Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 34

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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ALBERT H. SOHM, D. D. S., who holds the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery from Washington University of St. Louis, has been busily engaged in practice in his native City of Quiney for fourteen years. He is a leader in his profession, one of the young men looked to for an active part in all civie and social matters, and belongs to the well known Sohm family. his father being Edward Sohm, the president of the Rieker National Bank.

Doetor Sohm was born in Quincy August 14, 1882, and was liberally edu- cated. He attended the grammar and high school of Quiney College, the National Business College, and from there entered the dental department of Washington University, where he completed his work with the class of 1904. Doetor Sohm has done much to put himself among the leaders in the most progressive branches of modern dental surgery. He recently completed a special course under Doctor James at Chicago, who has a national reputation as a pyorrhea specialist. Doetor Sohm has not only kept in touch with every method and new discovery in the science of dentistry but has also supplied himself with every equipment required for the most expert service, including the X-Ray.

Doctor Sohm married twelve years ago Miss Lyda A. Troja. She was born and reared at Ft. Madison, Iowa, and is a daughter of the late John J. Troja. one of the early wholesale and retail grocery and commission men of that city.

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Doctor and Mrs. Sohm are active members of St. Peter's Catholic Church. He is a member of the local, state and national dental societies, is a member of the Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and past exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks.

WILTON EPHRAIM WHITE is president of the Quincy Coal Company, one of the oldest organizations of the kind in Illinois, having over sixty years of history. The business was established at Quincy in 1857, being financed orig- inally by Boston parties. William Morris was the first president when the company was incorporated in 1869. In 1875 he was succeeded by H. S. Os- born, followed some years later by his son C. C. Osborn, and still later by his grandson F. W. Osborn, who sold his interests to W. E. White, the subject of this sketeh, in 1911. For many years the company operated mines in the Col- chester and Farmington fields of Illinois, at the same time looking after the wholesale and retail distribution of coal. The company at present handles anthracite and bituminous coals from the different producing states, supply- ing Quincy and contiguous territory and reaching into Eastern Missouri and Southern Iowa.

Mr. White has resided in Quiney since 1891, and for many years carried heavy responsibilities in connection with the management of the famous Gem City Business College. He was with that school twenty years as instructor in general commercial subjects and lecturer on commercial law and mathematics. He is the author of several text books on mathematical and commercial sub- jects. During the last fifteen years of his work there he was vice president of the college and a member of its executive board. On accepting the presi- dency of the Quincy Coal Company, he sold his interests in the school and resigned his educational work. Thousands of young men and women who have been his pupils are now in useful and honorable positions as the result of his conscientious endeavors.

Mr. White's parents, J. A. White and Nancy (Ellis) White, were born in Ohio, and after they began housekeeping moved to Missouri and later to Iowa. His father enlisted in the Thirty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry and gave three and a half years of strenuous service to his country in the Civil war. He participated in more than sixty battles, including Shiloh, where he was wounded. For a time he was with the armies of Grant, later he was under Gen. "Pap" Thomas, and finally marched with Sherman to the sea, and was present at the Grand Review at Washington at the close of the war. He returned to Iowa, residing on a farm near Marion in Linn County. Here, on February 14, 1866, Wilton E. White was born. In 1872 the family migrated to Jewell County, Kansas, where the father preempted a homestead, and accepted the hardships of the early pioncers of that state. The family lived in a sod house, and the children attended school in a sod school house. At that time the settlers were frequently molested by Indians, and the coyotes were much in evidence. The settlers had no trouble in supplying their tables with buffalo meat killed from the herds that roamed at will over the broad prairies and ofttimes destroyed their crops. In 1873 the scourge of grasshoppers destroyed every vestige of green in that part of the state, and the unfortunate settlers would have starved had it not been for "aid" sent from other states to relieve their distress. As an instance of the inadequacy of haphazard philanthropy Mr. White remem- bers that included in the carloads of supplies for cold and hungry people, taking up valuable space, were numerous large boxes of books, consisting chiefly of state and congressional reports and other statistical matter that was good for nothing but fuel. Mr. White's father and mother, now past eighty, still reside on the old homestead in Jewell County.

