebraska ; and Phil, a rancher at Julesburg, Colorado.
After his father's death William O. McCormick had little opportunity to attend school and was soon in the ranks of wage earners. He worked at farm labor, and for three years was in the employ of one man, and was paid $17 a month, then considered high wages for farm hands. At the age of twenty-one he married Miss Cora A. Green, daughter of James and Catherine (Black) Green of Ursa Township. James Green was born in New York State October 21, 1829, and was a railroad man for a number of years, locating in Adams County in 1862. In that year he married Miss Catherine Black, a native of Ireland. James Green acquired a large tract of land, about 400 acres, in the bottoms of Ursa Township, and before his death had converted much of it into a productive farm. He served with the Missouri State Militia in the Civil war, and was a democrat in politics. James Green died May 28, 1891, at the age of sixty-two, and his wife at the age of sixty-five. They had two children, Laura and Cora A. Mrs. McCormick was born December 8, 1869. After his marriage Mr. MeCormick began cultivating a portion of the Green farm and has succeeded in bringing that tract of bottom land into cultivation and has placed some very valuable improvements there. He also owns 140 acres in the Conner Island Distriet that borders the Indian Grove District in Ursa Township. For the past five years his home has been in Ursa, from which point he superintends the operation of his 100 acre farm. He was made levee commissioner in 1910 for a term of three years, his associates being Doctor Nickerson and Selden G. Earl. In September, 1916, he was again appointed to this office, his associates being Doetor Nickerson and William Griser, both of Quincy. Mr. McCormick is a democrat. He and his wife have two daughters. Goldie, widow of Fred Gnuse, who died in May, 1917; and Ivy, at home.
HIERMAN W. FLEER is one of the live and progressive agriculturists of Elling- ton Township, with a well improved and ably managed farm in section 3. He is on Quincy rural route No. 3. The farm is kept in first class order in every respect, and he is one of the younger generation of men who now carry the heavy burdens of agriculture in Adams County.
He has lived on his present farm of 120 acres for the past four years. He grows abundant crops and feeds all the stuff raised in the fields to his livestock. He has been a practical farmer all his life and has always lived in Adams County, and since he was five years of age in Ellington Township.
Mr. Fleer was born August 17, 1886, in Quincy. For twenty-eight years his home was on the Ingram farm in Ellington Township, where his father was a tenant. While growing up there he attended the district school, the Washing- ton Schoolhouse. Mr. Fleer is a son of Peter and Frederica ( Heithold) Fleer, both natives of Herford, Germany. His father came to Adams County with his parents, while the mother came to this country alone. They met and married in Quincy, and lived here until their children were born, including five sons and two daughters. After they moved to the Ingram farm they spent the rest of their lives in Ellington Township. Mr. Fleer's father died at the home of
792
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
his son, December 26, 1915. He was born May 24, 1838. The mother died on the old farm April 9, 1911. She was born September 22, 1845. They were members of the St. James Lutheran Church. Two of their children, Anna and Walter, died in childhood. A son, Henry, is now a tenant farmer and by his marriage to Clara Beckman had the following children, Aurena, deceased, Florence and Clarence. Lydia Fleer married Ed Whittler and lives in Elling- ton Township. They have three sons and four daughters. Edward is a teamster in Quincy, is married and has one son. William is also in the teaming business in Quincy and has a family consisting of one son and three daughters.
