Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 32

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 32

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organization in 1910 of the Broadway Bank, in which enterprise he was asso- ciated with a number of other capitalists. This financial institution is well finaneed and with Mr. Middendorf as president enjoys the fullest measure of publie confidenee. This bank, like far too many others within the last decade, met with a serious loss on July 3, 1915, when a bandit bank robber, under the guise of a depositor, seized and escaped with $450, this sum lying within the cashier's eage. The authorities have not yet apprehended the robber, whose suspected activities are still in progress in other sections, where bank officials have lost their lives as well as funds.

Mr. Middendorf was married November 5, 1878, to Miss Josephine Wismann, who was born at Quiney, and seven children have been born to them, as follows : Agnes, who died in infaney; Mary, who is the wife of Herman H. Rakers, of Quincy; Clara, who is the wife of Joseph Kuhlman, of Chicago; Elizabeth, Roger and Coletta, all of whom are deceased; and William, connected with the lumber firm of Middendorf Brothers & Company and now in the United States service.

Aetive as he has always been in business, Mr. Middendorf has always found time to consider the publie welfare and to lend his influence to movements of a public nature that have promised to be beneficial, and this eommendable attitude was clearly shown during the two terms that he served as alderman, being eleeted on the democratic ticket onee as a representative of the Fifth Ward and the second time from the Sixth Ward. With his family he belongs to St. Franeis Roman Catholic Church, belongs to the Western Catholie Union, and is president of St. Aloysius Orphan Society, and in other connections is known to be open-hearted, generous and charitable.

J. R. LITTLE. Four seore and five years old, Mr. J. R. Little is healthy, hearty and active physically and mentally. Mr. Little is a mechanical engi- neer and inventor of considerable note. He was the inventor of the all metal wheel now universally used on agricultural implements and machinery, praeti- cally the world over. He was the pioneer manufacturer in this art, having made and put on the market the first really successful all metal wheel for farm purposes, eost, durability and adaptability considered.

Mr. Little is of Seoteh deseent, born in Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois. A life long democrat, a Presbyterian, and an Odd Fellow sinee 1862.

Mr. Little's grandfathers, Robert Little and Samuel Armour (as also their respective wives. Nesbit and MeBride) eame from Scotland to America before the Revolutionary war, in which war both grandfathers served under Francis Marion.

Mr. Little's father and mother, John Little and Maria Armour, were born and raised in Chester distriet, South Carolina. It was there John Little's parents and Maria Armour's mother died ; after which Samuel Armour and the young people moved to Randolph County, Illinois, where Mr. J. R. Little was born.

To Mr. John Little and his wife, Maria, were born five children : James R., Mary A., Samuel A., William J. and Cinderelle J. Mary A. and Samuel A. died in Monmouth. In 1840 John Little and family moved from Sparta to Jefferson County, Illinois, where his wife, Maria, died in 1842, after which he and family moved to Monmouth, Illinois, where he died in 1888, aged seventy- eight. It was there Mr. J. R. Little when a boy worked with his father and learned the earpenter trade, and later with his father engaged in the lumber and sawmill business.

On February 22, 1853, Mr. Little married Miss Jaline Smith, of near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, in the Canton (Illinois) House Hotel. To them were born nine children, Sarah L., who died in childhood; James L., who was killed in an elevator aeeident in Quiney, Illinois; John A., who died of asthma in St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary L., who died of cancer in Deeatur, Illinois: twin girls who died in infancy; Bessie L., who is still with her parents; George G.,

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who is master mechanic with the Mayo Brothers Clinical Company, Rochester, Minnesota; and Frank B., who is foreman machinist in the Dick-Dayton Foundry and Machine Works, Quincy, Illinois.

In 1865 Mr. Little assisted William S. Wier in putting the Wier (pioneer) Straddle-row corn cultivator on the market, and was with the Wier Plow Com- pany, of Monmouth, Illinois, until 1880, when he accepted a foremanship in the Collins Plow Company works in Quincy, Illinois. Ife was there nearly two years, in which time he invented the all metal wheel and much of the machinery requisite to its manufacture. In 1882 was formed the Quiney Metal Wheel Company for the sole purpose of manufacturing metal wheels.

