Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 57

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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Of his children, Clifford died at the age of twenty-five. For several years he had been in charge of one of his father's farms, until ill health compelled him to retire. The son Albert operates a farm at Paloma and is a stock feeder. He married Bessie Post. of Quiney, and their two children are Mildred and Albert, Jr. Mary is a graduate of the Illinois State University, and took special work in Applied Sociology at New York, and is now engaged in social settlement work there, a profession for which her nature and inelinations eminently qualify her. She is matron of a social home or settlement at Hoosae Falls, New York, where special attention is given to the poor from the city. The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Henry was Mabel, who died in childhood.

THOMAS M. YEARGAIN, who lives retired at Paloma, has been a citizen of much push and enterprise in Adams County. The distinguishing fact about him, often referred to by his friends and neighbors, is his breadth of interests and the influenee and encouragement he extends constantly to those movements and activities that are outside the range of a selfish man's life. Of Mr. Year- gain it can be said that he has lived as well as worked, and has experienced many of the deepest things of existence.

Of his family it is hardly necessary to speak. The Yeargains have been factors in Gilmer and other townships of the county for several generations. Thomas M. Yeargain was born in that township February 23, 1856, a son of John P. and Elizabeth (Lawless) Yeargain. His mother was a sister of James S. Lawless. John P. Yeargain was one of four brothers, all of whom were prominent in Gilmer Township. The names of these brothers are mentioned particularly on another page of this publieation. John P. Yeargain spent his life in Gilmer Townshp, having settled on a traet of prairie land which he broke with an ox team. He made a farm of 200 aeres, situated in section 27, fourteen miles east of Quincy. On that farm he continued to live until after the death. of his wife, about fifteen years ago. They had lived happily together for over forty years. After his wife died he spent his time among his children and died in 1910, at the age of seventy-eight. He was one of the founders of the old Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. When he was a young man Peter Cartwright was one of the soul-stirring evangelists who sometimes preached in this community in schoolhouses and in private homes, and it was due to his influence that the Mount Pleasant Church was organized. John P. Yeargain gave liberally to the church and also donated as a cemetery a portion from the northwest corner of his farm. The church edifiee still standing was erected in 1866. He was in charge of the church property and was sexton of the cemetery for a number of years. His house was practically the headquarters. for all the preachers visiting there, and he and his hospitable wife entertained

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many people during the protracted meetings. John P. Yeargain also served as township supervisor several times, was school director, road commissioner, and for over a quarter of a century served as superintendent of the Sunday school. He was a capable farmer, but his chief interest was in livestock. There was nothing he enjoyed more than a fine animal, and he doubtless inherited his love of horseflesh from his Kentucky ancestors. He was a noted hunter in early days, frequently killing deer and turkey in this county. Even when old age came upon him he kept a pack of hounds and was always on hand with them when a coon hunt was proposed.

Of the children of John P. Yeargain six reached maturity: Emma married James Callahan, of Carthage, Illinois, and died in young womanhood. Stephen died at the age of thirty. For two years he had lived at Orlando, Florida, and had an orange grove nicely established before his death. Jane Elizabeth is Mrs. Alexander Callahan, of Camp Point. The next in age is Thomas MI. Maggie is Mrs. Frank Pearcc, of Quincy. William O. spent most of his life in Gilmer Township but is now a farmer at Nova, Ohio.

Thomas M. Yeargain lived at home with his parents until he was twenty- five. He attended the district schools, but early considered it incumbent upon him to attend strictly to business and support himself. For some years he operated part of the old homestead, his father supplying the equipment and part of the stock. At the age of twenty-five Mr. Yeargain married Loretta Myers, a daughter of Jacob Myers, and of a numerous family long identified with Adams County and concerning whom more information will be found on other pages. After his marriage Mr. Yeargain and his brother bought a farm of 160 acres 11% miles south of Paloma, but he later acquired his brother's in- terest. This was the old Colburn farm. With the backing of his father he at once began building a house and good barns, and he can always look back to that experience of establishing a home as one of great pleasure and satisfac- tion, since it was an occasion for the manifestation of the kindly neighborli- ness which especially characterized the older communities of Adams County. His neighbors frequently came in and helped him when he hauled his hogs to Quincy fifteen miles away, and in many other tasks requiring co-operation it was not infrequent for a dozen of his friends in the same community to join with him. Mr. Yeargain and his capable wife gradually paid off their obliga- tions in spite of an era of low prices through which they lived. It required about twenty years to get their farm clear and it all came from the land itself. Mr. Yeargain still owns that farm, but in 1911 moved to Paloma. He owns ninety acres near that village, farm and pasture land, and has a substantial and comfortable home in the village.

