Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 17

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 17

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).

Mr. Richardson commenced the study of law in office of the Hon. O. H. Browning at Quiney in the year 1874 and was admitted to practice in 1876, in April of the same year being appointed master in chancery, which office he held for nine years. In 1878 and 1879 he was city attorney of Quiney. In 1880 he was elected a member of the Illinois Legislature. In 1885 he was appointed United States commissioner, and served in this eapaeity until im- paired health compelled him to resign, and devoted himself to his farm in Min- nesota.

Mr. Richardson was married January 3, 1881, to Miss Anna D. McFadon, of Quincy. This city has always been their home.

HENRY H. GARRELTS is seeretary and treasurer of the Henry G. Garrelts and Sons Company, one of the oldest established coneerns in Quincy, with a record of fifty years of growth and service. One distinctive feature is that it is and always has been a family concern, and it is today a close corporation, all the stock being owned by the Garrelts family. Quincy people need hardly be informed that it is a wholesale and retail paint, wallpaper and supply house, and also operating a general department store for different elasses of household furnishing. The store, 38 by 75 feet, is one of the prominent South Side con- cerns, located at 813-815 State Street. The company also have three ware- houses and a large paint shop in the rear of the store. The main building was erected by the late Henry G. Garrelts in 1905. In 1915 the business was ineor- porated and its founder died in December, 1916, nearly fifty years after he came to Quiney and went to work as a master painter. After incorporation Henry H. Garrelts was made secretary and treasurer, and the president of the company became at that time his brother George Garrelts, who died October 9, 1918, the mother succeeding him to the presidency of the company.

Henry G. Garrelts was a native of Germany, and while in the old country learned the trade of baker. He eame to America in 1866 and during one year spent at Pekin, Illinois, followed the trade of painter. In 1867 he located at Quincy, and his work and trade as a painter proved the basis on which the present business was built. For a time he was associated with Daniel Lynds and later with the Young Brothers, finally establishing a business of his own. Henry G. Garrelts was one of the leading members of the Lutheran Church and prominent in many eivie affairs and movements at Quiney. His widow is still living.

The children comprise an enterprising group of younger people, all aetive workers, good citizens, and valned members of the community. The oldest child, Mary, who was educated in the publie schools and a business college, was a stockholder in the company and head clerk of the department store. She

835

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

passed away October 16, 1918. Anna, the second daughter, lives at the old home with her mother. The third child is Henry H. Garrelts. Lena is manager of the picture and toy department in the store. The next in age was George, while the youngest is Clara, who has distinguished herself by special skill and efficieney as a stenographer. She is a graduate of the Gem City Business Col- lege, and is now private secretary for Secretary of State Emerson of Illinois.

Mr. George Garrelts married Anna Schulte and a son, George, Jr., was born in 1918. The brother of Mrs. Garrelts will always have a high place in Ameri- can history as the first American soldier to be killed in the front line trenehes in Franee.

Henry H. Garrelts, like his brother, was educated in the local publie schools and business college, and praetieally grew up in the atmosphere of his father's store. In 1902 he went to Des Moines, Iowa, and for two years was shipping elerk and salesman for a wholesale paint company there. In Des Moines in 1903 he married Martha Borkenhagen. She was born in Pomeran, Germany. Her father, Maj. Gustav Borkenhagen, was an officer in the Franco-Prussian war, and was at one time a very sneeessful manufacturer of eloth in Germany. He aeenmulated a fortune, but lost nearly all of it through the dishonest aetions of a partner. Mrs. Garrelts eame to the United States when twelve years of age and finished her education at Brunswick, Missouri. Henry H. Garrelts and wife have two daughters, Maria D., aged twelve, and Dorothy A., aged eleven. Both are now attending school.

The family are all members of Salem Lutheran Church at Quiney. The late Henry G. Garrelts and wife were early members there and did much to build up the church. The father served as an officer, and has sinee been followed in that by his sons. For the past ten years Henry H. Garrelts has been an active member of Herman Lodge of Masons and has filled chairs in the lodge, as did also his brother. The firm has membership in the Quiney Chamber of Commerce.

