Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 33

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 33

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Frank H. Weems was married June 25, 1885, to Miss Annie Lee, who is a native of Quincy, Illinois, and they have four children : Louise, who is the wife of F. Prentice Abbott, of Brooklyn, New York; Jessie, who is the wife of F. Montgomery Smith, of New York City : Charles Lee, who belongs to the United States Navy; and Frank H., who resides at Quiney. All the children were educated in the Quiney schools. Politieally Mr. Weems is a republican. While vitally interested as a citizen and an active promoter of movements to add to the city's importance and also to her people's safety and comfort, he has never been willing to accept publie office. He maintains fraternal relations with the Elks and the Eagles.

ROBERT FLEBBE GUNTHER. Conspienous among the leading young hard- ware merchants of Quincy is Robert F. Gunther, an active and publie-spirited citizen, whose influence and assistance are always sought in behalf of under- takings for the public welfare and the advancement of the best interests of the community.

His father, Robert C. Gunther, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, Oeto- ber 31, 1851, and died at his home in Quincy, Illinois, April 3, 1916. Com- ing to Quincy in 1879, he established a hardware business, putting in a line of tools and builders' supplies. Sueeessful in his undertakings, he enlarged his stock, putting in a line of sporting goods and kitchen utensils of all kinds, and at the time of his death was carrying on an extensive business. He mar- ried first, in Carlinville, Illinois, Clara Flebbe, who was born in Maeoupin County, Illinois, and was there brought up and educated. She died July 18, 1877, leaving one child, Robert Flebbe Gunther, the special subject of this sketeh. He married for his second wife Miss Flebbe, a sister of his first wife, and they became the parents of four children, as follows: Elmer, deceased ; Agnes, wife of Arnold V. Seott, of Quiney : Edward, deceased; and Felix, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, connected with the Pittsburg Crucible Steel Com- pany. The father was a man of much education, and for seven years served as a member of the school board.

At the age of sixteen years, having aequired a good education in the pub- lie schools, Robert F. Gunther entered his father's store, and under his tutelage became thoroughly acquainted with the details of the hardware business, with which he has sinee been aetively identified. The business of which he is at the head is now owned by a stock company, with Mr. Gunther as president and treasurer, two responsible positions which he is filling most ably.

On December 6, 1899, Mr. Gunther was united in marriage with Lillian Mae Bimson, a native of Quincy, Illinois, and they have one child, Geraldine, born June 12, 1901. Mr. Gunther is a republican in polities; a member of the Quiney Rotary Club; and in religion is a Christian Seientist.

CHARLES H. LAUTER. As president of the J. B. Sehott Manufacturing Com- pany at Quiney Charles H. Lauter has given to that business, one of the largest in Quincy and one that has served to make the name Quincy significant of busi- ness enterprise all over the Middle West, the best of his own energies and abilities for thirty years. He became president eight years ago when the founder of the company died.

Mr. Lauter was born in St. Louis, Missouri, February 16, 1861, a son of the

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late Phillip D. Lauter. His father, a native of Treves, Germany, received excel- lent educational advantages in his native land, becoming quite proficient in mathematics and kindred studies. In 1857 he came to the United States. For six years he was an accountant at St. Louis. In 1863 he moved to Quincy, and for seventeen years was associated with the firm of S. J. Lesem Brothers & Company, wholesale dry goods. Returning then to St. Louis, in 1882, he engaged for a short time in the grocery business. After that he resumed his former profession, and did not really retire from active work as an accountant until eighty-five years of age. He died January 16, 1915. His wife, whose maiden name was Louise Fuchs, was born in Berlin, Germany, and is now living in St. Louis, a venerable and highly esteemed woman of eighty-six years. Nine children were born to their union: Bertha, widow of John F. Spaethe, of Chicago: Charles H .; Lena, at home; Emil and Arthur, of St. Louis; Marie, Louise, Albert and Phillip, all deceased.

Acquiring his preliminary education in the public schools, Charles II. Lauter afterward continued his studies in the Quincy High School, and subsequently while assisting as bill elerk he became familiar with bookkeeping and account- ing, and broadened this technical knowledge by a course of study in the Gem City Business College. In 1877 he entered the employ of the Ricker Bank, and was connected with that Quincy institution for fourteen months. From 1879 to 1884 he had charge of the books of the Herman Hirsch Hide Company. The next three years, with St. Louis as his headquarters, he traveled for an upholstery and saddlery establishment, covering a wide territory and getting an experience that has been of inestimable value to him in his subsequent busi- ness career.

