Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 24

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 24

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).

Fred W. Heckenkamp, Jr., married at Quincy Elizabeth Boll who was born there January 27, 1875, and was edneated in St. Mary's school. Mr. and Mrs. Heekenkamp have a large family of children. Clara, who is the wife of Joseph Hutmacher, an accountant with the International Harvester Company of Chicago, and they have a daughter, Mary K. George, who was educated in St. Francis College and is now foreman in his father's greenhouse. Frank, who also assists his father in business. Joseph, a elerk in a city office. Robert, manager of his father's store; Antoinette and Bertha, both students in St. Mary's Academy ; Fred W., III, and Henrietta, who is attending St. Mary's school. The family are all members of St. Mary's Catholic Church.

HENRY L. MYERS. For over sixty years much of the enterprise and well directed efforts that have gone into the elearing of the land and production of crops and other matters associated with the welfare of a well ordered com- munity have come from the families in Gilmer and surrounding townships of the Myers relations. The name of the first pioneer of the family in this county was spelled Moyer, but in the present generation Myers is the accepted form.

Henry Moyer or Myers was born in Pennsylvania June 25, 1802. January 3, 1828, he married Anna Tinsman. She was born May 31, 1811. Henry Myers died in 1869, at the age of sixty-seven, and his widow survived to the age of eighty-eight. The record of their children is as follows: Polly M., who was the first wife of Mose Wareman; Jacob T .; Naney, who was the second wife of Mose Wareman; Sarah, widow of Doctor Gilland and living at Coatsburg; Catherine, who lives in California, widow of William Osborn; Lovina, a resi- dent of Oklahoma, widow of Simon Young; Cyrus C .; Jesse J .: John Henry ; Elvira, Mrs. Frank Dudley, living near Mendon ; Izarra, deceased wife of Frank Ogle : Leroy, deceased ; Vannatta, Mrs. James Evans of Mendon Township ; and Lutulles is the only male survivor of this generation and lives at Fowler in this county.

Jacob T. Myers, son of Henry Myers, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. November 1, 1832. In 1851, at the age of nineteen, he aecom- panied his parents to Mendon Township, settling two miles northwest of Fowler. Vol. II-10

878

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

It was in that community that Henry Myers and wife spent their last years. On October 30, 1856, Jacob T. Myers married Mary E. Wilhoit. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. H. G. Abernathy. She was born in Columbus Township of Adams County May 15, 1838, a daughter of William and Delilah (Curry) Wilhoit, who had come from Kentucky to Illinois about 1835. Jacob Myers became a highly successful and prosperous farmer, accumulating 270 acres three miles southwest of Columbus in Gilmer Township. In that com- munity he passed away July 11, 1909, at the age of seventy-seven. His first wife died May 3, 1885. In 1887 he married for his second wife Mrs. Mary Gamble, who was a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She died March 1, 1913.

The children of Jacob Myers by his first wife were: Annie, Mrs. Joseph Haley of Columbus, her family being subject of separate mention on other pages; Melvina Ogle, who died soon after her marriage; Loretta, deceased wife of Thomas Yeargain, of Paloma; David Lee, a farmer in Gilmer Township; George E., a farmer who lives at Topeka, Kansas; Mary Elizabeth, Mrs. H. B. Coffield, of San Diego, California; Wilbur L., who owns the old Myers home- stead ; Henry L .; Ida, wife of Elmer Kessler, of Camp Point Township; Delilah May, Mrs. G. E. Dickhut, of Topeka, Kansas.

Representing the third generation of the family in this county are the several sons and danghters just mentioned. At this point reference is made to Henry L. Myers, whose home is in Gilmer Township, a mile south of Fowler and eleven miles northeast of Quincy. He was born in that township February 28, 1874, and his early life was spent on the old farm and in the local schools. For nine years he provided for his family as a renter, eight years on one of his father's farms. In 1908 he bought his present place, the old Chase farm of 2111% acres in one body. Mr. Myers is one of the men who paid a high price for his land, but has justified the purchase through his intelligent and thrifty management. His farm cost him $14,800 and he has since rebuilt the house and added many other improvements. He farms on the general or mixed plan, and feeds a number of carloads of cattle, hogs and other livestock. Mr. Myers is a democrat in politics as was his father before him, who filled several local offices, including that of township supervisor. Mr. Myers and family are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

March 16, 1898, Henry L. Myers married Miss Nellie M. Horner, daughter of Albert L. and Maria (Seaton) Horner, a prominent family of Camp Point Township, whose record is given on other pages. Mrs. Myers was born in this county September 27, 1877.

