Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 26

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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FRANK A. FREUND. For all his fourscore and four years Frank A. Freund is still hale and vigorous, possessed of a good memory and active intelligence, and has a long retrospect of years which must afford him satisfaction and contentment. Mr. Freund has been a resident of Quincy over sixty years, and has witnessed and been a part in its development from village times.

He was born in Bavaria, Germany, March 14, 1834, of old German Catholic stock, son of Anton and Lucinda (Bock) Freund. His parents were also natives of Bavaria, and his father was a brewer there and died at advanced years. Frank A. Freund was a boy when his mother died at the age of fifty-six.

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The youngest of six children, and the only one to come to America, he lived in his native land to the age of eighteen, and in order to avoid the enforced military duty left there in 1852, crossing the ocean by sailing vessel from Bremen to Baltimore. He landed in this country July 5th and for a year had employment in Baltimore at the brewer's trade, at wages of $4 per month. While there he learned the cooper's trade and in 1855 came to Quincy. Here he acquired still another mechanical art, brick laying, and was not only a well qualified workman but a leader among his fellows, and organized the first brick laying association or union in this part of the state, continuing as its head for several years. About the close of the Civil war Mr. Freund took up brick contracting, and there are not a few brick structures in and abont Quiney today, including both business and private houses, which were constructed by him.

For over forty years his home has been at the corner of Spring and Thir- teenth streets, and he owns his home at 1301 Spring Street and also the adja- cent house at 1303. He also has other property and is now retired in comfortable circumstanees.

In Quincy Mr. Freund married Elizabeth Schwebel. She was born in Illi- nois, and her parents came from Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and were early settlers in Quincy. For many years her father was a teamster and transfer man. Both her parents died many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Freund after their marriage proved an ideal working partnership, and they created their pros- perity by thrifty co-operation. Mrs. Freund died in 1895. Among her children were : Rose, who married William Markus and died at twenty-eight years of age, leaving four children; Edith, widow of Henry Vanden Boom, who died some years ago leaving children; Joseph, who is a brick contractor in Qniney and is married and has a family; Estelle, who lives at home with her father. All the family are members of St. Francis Catholic Church, and Mr. Freund is affiliated with the Western Catholic Union and St. Michael's Society.

JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM WITTLER. A citizen whose life meant much to his community, where he lived so long and prospered by so much diligence and toil, was the late John Frederick William Wittler of Ellington Township. His fine homestead in section 9 is still owned by Mrs. Wittler, and is a well drained tract of rolling land, with new farm buildings, fields well tilled. good livestock, and altogether such a home as these prosperous people well de- served.

The late Mr. Wittler was born in St. Louis, Missouri, October 27, 1851, and died at his homestead in Ellington Township December 9, 1912. His parents were natives of Hanover, Germany, and were married at St. Louis. His father was named Schmidt and died when John Frederick was a very small boy. The widowed mother married a Mr. Wittler for her second husband and the son took his name. Mrs. Wittler came to Quiney and spent her last years in that city. John Frederick William Wittler grew up in Adams County and his early training well fitted him for the business of farming, which he pursued on his place in section 9 of Ellington Township.

In 1872, at Quincy, he married Miss Flora W. Disselhorst. She was born in Bielfeldt, Hanover, April 7, 1852. Her mother, Clara Swader, died in Ger- many in 1869, when abont forty years of age. Her father, Henry Disselhorst, in 1870 brought his six children from Bremen to New York City and thence to Quincy, and was a farmer on rented land in Ellington Township. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Wittler, at the age of seventy-seven. He was a member of the Lutheran Church and a republican.

Mr. and Mrs. Wittler after their marriage began as renters, and by hard work and saving habits were enabled to buy their present home of eighty aeres in section 9. Mr. Wittler was constantly busied with the improvement and cultivation of this land until his death. Mrs. Wittler is the mother of seven children : Minnie married Leonard Knorr, a farmer in Ellington Township, and