On returning to Quincy in 1887 Mr. Lauter became associated as copartner with the J. B. Schott Saddlery Company. This, one of Quincy's oldest mer- cantile houses, was established by John B. Schott in 1856. Mr. Schott, after interesting his sons and daughters in the business, retired in 1905, and the firm was incorporated under the present name. However, Mr. Schott continued as president until his death in 1910, when Charles H. Lauter succeeded him. On January 18, 1906, a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the plant, entailing a heavy loss. The firm immediately rebuilt and re-erected a fine four-story brick and stone building, 75 by 120 feet. This building was ready for occupancy in January, 1907. In the rear of the main building, at 225-227 Hampshire Street, was also ereeted a three-story building 45 by 55 feet, where horse collars are manufactured largely, the output being marketed all over the United States.

May 24, 1888, Mr. Lauter married Miss Julia M. Schott. Three children have blessed their union : Carl J., a graduate of the University of Illinois, now following chemical engineering, water survey and bacteriological work; Mar- garet L. and John L., twins, the former at home and the latter now deceased. Politically Mr. Lauter is independent, and is broad and liberal in his religious views, affiliating with the Unitarian Chureh.

FRANK E. BIRD. An enterprising, energetic and able business man of Adams County, Frank E. Bird, a well-known pharmacist of Quincy, is actively identi- fied with the drug trade of the city, having a well stocked and well managed store at the corner of Eighth and Hampshire streets. He was born February 4, 1884, in Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri, a son of Abraham and Alice C. Bird, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Missouri. His father, who fol- lowed the brick mason's trade for many years, is now living retired from active pursuits in Quincy, Illinois, where he and his wife have a pleasant home. They have one other child, Hamilton Bird, now a resident of Denver, Colorado.

An active and sturdy lad, Frank E. Bird began life as a wage carner at the early age of seven years, going into a parsnip patch with his hoe and bravely fighting the noxious weeds, thus earning his first suit of store clothes. Four years later, in 1895, he was working hard in a drug store in Quincy, satis-

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factorily performing his duties as clerk after school hours and attending both the day school and the evening school. Mr. Bird took up the study of phar- macy after clerking for several years, and successfully passed his examinations in both Chieago and Springfield. In 1913 he bought his present store in Quincy, and though comparatively young in the business has built up an extensive and highly remunerative trade in his community, the people having the greatest confidence in his ability. Politically Mr. Bird is a consistent supporter of the principles of the democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a Knight Templar. Religiously Mr. Bird is a valued member of the Episcopalian Church.

FERDINAND F. GIEFING is an expert in the electrical trade, especially in storage battery manufacture, and has utilized his skill to put him in a very satisfactory and commendable business position when still under thirty years of age. He is manager of the Columbia Battery Service Company, which was recently incorporated, and now has a well appointed shop and plant at 219 North Sixth Street in Quiney. They furnish and charge batteries of every type and for every purpose, their capacity being 400 batteries per day. These batteries are distributed to garages and for other purposes of the territory surrounding Quincy to a distance of even 150 miles, and they send their work everywhere in this field.

Mr. Giefing is a very practical man in electrical work and has some splendid natural qualifications as a business man. He was born in Quincy January 15, 1890, was educated in the parochial schools and the St. Francis College, from which he graduated with the class of 1909, and since then all his time and en- thusiasm have been taken up with his special trade. However, for two years he was a clerical worker in the Ricker National Bank, and for two years also represented as a traveling man in Oklahoma the well known wholesale hard- ware house of Wyeth Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. Several years ago Mr. Giefing built a large garage 100 by 50 feet at the corner of Twentieth and . Hampshire streets, and conducted it for one year. He also conducted storage battery business in a retail way and then opened in a wholesale way in the storage battery service and was active in organizing the present corporation.

He is a son of Ferdinand and Frances (Bennig) Giefing. His father was born in Austria, Hungary, and came to Quincy when twelve years of age. He was an expert accountant and became well known in Quincy, where he died in 1912. at the age of fifty-eight. His wife was a native of Quiney and she died here in 1894. They were members of St. Boniface Catholic Church. Their only other child, Frances, died at the age of thirteen.

In September, 1913, Mr. Ferdinand Giefing married at St. Joseph, Missouri, Miss Ethel Gladys Carson. She was born in Albany, Missouri, but was reared and educated at St. Joseph, Missouri, where her parents Newton and Lucy (Duncan) Carson, reside. Mr. and Mrs. Giefing have one daughter, Julia May, born Jannary 18, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Giefing are members of St. Boniface Catholic Church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.

