Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 952

USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 14

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).

JOHN T. INGHRAM. Within the past quarter of a century it is doubtful if the services of any lawyer of Adams County have more frequently been called into public responsibilities and duties than those of John T. Inghram. Mr. Inghram is well entitled by abilities and experience to his place of leadership in the Adams County bar.

He was born at Quincy July 11, 1870, a son of John T. and Mary (Rock- well) Inghram, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. John T. Inghram, Sr., came to Quincy about 1867, was a resident of the city thirty years, and at the time of his death in 1898 was one of the city mail carriers. His widow is now living at Los Angeles, California. There were seven children : John T. ; Grace, wife of Roy A. Morehead, of Los Angeles ; James S., of St. Louis, Missouri; Jessie H., of Los Angeles; Ira S., of Long Beach, Cali-

816

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

fornia ; William R., of Yuma, Arizona; and Psyche, wife of Albert C. Higgins of Redondo Beach, California.

John T. Inghram is the only member of the family to retain a residence in Adams County. As a boy he attended the local public schools of Quincy, graduated from high school in 1889, and from that entered the University of Michigan Law Department, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1891. Returning to Quincy he at once opened an office and has been practicing law steadily ever since. While handling a large private elientage he served as assistant states attorney from 1900 to 1904, spent four years as a member of the City School Board, and since 1906 has been special attorney for Adams County. From 1915 to 1917 he was also corporation counsel of Quiney, and is now member of the Water Works Commission of the City of Quincy. A high degree of public spirit and a warm interest in everything affecting the welfare of Quincy has pervaded every technical duty he has performed in the interests of the eom- munity. Mr. Inghram is a democrat in polities and is now chairman of the Democratie Central Committee of Adams County.

February 16, 1898, he married Miss Lillian C. Brown, a native of Quincy and daughter of John H. and Sarah (Norris) Brown. Her father has for many years been a grocery merchant at Quincy. Mr. and Mrs. Inghram have one child, John T., born August 15, 1901, and now a student in Dartmouth College. Mr. Inghram has attained the thirty-third and supreme honorary degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

JOSEPHI DICKHUT. A career that meant much to Adams County was that of the late Joseph Dickhut, who was one of a large family of that name identified with agriculture and home making in Adams County from pioneer days. Mr. Joseph Dickhut developed a good farm that is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Diekhut, two miles east of Fowler in Gilmer Township.

Joseph Dieklint was born at Quincy January 7, 1858, a son of Adolph and Augusta Dickhut. The father, John Andrew Adolph Dickhut, was born at Muel- hausen, Thueringen, Germany, October 13, 1823, and died February 22, 1899. In his twentieth year he came with his parents to America, arriving at Quincy No- vember 24, 1843. They located in the southern part of Adams County, and on -July 25, 1847, Adolph Diekhut married Margaret Maus. She died June 6, 1856. On March 5, 1857, he married Augusta Menselwitz. Her death occurred Septem- ber 29, 1885. In March, 1859. Adolph Diekhut and wife located on a farm in Gil- mer Township a mile and a half east of Fowler, and that was the scene of his earnest efforts at home making for many years. He was a republican and was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and helped found the Jersey Street Church of that denomination in Quincy, now known as the Yates and Kentucky Street Church. Still later he was identified with the Fowler Methodist Episcopal Church. Adolph Diekhut acquired 240 acres. He started with very little and had to practically reconstruct all the buildings ou the land and redeem much of it from the wilderness. At first he and his family drove to church in an old dilapidated farm wagon. By his first marriage he was the father of the following children : John A., born January 20, 1850; Catherine, who is the only surviving member and is the widow of William Beutel, of Camp Point ; Frank, who died at the age of sixty-five on his farm a mile east of Fow- ler ; Matilda, who died at the age of twenty years, the wife of Andrew Howden, son of Captain Howden of Quitman, Missouri. Adolph Dickhut by his second wife had the following children : Joseph ; Louise S., who married Isaac S. Wool- len and lives at Meadsville, Missouri; Amelia, wife of William Rentzel, of Martinsburg, Missouri; Arthur, who died February 8, 1911, married Hannah Stachel; Clara is the wife of William E. O'Neal at Fowler; Aliee died at Bloomington, Illinois, the wife of Samuel L. Petrie; Andrew L., who is con- nected with the Knittel Show Case Company at Quiney and married Ella B.