JOSEPH BARLOW. In the invention and use of appliances and deviees for saving time and labor in the agricultural industry, America has led the world for many years. Henee, in part, has come the wonderful prosperity that has made the United States the granary of the world, her inventions making it possi- ble to far outdistance other lands where primitive methods of agriculture have been retained. One of the exceedingly valuable inventions is the eorn-planter, which piece of machinery is indispensable in the great eorn belt of the country, and which, with a few improvements, is constructed praetieally on the same lines as those manufactured in Adams County, Illinois, seventy years ago, by Joseph C. Barlow. He was the father of Joseph Barlow, one of Quiney's rep- resentative business men of today, who is manager of the Quiney Foundry & Novelty Company.

Joseph Barlow was born in this eity, April 19, 1868. His parents were Joseph C. and Eveline (Streeter) Barlow, the former of whom was born in 1836, in Genesee County, New York, and the latter in Kentucky. Of their family of ten children there are four survivors, namely: John W., who is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri : Ella M., who is the widow of James W. Fairman, of Kansas City ; Joseph ; and Emily L., who is the wife of J. O. Glenn, of Quincy, Illinois. In 1848 Joseph C. Barlow eame to Adams County, Illinois. Ile had been reared on a farm but the possession of mechanical ability led him finally into a manufacturing business and he prodneed some of the first eorn- planters used in this seetion, and in the study of his produet he found where a better planter could be made and set about its invention. In time he was successful in securing a patent for this invention, which became known as the Barlow Corn Planter, and Mr. Barlow established his manufacturing plant for the same on Front and Cedar streets, Quiney. For many years he continued in the active eonduet of his business there, his eorn-planter meeting with a wide sale and continuing in favor long after later patented machines eame upon

836

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

the market, because of its practical qualities and reasonable cost. Mr. Barlow died in 1895. His widow survived many years afterward, passing away at Quincy in 1905.

Joseph Barlow was educated in the public schools of Quincy. With an inherited taste for mechanics he then entered his father's foundry and from the age of nineteen years to thirty he was connected with the business of the Barlow Corn Planter Company. In 1898 he came to the Quincy Foundry & Novelty Company, and has continued manager here ever since.

Mr. Barlow was married October 25, 1893, to Miss Georgie H. Berry, who was born in Illinois. They have had two children, neither of whom survived infancy. Mr. Barlow belongs to the Rotary Club and politically is a republican but has never been particularly active in political life and has never sought public office. It is a matter of some pride to him that on the paternal side he can claim rela- tionship with so great a man as Stephen A. Douglas, who was his father's first cousin.

EDWIN P. OSGOOD, a resident of Quincy since 1905, is a man of wide and thorough experience in business affairs. He has been a trader and dealer since early youth. has also done some practical farming, has sold and operated in real estate and as a lumber manufacturer and dealer, and is now handling industrial investments, his offices being in the Majestic Building at Quincy.

Mr. Osgood was born at Plymouth, Illinois, in 1874. He attended school there, but at the age of seventeen started out upon his own resources and has won his way by hard work and honest dealings. He has made good in prac- tically every undertaking. After coming to Quincy he completed a course in the Gem City Business College, and has constantly used every oppor- tunity to improve his ability and give him a broader outlook.

One of his early experiences was as a farmer in Lewis County, Missouri, where he bought some land and for several years worked almost night and day to manage it and improve it. He bought it for fifteen dollars an acre and sold it for thirty dollars an acre. He then became engaged in business as a trader in merchandise stocks. He bought and sold twenty-six stocks of goods within a few years, and made a profit on nearly every transaction. During the same period he bought and sold fifty-two farms. From early boyhood he has been a hustler and has a great liking for business transactions, a trait which he no doubt inherited from his New England Yankee ancestry.

On coming to Quincy in 1905 Mr. Osgood entered the lumber and real estate business. For six years his time was largely confined to real estate work and for two years he lived in Kansas City, Missouri, and operated as a man- ufacturer and dealer both wholesale and retail, in lumber. In 1915 he returned to Quincy and until February, 1917, was engaged in lumber manufacture.

After long and careful study Mr. Osgood in February, 1917, became iden- tified with the work of industrial investments and securities, especially with the International Industrial Securities Company. He has well earned the con- fidence of the people and has allied himself with a very interesting phase of industrial promotion.