Wilton was but six years old when the family journeyed to Kansas, and there his real experience may be said to have begun. His school privileges were limited, but he was a diligent student and made the best use of every opportunity. When seventeen years of age he learned the printer's trade and

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was compositor and job printer for a number of years. He soon recognized his need for a better education than he had been able to get in the pioneer country school, and laid plans for a college course. By saving his earnings and by following his trade while pursuing his studies he took a course at the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan and later at the University at Salina, where for a time he edited and did the mechanical work on the conference paper of the Methodist Church. After finishing his college work he took up teaching, and followed that for several years before coming to Quincy.

Mr. White's wife was Miss Mary Frances Loss, of Marshalltown, lowa. She is of the highly intellectual type and takes an active interest in social and club life. She is a member of Dorothy Quincy Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, a member of the Round Table and of the Friday Club. They are members of the Vermont Street Methodist Church. The children are Wilton P. and Virginia E. The son enlisted in the Navy on completing high school in 1916, and is now a petty officer on Dewey's old flagship, the Olympia, and is "Somewhere Across." The danghter, aged fourteen, is now in high school. The family residence is at 803 Sixth Avenue, North.

Mr. White is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and takes a great interest in all branches of the craft. He has served two years as master of Lambert Lodge No. 659, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and has held numerous offices in the various bodies of the rite. Ile is at present sovereign prince of Quincy Council, Princes of Jerusalem.

Mr. White takes a great interest in literary matters, is a lover of Shakes- peare and the poets, and is an interpretive reader of no mean ability. He has written a number of poems on patriotic and other subjects that have found their way into print, and have called forth considerable praise. The Quincy Herald of January 12, 1918, says: "Wilton E. White, former teacher, present merchant, scholar, litterateur, interpretive reader, has tried his hand at blank verse writing and has succeeded in producing, under the title 'War and Prog- ress,' a composition that shows an intimate knowledge of prosody as among the attainments of the author. Not only this. Also it shows Mr. White versed in the philosophy of life, versed in a world-embracing system of canse leading to effect, versed in world-history of humankind from brute-man in jungle and in cliff and his progress onward and upward-ever onward, ever upward -slaying and destroying each and all opposing forces that obstruct his path- way into the sunlight of a perfect civilization. In his blank verse composi- tion, Mr. White has added to what is best in the literature of the day." The poem is too long for reproduction in this article, but a few stanzas will serve to show its high character :

But count not all the gain as lost Of nations gone before; for as, in turn, Each ancient race has struggled up the slope, Her warlike deeds have hewn a higher step And built the stairway nearer to the top, Where the sun of freedom shines: and from The ashes of these hoary states, Phoenix-like, Have risen the great republics that today Are grappling at the throat of the last Great dragon-the last and fiercest.

And what shall be the fruit of present victory, When bleeding Europe's wounds are stanched; And the frightful havoc Mars has wronght Is summed up ; and the staggering total Of fallen soldiery, of old men exiled,

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Of women wronged, of starving babies, of ruined homes, Of desolated cities, of nations bankrupt,

Of law and order turned to anarchy ? From this red chaos what of good may come ?

Shall all this ruin count for naught ?

O patriot ! turn thy face toward the light, And put thy hand unto the plow. The past Is ruined, but thy destiny is fair before thee. The despot is no more; and on these shattered Fragments of the past, thou and thy fellows

Shall build the fairest temple of democracy

That ever lifted erenelated spire

To the starry vault of freedom.

With thy loved ones gone, and only tender memories To steady thee, and a strong, clear faith To lead thee on, what canst thou not accomplish ?

HENRY KNAPHEIDE. The late Henry Knapheide was born in Lengerich, Muenster, Germany, August 16, 1824, grew to manhood in that country and was taught the trade of wagon worker. After completing his masterpiece, he traveled as journeyman through various cities of Europe and in 1845 left the old country with America as his destination. After arriving at New Or- leans he found employment and worked at his trade some two years. He then departed from New Orleans and arrived at St. Louis, where he again worked at his trade. At St. Louis he met and was married in 1847 to Catherine Ache- pohl.