Mr. Little in Illinois was first to advocate an Odd Fellow Home for aged and indigent Odd Fellows, their wives, widows and orphans. For ten years, from 1880 till 1890, by word and by pen in hundreds of articles in the Odd Fel- lows Herald, of Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Little agitated the eause which finally, with the aid of the Rebekahs, resulted in two homes, one at Bloomington, Illinois, for orphans, and one at Mattoon, Illinois, for old folks.

About 1887 the Quiney Metal Wheel Company sold out to the Bettendorff Metal Wheel Company of Davenport, Iowa. After which Mr. Little devised another process for making metal wheels, for which he received patents on both the wheel and machinery for constructing it, and upon which was formed the J. R. Little Metal Wheel Company, now in operation at the foot of Cedar Street, Quiney, Illinois.

ROMA T. BOEKENHOFF is a prominent business man of Quincy largely be- cause he started in a business career when only a boy and has kept his ener- gies moving along one line and with increasing prosperity ever since.

His own name has many prominent associations in Quincy business life while the name of the family is associated with pioneer annals of Adams County. Mr. Boekenhoff was born at Quincy, December 23, 1874, a son of Henry and Mary (Mehler) Boekenhoff, the former a native of Quincy and the latter of Pennsylvania. Henry Boekenhoff was born in Quincy about 1847. He was the only child of his father, who came to this country from Germany and died in the prime of life in the cholera epidemic at Quincy in 1848. So destructive was that epidemic that the physician who waited upon him died the day fol- lowing, and the disease also spread to the infant son Henry, who, however, recovered. Henry Boekenhoff's mother afterwards married three times, but had children only by her second husband, Mr. Hollander. She survived all her husbands and died when past three score and ten years. She was a native of Germany. All the family in the different generations have been members of St. Bonifaee Catholic Church. Henry Boekenhoff was a democrat. His wife, Mary Mehler, was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, and eame to Quincy when a young woman. She died when past forty years of age. Henry Boeken- hoff as he grew up learned the trade of baker and followed it as a trade and as a business from the time he was eighteen years old until he retired a few years before his death, which occurred in 1913. He was well known to the trade and was one of Quincy's good citizens. He and his wife had seven children : Antoinette, wife of Harry Metz, of San Francisco, California ; Harry, of Des Moines, Fowa; Lillian, wife of A. A. Hutmacher, of Quincy: Roma T .: Estelle, wife of M. A. Hutmacher, of Quincy; Ilda, wife of Frank Weisenhorn, of Las Crnees, New Mexico; and Margaret, who is the only one not married.

Roma T. Boekenhoff was educated in the public and parochial schools of Quincy. His first business employment was one year with the Gardner Gov- ernor Works at Quincy, and from that he went into his father's bakery and has been identified with the baking business ever since. In 1901 he bought a bakery of his own at 827 Maine Street, and that was his business headquarters and home of a very flourishing trade for about eleven years. In December. 1912, he bought his present store at 626 Maine Street, and has kept this im- proved up to date and makes a specialty of eakes and rolls, a produet in great

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demand all over Quiney, and also of several high grade confections. He has modern equipment in his shop, which is 20 by 100 feet, and he gives employ- ment to about ten people.

Mr. Boekenhoff married June 1, 1898, Minnie Urban, who was born at Nauvoo, Illinois, but grew up and was educated in Quiney. They have two children : Roma Urban, born July 5, 1900, now a senior in the Quincy High School ; and Kathryn Mary, born April 10, 1910. and in the grammar school. Mr. Boekenhoff is a republican in polities, is an active member of the Rotary Club, the Advertising Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Order, Loyal Order of Moose and the Knights of the Maceabees.

STEVENS NATIONS. Few families of Adams County have roots more substan- tially grounded in the pioneer past than that of Nations, numerously represented now as well as when this country was all new and when the Indians were friendly neighbors at every cabin and wild game abounded on every seetion of land.

It was a remarkable instance of brotherly affection, lifelong companionship and mutual service and sacrifiee exemplified by the late Stevens Nations and his bachelor brother Joseph, who grew up as children on a pioneer farm in Liberty Township, and spent practically all the years of their lives together. Stevens Nations died at Camp Point, Illinois, May 5, 1912, and his brother Joseph on January 3, 1915. They were extremely devoted to each other, and together they owned and operated the old homestead farm of 240 aeres in section 3 of Liberty Township, a place which is still in the family and has had one family owner- ship through three successive generations.