One of the matters deserving space in any history of Adams County is the introduction of blue grass into the county. That important work is credited to Mrs. Myers' maternal grandfather, John S. Seaton, one of the early settlers and brother of Richard Seaton, well known in the county as a banker and former sheriff. John S. Seaton after settling in the county went back to Jefferson County, Kentucky, where he was born, and spent several days in stripping the seed from a quantity of bluegrass until he had a barrelful. He brought this to Adams County, and sowed it in fence corners and at other appropriate spots around his farm, and thus began the cultivation of one of the most valuable grasses known to mankind.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers are parents of three bright and interesting children : Horner Seaton, born January 7, 1899; Wilbur Halford, born March 29, 1903; and Eleanor, born February 20, 1908. These children are still at home and Horner graduated from the Maplewood High School at Camp Point in 1918.

SIMON DUKER. Inheriting to a marked degree the business ability and in- tegrity characteristic of his father, the late John Herman Duker, Simon Duker, of Quincy, is prominently identified with the commercial interests of this sec- tion of Adams County, which has always been his home, his birth having occurred June 11, 1858, in Quincy.

His paternal grandfather, Gerhardt Duker, was born in Hanover, Germany,

LIBRARY Of THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

879

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

and there after attaining man's estate he followed the carpenter's trade until his death, while yet in manhood's prime. In 1847 his widow, Elizabeth Duker, eame with her three sons, John Herman, Theodore and Henry, to the United States, landing in New Orleans, Louisiana. Six weeks later she came up the river with her boys to St. Louis, Missouri, where she lived for two months. Coming from there to Quiney, Illinois, in the fall of 1847, she continued a resi- dent of the city until her death.

A lad of fourteen years when he arrived in Adams County with his mother and brothers, John Herman Duker, who had acquired a practical education in Hanover, Germany, his native place, served an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade, which he afterwards followed as a journeyman for a few years. Sub- sequently, in partnership with John Kuhl, he established in Quincy a harness and saddlery store, with which he was identified until 1859. Selling his interest in 1859, he was engaged in the grocery business with his brother Theodore until 1871, when they embarked in the wholesale liquor trade under the firm name of J. H. Duker & Brother, loeating at No. 323 Hampshire Street, Quincy. In 1837 John Herman Duker, senior member of the above named firm, became one of the stockholders of the Quiney National Bank, of which he was made president a short time later, a responsible position which he filled most ably and satisfactorily until his death, November 14, 1903.

John H. Duker married, in 1856, Clara Elizabeth Glass, who was born in Quincy, a daughter of Simon and Margaret (Liebig) Glass, and she died at her beautiful home in Quiney in February, 1912. Of the ten children born of their union, six are now living, as follows: Simon, the special subjeet of this brief sketch ; Ann M., wife of John C. Ording; Nina M., wife of Doetor Blick- ham ; Ellen M., who with her brother Simon oeeupies the commodious granite mansion built by her father; John, employed in the Quincy National Bank ; and Clara, wife of Harry Beatty, of Los Angeles, California. Both of the parents were members of Saint Boniface Catholic Church. In polities the father was an influential member of the democratic party, and for twenty-five years was a member of the Quiney Board of Education, and an important factor in developing the present admirable public school system.

Finding employment in a general store in 1874, Simon Duker worked in the establishment a year, after which he resumed his studies, attending school for a year. The following three years he worked for the firm of J. H. Duker & Brother, of which his father was at the head, and at the age of twenty-one years started in business for himself as a dealer in agricultural implements, continuing for five years, when he had the misfortune to be burned out. Mr. Duker in 1888 entered his father's store, with which he has since been asso- ciated. In 1904 the business was incorporated under its present firm name, J. H. Duker & Brother Company, with Simon Duker, president and treasurer ; Otto Duker, vice president; and John C. Ording, secretary. Mr. Duker is a director of the Quiney National Bank, of which his father was formerly presi- dent. True to the religious faith in which he was reared, he is a valued member of the Saint Boniface Catholic Church.

