Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 15

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

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Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson became the parents of five children. Una Opal, born August 27, 1881, was married October 15, 1903, to Vernon Inman, and they now live in Portland, Oregon, and have three children. Jessie E., born August

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13, 1883, was married November 12, 1902, to Elmer Daugherty, who for the past eight years has been the active manager of the Nicholson farm. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty have four children, Fern V., Russell E., Helen Idealia and Eva Ruth. Fay King Nicholson, born August 5, 1895, is the wife of Mr. Harold Grimes, an Ursa Township farmer, and has one child, Leroy. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson lost two of their children young.

Mr. Nicholson's grandfather, it should be recalled, was a volunteer soldier in the Blackhawk Indian war and also served in the campaign against the Mormons at Nauvoo in 1846.

GEORGE D. ROTII. Coming to Quincy in 1890, from that time forward George D. Roth made himself known in an ever increasing circle of friends and associates as a man of great business energy, of complete integrity, and his success in life was only a due reward for all that he had achieved therein and the service he had rendered.

Mr. Roth was born in Warsaw, Illinois, March 9, 1870, and died at his home 401 South 12th Street in Quincy October 27, 1918, at the age of forty-eight. Ifis parents were Henry P. and Maria (Lnedde) Roth, both natives of Illi- mois and of German ancestry. They were married in Warsaw, Illinois, and his father was a grocery merchant there for some years, dying in 1876, at the age of thirty-six. He had served as a soldier in the Union army, was a republican, and he and his wife are both members of the Lutheran Church. His widow sur- vived him and passed away in 1902, when about sixty years of age. They had four children. One, Frank, died in infancy. Two are still living. Ella is the wife of Frank E. Cook, of Warsaw, Illinois. Harry W. is employed in the government arsenal at St. Louis. He married Margaret Schwabe of St. Louis.

George D. Roth grew up in Warsaw, attended the grammar and high schools there, and came to Quiney in 1890 to enroll as a student in the Gem City Business College. After his course of training there he found employment as bill clerk with the J. B. Schott Saddlery Company. Later he was bookkeeper for Risto and Fick on the west side of the Square, and later for the Quincy Showcase Works. All that was valuable experience, but the real opening of his business career came when he entered the service of the Wabash Coal Company. For a number of years he was in that company's office and during that time acquired such a comprehensive knowledge of the business that upon the death of Will C. Fick he became a member of the firm Fick Coal Company, associated with John Fick. He was secretary and treasurer and office manager and much of the success of that firm was due to his apparently infallible knowledge of the coal business, and his characteristic industry and faithfulness in handling the company's affairs. For nearly six years after he first became aware of his serious condition of health he protracted his life and usefulness by careful living, but none the less his death was regarded as a distinct loss to the busi- ness and citizenship of Quincy.

He was well known fraternally, being affiliated with Lambert. Lodge No. 659, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Quincy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Quincy Commandery, Knights Templar, Quincy Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and the Mystic Shrine at East St. Louis. He was a faithful member and a trustee of the Kentucky Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a republican.

For nearly twenty years Mr. Roth made his home at Quincy with Rudolph Wilms. During that time a relationship developed between the two men which was unsurpassed in affection and friendship by the closer ties of blood and kin- ship. June 29, 1910, Mr. Roth married Miss Clara Sprick, of Fontanelle, Nebraska. They had first met and become acquainted in Quincy. Clara Catherine Sprick was born at Fontanelle, Nebraska, February 23, 1882. re- ceived part of her schooling in her native county, also attended school in Kan- sas, and was well educated. She is a woman of distinctive culture and refine-

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ment, and she and her two children are still living at the Roth home on South Twelfth Street. Mrs. Roth is a daughter of Henry and Sophia (Wilkenning) Sprick. Both were natives of Germany but were married in Quincy in 1858. IIenry Sprick was one of the first pioneer settlers of Nebraska, going there in 1855, about the time Nebraska was first proposed for settlement as a result of the discussion in Congress over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Henry Sprick be- came a man of affairs in Nebraska, served as a representative and state senator, and was a republican elector in the Blaine campaign of 1884. More details concerning the Sprick family history will be found on other pages of this pub- lication under the name Henry C. Sprick, the well known banker of Quincy.