Both these brothers were born in a log cabin home, Stevens on October 5, 1837, seventy-five years before his death, while Joseph was born in 1840. Their parents were Isaiah and Barbara (Roe) Nations, the former a native of Sonth Carolina and the latter of Missouri. They married in Missouri in 1818 and a number of their children were born there, Matilda, David, Rebecca, Clara, Berry- man, James, Mary, Dinah and John. In 1830 Isaiah Nations brought his fam- ily to Liberty Township of Adams County, and was one of the first settlers in that then wilderness region, where he took up a Government tract of 160 acres. This quarter seetion is part of the 240 acre homestead which the Nations broth- ers so long owned and occupied. Isaiah Nations lived there the rest of his industrious days. He died August 6, 1870, having been born July 2, 1796. His wife died March 10, 1863, and she was then about sixty-three years of age. Liberty Township was largely settled by members of the Dunkard Church, and members of the Nations family were very prominent in that faith. Isaiah and wife were both buried in a family burying ground on the old homestead. ITis parents, Nathan and Tabitha (Stevens) Nations, were also buried in the same plot. Isaiah Nations' son John lost his life in the Civil war. Most of the children grew up and a number of them were very old when they died.

Stevens Nations was reared on the home farm, educated in the local schools, and in the community of his boyhood associations he reared his family. Fifteen years before his death he retired to the village of Camp Point. He was a splen- did type of citizen, greatly beloved by all, and left above everything else the heritage of a good name to his descendants.

In Liberty Township October 25, 1868, he married Jane Wigle, represent- ing another prominent pioneer family of this county. She was born in Liberty Township October 26, 1840, and was reared there, a daughter of Solomon and Naney (Potter) Wigle. Her father was born in Union County, Illinois, April 11, 1816, while her mother was born in Pennsylvania, August 11, 1811. Solo- mon Wigle's father was John Wigle, who left Germany to avoid militarism, and settled in Illinois Territory, where in Union County he married Margaret Wolf, a sister of Rev. George Wolf, one of the pioneer Dunkard ministers of Adams County. John Wigle and family moved to Liberty Township in 1827, and their habitation was one of the first to represent the advance of eivilized

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men into that region, where Indians were almost as numerons as whites. John 'Wigle and wife spent the rest of their days in that community. There Solo- mon grew up and married Naney Potter, and he too followed farming and surrounded himself with the comforts of existence and enjoyed the riches of community esteem. He died October 25, 1881, while the mother of Mrs. Na- tions died in 1863. Mrs. Nations was the only child of her mother. Her father married for his second wife a Miss Hewes, and there were two chil- dren by that union.

Stevens Nations and wife had six children. Florence died when five years old. Mrs. Maggie Wells is a widow living at Quiney. Emma is the wife of Dr. Trotter, a dentist of Quincy, and they have a daughter, Florence. Wini- fred is unmarried and lives at home, looking after her widowed mother. The two youngest of the family are Dr. Hugh S. and Dr. Guy J., both prominent dental surgeons of Quincy. Doctor Hugh married Christine Blersch and has two sons, Isaiah S. and Joseph.

Dr. Guy J. Nations, son of the late Stevens Nations, was born on the old homestead in Liberty Township, March 31, 1881, and grew up there, acquir- ing his early education at home and in the Camp Point sehools. For one year he was a student in the dental department of the Northwestern University at Chicago during 1898-99, and then entered the dental department of Wash- ington University at St. Louis, where he graduated with the class of 1902. The same year he established himself in practice at Quiney and with the ex- ception of the years 1904 to 1908 when he praetieed at Palmyra, Missouri, has rendered service greatly appreciated by his large elientele at Quiney. He has a fine suite of offices at the corner of Sixth and Hampshire streets. He took his first degree in Masonry at Camp Point and is now affiliated with Lodge No. 296 at Quiney and is also a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory. His wife and daughter are active in the Vermont Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