WALTER A. HEIDBREDER. One of the enterprising young business men of Quincy, who bears a name that has been honored here in commercial cireles for many years, is Walter A. Heidbreder, who is assistant eashier of the State Street Bank and is interested in other successful enterprises here. He was born at Quiney, Illinois, July 22, 1879, and is a son of J. Herman and Anna (Junker) Heidbreder.

The late J. Herman Heidbreder was among the foremost business men of Quiney. He was born in Germany and with other members of his family came to the United States in 1851 and located at Quincy, where misfortune overtook the parents, whereby the youth was thrown entirely upon his own resources. It is well to recall this because of the example he set, through industry and in- tegrity overcoming great hardships and in the course of time reaching affluence

880

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

and high public esteem. For almost a quarter of a century he was engaged in the dry goods business, later was interested successfully in handling real estate, and in 1890, in association with other capitalists, founded the State Street Bank, of which he was cashier during the rest of his life, his death occurring August 28, 1907. He is recalled as one of the city's generous and public spirited men, a friend and promoter of educational and religious movements. He married Anna Junker, a native of Germany, who died March 18, 1911, and eleven chil- dren were born to them, the following surviving : Walter A .; William H., who is secretary of the Gem City Stove Manufacturing Company; Clara M., who is the wife of H. C. Sprick; Harry J., who is with the State Street Bank ; Minnie, who is the wife of Charles Seifert, of Quincy ; and Alma, who is the wife of M. M. Hess, of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Walter A. Heidbreder was educated in the public schools of Quincy and then took a commercial course in the Gem City Business College. In 1897 he en- tered the State Street Bank and has been identified with this financial institu- tion ever since, with the exception of one year, 1899-1900, when he was with the Gem City Stove Company. Since 1907 Mr. Heidbreder has been assistant cashier. IIe is financially interested in and is a director of the Central Iron Works at Quincy and of the Gem City Stove Manufacturing Company.

Mr. Heidbreder is a republican in his political affiliation. Fraternally he is a Thirty-second degree Mason and belongs also to the Order of Moose and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of St. Peter's German Evangelical Church.

JOHN G. CLOUGH. The automobile repair business together with the han- dling of first class cars, founded on economic necessity, has become so important in every section of the country that it is not surprising that men of enterprise and business sagacity have turned aside from other lucrative occupations to engage in this. Quincy has excellent examples and a prospering firm is that of Clough, Reihm & Company, the members of which are John G. Clough and Charles L. Reihm.

John G. Clough was born at North Amherst, Ohio, May 5, 1875. His parents were John B. and Jane E. (Gerrish) Clough. The father was a native of Ohio and the mother was born at Brownlow, Illinois. They had a family of five chil- dren, John G. being the third in order of birth.

A public school education laid the foundation on which John G. Clough commenced to rear his business structure. His inclinations and opportunities led him in certain channels and when twenty-one years of age he was engaged in a rock quarry business at Griggsville, Illinois, and later engaged in conerete contracting. He was one of the pioneers in the concrete industry. In 1905 Mr. Clough came to Quincy and in partnership with his brothers, Warren B. and Everett S .. of Quiney, went into the business of manufacturing concrete blocks and continued in the industry until 1911, when he sold out to E. B. Gibson.

In the meanwhile Mr. Clongh, as a shrewd business man, had become in- terested in the automobile business. In 1912 he erected at No. 1738 Broadway a spacious business structure of re-inforeed eonerete, 50 by 100 feet in dimen- sions, two stories in height, one of the most practical and substantial business buildings in the city. In 1914 Charles L. Reihm became a partner, when the present firm style was assumed of Clough, Reihm & Company. A general re- pairing business is done and the firm makes a specialty of handling the Chevrolet cars and the Republie trueks, and undoubtedly, as far as this firm is concerned, the motor car industry is in a very satisfactory condition.

Mr. Clough was married to Miss Emma Bennett, who was born at Kinder- hook, Illinois. They are members of the Presbyterian Church. Never very active in politics, nevertheless Mr. Clough always casts his vote with the re- publican party. and when called upon as a good citizen bears his share of publie responsibility. IIe is looked upon as one of Quiney's reliable and repre- sentative men.