Mr. Yeargain left the farm after the death of his wife in 1910, a loss which was aggravated a year later when his only son, John P., died at the age of eighteen. It was the necessity of a change which caused him to seek new environment in town. He is still in partnership with his son-in-law, the tenant of his farm, and takes much interest in maintaining farm stock and breeding from thoroughbred animals. Through his stock and in other ways he has con- tributed to the raising of standards in the neighborhood. To make the com- munity better in eevry way has always been one of his ideals. Mr. Yeargain was one of the original members of the County Farm Improvement Association. He served eight years as assessor of Gilmer Township, taking the office only at the urging of his friends, and not because he was ambitions. He is a re- publican, has filled the place of delegate in various conventions, and has been keenly interested in the progress of the world at large. He was a member of the old Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church until removing to Paloma, and served as trustee and steward. He has never joined fraternities, and he has many of the tastes for outdoor life and wholesome sports that characterized his father. He has hunted the fox on horseback, has taken many fishing excursions. and is also keenly interested in the intellectual side of life. He attends chau- tanquas regularly and has been a booster for such means of culture. The

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broadening of country life has been greatly advanced in Mr. Yeargain's opinion by the introduction of the automobile.

Mr. Yeargain had three daughters and one son. Eva is the wife of Edward Morton, and they have two children, Loretta and Edward. Mr. Morton is now operating the Yeargain farm. Emma is unmarried and lives at home with her father in Paloma. Golden is the wife of Merle Ogle, a railroad agent at Paloma. All of Mr. Yeargain's ambitions were centered in his only son, John P.

WILLIAM A. COATS. While in the course of a busy life William A. Coats has followed several occupations, it was as a farmer and manager of one of the extensive and well improved places of Liberty Township that he accumulated a competeney. Mr. Coats is now a retired resident of Liberty Village.

He was born five miles northeast of Liberty Village February 16, 1860. His father was William A. Coats, Sr., who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, Feb- ruary 20, 1817. His parents came from Scotland. He was seven years old when his father died and at the age of fourteen he lost his mother. He was then apprenticed to learn the painting trade, serving for his elothes and board until reaching the age of twenty-one. In 1838 he went to New York City, thence to New Orleans, and in 1844 to Mason County, Kentucky. He married in Kentucky Miss Payton. Her father, George Payton, a few years later came to Adams County and settled in MeKee Township. William A. Coats and wife also eame to this county in 1856, making the journey by wagon and locat- ing in MeKee Township. William A. soon returned to Kentucky to get the rest of his goods, and when he returned he found that his wife was dead and buried. About 1858 he married Mrs. Ellen (Hugle) Gardner of Cincinnati, who had come to Adams County with her husband, Erastus Gardner. She was born in 1816 and died in 1897. Her father, William Hugle, went to Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1841. Mrs. Gardner at the time of her marriage had two sons and two daughters, while William A. Coats had three daughters by his first wife. Mrs. Gardner also had three children by her husband's former marriage. All of these became part of one household, making a family of ten children. The only child born to William A. Coats and Mrs. Ellen Gardner is William A., Jr. These children grew up together and made one of the large and numerous families of the township. William A. Coats bought out the heirs to the old Gardner farm, and he lived and died there. ITis death occurred Novem- ber 8, 1881. He was laid to rest in a cemetery in a corner of the farm, which comprised 137 aeres. The farm is now owned by William A. Coats, Jr., and he also owns another forty aeres in Columbus Township. The house was built by Erastus Gardner, and since the death of William A., Sr., the son has constructed a new barn and has repaired and remodeled the house. William A. Coats, Sr., served as road commissioner and as a member of the school board, but was never a seeker for official honors. He was a member of the Liberty Evangelical Lutheran Church, and was one of the charter members of Liberty Lodge of Odd Fellows and was active in Masonry.