Herman W. Fleer married in Quincy May 5, 1909, Laura Spilker. She was born April 6, 1885, and attended the public schools there from the eighth grade. Her parents were Henry and Anna (Pohlman) Spilker. Henry Spilker came to America with his parents at the age of twelve years. Ann Pohlman came to Quincy at the age of twenty-four with her uncle, Philip Guessling, and she married Mr. Spilker one year after arriving in Quincy. They then located in Quincy and Mrs. Fleer's father died there in the spring of 1909, at the age of sixty-five. Her widowed mother is still living in Quincy at the age of sixty-three. The Spilkers were long identified with St. Jacoby Lutheran Church. Mrs. Fleer's father by his first marriage to Anna Altheide, who died in the prime of life, had three daughters, all of whom are now married. Mrs. Fleer's brother George is married. Her sister Helen died after marriage. Lillie is the wife of Herman Shock, of Quincy, and they have one son. Harry Spilker is unmarried and living in Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Fleer are the parents of three children: Irene, born in 1909, now in the public schools; Walter, born in 1911; and Milton, born in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Fleer are members of the St. Jacoby Lutheran Church. In politics he votes as a republican, and is especially interested in the welfare of the local schools, serving as one of its board of directors.
FRANCIS MARION JACOBS. The story of Francis Marion Jacobs is that of a man whose life was passed entirely within the limits of Adams County from birth until death. In that period, covering more than seventy years, he became known as a man of performance, of that sound industry which is the basis for all the things prized by civilization, was faithful to his obligations, and fully merited the esteem in which his name was held and is remembered.
Ile was born near Ursa August 10, 1838, a son of William and Caroline (Kirkpatrick) Jacobs. William Jacobs was one of the real pioneers of Adams County. A native of Kentucky, he came to Western Illinois in 1832 and for a time lived in Quincy when it was a mere village. The story is told that he was once offered the lot upon which the Newcomb Hotel now stands for $3. A blacksmith by trade, he followed that occupation in Quincy and afterwards in other sections of the county. He built the first blacksmith shop at Lima, and sold that about 1844 to Theophilus Crenshaw, whose name and whose family have a further connection with this history to be noted in following paragraphs. William Jacobs also had a shop at Marcelline, and died in that place in 1871, at the age of seventy-five. The mother of Francis Marion Jacobs died in 1839, when her only son and child was about a year old. William Jacobs later married Louisa Nicholson.
There were few good schools in Adams County when Francis Marion Jacobs was a youth, but such advantages as were at hand he utilized both in Ursa and Mendon Townships, and at the age of eight was for a brief time a pupil in the schools of Quincy. He learned the cooper's trade and followed that for a number of years. His half brother, James, conducted a shop at Lima and the cooperage business was then a thriving industry, owing to the fact that Quincy was a big pork packing center and required thousands of barrels in which to pack the pork. He was also a merchant for a couple of years at Warsaw, and then bought land on Bear Creek in Ursa Township, which he occupied only two years.
793
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
In 1878 he bought a farm in section 18 of Lima Township, which he sold in 1892 and bought the old Crenshaw property, which is still owned by his family. After that farming was his chief business, and he acquired two or three other traets of land in the county, including some of the land formerly owned by his father. In his old homestead he had 196 acres, part of it developed to fruit, and erected a model residence there with his own hands. In that environment, which his labor and industry had done so much to improve, he spent the peaceful years of his later life and passed away December 17, 1914. His widow Mrs. Jacobs still occupies the old farm.
October 31, 1861, he married Celatha Crenshaw, who was born at Lima October 31, 1841. She was married on her twentieth birthday. Her parents were Theophilns and Martha (Martin) Crenshaw, the former born in 1815 and the latter in 1822. Theophilus Crenshaw, who was a native of Jefferson County, Illinois, was also a blacksmith by trade, and in 1845 bought the shop at Lima from William Jacobs and was one of the pioneer mechanics in that part of the county. Later he bought the farm now known as the Jacobs farm and he also kept a hotel at Lima. He died May 25, 1891, his wife passing away November 18, 1894. Mr. Crenshaw was one of the early members of Lima Lodge of Masons and was a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His only son died at the age of sixteen. There were two daughters in the Crenshaw family. Jiney first married Isaac Frazer and is now the wife of Perry Spencer of Lima.