817

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

Long : Clarence A., a farmer in Camp Point Township, married Cora I. Becket ; Huldah Gertrude, who is a registered nurse at the Mayo brothers hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.

Joseph Diekhut when one year old was brought by his parents to the farm where he grew up and where his widow still resides. lle grew to manhood on that place and at the age of twenty-three, on January 1, 1881, married Miss Ella S. Woollen, of Ellington Township, daughter of James A. Woollen.

James Anthony Woollen, father of Mrs. Diekhut, was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, November 13, 1821. His mother, Eugenia Whiteley was of Quaker aneestry and religion. She died in 1826. In 1828 James A. Woollen's father married Amelia Lane. In the same fall, in company with three brothers- in-law, Isaae and Daniel Whiteley and William Berry, he moved to Wayne County, Indiana, but three years later entered eighty aeres, six miles south of Neweastle in Henry County that state. He was identified with the pioneer epoeh there, and reared his family in a log cabin. James A. Woollen recalled one ineident of his boyhood, the remarkable display of falling stars on Novem- ber 13, 1833. In October, 1842, James A. Woollen started west by way of Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Beardstown to Burlington, Iowa. He had only $2 and had to borrow $1 to pay his hotel bill of 75'cents. Through some mis- take on the part of a hotel elerk he missed the boat down the river to Quincy and walked all the way to Keokuk without passing a single house. That night he spent with a young Mormon couple, paying 15 eents for his lodging. From there he worked his passage on a boat to Quiney, and at the end of the voyage the mate handed him 75 cents. In the meantime his brother Isaae had bongbt an island, six miles below Quiney, and was operating a wood supply station for the steamboats. James A. Woollen joined his brother, whose home was at Bloomfield, ten miles northeast of Quincy. While there he met his future wife, and he soon went to farming with F. W. Borgoethaus. In the fall of 1844 he visited his parents back in Indiana, driving a buggy to and from that state. On September 7, 1845, he married at Columbus Susie Borgoethaus. Ile then worked her father's farm and in 1852 his prosperity enabled him to buy for the convenience and comfort of his family a double seated carriage, for which he paid $255, regarded at that time as almost as great an extravagance as a $5,000 automobile would be today. In 1892 he bought a farm near Laelede, Missouri, and lived there until his death. Mrs. Dickhut's mother died Mareh 22, 1909.

Mrs. Diekhut was born in Ellington Township January 12, 1861, and was just twenty years of age when she married. At their marriage they bought eighty acres of the old Diekhut homestead, and afterwards acquired from his brother Clarence the old home of 160 acres, thus giving them 280 aeres. In 1899 he built the good home that now adorns the place, doing his own carpenter work. In 1908 he had also given a contract for the construction of the sub- stantial barn that is now part of the farm equipment. Mr. Diekhut served as a road commissioner, but was never a seeker for public honor and frequently refused the urgings of his fellow eitizens to become a candidate for office. Ile was a trustee and steward of the Saloma Methodist Episcopal Church.

Joseph Dickhut died April 28, 1918. His death eame suddenly, though he had had warnings for some months and frequently expressed his opinion that he would not live beyond sixty. He died at the home of his daughter in Quincy, and had kept busy with some useful employment practically to the last.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Diekhut had the following children: Mabel Edna, at home : Alvin James, who now has the active management of the home farm; Inez H., wife of J. W. White, a postoffice employe at Quincy : Elmer Adolph, a farmer in Camp Point Township who married Alma IIyer; Alta Amelia, who completed her education in the Macomb Normal School and for four years has. taught in Adams County.

818

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

JOHN THOMAS WYATT. One of the conspicuous instances of individual enter- prise in acquiring a farm and providing for those dependent upon him is that afforded by John T. Wyatt of Honey Creek Township, whose productive and valuable farm is a mile east of Mendon.

Mr. Wyatt was born in Mendon Township a half mile south of the village of that name December 25, 1863, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cherry) Wyatt. His father was born in Northamptonshire, England, and about 1855 came to the United States. He and his wife married in England and they came at once to Quincy. Her father, William Cherry, had previously located in Mendon Township. Thomas Wyatt came here withont means, worked at day's labor for a time, later had a farm of his own three miles north of Mendon. and finally retired to that village where he died when about seventy years of age. His wife died in 1898, aged sixty-five. They had a family of five children : Annie, who died when thirteen years old ; William, who lived in Mendon ; Sarah, who is unmarried and lives with her brother William; George W., a dentist at Guthrie, Oklahoma ; and John T.