WILLIAM A. MARTIN. In the past twenty years the people have come to look upon William A. Martin as the source of administration and personal direc- tion of the Quincy Street Railway System. Mr. Martin is a veteran in experience with the operation and management of public utilities, is a trained mechanical engineer and has been in the profession for thirty years or more.

He was born in New York City in September, 1867, son of George and Elizabeth (Rose) Martin, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Canada. George Martin came to America when a young man and in 1877 went to Chicago. IIe has been an auditor and accountant and is now living retired in Florida. There were three children : William; Lorne, deceased ; and George Bruce, a resident of Zanesville, Ohio.

William A. Martin has been dependent upon his own resources sinee he

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was a boy, and gained most of his technical education through his own earn- ings. When about sixteen years of age he was working for the Pullman Palace Car Company at Philadelphia. Ile remained there about five years, and later entered the State University at Champaign, where he graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1892. For a time he was connected with the electric light and street car service at Omaha, was an employe of public works at Chicago, and in 1898 came to Quiney and for the first two years was connected with the Gas and Electric Company. He then took charge of the street car service, and now for a number of years has been its general superintendent.

Mr. Martin is a republican. a member of the Masons, Elks, Rotary Club and Congregational Church. In June, 1895, he married Mary L. Shaw, who died in August, 1912, mother of four children : Mabel L., wife of William J. Schlagen- haut, of Bushnell, Illinois ; Edith, at home; George and William, both deceased.

JOSEPH OERTLE. Eminently deserving of mention in a work of this ehar- acter is Joseph Oertle, an esteemed and respected resident of Quiney, who is carrying on an extensive business as a manufacturer of candies of all kinds, the products of his factory being widely and favorably known throughout Adams and adjoining counties. He was born April 9, 1859, in Quincy, which he has always claimed as home.

His father, the late Joseph Oertle, was born in Herbolzheim, Baden, Ger- many. and was there bred and educated. Coming from there directly to Quincy, Illinois, in 1856, he followed his trade of a butcher until 1907, when, having acquired a fair share of this world's goods, he gave up his business and lived retired from aetive pursuits until his death in 1915. He married Caroline Haas, who was born in Eichstettin, Baden, Germany, and died at her home in Quincy in 1912. Six children were born of their union, as follows: Joseph, the subject of this brief sketeh; Anna, wife of David Riedinger, of Quincy ; Emma, who became the wife of Robert A. Gardner, M. D., of Quincy, now deceased ; Bertha, wife of John Schoeneman, of Journal; Rosa, wife of Frank Diek, of Quincy: and Charles F., also of Quincy.

A bright and active lad, full of vim and energy, Joseph Oertle began at the early age of fifteen years to do business on his own aeeount, and until 1887 was profitably engaged in the buying and shipping of cattle. Making a ehange of oeeupation in that year, he formed a partnership with D. Redinger, and has since been successfully engaged in the manufacture of candies, in which he is an expert, the confectionery made by his firm being in great demand by both wholesale and retail dealers.

Mr. Oertle married first, July 28, 1907, Miss Jennie Price. She died Decem- ber 6, 1911, at an early age. Mr. Oertle married for his second wife, June 30, 1917, Miss Alice Riley. In his political affiliations Mr. Oertle is a democrat. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also belongs to the Turnverein. Liberal in his religious views he is a consistent member of the Unitarian Church.

J. HENRY HELLMER. One of the oldest and best known citizens of Quincy was taken away by death when J. Henry Hellmer was gathered to his reward April 13, 1913. The service for which he was best known and appreciated was the trade of barber. He was engaged in that occupation for sixty-five years and was the oldest man in length of service in Quincy, if not the State of Illinois. He left a good name, an honorable record, and that record is being continued in the life of the city today by his worthy children.

Mr. ITellmer was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 17, 1836. The home in which he died at 837 Oak Street was built by him nearly forty years ago. It is a large two-story briek house, containing eight rooms, and is still the home of Mrs. Hellmer and some of her children.