By his first marriage William A. Coats had three daughters, namely : Eveline, who married John A. Williams, and both died on the old farm which was conducted by Mr. Williams for a number of years; Minnie, who married Marion Garner and went to Kansas, where she is still living; Emma, the widow of Robert Gates, and living in Butler County, Kansas. The four children of Erastus Gardner and wife were: Sophia Gardner, who married Henry Heaton, and they both died at Xenia, Ohio; Harrison, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died a bachelor; Robert, who was also a soldier and died at Louisville, Kentucky, April 22, 1863; and Luella, who married Fielding Smith, and after her death in Southwestern Missouri her husband moved to Montana with his six daughters. Erastus Gardner by his first wife had the following children : Charlotte, who married John Hendricks and died in Southwestern Missouri ; Charles, who died in Haneock County, Illinois; and William Gardner, who went west.

LIBRARY 'T THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Geo- K. Maclesky

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William A. Coats, Jr., spent his early life on his home farm, attended the local schools, also Carthage College and Maplewood High School at Camp Point. For a time he was a teacher in the Quincy District and gave up that occupation to return to the home farm and take care of the property and his father during his last illness. When his father was on his death bed he requested that his son should not delay his marriage on his aeeount, therefore on November 7, 1881, the day before William A. Coats, Sr., died the son and Mary McCreery of Camp Point were united in marriage. Mrs. Coats died April 25, 1894. On June 23, 1897, Mr. Coats married Emma Kuntz, of Liberty Village, daughter of John and Mary (Lentz) Kuntz. Her father was a farmer and wagon maker and died in Liberty in 1908, in his seventy-fifth year. He was also a veteran of the Union army. His widow is still living at Barry, Illinois. Mrs. Emma Coats was born June 25, 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Coats continued to live on the old farm until 1907, and since then have lived in the Village of Liberty, the farm being operated by a tenant. Sinee renting his farm Mr. Coats has taken occasional work as a carpenter. He was one of the early members of the Tri- State Mutual Insurance Company, of which Judge MeCarl of Quincy is presi- dent. He has filled all the ehairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Mrs. Coats is a Rebekah and has also passed the various chairs and greatly inereased the membership of the local order during her term as noble grand.

Mr. Coats by his first wife had two daughters: Lanra Ellen and Leetah. Laura Ellen is the wife of Ed Stewart and they live in Pueblo, Colorado ; Leetah married Samuel McBride, Jr., who died November 13, 1917, and she passed away December 12, 1917. Their three children were Ellwyn. Franees and Edna. The two daughters were adopted by her sister, Mrs. Laura Stewart, and the son has been cared for by his grandfather, A. J. MeBride.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Coats are: Ray, born in 1906; Roy, who when seven years of age was killed in the streets of Liberty by an automobile April 3, 1917 ; and Anna Joy. All the families are members of the Lutheran Church.

GEORGE K. MACLAASKEY, who died at his home in Plainville August 20, 1918, was a man of interesting personality and of experience, and spent most of his life in Adams County. Farming was his main business and it is an essential part of his record that he made a success of his undertakings.

He was born at Barry in Pike County, Illinois, November 27, 1847, and had therefore passed the age of three score and ten before his death. His parents were George and Barbara (Sweet) Maelaskey. George Maclaskey was a native of New York but was left an orphan when a child, was bound out, and never knew any other members of his family except this sister Mary. As a young man he came west. Ile had known the Sweet family in New York and they probably came together to Barry, where he was married soon afterward. George Maclaskey was a hard worker, did farming, and also hauled a great deal of freight to and from the Mississippi River landing in the early days. In 1858, when his son George K. was eleven years old, he moved to Riehland Township in Adams County, and his children grew up there. He continued farming until advanced years and his death occurred while visiting a daughter in Nebraska. He was then eighty-two years of age. The old farm in Richland Township is now owned by Frank Bowers. The widowed mother spent her last years with her daughter Mrs. Mary Farmer, and died in the house in Plainville where Mrs. George Maclaskey now lives. She was eighty-six when she passed away. George Maelaskey, Sr. was always willing to do his part in eom- munity affairs, and served several terms as a member of the local school board. He was a demoerat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of his children, the oldest, Sarah, died in young womanhood. Melissa married James Evans. who went to Nebraska and died there several years later. Mary married Cass Farmer, of Richfield Township, and he died in the home where Mrs. George K. Maclaskey now lives. George K. Maelaskey was next in age. James Maclas- key is a farmer at Gridley in Woodson County, Kansas. He married Sarah

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MeCarl, a sister of Mrs. George K. Maelaskey, and she died in Kansas. Andrew Maclaskey was a bachelor, a railroad engineer, and he died in Denver, Colorado, at the age of sixty-two. Ira is a railroad man living in Kansas City, Kansas, Ida married Dr. David Rice of Colorado Springs, who was an executor of the great Stratton estate.