Catherine Knapheide was born in Borgholzhausen, Minden, Germany, March 16, 1823, and came to this country in 1844. Ocean travel in those days was usually made by slow sailing vessels and to add to the hardships of her journey she was taken down with typhoid fever and had barely recovered on her ar- rival at the port of New Orleans. In her weakened condition she was carried off the vessel by friends and taken on a steamer about to leave for St. Louis. Under the kind treatment of her friends, assisted by her youthful vigor, she soon regained her strength.

After the marriage in 1848 they came to Quincy, which city they found to their liking and made it their future home. Henry Knapheide associated himself with another native of his country in the building of farm wagons, their shop being located in the 600 block on State Street.

It was about this time Mr. Knapheide introduced to the trade the first east skein farm wagon in this part of Illinois, which proved a large success and resulted in its being adopted by all wagon manufacturers as the standard skein for farm wagons. This business was carried on for a number of years at this location, after which the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Knapheide became associated with George Goodapple in the same line of work in the 700 block on the same street. This business was continued until after the Civil war, at which time Mr. Knapheide bought his partner's share in the business. Coming from the old country, skilled in his trade, possessing the thoroughness and thrift for which his race was noted, with an ambition to build the best wagon, and with a Christian's faith, success was assured him. The trade soon recognized his work as the best and in a few years time the business grew to such proportions that considerable additional help was re- quired to turn out the work.

Henry Knapheide became a naturalized citizen of the United States and usually voted the republican ticket. He and his wife were some of the charter members of the Kentucky Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Henry Knap- heide died August 4, 1890, having reached the age of sixty-six years. His wife reached the age of ninety-two years, dying February 9, 1915.

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This worthy couple are represented by a family of six living children. The oldest is Mrs. J. H. Hoffman, of Sigourney, Iowa, the mother of three sons and two daughters, all having received a university education and the sons are in educational work.

The second in age is Henry E. Knapheide, who was born in Quiney, April 15, 1856. He attended the eity publie schools and is a graduate of the Gem City Business College. Under the direction and skillful eyes of his father he mastered and became an expert in the wagon builders' trade and after the death of his father took charge of the business. He was married at Quiney to M. Augusta Beek. Mrs. Knapheide was born at Brooklyn, New York, being the daughter of Fred W. Beek and wife. Her father was a pharmacist and chemist, traveled extensively and for several years was a drug buyer in China. Ilis wife died while Mrs. Knapheide, her brothers and sisters were quite young, after which he placed the children with friends, Rev. and Mrs. C. G. Lieber- herr, who had charge of the Berea Orphanage at Berea, Ohio. Mr. Beek en- listed in the Federal Army during the Civil war and soon won his spurs as first lieutenant. After the war he again took up his profession of chemist. Ile was stricken with yellow fever and died at New Orleans in 1872.

Mr. Knapheide, endowed with his father's ambition to produce nothing but first class work, his thoroughness and Christian faith, in addition to a good education, began to build where his father had left off. As the trade was brought to realize that the son's intentions to build the best were like unto his father's, the business continued to grow, until it was found necessary to seek larger quarters where the work could be turned out more rapidly in larger quantities. A new plant was ereeted on Sixth and State streets, and as the trade inereased additional buildings were made necessary and today this firm's prodnets are known all over the Central West in a class among the best. Mr. Knapheide is today surrounded by a host of friends and in his business and recreative activities is recognized as a leader. He is president and treasurer of the Henry Knapheide Wagon Company, and a member of the board of di- rectors of several of Quiney's leading business enterprises and banks and is affiliated with the Masonie fraternity.