Mrs. Roth's two children are: George Alan, born December 4, 1911, now in the second grade of the Webster school ; and Margaret Helen, born December 29, 1914.

EDWARD B. MOLLER is one of Quincy's younger business men, is a lively and enterprising citizen, and is well known in the city both for his own achieve- ments and for the prestige associated with the family name.

He was born here August 28, 1883, a son of the late Henry H. Moller, else- where referred to in this publication. Edward Moller attended the parochial schools, the St. Francis College, and the Gem City Business College, after which he began his active business experience, and since July 15, 1901, has been a member of the firm.

November 22. 1905, he married Augusta C. Schmitt. They had three children : Florence A., born April 18, 1909, and died September 24, 1909; Mary Lucile, born December 3, 1912; and Edward B. Jr., born May 4, 1917, and died June 24, 1917. Mr. Moller is independent in politics and he and his family are members of the Catholic Church.

JOHN F. DICKERMAN. Several generations of the Dickerman family have played their part and played it well in Mendon Township. The founder of the family here was Ira R. Dickerman, who was born in New Haven, Connecti- cut, August 7, 1814. On August 17, 1838, he married Miss Laura Smith, who was born at Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio, May 28, 1819, the oldest of twelve children. Ira Dickerman and wife arrived at Mendon November 5, 1839, and traversed the entire distance from Ohio by overland conveyance. Both pos- sessed the real pioneer spirit (hard working and industrious, and in course of time had their homestead of 140 acres highly cultivated, with an orchard of fruit and capable of producing a good living. Their home was in section 1 of the township, a mile and a half north of Mendon, and Ira Dickerman and wife spent their last days in the Village of Mendon, where they died. They had three sons, and at their death they were survived by seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Their three sons were named DeLanie, DeWitt and Franklin. DeLanie Dickerman served as a Union soldier in Company D of the One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Illinois Infantry. He was also a teacher, and later engaged in the hardware and general merchandise business at Mendon with C. B. Garrett. Out of his prosperity he bought a section of land in Chari- ton County. Missouri, and was one of a rather numerous colony from this section of Illinois that settled in that county, and the Town of Mendon, Missouri, was named because of the place of origin of so many of the first settlers there.

DeLanie Dickerman usually spent a part of each year for twenty years on his Missouri farm. He served as justice of the peace, notary public, and was entrusted with the settlement of many estates. At the time of his death he was president of the Village of Mendon. For twenty-five years he was active in Sunday school work and for nearly fifty years sang in the choir of the Congrega- tional Church. In 1864 he married Estella Van Valkenburg, who died in 1918. Franklin Diekerman married Julia Smith, and was a farmer north of Mendon, but finally retired in the Village of Mendon and for many years was a well

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known auctioneer. He died at Mendon and his widow is still living in that village.

De Witt Dickerman was born May 1, 1841, on a farm two miles northwest of Mendon and on December 24, 1863, married Margaret L. McCormick, a daughter of John McCormick. She was born at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and was six- teen years of age when her family came to Adams County. Mrs. DeWitt Dick- erman is still living, at the age of seventy-five, and occupies the old home in Mendon. In 1864 DeWitt Dickerman moved to a farm of sixty acres, and made such good use of his opportunities that he eventually owned 305 acres. In 1905 he retired from the farm into Mendon, and died there June 21, 1913. He served as a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was active in the Lodge and Chapter of Masons and the Eastern Star. He was a republican in politics, as were his father and brothers. His children were: Laura E., wife of Fred Ralph, of Mendon, Missouri; John F .; Nellie May, wife of C. A. Nutt, a farmer of Mendon Township; Joel M., who lives in Mendon and is a mail earrier on rural route No. 3 out of Mendon.

John F. Dickerman was born at the old homestead January 14, 1870, and practically all his life has been spent on the home farm. In 1902 he took the management of the farm in partnership with his father, and after the latter's death he inherited 140 acres constituting the original homestead and has since acquired other land to give him a place of 258 acres, sufficient in size and equipped with ample facilities for his business as a stockman and general farmer. The old home was built here in 1873, when he was a boy three years old, and the main barn was erected in 1875. He has done much to improve and keep up all the buildings and has added much to the equipment. He handles cattle and hogs, and all the grain and other crops produced on his land are fed on the place.