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they have five sons and five daughters. Edward F. Wittler, the second child, is subject of a separate sketch elsewhere. Charles is a farmer in Ellington Township, and by his marriage to Sarah Allen has a son and two daughters. Henry William Wittler, now the practical manager of his mother's farm, married Grace Knox. She was born in Ellington Township in 1888. was educated in the public schools, and is a daughter of Henry and Emma (Meyer) Knox. Her father died in 1902, at the age of fifty-one, and her mother is still living on the old Knox homestead in section 15 of Ellington Township, at the age of forty- nine. She is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Knox was quite prominent in local republican politics and held several offices. Mr. and Mrs. Henry William Wittler have a daughter, Jane, born May 11, 1916. William Wittler, the next in the family, is a farmer at Fowler in this county. He married Ida Wittland and has two sons, Gus and Paul. Lena is the wife of John Rooskamp, of Tioga, Illinois, and they have two sons, Elmer and Edgar. Etta is the wife of Fred Penster and lives on a farm in Ellington 1 Township. They have two children, Earl and Elsie.

JOHN L. FLYNN. One of the business men of recognized importance at Quincy is John L. Flynn, manufacturer of high class carbonated waters and owner and proprietor of the bottling works established here almost forty years ago by his father, the late John J. Flynn, who was one of Quincy's most popular and respected citizens for more than thirty years.

John L. Flynn was born at Quiney, Illinois, December 12, 1882. His parents were John J. and Mary E. (Larkin) Flynn. The father was born April 9, 1854, at Blackstone in Worcester County, Massachusetts. His home was not one of wealth and very early he became self-supporting, at the age of ten years starting to work in a cotton mill. In 1874 he came to Quincy, Illinois, where he completed an interrupted education by taking a commercial course in a busi- ness college. Perhaps it was for that purpose he came to Quincy, but after becoming acquainted with the sterling residents here he determined to stay and soon found a business opportunity in the manufacture of those delicious beverages, spruce and root beer. He had prudently commenced in a small way but his venture proved successful and his first expansion was the bottling of his product. In 1881 he established his soda water business, having in the mean- while taken a course in chemistry in relation to the manufacture of carbonated waters. As the demand for these non-intoxicating beverages inereased, Mr. Flynn was prepared to meet it, in the course of time erecting his modern plant, where he carried on business until his death on January 6, 1907. In 1877 John J. Flynn was married to Miss Mary E. Larkin, who died October 23, 1915. They had three children: James J., who is a resident of Quincy ; Lillian, who is the wife of Panl A. Wolf, of Quincy ; and John L., who is his father's busi- ness successor.

John L. Flynn first attended the parochial school connected with St. Rose Church, and later the Quincy High School, from which he was creditably grad- uated, and subsequently completed a commercial course under Professor Me- Kenna in the Union Business College. Thus well prepared, he entered his father's works and made himself exceedingly useful while studying every detail of the business, and sinee he has become its owner has, like his late father been careful of the integrity of his product. The carbonated waters manufactured here have a well earned reputation for purity and their sale covers the entire country. Mr. Flynn has proved able as a business man and possesses other qualities that ensure him the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.

Mr. Flynn was married October 25, 1909, to Miss Elsa Halbach, and they have three children, namely : John J., who was born November 3, 1910; William J., who was born July 16, 1912; and Ruth Mary, who was born November 10, 1914. Politically Mr. Flynn is a democrat and fraternally is a member of the Elks, the Eagles and the Knights of Columbus. He belongs also to the North

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Side Boat Club and the Tummers, and is a communicant in St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.

JAMES HIGGINS. An Ennstal proportion of life's experiences has been be- stowed upon James Higgins, one of the widely known and prosperous citizens and farmers of Lima township, who now owns and occupies the old Higgins homestead a mile and a half south of Lima Village.

Mr. Higgins was born at Poughkeepsie. Dutchess County. New York. March 15. 1842. He was about Eve years of age when his parents came west in the fall of 1847 and made settlement in Lima Township. His father. Joseph Hig- gins. was bom in County Antrim, Ireland. His mother. Margare: Campbell. was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. Margaret Campbell's mother Lad 160 acres of land in Adams County granted her husband because of his services in the war. I: was this land grant which was one factor at least in bringing the Higgins and Campbell families out to Western Illinois. Hugh MeCarty married Hannah H. Campbell. a sister of Margare: Campbell. and they had come to Adams County several years before the Higgins party came. Hugh MeCarty was a saflor and was dissatisfied with life in this inland com- munity and finally returned East, never being heard of afterwards.