In his home township he married Miss Frances Callahan, who was born in Columbus Township of this county in 1883, daughter of Wesley and Belle (Jeffrey) Callahan, both natives of Adams County and of Irish parentage and ancestry. Her parents married in Columbus Township, and Mrs. Calla- han died there in 1900. An uncle of Mrs. Nations, Frank Jeffrey, is a well known missionary in India. Mrs. Nations' father has had a very successful eareer. For some years he served as supervisor of his township in Adams County and was once a candidate for the Legislature. For a number of years he has lived in Kansas, and was manager and owner of artificial iee plants there. Mr. Callahan now lives in Kansas City, though he still has business interests in Adams County, being connected with the Peoples Bank of Camp Point and the Farmers Bank of Liberty. Doctor Nations and wife have three ehildren : F. Mildred, aged thirteen ; Ruth J., aged ten; and Marjory W., aged six. The three daughters are attending the Webster School.

PHILIP J. O'BRIEN. Quiney people generally are familiar with the life and career of Philip J. O'Brien, who has been a factor in the city's business and civie affairs for many years. Mr. O'Brien was born here in 1880, and earned his first money earrying copies of the old Quincy Journal. He began that work at the age of ten years and was a newsboy until he was about fourteen.

In the meantime he attended the loeal sehools, and his first independent venture was as a grocery merchant at Sixth and Vine streets. He was there three years, spent four years with the Mills Soda Works on Cedar Street, after which he resumed business as a groeer at Seventh and Vine, and was there seven years or more. He then entered his present line of business operating a transfer system and eoal yards. For five years his yards were at Sixth and Cherry streets, and since then his headquarters have been 609 North Fourth Street. IIe does general city transfer work, handles some of the leading grades

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of coal sold in the city and is also a general contractor. He has done much road grading throughout the county and has a business which represents long experience and adequate organization for every department.

In 1907 Mr. O'Brien was elected a member of the City Council from the First Ward and served continuously for ten years, nntil May, 1917. At dif- ferent times he was a member of most of the committees, chairman of the more important of them, and for thirty days was aeting mayor of the city. Ilis service in the Council was under the administrations of Mayors John H. Best and W. K. Abbott. He is a member of the City Central Democratie Com- mittee.

Ilis parents were Daniel and Anna (McMahon) O'Brien, both natives of County Clare, Ireland. They came to this country when young and were married in Quiney. Daniel O'Brien spent most of his active career as a con- tractor on river levee work, but finally retired and died in 1897, at the age of fifty-eight. His widow is still living, past seventy, and enjoys vigorous health. She is a devout member of St. Peter's Catholic Church, as was her husband.

Of their children, Philip is the youngest. The others, all of whom are un- married and living with their mother, are James, Julia, Margaret and Nellie. These children now have the actual management of the grocery store formerly conducted by Philip O'Brien.

Mr. Philip O'Brien married in 1912 Mrs. Minnie (Bohney) Sipker. She was born in Quiney and was educated in St. John's Parochial School. Her parents were natives of Germany and came to Quincy when young people, were married and spent the rest of their days here. Mrs. O'Brien by her first husband. Clement Sipker, had two children, William and Jessie, the latter now eighteen years of age and educated in St. Mary's College. The son William finished his education at Valparaiso University of Indiana and for the past eighteen months has been a member of the Marine Corps, being at present a guard for a wireless station on the New Jersey Shore. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien have two children, Phyllis and Philip J., Jr. The family are all members of St. Peter's Catholic Church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and is president of St. Rose Branch No. 52 of the Western Cath- olie Union.

RESLER M. STAHL. For more than half a century the Stahl family have been factors in the farm development and civie and social life of Gilmer Town- ship. They are most substantial people and some of the best farm land around the village of Fowler is now owned by Resler M. Stahl, who grew up in this community as a boy.