February 3. 1902, Mr. Dickerman married Sarah Mealiff, who was reared in the same locality of Adams County. She died in 1905, leaving one daughter, Ada. February 21, 1906, Mr. Dickerman married Grace Mealiff, a relative of his first wife and daughter of William Mealiff. To this marriage have been born Arthur and William. Mr. Diekerman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife of the Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

JESSE E. WEEMS. Identified prominently for many years with railroad affairs and railroad building, Jesse E. Weems, one of Quincy's most highly con- sidered citizens, is still active in business here although in another direction, being interested with his two sons in the Quincy Pure Ice and Cold Storage Com- pany, of which he is manager. There are many men in Adams County of Mr. Weems' years who can tell of wonderful changes having been made during their lifetime in this and other sections of the country, but it has not been the privilege of all to so prominently take part in substantial developments and to sustain business relations for so long and continuous a period.

Jesse E. Weems has never followed an agricultural life, but he was born on a farm August 21, 1831, his parents, Jesse E. and Naney (Otis) Weems, living at that time in Virginia. His grandfather, Rev. Mason Lock Weems, was pastor of the church at Mount Vernon of which General Washington was a member. Dr. Weems was a writer of note and a biographer of General Washington, who was also his personal friend.

When Jesse E. Weems was eighteen years old he left the home farm and went to Washington City in order to study civil engineering. Later he was attached to the boundary line commission which located the division line between the United States and Mexico and in this work of national importance the young engineer was first tested. In 1853 he came to Illinois and located at Augusta in Hancock County, engaging in railroad work in the construction of what was called the middle division, hetween Camp Point and Macomb, of the Northern

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Cross Railroad. In 1859 he was the engineer in the building of the Quiney & Palmyra between West Quincy and Palmyra, which was subsequently bought by the officials of the Wabash system and became a part of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway.

Mr. Weems then served Hancock County two years in the office of county . surveyor, but his railroad building was not yet over, for afterward he was the engineer in charge of the construction of the Illinois & Southern Iowa Railway from Clayton to Keokuk, which was later consolidated with the Wabash. IIe continued his connection with the railroad affairs until 1893, resigning then and moving to Texas. There he became interested in the manufacture of ice and in 1894 returned to Illinois and since then has been connected with this business at Quiney and has the management of the Pure Iee and Cold Storage Company of Quincy. The original plant, with dimensions of 30x100 feet, was built for cold storage in 1894 but the business has grown to such large proportions that the present quarters, a six-story building 11x400 feet in dimensions, are none too large, for the company not only supplies local consumers but ships to other points. It has become one of the most prosperous industries of Quiney.

Jesse E. Weems has been twiee married, first to Miss Louisa Kimball, who at her death left two sons, Milton K., who is president of the Weems Laundry Company of Quiney and Springfield, and treasurer of the Pure Iee Company, of Quincy; and Frank H., who is president of the Pure Iee Company and secretary and treasurer of the Weems Laundry Company. Mr. Weems was married second to Mrs. Brawner, widow of James Brawner. Their comfortable residence stands on Hampshire Street, Quiney. Mr. Weems is a republican in his political views and fraternally was made a Mason in 1854 and has been identified with this organization sinee early manhood. He is a member of the Congregational Church. No history of this part of Illinois would be complete without extended mention of the men who have been history builders here, and to this class belongs Jesse E. Weems.

OSCAR SCHMELZLE. Opportunities are always open to the thrifty and hard working young man trained to practical farming, and the years inevitably bring independence and prosperity to such a man. A case in point is that of Oscar Schmelzle. who began his career with merely the labor of his own hands and the savings from his industry, and is now proprietor of one of the fine farm homes of Gilmer Township. His place is thirteen miles east of Quiney.