Mr. and Mrs. Knapheide have both children and grandehildren to do them honor, namely: Ruby Clara, who is the wife of David C. Ganz and is the mother of Carlisle, Robert and Jack. She is a graduate of the Quiney High School. Oliver Carl is also a graduate of the high school and the agricultural department of the University of Illinois, and is a successful farmer and stock raiser in South Dakota, was married to Miss May Brown of Springfield, Illi- nois. To this union were born three sons, Oliver, Jr., Donald and Henry. Harold Waldemar Knapheide acquired his edneation in the publie sehools and is now secretary of the Henry Knapheide Wagon Company, and is ably as- sisting his father in managing the plant. IIe married Miss Mary Frances Ganz. Their children are Harold, Jr., and Mareia Kathryn. Irma IIelen is the wife of A. B. Parker, both high school graduates, and they have one son, Arthur B. Jr. Besides being a high school graduate Mrs. Parker is a graduate of the Columbia School of Expression and Dramatie Art. Jessamine Augusta, a graduate of Quiney High School and the Macomb State Normal, is the wife of Paul O. Botts, who is now serving in the aviation seetion of the United States Army. Mildred Carrie is a graduate of the Quiney High School and University of Illinois. Lowell Lester is at this time attending high school and is a member of the Farmer Boys' Reserve. Marjorie Hortense, the youngest of the family is also attending high school.

Mr. Knapheide's sister, Emma, is the next younger and is the wife of John Hoffmeister, a successful farmer and stoek raiser living near Liberty, Illinois. This couple has two sons and three danghters, all well educated.

Edward J. is unmarried, living with his sister at Sigourney, Iowa.

Melinda C. has achieved an enviable reputation as one of the oldest and best known woman physicians in Illinois and is the wife of Henry Germann,

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who is vice president of the Broadway Bank. Mr. and Mrs. Germann have a son and daughter, both graduates of universities and schools of medicine and surgery.

The youngest of the family is William S., now a prominent physician and surgeon of Quincy. Doctor Knapheide married May Brenner, of Quiney, and they now have one living son, who is attending school. Doetor Knapheide is a member of the Masonie fraternity and he and family belong to the Methodist Church, of which all his brothers and sisters are members.

OTTO H. DUKER. Noteworthy for his good citizenship and many excel- lent traits of character, being especially a good salesman, Otto Duker is well known in the business eireles of Quiney, being vice president of the J. H. Duker & Brothers Company, wholesale liquor dealers. A son of the late Theo- dore Duker, he was born in Quiney, Adams County, Illinois, July 23, 1868. He is one of twelve children, eleven of whom are still living and seven being residents of Quiney.

Otto Duker attended Saint Boniface school as a child and later was a grad- uate of the Saint Francis College. Upon leaving sehool his wish was to follow the blacksmithing trade, but through his father's persuasion, became familiar with the details of the wholesale liquor trade, with which he has since been actively identified. In 1904 changes were made in the original firm, the new firm of J. H. Duker & Brothers Company being incorporated with Simon Duker, Otto's cousin, as president and treasurer; Otto Duker, vice president ; and John C. Ording, secretary and office manager. Mr. Duker immediately assumed the duties of his position, and as one of the official members of the firm is carrying on an extensive and prosperous business.

Mr. Duker married Miss Martha Fisher, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Fisher, on January 28, 1897. Miss Fisher was born, bred and educated in Quiney. Mr. and Mrs. Duker have one daughter, Miss Esther.

Politically Mr. Duker is a loyal supporter of the principles of the demo- eratie party. Religiously he is a member of the Saint Boniface Catholic Church and also a member of the Saint James Branch of the Western Catholie Union. He is also a member of the Saint Aloysius Orphan Society. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Eagles and of the Travelers' Protective Association.

THOMAS WILL TURNER. In the fine farming distriet of Ellington Township, where the possession of land spells prosperity, one of the active faetors today is Thomas Will Turner, who has spent his life in Adams County and is thor- oughly practiced in every phase of experience as a farmer.

He was born in this county August 13, 1859, youngest of the seven children, four sons and three daughters, of John T. and Harriet (Barnes) Turner. Five of these children are still living: Louisa, wife of J. F. Daugherty, the well known undertaker of Quiney, and they have a family of four children: Emma J., who is a resident of Long Beach, California, and is a professional decorator and also aetive in Evangelistie work with the Baptist Church: George O., a farmer at Omaha, Nebraska, and father of two children ; and Ella, wife of Lewis Wilson, a grower of prunes, cherries and walnuts at Sunnyvale, California.