When J. Henry Hellmer was eight years of age his parents, Simon and Catherine (Godmyer) Hellmer, embarked on a sailing vessel at Bremen and

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crossed the ocean to New York City, going thence to St. Louis, and in 1857 the entire family established their home in Quiney. While at St. Louis JJ. Henry Hellmer and brother Adam learned the trade of barber under their father. After coming to Quincy all three of them were associated in the barber shop of the Tremont Hotel. While there the father and his wife died and the sons afterwards dissolved partnership. Henry Hellmer then had the barber shop of the Quiney Hotel, his brother Adam working for him. When that hotel burned he moved to Maine Street, and continued his work until he had put in sixty-five years at the trade. The brief remaining time allotted to him in mortal life he spent in quiet retirement at his Oak Street home. He had many friends in Quincy and many of the most prominent men of the city had been his cus- tomers and friends. He was active in the Catholic Church, was a charter member and organizer of the Western Catholic Union, and was long affiliated with St. Boniface Church.

Mr. Hellmer married for his first wife at Quiney Magdalena Sehwenden- hann. She was born in Quincy. was educated in St. Boniface School, and died in 1869, after ten years of happy married companionship. She left two sons: Simon Henry, who was well educated and had learned the trade of barber, but died at the early age of twenty-one; and George J., who is now a resident of Boulder, Colorado, and by his marriage to Irene Murphy of that city has three children, Harry, George, Jr., and Anna M.

In 1871, at Quiney, Mr. Hellmer married for his present wife Miss Bertha Benz. Mrs. Hellmer represents an old and solid family of Melrose Township. She was born in Quincy, however, sixty-nine years ago, but was reared at the farm of the Benz family in Melrose Township. She was educated in the public schools and in St. Anthony's School. Her father, Joseph Benz, was born in Germany March 19, 1819, was educated there and in 1847 came to America and after living in Quincy four years moved to Melrose Township. In the same year that he came to America he married Miss Chrissensia Nodler, who was born in Germany May 31, 1824. Their voyage to America was in the nature of a wedding journey, but it was marred by a shipwreck and ninety-six days at sea before they landed at New Orleans nearly starved. Joseph Benz was a very active citizen, and though he died October 11, 1869, when only fifty years of age, he had developed a fine estate of 200 acres in Melrose Township. He was a democrat in polities and reared his family in the faith of the Catholic Church. His widow survived him many years and passed away in 1896, at the age of seventy-two. They reared a family of four sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to adult years except one, four are married, and two sons and three daughters are still living.

The coneluding part of this record must pertain to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hellmer, all of whom are held in the greatest respect. They are all members of St. Boniface Church, and they acquired good educations in the local publie and parochial schools. Edward J., the oldest, is connected with the Quincy store of Halbach & Sehroder. He married Catherine Delabar and has one son, John E., aged eleven. Catherine L. is the wife of George D. Stratman, an employee of the Electric Wheel Works of Quiney, and they have two daughters, Vary F., aged fifteen, and Rosemary, aged five. Frank X., who is a jewelry- man at Springfield, Illinois, married a Quiney girl, Ethel Kiekert, and has a daughter, Audrey R., aged eight years. Mary O. was educated at Quiney and is now connected with a large store at Lincoln, Nebraska. Sophia H. is an usher in the Belasco Theater at Quincy. Emma C., twin sister of Sophia, married Joseph Kiefer, a printer at Quiney. Bertha M. is the wife of Iven Kurz, of Lincoln, Nebraska, an automobile salesman there. Leona R. is employed in a book store at Quiney.

WILLIAM EDWARD WRIGHIT is said to be the largest stock feeder in Mendon Township, and that means that he is also one of the largest in Adams County. Ile has the farm and acreage and all the facilities required for his extensive operations. His home place is midway between Mendon and Ursa.

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Mr. Wright was born in Mendon Township November 19, 1865, and is a son of Nehemiah and Marian (Taylor) Wright. The Wright family has been prominent since early times in Adams County, and Nehemiah had several brothers who were also early settlers of the county.

Nehemiah Wright was born near Banbury in Oxford County, England, November 4, 1823, a son of Abraham and Anna (Hyden) Wright. Anna Hy- den's mother was a witness to the battle of Hedge Hill, and lived to a remark- able old age. One of Abraham Wright's brothers served eighteen years in the British Army and was a veteran of the battle of Waterloo. Nehemiah was the youngest of ten children, five of whom came to the United States. One sister died soon after coming to this country and was buried at Mendon. Nehemiah's brother Joseph moved to Southwestern Missouri, and two of his brothers remained in Adams County. The parents of Nehemiah died at the respective ages of eighty-three and seventy-eight. Their old stone house at Banbury is said to be 500 years old.