Joseph Higgins made the trip West with his family by canal steamboat and railroad. The party passed over the famous ineline plane railroad in Western Pennsylvania, where the cars were drawn up the mountain by cable. On ge :- ting across the mountains they stopped for a brief time at Pittsburg before embarking on an Ohio River steamboat. The younges: child of the family was then six months old. The father and children were all on board. bo: the mother was temporarily lost. and as the boat could not wait it left the wharf without her. She eaugh: another boet immediately following, and after a few hours rejoined her family. the infant haby being in grea; distress in the meantime. Joseph Higgins on reaching Adams County settled on the land owned by bis wife's mother. Mes Sarah Campbell, who later moved to Quiner and died there in 1848. Joseph Higgins remained on that old farm, which is now a par: of the famm of his son James, and died there Augas: 16. 1671. at the age of sixtr-ive. He and his wife had four sins and two daughters.

James Higgins was reared and educated in Lima Township, and in the fall of 1864 left the county for California. He arranged to drive a team for a neighbor at Council Bluff's, and the party had to wait in line three days in order to get their turn to cross the river on the ferry. There were hundreds of teams and vehicles leaving there for California almost every day. One of his ompari ns asked Mr. Higgins to stick by him until Californie was reached. and he bert that compact though not withont considerable inconvenience and danger to Himself. This companion, though the fact was not known as the time, was a deserter from the army. The owner of the teams discharged the man a: Pawnee Hill. and Mr. Higgins in order to keep his word had to leave the party also, and they started alone stross the plains on foot. Mr. Higgins carried about sixty pounis of bagrace, including overtoa: and ride. There were many trying experiences. Their food was chiely dried beef, and ca reaching the desert they had no carneen to carry water and endured temible trials of thirst. The companion fally fell down exhausted. while Mr. Hig- gins continued on some tiro miles until he found a water hole. His :race was swollen and he was so hungry and exhausted that he could not get down to the water. and he sat there for a time feeling that his last day had some. Finally a man came up who helped him to water, but he was unable to swallow for a time on aescant of his swollen tongue. He revived and his good friend also carried a bucket ne water to his companion beck on the trail. After that experience they serared a Forteen. and thus passad over the dangerous and desert stage of the ; urner. In 1865 Mr. Higgins went to West Bannock. Idabn. At that time de Indiens were hostile and were raiding ranches and stage sta- tions. They had sworn hostilities to the whites because of an increase of ermelts

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perpetrated by some white men who had captured a young friendly Indian and had shot him against the protest of several miners. This murder outraged the rest of the tribe and brought about hostilities that were quieted with great difficulty. In the fall of 1865 Mr. Higgins rode his pony from Boise City to Denver, and then for a time served as a stage driver between Denver and Buckskin Joe, 140 miles. He was caught in one of the awful blizzards of the West, the storm striking him soon after leaving the lights of Denver behind, and it was by a supreme effort that he finally got his team turned around and reached safety in the city at daylight, numb and sleepy with cold.

In September, 1866, Mr. Higgins returned to Quincy, but the following spring went to Denver again and during that summer helped build a railroad depot at Cheyenne, Wyoming. He did some railroad work near Nebraska City at wages of $1.50 a day. In 1868 he secured his share of his father's old home and on February 22, 1870, he married Miss Frances Orr, daughter of William and Martha (Woods) Orr. William Orr was a son of William Orr, Sr. William Orr, Jr., at one time had a water mill two miles southwest of the present farm of James Higgins on the White Oak Branch. James Higgins as a boy frequently went to that mill to get corn ground into meal. Later steam power was installed and a complete flour mill erected. The mill prop- erty with a fine body of land was later sold to Allen Wait, who removed the machinery to a site on Bear Creek in Ursa Township. Wait erected two mills, one of which had a chimney ninety-nine feet high. Both these mills were burned, the last about 1874, and that closed the milling history of that place. The original William Orr farm adjoined the Higgins farm, and on that place William Orr, Sr., had in pioneer times, operated a small water mill. He died there at the age of ninety-five, and is buried on a half acre plat on his farm, several of his family lying in neighboring graves. William Orr, Jr., went out to California in 1849, but returned to Adams County and lived here until his death at the age of eighty. His brothers Peter and Silas also went to Cali- fornia. Silas died at Maryville, California, while Peter passed away at Wash- ington, District of Columbia.