881

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

ANDREW JACKSON TITTLE is a man of mark in the community of Honey Creek Township, and his life is significant because it has been lived for others more than for himself, and for that reason he is thoroughly deserving of all the esteem in which he is held by his community. Mr. Tittle's farm home is 21% miles east and a mile north of Mendon in Honey Creek Township.

It was on this farm and in a house which is still standing as part of the building improvements that Mr. Tittle was born April 18, 1862. His parents were A. Johnson and Margaret (Montgomery) Tittle. His father was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1809, his parents being natives of the same county. The traditional accounts that have been handed down indicate that the family originally had its home in Austria, but remote generations ago they settled in Ireland and Scotland. Their home was in Pennsylvania during the colonial period. A. Johnson Tittle came to Illinois in 1856. His brother Hamilton had settled in Adams County two years before, establishing a home in Honey Creek Township. A. Johnson Tittle in 1858 secured a tract of wild land at $10 an acre, and soon afterward erected the house in which his son Andrew Jackson was born. Of that land he cleared np forty-five acres and had most of it under cultivation before overtaken by old age. He died here April 9, 1899, when in his ninetieth year. He kept his faculties unimpaired almost to the end. He was never a public man, though voting as a republican, and at the time of his death was the oldest member of the Congregational Church at Mendon. He had had an adventurous life before coming to Adams County. In 1850 he went out to California, being six months on the vessel which took him around the Horn. His brother Jonathan crossed the plains to California in 1849. A. Johnson Tittle while in California was a miner and a charcoal burner. He and a companion with whom he had burned charcoal on the shores of Lake Superior some years before lived in a small hut, and this companion was stricken with the smallpox. Johnson Tittle remained with him, careless of his own danger, and nursed and comforted the sick man until he died. His experience in California netted him considerable money but he brought back very little of it. He was there five years, and soon after returning to Pennsylvania came west to Adams County. His many travels and experiences furnished him with interesting anecdotes which made him popular among the younger generation, and he was also greatly esteemed for his strict integrity and good citizenship. His wife died in August, 1870. His brother Hamilton died at Mendon July 2. 1877, when about sixty years of age. A daughter of Hamilton Tittle is Mrs. Henry Worman of Mendon. Of the four children of A. Johnson Tittle and wife Andrew Jackson is the only sur- vivor, and was the third in age. His brother William lived in Adams County until twenty-three years of age and then moved to LaBelle, Missouri, where he died May 4, 1918. Lizzie L. married G. D. Riddle, who for five years was a farmer and merchant at Oxford, Indiana, and they later moved to Boulder, Colorado, where Mrs. Riddle died September 25, 1916. Anna A., who died in February, 1901, was the wife of William McGinley, who settled in Keene Town- ship five years and then removed to LaBelle, Missouri.

Andrew Jackson Tittle grew up on the old farm, and twelve years before his father's death took its active management. He succeeded to the ownership of the place upon his father's death. He remained at home looking after his parents and when relieved of these responsibilities he went out to Guthrie County, Iowa, and cared for an uncle, Andrew Jackson Tittle, for whom he was named, until that uncle died at the age of eighty-five. Thus a large part of his life has been devoted to the care and welfare of others. At the age of twenty Mr. Tittle went out to the western frontier of Kansas and in Finney County took up a pre-emption, secured title to the land, and still owns it, though he has never had opportunity to develop it as a farm. It is in the wheat growing and grazing district of Western Kansas. Mr. Tittle is most com- fortable situated, has a good farm, and in 1917 erected a modern country home. In 1907 he married Miss Eleanor Taylor, daughter of Paul and Eliza (Kerrick)

882

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

Taylor. Mrs. Tittle was born near Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Tittle served two terms as road commissioner, is a republican, and is prominent in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Mendon, filling all the local chairs, and serv- ing as noble grand and representative to the Grand Lodge.

W. EMERY LANCASTER is a native of Adams County, in early life was a farmer, but for the past fifteen years has been steadily adding to his honors and emoluments as a successful lawyer.

Mr. Lancaster was born June 17, 1875, a son of William and Isabel (Prather) Lancaster. Both parents were born in this county, were substantial farming people, and both are now deceased. There were seven children : Warren, deceased ; Martha, wife of William Herron. of La Prairie; Mollie, wife of James Herron, of Bowen, Illinois; Sherman, of Carthage, Illinois; Frank, of La Prairie; Charles, who lives in Wyoming; and W. Emery.