Mrs. Jacobs became the mother of six ehildren and also has a large number of grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her children were: Alice M., who was born March 9, 1863, married Don Vinson, occupying a nearby farm, and is the mother of four children, Bertha, Corinne, John William and Verna Frances. Carrie M., the second child, born May 25, 1865, is the wife of William Bolt, and her six children are Eva, Edward V., Frank H., Marion Jacob, Cecil Eugene and Blanche. Edward F. Jacobs is cashier of the State Bank of Lima and has a separate sketch in this publication. John T., the fourth child, was born April 12, 1871, and died August 9, 1892. James W., born June 5, 1874, is a well known citizen of Lima Township, and by his marriage to Daisy Clark has one child, Maxine. Jincy L., better known as Dollie, was born February 10, 1880, and in 1896 became the wife of Frank Griffin, but is now the wife of Edward C. Hill, who operates the old Jacobs farm. Mrs. Hill is the mother of four children : Harry M. Griffin, Celatha Estelle, Francis Irving and Hershel Everett.
The late Francis M. Jacobs was one of the prominent members of Lima Lodge No. 135, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife were affiliated with the Eastern Star. Both were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a democrat, and for six years was township super- visor, commissioner of highways six years and a school director three years.
EDWARD FRANCIS JACOBS, a son of the late Francis Marion Jacobs, whose life story is told on other pages, has been identified with the Lima community of Adams County for over a quarter of a century as a practical and progressive farmer and as a business man. He is now cashier of the State Bank of Lima.
The State Bank of Lima was organized in 1910, and was operated for busi- ness on the 15th of December of that year. The first officers were George W. Frazer, president, E. F. Jacobs, vice president, and A. B. Leeper, cashier. In 1912 a change was made, at which time Mr. Leeper became president, L. S. Frazer vice president, and Mr. Jacobs cashier, and these men are the executive officers of the institution at the present time. The other directors at present are W. L. Wade, C. R. MeNay, W. T. Frazer, H. F. J. Ricker, Jackson R. Pearce, all well known men of Adams County and their handling of the bank has brought it the confidence and patronage it deserves. The bank has a capital stoek of $25,000, surplus of $2,500 and carries deposits of over $100,000. Its total resources aggregate about $140,000.
794
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
Mr. Jacobs, the cashier, was born at Lima August 22, 1868. He grew up on a farm, attended the local public schools and also the Gem City Business College at Quincy. For a year and a half he was associated with I. M. Vinson in the general merchandise business at Lima, and then took up a career as a farmer. About the time of his marriage he began farming the Bolt place adjoining Lima, this being the farm of his wife's father. In 1897 he bought eighty acres of that land, and has developed one of the high class farms in that vicinity. The buildings, which he erected, are within the corporation limits, and he still gives close attention to the management of his farm and livestock in addition to superintending the bank.
Mr. Jacobs has also been prominent in local affairs. For several years he was a member of the school board, was township tax collector, and in 1914 was candidate for the nomination for county treasurer, there being five other candi- dates for the same office. He is a democrat, and is affiliated with Lima Lodge No. 135, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. At the age of twenty-three he was elected master of the Lodge and at that time was the youngest to enjoy such an honor in Illinois. In 1891-2 he represented the Grand Lodge. IIe is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Jacobs is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and takes an active part in Red Cross work.
December 7, 1892, he married Miss Effie A. Bolt, daughter of David and Nancy (Howse) Bolt. Her mother is still living at Lima. Mrs. Jacobs was born in Adams County March 14, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have two children : Ellett May, born May 12, 1895 ; and Henry Francis, born November 30, 1902.
OLIVER P. DICKHUT, proprietor of the Richland Farm a half mile south of Paloma in Gilmer Township, represents one of the old and prominent families of Adams County. At this point it is unnecessary to repeat information con- cerning the family which appears on other pages, and which details the various experiences and the membership of the family since they came to this county.