George K. Maelaskey lived at home with his parents until his marriage October 20, 1875, when Mary E. MeCarl became his wife. Her mother was a sister to Judge MeCarl's mother, therefore Mrs. Maclaskey and the Judge are double cousins. Mrs. Maclaskey was born in Richfield Township, November 13, 1852, and grew up on a farm. She was the third in a family of six ehildren. Her sister Bethana, who died at Barry, Illinois, at the age of sixty-two, married Will B. Myers, formerly a farmer of Richfield Township but now living with his son Harvey L. at Barry. Sarah married James Maelaskey, as already noted, and she died in Kansas at the age of fifty-one. Mrs. MeClaskey's brother Alexander is a Standard Oil Company employe at Portland, Oregon. Isaiah was a farmer in Richfield Township until his wife's death, but has since lived with his sister Mrs. Maelaskey. Calvin is an employe of the Williamson Oil Company at Quincy.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Maelaskey were one year in Southwestern Missouri. He then bought a farm of 115 acres, a mile south of Richfield Village and improved it with new buildings. That was their home when their two children, both daughters, Effie and Bessie, were taken away by the dread disease of diphtheria within two weeks of each other, Effie being sixteen and Bessie thirteen. This was a great sorrow for Mr. and Mrs. Maelaskey, and they were unable to endure life on the old farm longer and moved to Plainville, where they lived seven years. During that time Mr. Maclaskey filled several loeal offices in the village. Later he returned to the farm, improved it with new buildings, and finally sold it in 1909. They then returned to the village of Plainville and bought the present home, a commodious residence where Mrs. Maclaskey still lives. Mr. Maclaskey was one of the original stockholders in the Plainville Bank. He was never interested in polities for the sake of an office and only accepted such positions as school director and road boss in order to give efficiency to those loeal institutions. He was a democrat, for twenty-five years was active in the Methodist Episcopal church, a member of Plainville Lodge of Masons and was buried under the auspices of that order. He possessed a striking physique, was tall, straight and enjoyed perfect health until the last few weeks of his life. In later years he took mueh pleasure in the use and management of his car.

JOHN SPECKHART, SR. There are many reasons why the name Speckhart is spoken with such respect and esteem in Fall Creek Township. A large part of the population of Adams County during the past eighty years have been of German born or German parentage. John Speckhart, Sr., was the first German to locate in Fall Creek Township. He was a prominent settler there about seven years before he was joined by other fellow countrymen. He lived a long and useful life, and his sturdy character was transmitted to his sons and daughters. The family is now a numerous one, and some special tribute should be paid here to its founder in Adams County.

John Speckhart, Sr., was born at Dieburg in Hesse-Darmstadt June 14, 1812. He married Maria Furniff, who was born in Niederkindbach in the same Provinee of Germany April 23, 1816. It was in the winter of 1839 that John Speckhart set out for America. A sailing vessel brought him to New Orleans, where he landed February 22, 1840. A companion on the same vessel was coming to Ameriea for the purpose of settling in Iowa, and John Speekhart planned to make the same state his home. However, on reaching Quiney, having become separated from his traveling companions at St. Louis, he decided to remain in Adams County, and in the spring of 1840 bought land now ineluded in the Speckhart estate in Fall Creek Township. In Germany John Speckhart had

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learned the brick making trade and was also a roofer. He was a diligent work- man, and though paid very meager wages according to present standards, he managed to accumulate some $900 before coming to this country. He was possessed of perhaps more capital than most of the early Germans.

His first purchase of land consisted of 120 aeres, ineluded now in the farm of his son Adam. For seven years he lived in that English speaking community, without a single German neighbor. Later his brother-in-law, George Kiel, Sr., and a nephew, George Treats, joined him in Fall Creek Township. The first home of John Speckhart was a shanty covered with elapboards. It was roughly put together and both rain and snow eame in, but it is signifieant that the family never had any sickness while living in that old house. Later he built a log structure and about sixty years ago put up the substantial brick house which is still standing and still offers all the comforts of a home. In building this home he utilized his knowledge of brick making, and burned the brick of his own farm.