W. Emery Laneaster spent his boyhood on a farm and received most of his education in the La Prairie public schools. Later he graduated in 1894 from the West Normal College at Bushnell, Illinois. He completed the regular course of study in Knox College at Galesburg, where he graduated Bachelor of Science in 1899. This was followed by his preparation for the law at the University of Michigan, in which he had the degree LL. B., awarded him in 1902. He then began practice at Quiney, as a member of the firm Govert & Lancaster. Besides his present practice Mr. Laneaster is a director of the State Savings & Loan Company and of the Halbach Sehroeder Company. He is a democrat and a member of the Masonie Order. October 10, 1906, he married Miss Edith HIalbaeh. They have one daughter, Virginia, born July 20, 1908.

JOHN KORN. A man of pronounced executive and financial ability, John Korn oeeupies a position of note among the prominent and prosperous busi- ness men of the city, being manager of one of a chain of five bakeries that have been established by himself, father and brothers, four of them being in the Central West and one in a far western state. A son of Henry Korn, he was born September 18, 1874, in Davenport, Iowa, and was there reared and edueated.

Henry Korn left Germany, his native land, at the age of eighteen years, eoming to America, the land of hope and promise. Locating in Maryland, he worked at the baker's trade in Baltimore for awhile. Subsequently migrating to Davenport, Iowa, he started in the bakery business on his own account, and in the management of his affairs met with rare success. He accumulated a competeney, and is now living retired from active pursuits, the Davenport bakery which he established upwards of half a century ago being now under the supervision of his oldest son, William H. Korn. Henry Korn's wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Alheit, was born in Germany, and eame to this country with her parents when a girl. Seven children have been born into their home, as follows: William H., managing the Davenport bakery; Charles, of Davenport, Iowa; Henry, of Eugene, Oregon; Lina, widow of John Kauf- mann, of Davenport; John, with whom this brief sketch is principally con- cerned : Bertha, living at home; and Otto, of Clinton, Iowa.

Aequiring his early education in the publie schools of Davenport, his native city, John Korn was actually reared in the home bakery, he and his brothers having assisted their father in the upbuilding of an extensive and lerative bakery business which is now strietly a family corporation. Five plants have been established by the Korn family, as follows: one in Davenport, operated by William II. Korn; one at Rock Island, Illinois; one in Clinton, Iowa; one in Quiney, Illinois, managed by the son John; and one at Eugene, Oregon. Coming to Quiney, Illinois, in 1910, Mr. Korn built his present plant, a two- story building 100 by 106 feet, with a capacity of 10,000 loaves of bread a day. The bakery is amply supplied with the most modern machinery and appliances

883

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

for carrying on the work, and its products are in great demand not only in Quincy but in all villages and towns within a radius of fifty miles.

Mr. Korn married, September 27, 1905, Helen Volkland, and they are the parents of two children, Elizabeth and Katherine. Politieally Mr. Korn votes for the best men and measures, regardless of party restrictions. He is promi- nent in fraternal eircles, being a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Aneient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and likewise be- longing to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Ile is also a member and a past president of the Quincy Rotary Club, which he organized a few years ago.

JOHN A. STILLWELL, president of the Eleetrie Wheel Company, Quincy, Illi- nois, was born at Hannibal in Marion County, Missouri, January 23, 1861. His parents were Brison and Margaret (Duncan) Stillwell, both of whom were born in Kentucky, probably being of Seoteh parentage. For many years the father was in the pork paeking business. His death occurred in 1876, six chil- dren surviving him and four of these still living. The mother died in 1916.

An only son, John A. Stillwell was given excellent educational advantages. In 1886 he entered the banking house of L. & C. H. Bull at Quiney as a clerk, and he continued there for four years when circumstances led to his entering, in 1890, the employ of the Electric Wheel Company as manager, thus con- tinuing until he became the president of the company. He is now one of Quincy's representative business men and most worthy citizens.

Mr. Stillwell was married in December, 1893, to Miss Elizabeth M. New- eomb, and they have three children, namely: Newcomb, who is a member of the aviation corps of the National army: Brison, attending Harvard College; and Alan, who is a student in the Quincy High School. Mr. Stillwell has never been particularly active in politics but his opinions on publie questions have made him a democrat and he is loyal in party support.

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 24

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