Mr. Schmelzle was born in Baden, Germany, May 20, 1870. His parents were John and Amelia Schmelzle. His father served as a soldier of the German Empire in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and in 1878 brought his family to the United States, taking a steamship from Havre to New York City. The family were eleven or twelve days in erossing the ocean, and from New York they came direet to Quiney, where they had acquaintances. John Schmelzle had been a farmer in Germany, and in order to get a start in the new world he worked at day wages in a lumber yard at Quiney. Five years later he moved to a rented farm in Burton Township ten miles east of Quincy, and later bought 140 aeres three-quarters of a mile from Burton Bridge on Mill Creek. In that Joeality he remained long enough to enjoy the fruits of his well directed farm enterprise, construeted new buildings, and otherwise improved the land, and when he sold it he retired to Quiney with a competency. Ile is now living among his children. He is a Catholic in religion. In his family were the fol- lowing children : Oscar; Gus, of Melrose Township; Emil, of Quiney: Cath- erine, wife of William Weelman, of Gilmer Township; Anna, wife of Lewis Steekeman, now a hotel proprietor at Colfax, California; and Joseph, who lives near Quincy.

Osear Schmelzle lived at home until he was past twenty-one and nearly all of his experiences up to that time were farming. As a farm laborer he was in the employ of Sam Hastings three years, for Press Stump two years, and

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Samuel Thompson two years. The quality of work he performed for these men gave him a good reputation and this credit was a big asset when he started life as a married man.

February 16, 1898, he married Miss Lena Dietrich, daughter of Nicholas and, Mary Dietrich of Melrose Township. Nicholas Dietrich was born in Germany seventy-five years ago, and at the age of six years accompanied his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Dietrich, about 1849, to America. His parents settled where Nicholas now lives on the State Road, 61% miles east of Quincy in Mel- rose Township. Nicholas Dietrich has always lived in that vicinity and is one of the prosperous farmers there. At the age of twenty-seven he married Mary Zanger, who was then seventeen years of age. Nicholas and Mary Dietrich have eight children, four sons and four daughters: Jacob, of Melrose Township; Frances, wife of John Ehrhart, of Melrose Township; Lena, Mrs. Schmelzle; Carrie, wife of Lawrence Wellman, of Palmyra, Missouri; William, of Melrose Township; Catherine, wife of Al Wolf of Melrose: Rome, of Burton Township; and Alois, who is unmarried and lives on the old farm.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle rented the Booth farm in Gilmer Township for fifteen years. In the meantime they bought their present place of eighty acres, have owned it fourteen years, but moved to it as their permanent home only five years ago. This farm was the old Jacob Murphy place, and Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle bought it at forty dollars an acre. They have since added other land until they now have a complete and well balanced farm of 120 acres, and practically all its improvements have been made by Mr. Schmelzle. He has a good house, barns and other buildings, representing an, investment of fully $6,000, and these various facilities have been added not only with a view to working the land to the best advantage, but also for the purpose of affording an attractive and comfortable home. The farm is one of the out- standing features in the landscape, the buildings standing on a fine ridge, and the barn is visible for miles around. Mr. Schmelzle is a successful general farmer, handling the usual grain crops, and feeding a large drove of Poland China hogs every years. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and he assisted liberally in building the present church. Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle have three sons and one daughter, all at home, named Raymond, Clarence, Laura and Alvin.

DUDLEY H. MYERS. Several localities in as many different townships of Adams County learned to appreciate the good citizenship and sterling qualities of the Myers family. The branch of this family represented by Mr. Dudley H. Myers, who is proprietor of one of the best rural homes in Honey Creek Town- ship, 21 miles northeast of Mendon, was founded in Adams County by his grandfather, Henry Myers.

Henry Myers was born June 25, 1802, and died in 1869. He married Anna Tinsman, who was born May 31, 1811, and died at the age of eighty-eight. They were married January 3, 1828, and came to Western Illinois about 1851. Other pages of this publication contain a more complete record of the family in its different branches.