The Industrial Securities Company has promoted the American Mineral Production Company, which has the largest deposits of magnesite in the world in Stephens County, Washington. This company was organized in the fall of 1916, and by October, 1917. the capitalization of $1,500,000 has been sold to the public except a one-third interest held by the Industrial Security Com- pany. Magnesite is a material used in the lining of all steel furnaces, in the hardening of rubber, in extracting metallic magnesium and salts obtained from magnesium. A superior roofing is made at Springfield, Illinois, from mag- nesite. The American Mineral Production Company is on a 12 per cent per annum dividend basis. The Industrial Securities Company built a railroad leading to the magnesite deposits. Another promotion of the Industrial Secur-

837

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

ities Company is the Perfection Tire and Rubber Company, which holds patents covering the use of asbestos for the construction of tires. The Curtis Brothers Handle Company is another promotion of the Industrial Securities Company. This capital stock is now owned by the publie and is on an earning basis estimated at 18 per cent per annum. Another eoncern promoted by the company of which Mr. Osgood is a member is the Karamoid Container Man- ufacturing Company. This company manufactures on patents a varied line of containers constructed of magnesite, wood pulp and ehemieal compounds. They have perfected a process by which containers ean be made so cheaply that while suitable for sueh usage as milk bottles, and also for the eanning and preserving of fruits, lard, butter and meat, the containers are used only onee. The plant for the manufacture of these artieles is being built at Fort Madison, Iowa, which is also the home of the Perfection Tire & Rubber Company and the Curtis Brothers Handle Company.

Mr. Osgood states that the Industrial Securities Company guarantees each stockholder against loss for two years, and at the expiration of that time they have the privilege of returning their stock and receiving their money back with 6 per ecnt interest. Mr. Osgood became interested in this company in February, 1917, and took up the work believing he eould benefit each and every individual who bought stock. He has given up the lumber business and other lines so as to devote all his time to the new field.

In Lewis County, Missouri, Mr. Osgood married Miss Leona Lay, a native of that county. She was edueated in the city schools of Canton. They have one daughter, of whom they are justly proud, Hazel, born December 25, 1910. She is now a student in the grammar sehools of Quiney. Mr. and Mrs. Osgood are active members of the Baptist Church and he is one of the church trustees and for several years has been superintendent of the Sunday school. He is affiliated with Lambert Lodge No. 15, Ancient Frec and Aeeepted Masons, at Quincy.

CHARLES EBERHARDT. To work steadily in one line and one oceupation for forty-five years is to render a service that needs to be appreciated in any com- munity, since it is such men and such serviees that do most to insure all ele- ments of welfare. That has been the distinction of Mr. Charles Eberhardt, a carriage trimmer by occupation, and who as a boy began his trade in 1872 with the old E. M. Miller Carriage Company on South Sixth Street. He learned the trade there and with the exception of brief trips as a journeyman to the · West and South was employed steadily until 1890, when he established a busi- ness on his own aceount at 902 Maine Street. This is his business home today, and he has not only been materially prospered, but has gained the esteem of a host of Quiney people.

Mr. Eberhardt was born in Germany July 5, 1854. His parents, Adolph and Mary Eberhardt, when their son Charles, their first born, was not yet two years old, in 1856 crossed the ocean and established their home in Quiney, so that Mr. Charles Eberhardt has been a resident of this eity for over sixty years. Adolph Eberhardt was a cabinet maker by trade, and followed that line chiefly in Quiney. He retired about ten years before his death, which oceurred in June, 1911, at the age of cighty-four. His wife died in Quincy December 31, 1884, aged fifty-eight years, six months. They were members of the Lutheran Church. Their children were: Charles; Anna and Mollie, both unmarried ; Adolph J., who for many years was a worker with the E. M. Miller carriage shop, and by his marriage to Anna Bregger, daughter of Thomas Bregger, las three children, Louise, Grace and Caroline.

Mr. Charles Eberhardt married in Quiney Miss Emily Gasser. She was born in this eity of German parents. She was a small ehild when her father died and her mother died later. Mr. and Mrs. Eberhardt and family are all members of St. John's Lutheran Church and he is a democrat in polities. Their

838

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

children are: Cordelia, a graduate nurse from Blessing Hospital has been active in her profession for ten years; Mollie, a well educated young woman liv- ing at home and a bookkeeper for the Quincy Produce Company; Lonise, who for several years was secretary and treasurer of the Quincy Produce Company and is now at home; and Elsie, who married Lewis Tredder, of Quincy, and has a son, Donald, born June 7, 1915.