At the time of his marriage Mr. James Higgins bought the other interests in the old homestead, except one share, which had been sold in the meantime, and he has never been able to secure that portion and complete his ownership of the old place. As it is he has a complete farm of 173 acres, and has made it both a productive business and a fine home. His house was built in 1875 and his barn in 1880. For six or eight years after 1883 Mr. Higgins also operated a threshing outfit, and at one time he also conducted a hotel at Quincy. Mr. Higgins has made his way in the world largely through his individual experi- ence and with few influences from the outside. He had meager schooling, nearly all of it from two teachers, James Anderson and Henry Beisel.

Mr. and Mrs. Higgins had five children. Lucy, who was born April 5, 1876; Mande, horn October 28, 1878; Fanny, who died at the age of twenty-one; and Fred and Bert. The son Bert is a farmer in Lima Township and by his mar- riage to Mary Frazer has two children.

JOSEPH H. VANDEN BOOM. There has been no time in the last sixty-five years when the name Vanden Boom has not been significant of some of the larger business activities of Quincy. The Vanden Booms have been furniture manufacturers and lumber dealers, bankers, pork packers, and through these activities and their public spirited citizenship have contributed notably to the growth and welfare of the city.

The name Vanden Boom is distinctive of its Holland Dutch origin. The members of probably two generations of the family preceding that of the pioneer at Quincy were natives of Holland and spent some portions of their lives in Prussia, Germany. In Prussia was born Clement August Vanden Boom in 1818. His parents died in Prussia when nearly ninety years of age. Clement A. Vanden Boom as a vonth was trained to the wood turning trade, and when Vol. II-11

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about twenty-seven years of age he sought better opportunities and privileges in the new world. He traveled to the United States from Bremen on a sailing vessel. After landing in New York he settled at Cincinnati in 1848, and worked at his trade there until 1851, when he eame to Quiney. His early wages were only 75 cents a day and half that amount was held out by his employers for several months. While in Cincinnati he married Miss Gertrude Jessing. She was a native of the same town in Prussia, and they had come over on the same boat. On coming to Quiney Clement A. Vanden Boom bought a lot and erected a small wood-turning shop, offering his services to the community for the manufacture of any custom made furniture desired. His business prospered and he built a good home on the same lot which contained his shop. His first wife died there in 1861, at the age of thirty-seven. ller children were : Henry, Louisa, Joseph, Lizzie, August and Paulina. In 1862 C. A. Vanden Boom married Elizabeth Ellers, also a native of Germany. She was a young woman when she came with her brothers to America, being on the ocean six weeks and landing in New Orleans, whence they journeyed up the river to Quincy. After this second marriage C. A. Vanden Boom and wife continued to live in the old home at 429 North Tenth Street, and they were the parents of six children : Mary, Bernard, Gertrude, William, Annie and Katie. The mother of these

children died about 1888. C. A. Vanden Boom who died in 1885, continued a prospering business as a furniture manufacturer for eighteen years, but in 1870 entered the pork packing industry with Mr. Blomer, under the firm name of Vanden Boom & Blomer. with plant at the corner of Tenth and Broadway. That was his chief business interest until his death. C. A. Vanden Boom was well known in the city's financial affairs, and also as a publie spirited citizen and for eight years served as an alderman. Ile and his family were members of St. Boniface and later of St. Francis' Catholic parish.

Joseph II. Vanden Boom, son of C. A. and Gertrude (Jessing) Vanden Boom, was born at Quincy August 6, 1854. During his youth he attended the parochial schools and in 1869 graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Business College. He had some valuable training during the next three years as elerk in the Rieker Bank of Quiney, and from 1872 to 1875 was bookkeeper for Vanden Boom & Blomer, pork packers. In July, 1875, Mr. Vanden Boom formed a partnership with Henry Moller and established the lumber business of Moller & Vanden Boom. In a short time this firm, with headquarters at 636 Vermont Street, was ranked among the leading lumber merchants of the eity, handling many million feet of lumber supplies every year. Mr. Moller of this firm died in 1900, but there has been no important change in the family membership of the business to the present time. In 1901 the old firm was incorporated as the Moller-Vanden Boom Lumber Company, and Mr. Vanden Boom has been presi- dent from the first. Henry Moller is secretary and Fred Moller treasurer of the company. Mr. Vanden Boom has been a leader in the lumber business at Quiney forty-three years. The corporation today is both wholesale and retail in its organization, and owns and operates a number of branch yards in Illinois and Missouri. Mr. Vanden Boom has witnessed and has adapted himself to many of the changes necessitated by differing conditions in the lumber industry. Formerly nearly all the lumber of the firm was brought down the Mississippi River from the northern woods in great rafts, while at the present time their supplies are brought by railroad from the lumber mills of the south and the shingle mills of the west and northwest.