Among the sons of Henry Myers was Cyrus C. Myers, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and came to Adams County at the age of twelve years. When he was twenty-two he married Sarah L. Dudley, who was at that time twenty. They then settled on a farm near Mendon and in 1882 moved into Honey Creek Township and bought the 225 acres now owned and occupied by their son Dudley. Cyrus C. Myers died on this old homestead at the age of fifty-six. His widow is still living, a resident of Mendon. His career was a comparatively brief but a successful one, and his prosperity was the result of good farming methods and much enterprise as a stock feeder. He held the township office of supervisor two terms and in politics was a repub- lican, though practically all his brothers were democrats. He was also an active

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member of the Congregational Church at Mendon. Cyrus C. Myers and wife had eight children, seven of whom survived infancy: Abbie, wife of Samuel Talcott, of Honey Creek Township; Myrta, who married J. B. Frisbie, of Mendon ; Dudley H .; Fred C., who is a general merchant at Conway Springs, Kansas; Irving A., a physician practicing at Cottage Grove, Wisconsin ; Homer S., who died at the age of twenty years; and Walter M., a mining engineer in British Columbia.

Dudley H. Myers was born on his father's old home place in Mendon Town- ship, three miles from his present home, May 31, 1867. When he was fourteen years old his parents came to the land whose cultivation has been the principal object of his energetic labors for a number of years. At the age of twenty- six Mr. Myers married Cora J. Noyes, of Mendon, daughter of Chauncey Noyes. Mrs. Myers when a child of three months lost her father, who in the meantime had become a farmer in Kansas. Her widowed mother, Mary J. Fowler Noyes, then returned to Mendon Township, where her daughter grew to womanhood and was married at the age of twenty-four. For the first fifteen years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Myers lived on a farm adjoining their present home, and in 1908 occupied the old Myers homestead. Mr. Myers bought this place from his mother, and he also owns his former home, giving him 366 acres, which he operates as a single farm. It is not only one of the larger farms but one of those distinguished by its improvements and the efficient way in which every department is handled. Mr. Myers knows the farming game by lifelong experience and has never hesitated to avail himself of modern meth- ods when he was convinced that such methods were an improvement over old ones. He is a thoroughly successful and enthusiastic son of the soil. He is endeavoring to manage his farm resources in a manner to meet the demands made upon them by the Government in its present erisis, and is stanchly allied with the war spirit which is moving American farmers to almost superhuman efforts. Mr. Myers on his homestead has a group of old and substantial build- ings, the house having been erected fully forty years ago, and he has kept all of them in a thorough state of repair. As a stockman he breeds Shorthorn and Polled Durham cattle, from fifty to seventy-five head, and also has a large num- ber of big type Poland China hogs. He is not a willing office holder, but for the past ten or twelve years has been accorded the responsibilities of justice of the peace. He is a republican. He is also president of the Farm Bureau of Adams County, and through that is closely co-operating with state and federal organi- zations. He has also been president of the Mendon Township District High School Board since it was organized and this board is now erecting a model high school building at Mendon. He and his wife and family are members of the Congregational Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers have the following children: Chauncey C., operating one of his father's farms, married Aletha Nutt, and has two children, Vera and Arthur D. Harold N., who is the family representative in the war, being in the radio department of the United States Navy: Kenneth H. who is a grad- uate of high school, as are all the four older children, since September, 1918, has been a member of the Student Army Training Corps of Illinois Univer- sity. ; Marjorie D., who is now a student in Oberlin College in Ohio; and Wilfred S., a high school student at Mendon.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY has been a resident of Quincy since the close of the Civil war. Though eighty-eight years of age, he still seems as young as many men twenty-five years his junior, and his life though identified with many important business affairs has exemplified that simplicity of living and physical sturdiness which promote old age and honor among men.

Mr. Montgomery was born at Philadelphia October 12, 1830. and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In the latter years of the eighteenth century his great- grandfather, William Montgomery, Sr., brought his family to the United States

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and landed at Boston, where he died. William Montgomery, Jr., was born in Londonderry, Ireland, and was about six years old when he left the family seat. He was reared in Boston, and married there Elizabeth Mitchell. They then moved to Philadelphia, where she died, her only son, Henry, afterwards going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. William Montgomery, Jr., married for his second wife at Philadelphia Amelia Mosier, a native of that eity. She was born Jan- mary 29, 1778, and died in Philadelphia October 25, 1829. William Montgomery, Jr., died January 22, 1824, at the age of fifty-six. Both were Scotch Presby- terians in religion.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 15

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