His father, the late Noah Stahl, was widely known in Adams County, and lived as usefully and honorably as he did long. He was born iu Somerset County, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1823, representing an old Pennsylvania family. He married Mary Horn, a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In 1865 Noah Stahl brought his family out to Adams County, where some of his relatives were already living, including three of his brothers and two brothers- in-law. These earlier settlers and their families have died in this county and state. Noah Stahl on coming to Adams County bought 160 acres in seetion 6 of Gilmer Township, just north of the Village of Fowler. That land is still in the Stahl homestead. being owned by his son Resler M. Noah Stahl was chiefly identified with farming, though for about two years after the war he had a store at Fowler. He lived to be nearly ninety-two years of age, his death oc- eurring August 18, 1914. Ile was well preserved in mind and body almost to the end. The liberal prosperity he accumulated was solely by his own effort. When eighteen years of age he was without a cent and for some years he elerked in a store at $100 a year and also worked in the timber at $3 a month. He was a republican in politics and filled several local offices. He was a very liberal supporter of all worthy movements affecting his home community. Mrs. Noah

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Stahl died in 1881, at the age of fifty-four. Both were active members of the United Brethren Church. They had five children, Jennie dying at the age of twenty-two and Sumner H. at the age of twenty-six. Sumner was a student at Westfield College, preparing for the bar, and overwork led to his early death. The three living children are: Elias B., a farmer near Fowler; Resler M .; and Mary Elizabeth, wife of Fred M. Barrows, of Mount Sterling.

The late Noah Stahl built the present commodious residence at Fowler in 1891, and this house has since been remodeled and is now modern in every particular, being lighted with electricity. Its present owner and occupant, Resler MI. Stahl, was born in Allegheny County, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1854, and was about ten years old when his parents came to Adams County. He always lived at home and was his father's manager and later suc- ceeded to the home establishment, comprising 570 acres of rich and fertile soil. Mr. Stahl has been an extensive grain and stock farmer, and though his land is now under the supervision of a tenant he still keeps his own stoek. This farm was formerly divided into three separate places, but under his management has been combined as one, making for greater efficiency and productiveness. Mr. Stahl has always lived in that locality since boyhood, though for two years he was a student at Westfield College. He is a member of the United Brethren Church, and is a republican voter but with no desire for party honors.

In 1891 Mr. Stahl married Miss Louisa King, of Huntsville, Schuyler County, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Stahl lost one daughter in infancy, and their only living child is Mary Harriet, still at home.

FRANK H. WEEMS. Among the progressive business men of Quincy few will be found with a broader or sounder outlook or with more practical ideas than Frank K. Weems, who is identified with a number of important business enter- prises, is president of the Quincy Pure Ice and Cold Storage Company, is largely interested in the dye industry, and is secretary and treasurer of the Weems Laundry Company.

Frank H. Weems was born at Keokuk, Iowa, where his father was engaged in railroad building, May 21, 1862. His parents were Jesse E. and Louisa (Kimball) Weems, who established the family home at Quincy in 1870. As has been noted in another part of this history, the father of Mr. Weems for many years was a civil engineer largely concerned with railroad construction, several important divisions of the present great systems having been built according to his surveys. Jesse E. Weems is a highly esteemed resident of Quincy and his business interest and advice have been exceedingly helpful to his sons. Frank H. Weems was the third born in a family of four children and is one of the two survivors. The children included : William Lock, who died in 1881; Milton K .; Frank H. ; and Mary, who died young.

Frank H. Weems began his business career as a newsboy while attending school, after which for a time he was employed on the farm of Mr. Swope. On July 4, 1879, in association with his brother Milton K. Weems, he entered into the laundry business, in a small way, in a building on Jersey Street near Seventh, an interesting faet to keep in mind because of the contrast afforded by the passage of time and the great expansion that has been brought about through business acumen and honest methods.

In 1888 the Weems Company purchased the present site of their large plant, on Fifth and Jersey streets, Quincy, and here ereeted one of the largest and best equipped laundries of that date, to which in recent years additional space and further improvements have been made use of. A large branch is also con- ducted at Springfield, and through the use of automobiles laundry service is given all over the city and environs. It was a wise business idea that the partners acted upon when they added dye works, the operation of which is carried on largely by utilizing the power used in the laundry. Their facilities

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have been increased recently and this branch of their business promises to be one of immense importance.

Another example of how men of progressive ideas become successful by tak- ing advantage of a practical situation was shown when the Weems people in 1894 started their pure ice company, being pioneers in the manufacture of artificial iee in this eity. This business has developed to great proportions and among the buildings they have erected is a plant including cold storage warehouse, ete. They also deal in eoal. Among Mr. Weems' other interests is membership on the directing board of the Illinois State Bank.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 32

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