Oliver P. Dickhut was born at the old Dickhut homestead a mile and a half south of his present home on August 25, 1880. He is a son of John A. and Eleanor S. (Booth) Dickhut. As a boy he lived with his parents and attended local schools and made his independent start in life in 1908, having at that time a cash capital of about $5,000. Having been trained from boyhood to farming, and looking upon it as the most useful of all vocations, he has kept his mind and all his energies concentrated on this one line. and doubtless to this fact is due his success. For his permanent home Mr. Dickhut acquired the Orville Lawless farm of 160 acres, a half mile south of Paloma on the Cannon Ball Trail. It was a high quality of land and cost $100 per acre, but his method of handling it has fully justified the acquisition of this high priced Illinois soil. He has managed it as a combination grain and stock farm, and in 1917 he put up one of the best stock barns in the township, a bank barn 36 by 72 feet with a full basement under all. The barn cost $4,000 and meets every pur- pose demanded of a place for housing and handling stock. Mr. Dickhut feeds about a carload of cattle every year, and also specializes in Poland China hogs, having about 100 of those high price animals for market every season.
October 26, 1910, about two years after he bought his farm, Mr. Dickhut married Miss Clara Morton, who was then twenty-four years of age. She is a daughter of Zelma and Olive Morton of Honey Creek Township. Mr. and Mrs. Diekhut have had two children, but one died in infancy. The living daughter is Judith Mildred. Mr. Diekhut is a republican and is a steward in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Diekhut is of the same religions faith.
JESSE ALBERT VINSON. The death of Jesse Albert Vinson on July 17, 1918, served as a reminder to the people of northern Adams County not only of an upright and stalwart citizen who had gone to his reward, but of a family who
795
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
were identified with this county from earliest pioneer times and whose name has always been kept in honor and respect.
The earlier Vinsons were allied by marriage with the Orrs, whom local history eredits with the founding of the village of Lima. The Orrs were also from Kentucky and William Orr had visited this region of Western Illinois at a very early date. He settled here contrary to the advice of many friends in Kentucky, who believed that this district was very unhealthy.
The father of Jesse Albert Vinson was Isaae D. Vinson, who was born in Giles County, Tennessee, May 26, 1804. He married Kittie Orr, who was born in Burton County, Kentucky, October 8, 1807. Their first home in the West was in Missouri, but in 1830 they moved to Adams County and Isaac Vinson became identified with some of the pioneer manufacturers in Lima Township. He conducted a horse power carding mill at Lima, and one time had a leg broken by the power machinery. Isaae Vinson died June 9, 1847, and his wife Novem- ber 9, 1862. They had a family of eight children, six sons and two daughters.
Jesse Albert Vinson was the first child of the family born in the house ereeted by Isaac Vinson on the old homestead in section 12. His birth oceurred April 15, 1841, and he was about five years old when his father died. He was reared and edueated in that community and later turned his energies to farm- ing, which occupied his time the greater part of his life. For fourteen years before his death he lived largely retired, though keeping his home on the old farm. He was made a Mason at Lima, and took much interest in the lodge, serving as past master and representative to the Grand Lodge. He was a democrat, but not an office seeker, though he served on the village board.
On May 1, 1864, he married Sarah Tripp, who was born in the State of Maine and was brought to Adams County at the age of four years by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Tripp. Her father was a farmer and cooper and the Tripp family home was on the Haneoek County line, 21% miles northeast of Lima. Mr. Alvin Tripp died at the home of Mrs. Vinson at the age of seventy-four, while her mother passed away at seventy-eight.
Mrs. Vinson died twelve years before her husband. Of her children only two reached maturity, Charles S. and Lottie M. Lottie is now the wife of John Harness, and for the past ten years they have operated the old Vinson homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Harness have two children. Thomas and Josephi.
Charles S. Vinson, the only son of Jesse Albert Vinson, has figured in the community chiefly as a merchant, and is proprietor of one of the principal general stores of Lima. He was born May 25, 1865, in the same house as his father, and grew up in that country community. For the past thirty years he has been a merchant. At one time he was in business at Loraine, but moved his store to Lima, and now has a large new building completely stocked with general merchandise required by this community. He gives all his time to his business and has never been a candidate for publie office.