Out of the trials and adversities of the early years he extended his posses- sions until he had 1,100 aeres of good farm land. He was unable to speak English when he arrived, and gradually picked up a knowledge of the language by contaet with his neighbors. He frequently hauled wood to Quincy, selling a load for 75 cents and taking it out in trade. He did much of his plowing with oxen, used the old fashioned cradle to garner his grain, and of him it could be truly said that he earned his bread by the sweat of his brow. The results he obtained showed what determined purpose and unremitting diligence would accomplish. Ile was a demoerat in politics and both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church. He was never a seeker for any publie office, and for the last fifteen years of his life he lived retired. He always wrote the language of his fatherland, and the family records in his own hand in the family Bible are all in the German seript, and were written when he was quite old.

John Speckhart, Sr., died March 16, 1894, and his wife on June 25, 1884. They were laid to rest in the Bluff Hall Cemetery. Ile and his wife had ten children. Those to reach mature years were John, William, Allen, Frederick, Lena, Elizabeth and Margaret.

JOHN SPECKIIART, JR., is son of John Speekhart, the pioneer German settler of Fall Creek Township, and has his home eight miles southeast of Quincy, in section 8 of Fall Creek Township. He has long been one of the prominent farmers and citizens of this locality.

His residenee stands on the brow of a bluff some 200 feet above the ex- tensive bottom lands along the Mississippi. From the home a view up and down the river is afforded for miles. The home farm proper is on the uplands, but includes also a liberal stretch of the rich and fertile bottoms. Mr. Speckhart has 850 aeres, the greater part cultivated, and includes some of the best wheat and corn land in the entire county. The old house still stands, and one room of it was the place where John Speckhart, Sr., began housekeeping. John Speck- hart. Jr., erected his present home about thirty-four years ago. Ile also has all the necessary outbuildings, and his improvements are of the very best char- acter. Ilis three sons now operate the farm in partnership.

Mr. Speekhart was born July 4, 1848, in Fall Creek Township, and as a boy received very limited schooling. IJe had every opportunity and encourage- ment to work, train his muscles and his native intelligence. He has performed the duties that lay nearest him, and in so doing has accomplished his greatest public service and contributed most to the development of the community. Once when he was a young man he was offered the office of road supervisor. Appre- eiating the honor as coming from neighbors and friends he entered upon its duties, and even left his own work to attend that of the public. An important improvement needed to be made, and he set about it, exercising all the judgment he possessed. He experienced what every public servant experiences, criticisms Vol. II-23

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and objections. His own father-in-law joined in the objections to the way the improvement was made. But Mr. Speckhart went steadily ahead and carried out his own ideas. Not long afterward another influential neighbor said that Mr. Speckhart had done the work primarily to please his father-in-law, and after this unjustified criticism he became so disgusted that he resigned the office and never consented to serve in another public place. He has been an officer in the Bluff Hall Congregational Church sinee early manhood. For the past twelve years Mr. Speekhart has lived retired, spending much of his time with his brother Adam. They are mutually fond of angling for fish in the Mississippi River, and fishing is the best recreation of their advancing years.

John Speekhart married Hannah Schaeffer, who was born in Lippe, Ger- many, October 7, 1851, and two years later came to America with her parents, William and Florentine (Kruger) Schaeffer. She was educated in the German school at Quiney, and was married to Mr. Speckhart April 15, 1869. A brief record of their children is as follows: Elizabeth, born October 7. 1871, married John Echtencamp; John, born June 28, 1875, married Annie Westholdt : Emma, born January 25, 1878, died Mareh 8, 1882; William, born February 7, 1880, married Letta Albsmeyer : Maggie, born August 25, 1882, married John Hulcher ; Charles, born May 21, 1886; Daniel, twin brother of Charles, died when one day old : August, horn March 1, 1889, died May 8th of the same year ; and Ella, born June 3. 1894. The daughter Elizabeth is now deceased. Charles married Lillian Uebner and is at the old home. Ella is the wife of George Spencer, of Payson Township.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 57

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