PHILIP GENTEMANN. A skilful and practical horticulturist and florist, Philip Gentemann is intimately associated with the development and advance- ment of that branch of industry that relates to the growing of flowers, plants and shrubs, a work that he is carrying on after the most approved scientific methods. A son of C. Frederick W. Gentemann, he was born in Quincy Novem- ber 15, 1877, and was educated in the parochial and public schools of the city.

C. Frederick W. Gentemann was born in Germany, and as a young man came with his parents to Illinois, locating in Quincy. While working for Governor Wood, having charge of all of the horticultural work of the place, he accumulated quite a sum of money, and when ready to invest it bought land and built the first greenhouse in Adams County. He began the nursery business on a modest scale, but enlarged his operations each year, carrying at first a line of trees and shrubbery, but subsequently putting in a stock of potted plants and making a specialty of cut flowers. In 1901 he retired from active pursuits, giving up the business to his sons, Herman A. and Philip. He continued his residence, how- ever, in Quincy until his death in April, 1909. He married Anna Minerva Goesling, a native of Germany, and she survived him, at the present time making her home with her son Philip. They were the parents of eight children, as fol- lows: Henry, a prosperous farmer and dairyman of Kansas; William, who laid out the grounds for the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, and of which he had charge several years, is now living in St. Louis, being there engaged in the manufacture of library tables and kitchen cabinets; Hannah, wife of W. L. Coulson, of Memphis, Tennessee; Reicke, wife of William C. Smith, of Galesburg, Illinois; Minnie, who is interested with her brothers in the nursery; Herman, who has charge of the downtown office of the nursery; Philip, who superintends the growing department of the nursery; and Lennie, who died in girlhood.

Working in the greenhouse with his father from his boyhood days, Philip Gentemann found the occupation congenial and profitable and with his brother Herman has succeeded to the business founded by his father and has devel -. oped a large and constantly increasing trade. The plant is large and- finely equipped, containing 35,000 feet of glass, under which are grown choice plants of all kinds, the enterprising firm of Gentemann Brothers catering to an exten- sive and appreciative public, its patronage extending over a large territory, covering not only Quiney but numerous other cities and towns.

Mr. Gentemann married, May 9, 1917, Mary Orr, a native of Lima, Illinois. Mr. Gentemann is a stanch republican in politics. He is a member of the Order of Eagles, and of the North Side Boat Club. He and his family are members of St. Jacobi Church.

CRAYTON SLADE is a veteran Union soldier, a resident of Adams County more than sixty years, and is now surrounded with the comforts and plenty of a fine farm, the result of many years of persevering toil and good management. This farm home is in section 25 of Gilmer Township, fourteen miles east of Quincy, on the Columbus Township line.

Mr. Slade is a native of Maryland, born in Baltimore County May 14, 1830. He was nine years old when his father died leaving his mother with seven chil- dren, and he only fifteen when his mother passed away. He had to get out and make his own living, and as a boy he worked six years in a woolen factory.

Crayton lade.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

839

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

Otherwise all his aetive eareer has been spent as an agriculturist. Mr. Slade came west to Butler County, Ohio, in 1852. Three years later he went back to Maryland, but in 1855 came on to Adams County, which he had first visited in 1852. His sister was Mrs. James O. Lytle, who with her husband had come to Adams County down the Ohio and up the Mississippi rivers. Mr. Slade and his brother-in-law bought in partnership seventy-five aeres in Burton Town- ship at $30 an acre. This land contained a new house, and it is now the farm of J. P. Spangler. They located there in the spring of 1856, and continued their partnership operation until 1862.