Nehemiah Wright as a boy learned the trade of shoemaker. He came to America in 1839 in company with a brother, and he paid his passage money of $40 from wages earned after he located in Columbiana County, Ohio. He lived there until 1844, when he came to Adams County. In 1855 Nehemiah Wright returned to England and married Marian Taylor, a native of the same locality as her husband. Ile brought his bride back to the country in 1856. In com- pany with his nephew, John Wilcox, Nehemiah Wright cleared up forty acres of land, using ox teams to perform the heavy work. He added to that nucleus until he had a large estate, and his life was an exceedingly busy one. His wife died at the age of sixty-seven, and after that he lived among his children. He was one of the acting supporting members of the Congregational Church at Mendon. Nehemiah Wright died at Citronelle, Alabama, January 15, 1915, at the venerable age of about ninety-two years. He was the father of twelve children, ten of whom survived carly infancy: John, who died in Kansas at the age of thirty-two; Walter, of Colorado; Wallace, an agricultural imple- ment dealer at Mendon ; Mrs. Alice Trask, of Citronelle, Alabama ; William E .; Edith, wife of George Jarman; Frank, who lives in Iowa ; Arthur and George, both in Colorado; and Julia, who died at the age of nineteen, just after her marriage. As noted, three of the sons are residents of Colorado and are suc- cessfully engaged in stock ranehing in that state.

William Edward Wright was reared and educated in Adams County and at the age of twenty-one went out to Kansas and spent a year in Wichita County. Returning, he worked on a farm in Adams County for wages 21 years. The owner of this farm was Josiah Wible of Ursa Township. On October 1, 1890, Mr. Wright married his employer's daughter, Laura Wible, who was at that time twenty-two years of age. Josiah Wible came to this county from Penn- sylvania, when a boy.

After his marriage Mr. Wright conducted a meat market at Ursa for six years, and that venture was attended with very little success. Seeking a new avenue for his efforts, he bought a tract of timbered land included within his present farm and soon erected a mill which cut the timber for his own house and converted a large part of the timher growth of the thirty acres into lumber. Gradually he used the cleared land for farming, and has kept adding to his purchases until he now owns 420 acres and forty-five acres in another tract. His experience as a land buyer reflects the notable rise in values in farm prop- erty. At one time he could purchase land at about $33 an acre, while now some of his own soil is worth $210 an acre. Mr. Wright some years ago built a fine home on the main road 21% miles west of Mendon, not far from the Bur- lington Railroad.

As a stock man he handles hogs, horses, mules and cattle. He feeds about ten carloads of cattle and five carloads of hogs every year, and is an extensive buyer, picking up animals of all sizes and ages both in the local community

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and in the larger markets. His feed lots usually have 100 or more eattle, and he frequently has about fifty head of horses and mules. There was a time not so many years ago when Mr. Wright sold wood at $1.25 a load in order to keep his family in groceries, and his prosperity as a land owner and stock feeder has been a matter of steady progress and advancement for a period of about eighteen years. He is a republican in polities but is no office seeker. IIis wife is a member of the Christian Church at Ursa. Mr. Wright has spent several delightful vacations in the mountains of Colorado.

He and his wife have two children. Glen is a graduate of the Mendon High School and is now farming part of his father's place. He married Elmora Cornwell and they have a daughter, Eloise. Mr. Wright's daughter Flossie is also at home.

At this point some further matters should be noted concerning Mrs. Wright's family. Her father, Josiah R. Wible, long well known in Adams County, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1840. The first member of the Wible family to come to Adams County was grandfather John Wible, who came West in 1850 and acquired the land which was later owned by Mr. Wible and is now the Wright farm. Josiah Wible was twelve years old when he accompanied his father and other members of the family to Quincy. They made this interesting journey, which he well remembers, by boat down the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, and thenee up the Mississippi to Quiney, where they landed on the 22d day of November. Mr. Wible was one of a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. One son died in infancy and the others reached maturity. The oldest daughter was the wife of H. S. Loucks, who far over thirty years or more was a merchant at Ursa. The young- est son, Frank, died in 1916, at Maywood, Missouri. The youngest daughter, Mrs. Ama L. Huston, is still living in Adams County, at Mendon, ocenpying the old home there. Josiah R. Wible grew up in Adams County and in 1863 married Mary E. Beam, daughter of W. W. Beam. Mr. and Mrs. Wible had their home near Ursa and Mendon until 1899, when they moved to Chicago and have since lived retired in that city. Their summer months they have spent regularly for a number of years at St. Joseph, Michigan. Of their nine children, eight daughters and one son, three died in infancy and one at the age of twenty-two. The living children are all residents of Chicago exeept Mrs. Wright, who is therefore almost the sole representative of this old and well known family still living in the county.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 33

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