October 29, 1884, Mr. Vinson married Anna Lutman. She was born at Lima March 14, 1864, a daughter of Daniel and Rose (Reese) Lutman, both now deceased. Her father was a native of Virginia and her mother of Mary- land, and they married at Tully, Missouri, and settled at Lima before the war. Her father died at the age of forty-one, and her mother survived many years. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Vinson are the parents of eight children, Norma, Nina, Albert, Pearlie, George, Howard, Hazel and Mabel. The three older daughters all taught school in Adams and Hancock counties before their marriage. Norma is now Mrs. Joseph Albert Conover of Lima. Nina is Mrs. Joseph B. Nelson of Lima, and Pearlie is the wife of Claude Miller. The only married son is Albert, whose wife was Elsie Beckman.
EDWARD SONM. In considering the important men of Quincy, immediate attention is called to Edward Sohm, president of the Rieker National Bank. Mr. Sohm has passed a long, busy and useful life in his native eity and his business
796
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
activities have always been of large commercial value, and at the same time his unblemished personal reputation has added prestige to every enterprise with which he has been identified.
Edward Sohm was born in the old family homestead on the corner of Third and York streets, Quiney, October 2, 1845. His parents were Pantaleon and Rosina (Specht) Sohm, the former of whom came to Quiney in 1840 and the latter in 1834. Their lives were spent here and they comfortably reared a family of children. They belonged to that dependable element that had much to do with the upbuilding of Quincy from a village to a city of wide importance. The father died in 1885.
Private tutors directed Edward Sohm's early education and at the age of nine- teen he became an instructor himself and later took charge of St. Boniface school and conducted it aeeeptably until he formed other plans which necessi- tated resigning his position as principal of the school. In 1865 he accepted a position in the queensware house of Henry Ridder, and three years later became a partner in the firm of H. Ridder & Company, continuing until 1884, when the china and eroekery firm of Sohm, Rieker & Weisenhorn was organized. This enterprise proved very successful and in 1894 removal was made from quarters that had become too constricted to the commodions building especially prepared for them. For a number of years Mr. Sohm continued to be identified with that firm and his name was widely known in both the wholesale and retail trade.
In the meanwhile Mr. Sohm became interested in other growing enterprises contributive to the city's prosperity. He was one of the first directors of the Rieker National Bank, an institution founded in 1858 by Henry F. Joseph Ricker. In 1881 the bank was nationalized and in the same year Edward Sohm became its vice president and served as such until 1883, when he assumed the presidential responsibilities and has been at the head of this institution ever sinec. The present offieers of the bank are: Edward Sohm, president; Jackson R. Pearce, vice president ; H. F. J. Rieker, cashier.
In every movement of public importance Mr. Sohm has stood ready to co-operate with his fellow citizens. He has never been willing to enter the politieal field but his influence in business cireles and in the city's substantial development has been marked. He was one of the organizers of the Quincy Freight Bureau and its treasurer.
In 1868 Mr. Sohm was married to Miss Mary Barbara Helmer, and to this marriage were born three sons and four daughters : Katherine, William H., man- ager of the Bolaska Theater of Tunay, Thirisie Broekman of New Sterling, Illinois, Edward, Jr., of Waterloo, Iowa, Dr. Albert H., a dentist of Iowa, and the two youngest died in infancy.
A. C. BICKHAUS. A worthy representative of the industrious, thrifty and enterprising men who have come to Illinois from countries far across the sea, A. C. Bickhaus, of Quiney, is well known in industrial circles as an expert file cutter, his large and well-equipped manufactory being located at 1110 Broad- way, where he is carrying on an extensive and profitable business. He was born May 5, 1849, in Westphalia, Prussia, a son of Ernest and Christina (Yeas- ing) Bickhans. When he was a very small child his mother died, and when he was 31% years old his father died, leaving him an orphan with several brothers and sisters, he having been the tenth child in order of birth of a family of eleven children.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.