In August, 1862, Mr. Slade enlisted in Company E of the Eighty-Fourth Illinois Infantry, under Col. L. H. Waters, Captain Tousley, while his first lieutenant was Hiram Roberts. Among his comrades who also went from the same township were George and Jared Stabler, James Plowman, William Hughes, James Hughes, Wash Wilson, James Malone, William Malone, Anson Malone and Joseph Pond. Several of these were killed or died in service. Mr. Slade served from the time of his enlistment until the end of the war. He was in the Atlanta campaign, and then went with Thomas' army in the chase after Hood, in- eluding the battles of Franklin and Nashville. At Chickamauga September 19- 20, 1863, Mr. Slade's knapsack stopped an enemy bullet. He was promoted to sergeant of his company.

At the end of the war he returned home and on February 28, 1866, mar- ried Mary Pearce. She was also a Maryland girl, but had come to Illinois at an early day with her parents. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Slade settled on his present farm, starting with fifty-three acres bought for $2,400. Later he rounded out his possessions to make a full quarter section, and he also owns 188 acres three quarters of a mile away in Columbus Township. This second farm has a complete building equipment of its own. Mr. Slade never paid more than $52 per acre for land, but his holdings are worth much more than that at the present time. His original farm had a very poor house and no other buildings at all, and in the course of half a century he has expended much money and his own labor in equipping and fitting out his farms with improve- ments that are of the best. He has put his chief relianee in such money making enterprises as stock raising, handling hogs, cattle and horses. He has always been a lover of good horse-flesh, and has had some very fine horses. For the past ten years Mr. Slade has turned over the heavier responsibilities of farming to his children.

Of the four children born to him and wife one died in infancy and one at the age of fifteen. The daughter Ada is Mrs. Walter Frey, and his only son is William Slade, a bachelor. Mr. Slade and his children all live together.

In an official capacity he has been township supervisor several times, road commissioner, tax collector and member of the sehool board. He is a democrat. His mother was a Presbyterian, but he has never affiliated with any church. Mrs. Slade died in 1902, after they had lived happily together for thirty-six years. Mr. Slade served a number of times on the grand and petit juries. He has been a witness to all the changing developments in his part of the county for over sixty years. One of the interesting landmarks of Columbus Township was the old Dutch windmill which was built on a brick foundation. There was no arrangement to shut off the mill, and as it kept turning constantly, whether in use for grinding or not, it eventually ran itself to pieces. One of the owners of the property refused to sell the brick as he wanted to preserve the tile as a monument to his grandchildren. Mr. Slade is a remarkable man for eighty- eight years of age, active as many men of only fifty. He often walks miles and back to visit his neighbors. He was educated in the old time subscription sehools, with their slabs for seats and walked two and three miles to school.

THEODORE DOUGHERTY. While he has relaxed somewhat the strenuous toil of earlier years, Theodore Dougherty is still one of the capable business men and active eitizens of Keene Township, and still lives on the fine farm that reflects

840

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

his good management and industry. This farm is five miles northeast of Mendon and 41/2 miles south of Lorain.

Mr. Dougherty was born in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1854, son of Mathew and Mary (Edmonds) Dougherty. His father was born at Coleraine, County Derry, Ireland, in 1812. His wife was born at Timby, Wales, and went to Ireland when a young woman. Her father was an old sea captain. Mathew Dougherty with two children immigrated to America, land- ing at Quebee, and from there went to Carbon County, Pennsylvania. He worked in the anthracite coal mines for several years, until about 1838. He had served eight years on the coast service in Ireland. He was an engineer for a time with the famous Inclined Plane Railroad over the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. He lived on top of Mt. Jefferson, and from his home there was an unrivalled expanse of scenery and landscape to be beheld. He helped haul the cars over the mountains, pulling them up by cable and letting them down by gravity. In 1868 Mathew Dougherty came to Adams County, locating in Honey Creek Township a mile south of the present home of his son Theodore. He died there in January, 1885. He and his wife had thirteen children. Three daughters and three sons still survive: Clara, Mrs. Willis Morris, of California; Mrs. Martha MeIllmorrell, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Sarah Gibson, of Summit Hill, Pennsylvania; Arthur, at Douglass, Wyoming; Andrew J., also of Wyoming; and Theodore. The oldest son, Thomas, became a Union soldier and was killed in the battle of Cold Harbor. He served with an artil- lery company from Philadelphia. The daughter Mary married Thomas Flem- ing and died in Adams County, her husband still being a resident of Mendon. Eliza married Andrew McMullen and both died in Keene Township.

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 17

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