John T. Turner was born at Livermore Falls in the State of Maine in 1820 and died in 1900. He was only fourteen years old when his parents crossed the country in pioneer style with wagons and teams to the Mississippi River and found a home in Adams County. The mother traveled all the way in a chaise. In 1834, when they arrived. Adams County was a wilderness, with some of the red men still in the forest, and not a single line of railway in the Middle West. As a boy John T. Turner frequently saw deer jumping through the brush and timber and he knew Quiney when it was a small village with none of the pretentious streets and buildings of the present time. Grandfather Turner made his first purchase of land in Burton Township. The deed of that land, written on an old parchment and exeeuted by President Martin Van

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Buren under date of August 6, 1838, is now a much prized possession of Mr. Thomas W. Turner, who also has another similar deed. The Turners owned several pieces of land in Adams County and were prominent early farmers and land owners here. John T. Turner first affiliated with the whig party and when that party died out became a republican and was enthusiastie in his membership and a devoted admirer of the great Lincoln. He attended the final obsequies of the martyred president at Springfield. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church and both are now at rest in Wesley Cemetery.

Thomas W. Turner attended the public schools and academy of Quincy and the Gem City Business College, and sinee then has been busied as a farmer and stock raiser. June 16, 1887, he married Miss Edith Davenport. They are the parents of two highly educated and eultured daughters, Harriet B. and Margaret. Harriet was educated in the common schools, spent two years in the Quincy High School and a year in the Winona Park School at Warsaw, Indiana, and for a number of years was engaged in teaching. She is active in the Pres- byterian Church of Ellington Township and superintendent of the primary department of its Sunday school. The daughter Margaret is a member of the class of 1920 in the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville.

Mrs. Turner was born at Chelsea, Maine, August 27, 1860, the only child of Charles H. and Harriet R. (White) Davenport. When she was abont nine years old, in 1869, her parents came west and settled in the State of Missouri and afterwards moved to Kansas, where her father died in 1872. Mrs. Turner has sinee lived in Adams County and was edneated here and in the Academy at Galesburg.

Mr. Turner is a republiean in polities, though in local affairs he supports the man best qualified for office. For many years he has served as township clerk of Ellington Township, for ten or fifteen years was a school direetor, and has done his full share of publie work and helping forward community enter- prises of different kinds. He is affiliated with Camp No. 995 of the Modern Woodmen of America at Ursa. He and his wife are active members of the Ellington Memorial Presbyterian Church, and are active patrons of its Sunday school. The farm of Mr. and Mrs. Turner is widely known as the Hunkadory Farm, comprising 174 aeres, and with buildings and all the facilities well fitted and accommodated for perfect and adequate serviee. It is a home in which friends and aequaintanees like to gather, and as a farm it is one of the most productive and best improved in the township.

JOHN E. ANDREW. A man of mueh force of character and of strong per- sonality, John E. Andrew, superintendent of the Sailors' and Soldiers' Home at Quiney, possesses in a marked degree the ability and other qualifieations fitting him for the responsible position, and is performing the duties devolving mpon him with rare fidelity and efficiency. A son of the late John Andrew, he was born June 6, 1849, in Clinton County, Ohio.

John Andrew was born and bred in North Carolina. Going from there to Ohio, he bought a traet of land, and on the farm which he improved spent the remainder of his life. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Smith, was born in North Carolina and died in Illinois. Of their family of seven children, three sons served in the Civil war, and all of the children excepting the subject of this sketeh are dead.

At the age of ten years, having been left fatherless, John E. Andrews was bound out, and thus foreed to work carly and late for his board and elothes. When fourteen years old he ran away and enlisted in the Seventy-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Although but a boy, he took part in several engagements, and at the battle of Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, he was wounded. He continued in service until receiving his honorable discharge July 22, 1865. Loeating then in Piatt County. Illinois, Mr. Andrew found employment on a farm, and for four years worked for one man. In the meantime by elose application to his

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 34

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