John Thomas Wyatt grew up in a home of fair comforts, had such education as the local schools provided, but otherwise had to start life dependent entirely upon his own resources. He is one of the old time farm hands, that class of men who labored from sun to sun, much of the time without the help of any modern implements to lighten the burden of agriculture, and his wages ranged from $18 to $20 a month with board and washing. That was the service he rendered between the ages of twenty and twenty-four. For all that he managed to save $100 every year. In 1894 Mr. Wyatt and his brother William became partners in the purchase of 120 acres of land in Honey Creek Town- ship. The contract price was $7,000. J. T. Wyatt had about $800 in cash and a horse, while his brother had $1,500. For the balance they went in debt and continued seven years as partners. John T. Wyatt then bought out his brother, and again incurred a debt of $6,000. That sum he has since paid off, and he has also kept the farm up to a high standard of improve- ment and cultivation. In earlier years he made progress very slowly, but was in a situation to reap the best advantages of the present era of high prices in the agricultural industry. Some years ago Mr. Wyatt sold his hogs at 21/2 cents a pound, wheat at 45 cents a bushel, oats at 15 cents a bushel and corn at 17 cents a bushel. Having labored under the disadvantages of the older order, none will gainsay the fact that he is thoroughly deserving of all the prosperity that may come to him in the times in which he is now living.

Mr. Wyatt has the reputation of a very public spirited citizen, has served as school director fourteen years and is still on the board as clerk of the district. He is a republican and a deacon in the Mendon Congregational Church. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

October 28, 1894, Mr. Wyatt married Miss Eunice Hoskins, of Mendon Town- ship. Mrs. Wyatt from the age of nine was reared in the home of R. B. Starr. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Clara (Spencer) Hoskins. She was nine years of age when her mother died, leaving four children : Charles Hoskins, of LaGrange, Missouri ; John, who died in Missouri at the age of fifty ; Drusilla, Mrs. Ed Nelson, of Houston Township, this county ; and Eunice. Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have two sons and one daughter, Thomas R., Willis G. and Pearl Elizabeth. They are all at home and Thomas is a student in high school.

WILLIAM II. HOBBY. The name of William H. Hobby serves to recall the experience and deeds of a gallant soldier and old timer of Adams County, whose children and other relatives are still found here, all constituting one of the notable family groups of the county.

William H. Hobby was born in New York City May 6, 1830, and came to Adams County in 1850. He was only two years old when his father died of the cholera. His mother afterwards married Captain John Oliver, and the Oliver

819

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

family came to Adams County and located in Mendon Township. Captain Oliver died at the age of seventy-four years, five months, fourteen days, and Mrs. Oliver passed away October 15, 1884, aged seventy-five years, six months.

When William H. Hobby was twelve years old he ran away to sea, became a cabin boy and for eight years had all the varied experiences and hardships of the sailor when such a life had much more of the romance and adventure than now belong to the seafaring vocation. In 1845 he made a whaling voyage through the northern seas and also went through many of the southern seas, visiting the ports of South America and Cuba. During the Civil war he joined the Federal Navy and was in the service about eight months. He was on Com- modore D. D. Porter's flagship the Blackhawk, and participated in the Mis- sissippi River campaign at Vicksburg and Arkansas Post.

After the war he returned to Adams County and settled on his farm in Honey Creek Township, in section 3. He continued to be identified with this locality until his death October 6, 1903. William H. Hobby married Martha Odcar, who was born in Tennessee April 9, 1837, and died May 15, 1910. Their son Oliver died September 19, 1887, aged twenty-nine years, two months and seven days. Two daughters died young, Susan at the age of twenty-two and Ellen at eighteen. Nancy died November 13, 1918, in St. Louis, Missouri, as Mrs. John H. Shepherd. Hattie is now Mrs. William S. MeArthur.

William H. Hobby served as justice of the peace, constable and school director in Honey Creek Township, and was affiliated with the Masonic Order.