Mr. Vanden Boom was one of the incorporators and is a director of the Rieker National Bank of Quiney, a banking house with which he had some of his early training. He is vice president of the Modern Iron Works and vice president of the People's Savings, Loan and Building Association, and presi- dent of the Barton Realty Company of St. Louis. Mr. Vanden Boom owns and operates three farms in Saskatchewan, Canada, and also has a large eattle ranch in the Panhandle of Texas. A prominent and wealthy eitizen, he has made his

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influence count in many ways and in many movements for the welfare and advancement of Quincy. From 1878 to 1882 he served as alderman from the Sixth Ward. He is a democrat in politics. Mr. Vanden Boom and family oeeupy one of the most artistie and complete modern homes in Quincy. His resi- denee was erected in 1917, and combines all the facilities and improvements which make for comfort both summer and winter. Mr. Vanden Boom after business hours is usually at home, and finds his chief delight in the family eircle.

In 1876, at Quincy, he married Miss Amelia Kaltz, who was born in Quincy, and was educated in the local schools and a eonvent at Belleville, Illinois. She was born in Quiney in 1852. She died in 1880, the mother of two children : Arthur, born in 1877 and died at the age of ten; and Edward, who died when six years old. In 1885 Mr. Vanden Boom married a sister of his first wife, Julia Kaltz. Mrs. Vanden Boom was well edueated, having finished her school- ing in St. Mary's Academy at Nauvoo, Illinois. Her parents were Adolph and Julia (Delabar) Kaltz, natives of Germany and early settlers of Quiney, where they married and spent their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Vanden Boom are the parents of two children, Joseph H., Jr., and Elvira Louise. The daughter graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Nauvoo in 1902. Joseph H. Vanden Boom, Jr., who is a graduate of St. Canisius College at Buffalo, New York, is a prominent and progressive young business man of Quincy, being one of the executive officers of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the Livestock Insurance Com- pany and the Aer Sweep Company of Quincy. He married Gertrude Fisher, daughter of George Fisher, of a well known Quincy family elsewhere mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Vanden Boom, Jr., have two daughters, Harriet A. and Mildred A.

HERMAN II. STOCKHECKER. One of the older men of Quiney who can best welcome and appreciate the serviees and sacrifices of the young soldiers who return from abroad after the great war is Herman H. Stockhecker, who went through a portion of our American Civil war, and has lived usefully and well for the subsequent half century, bearing his responsibilities as a good citizen and having an efficient business record to his credit.

Mr .. Stoekhecker has lived in Adams County sixty-five years. He was born in Germany, December 29, 1845, a son of Joseph and Anna H. Stoekhecker Joseph Stockheeker served in the German army and died when his son Her. man was only two years old. The widowed mother, Mrs. Anna (Bornmann) Stockhecker, six years after her husband's death brought her children to America. These children were Ann, Rieka and Herman H. They made the voyage in 1853 on a sailing vessel, going from Bremen to New Orleans and thence up the Mississippi River to Quincy. Here the family joined an older daughter, Louise, who had come with friends some years previous. Mrs. Anna Stockhecker spent the rest of her days in Adams County and died in 1888, at the age of seventy-nine. She was a Lutheran, as was her husband. Louise married Herman Haney and died leaving a family of sons and daughters. Anna married Casper Haney and also left children. Rieka married John Heid- breder, and both are now deceased, being survived by four sons and three daughters.

Herman H. Stockheeker was eight years old when he came to this country and he grew up in Quiney. He attended the parochial schools, and had been earning his own living for some time prior to his enlistment for service in the Union army.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 26

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