Hattie Hobby was married August 12, 1888, to William S. McArthur. Mr. McArthur was born in Hancock County, Illinois, May 13, 1869, and after his marriage he farmed at Lima until the death of Mr. Hobby, when he and his wife took the old homestead farm. Mr. McArthur was a very capable man as a farmer and was always interested in community affairs. He served as a school director. He died July 21, 1913. Since his death Mrs. MeArthur has retained the old Hobby homestead, and has rebuilt and remodeled the old home. She has shown the capacity of a real business woman in handling the affairs of the farm and she is also owner of considerable property in the village of Mendon.

Mrs. McArthur has five living children. Her son Rex died at the age of eighteen, while her oldest child, Mae, died January 12, 1918, at the age of twenty-nine, wife of William MeKay. The living children are: Elfa, Mrs. James Littleton, of Loraine, this county; Dora, at home; Mack R., who is a locomotive fireman with headquarters at Galesburg, and by his marriage to Grace Rathbun has one son, Maek, Jr .; Goldie and Bessie, both at home, the latter attending sehool.

HERMAN HOKAMP began making barrels when only sixteen years of age, and has been in the cooperage business continuously at Quincy all his active life. There is no family name that has been longer identified with the cooper- age industry than that of Hokamp. His father was at one time regarded the oldest cooper in the city, and that too, had been his lifelong oeeupation. It was one of the heaviest disappointments he ever had to bear when he gave up active work at his trade at the insistence of his son Herman, who felt that his father at the age of seventy-five had well earned a period of rest and leisure. During his retirement the father was supplied with every comfort, partly by his own savings and also by the devotion of his son.

It is such families as these that supply a service that cannot be dispensed with in the world of affairs, and their contributions to human welfare cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.

Casper Hokamp was born in Germany, married there, and learned the trade of cooper. He came to America seeking better opportunities in the new world, and after getting located at Quiney his wife came on, bringing their children. One of these children died at sea and was buried from the ship. Casper Hokamp and wife lived happily together for a great many years, and both were nearly

820

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

eighty-five when they died. They were people of the finest qualities of heart and mind, exceedingly industrious, always paying their way, and exemplified the good old fashioned qualities of Christianity. They were active members of St. Jacobi Lutheran Church. No more kindly people ever lived, and they were friends of everyone. Casper Hokamp voted as a republican. Among their children besides Herman is William Hokamp, a resident of Quincy, who has a family of three sons and two daughters. The sisters are Mary and Minnie Hokamp and are still unmarried.

Herman Hokamp was the third of his father's children, and was born in Quincy August 19, 1860. He learned his trade under his father and was associated with him until about twenty-five years of age. At the age of sixteen he made the first barrel made at the old Menke lime kiln, and later made the first barrels for W. D. Meyers. He was also employed by the O. Lambert cooperage firm. Another associate at different times was Mr. Stilley. When Mr. Stilley died Casper and Herman Hokamp continued the work of the shop for some years, and then Herman and Charles Ertel took over the Stilley busi- ness. Four years later this plant was burned, this disaster befalling them on August 19, 1885, when Herman Hokamp was twenty-five years old. Through the kindness of friends and a small insurance they rebuilt the plant, and continued it together for some years. They also established as a side line a grocery store at the corner of Washington and Ninth streets, and three years later Mr. Hokamp bought out his partner, Mr. Ertel. Later he took in as partner Mr. John Gainer and they bought the Bartel plant at 908-910 Madison Street. This is where the business is located at the present time, and they have a thoroughly modern cooperage plant on a lot 80 by 220 feet. Formerly there were a num- ber of cooperage firms in Quiney, but now practically all that line of business is transacted through Mr. Hokamp's enterprise. Mr. Hokamp also conducted a grocery business at 927 State Street until July, 1918, when he sold out. The cooperage business now has an output of 300 barrels per day, and they employ about ten expert workmen. The chief output is apple barrels and poultry containers, and there is a steady demand for all they can make in the states of Missouri and Illinois.

Mr. Herman Hokamp married at Quiney Miss Minnie Golm, who was born and reared and educated here. Her parents came from Germany and died in this city in advanced years. Mr. and Mrs. Hokamp have an interesting family of children. Esther A. is a graduate of Knox College at Galesburg and is now one of the instructors in the Quincy High School. Dorothy is a graduate of the Quincy High School and Gem City Business College and is now attending Knox College. Delia, who graduated from the Quincy High School with the class of 1919, and Herman J., aged fourteen, a student in the grammar school, are the younger members of the household. The family attend the Washington Evangelical Lutheran Church.

JOSEPH W. NICHOLSON. In the changing developments of six or seven dee- ades in Ursa Township one of the families that have contributed most to these improvements are the Nicholsons. The Nicholson home from a time almost beyond memory of the oldest inhabitant has been in section 20 of Ursa Town- ship, nine and a half miles northeast of Quincy.

It was on that farm that Joseph W. Nicholson was born December 6, 1849, nearly seventy years ago. At one time there was a blacksmith shop on the land operated by his grandfather, William Nicholson, whom Joseph W. Nicholson remembers as an old man. The parents of Joseph W. Nicholson were John and ITester (Orr) Nicholson. His father was born at Falmouth, Kentucky, August 27, 1811, and was brought by his parents to Adams County. At that time Quiney contained only a few buildings. John Nicholson was long a prosperous farmer in section 20 of Ursa Township, and died there March 3, 1890, at the age of seventy-nine. His wife, Hester R., was born in Indiana December 27,

Wnichaben

LIBRARY IT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

821

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

1823, and died June 16, 1884. Their descendants, both children and grand- children, are still living in Adams County. Theresa, their oldest child, born in 1847, is the widow of Francis Roan, and is living at Quincy with a daughter. The second in age is Joseph W. John, born in 1851, married Seralda Nicholson, and is now a resident of Mendon, having no children living. Saville, born in 1853. died in infaney. Susan, born in 1855, married Napoleon Orr and she died in 1894. Lafayette, born in 1857. married Emerine Long, a resident of Quincy. Olive B., born in 1859, is the widow of Henry Morris, who died in 1917. George, born in 1861, lives in Quiney and has been twice married. Kate, born in 1864, was the wife of William Mitchell and died in 1892. Hester E., born in 1866, married William Darnell, of Quincy.

Joseph W. Nicholson has been the member of the family who has practically always kept his interests at the old homestead. His farm consists of 160 acres, all of which his father once owned. For a number of years it was one of the principal centers of fruit production in Adams County. At one time there was a pear orehard of twenty-five acres, and altogether more than 100 acres were planted in fruit. The fruit business was highly profitable in its day, and Mr. Nicholson ranked as one of the foremost horticulturists of Western Illinois. Within recent years the orchards have been destroyed, their vitality and use- fulness having been exhausted, and now practically all the land is devoted to general farming. Mr. Nicholson has lived in three houses, two of which were destroyed by fire, and his present good country home was erected in 1888. His barn was built in 1870.

Mr. Nicholson has not neglected the public welfare and has responded to those calls made upon his services by the community. For several years he was school trustee, is a democrat in politics, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church of Ursa.

August 26, 1880, Mr. Nicholson married Miss Idealia King. Mrs. Nicholson is member of an old and prominent Adams County family. She was born October 2, 1863, a daughter of William L. and Eliza (Gallamore) King. The career of her father deserves special mention here. William L. King was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky, April 11, 1811, and arrived in Quincy in March, 1830. He was then nineteen years of age, and had nothing but his health and willingness to work as capital. For twenty-three years he was a resident of Quiney, and for the first seven years of that time he worked out at monthly wages. It was the strietest economy and splendid native intelligence that enabled him to get an independent start. He built a small flour mill, which he conducted for a time, and is credited with having made the first barrel of flour that ever passed inspection in the county. He also built and operated several distilleries in the county. The last twenty-five years of his life were spent as a farmer in section 19 of Ursa Township. He there expended much money as well as time and patience in developing a beautiful estate. He had 240 acres of land and also owned much property in Quincy, and was rated as one of the county's wealthy citizens. He died November 14, 1879. His old farm is now known as the Henry Cram farm, a mile and a half south of Ursa, and most of its improvements were ereeted during the time of Mr. King. Mr. King also about 1872 built the King Block at Hampshire and Fifth streets in Quincy, a property that is now owned by Mrs. Nicholson. William King married for his first wife Miss Salina Edgerton, of Connecticut. She was the mother of four children. For his second wife Mr. King married in March, 1846. Eliza Galla- more, who became the mother of eleven children, only two of whom reached maturity, Idealia and William. William King died April 6, 1918. Mrs. Niehol- son's mother was born in North Carolina February 14, 1820, and died February 15, 1879.

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.

Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 952

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 952