USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 62
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Frederick Schmidt worked for Michael Loos, a well known old timer of Melrose Township, whose granddaughter, Elizabeth Loos, he subsequently mar- ried. Elizabeth Loos was a sister of William, Fred and Lonis Loos, eonstitut-
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ing one of the best known families in the county. Frederick Schmidt and wife after their marriage lived for a time in LaGrange, Missouri, and then returned to a farm in Melrose Township and still later moved to a farm in Burton Township. Mr. Schmidt died there at the age of sixty years, and his wife at the age of fifty-five. They had twelve children, nine of whom reached maturity. Briefly the record of these children is as follows: Fred, who lives in the State of Washington; Barbara, Mrs. John Keil; Margaret, Mrs. Fred Speckhart, of Melrose Township; Emma, who died at the age of forty-four, unmarried : Dora, wife of Sylvester Haire, of Burton Township; Edward, a farmer at Rensselaer, Missouri; Louis, a farmer in Payson Township; Walter, on the old home in Burton Township; and Anna, widow of John Mollenhour, of Pay- son Village.
ARTHUR M. CARTER. Every community has its men whose position and standing are unmistakable, reflected in many different ways. These marks are of ability as well as character, and as a rule they testify to long residence and honest relationship with the community. Arthur M. Carter has been a general merchant at Plainville nearly forty years, is the first and only president of the State Bank of that village, and these facts alone speak for themselves as to the kind of man he is, his energy and all around good citizenship.
Mr. Carter was born in Hampshire County, West Virginia, February 12. 1852. As a young man in 1875 he came to Adams County to join his brother J. J. Carter, who had located at Plainville in 1866 and was a blacksmith there. Arthur M. after coming to Adams County taught school four terms in a district near Plainville. He also worked on farms. In 1879 he and John De Laplain established a general store under the name De Laplain and Carter. In 1889 the partners divided their stock, and Mr. Carter moved his merchandise to his present location, where he erected a substantial building, which has been in use ever since. Thus for thirty-nine years he has been continuously a merchant of the village and has not only had a most satisfying trade, but has built up a reputation for integrity that is unassailable. In 1910 the State Bank of Plainville was established, with Mr. Carter as its first president. This bank has been very prosperous, has a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $2,500, and average deposits of $100,000. In 1913 a building was especially erected for the bank on the ground floor, while above is the Masonic Hall.
Mr. Carter's career is not entirely a record of business service and expe- rienee. For seventeen consecutive years, until 1912, he served as township clerk. He has been a delegate to many township conventions of the democratic party and has served on the Central Committee. Since 1893 his valuable asso- ciate and helper in his business has been his brother, Calvin Lycurgus Carter.
September 1, 1881, Mr. Carter married Miss Clara Howard, a native of Payson Township and daughter of Abraham and Rachel Howard. Mrs. Carter died September 16, 1914, after thirty-three years of married companionship. There are three daughters: Ollie and Edith, both at home; and Inez, Mrs. Arthur Thompson, of Fall Creek Township. Edith is a former teacher in this county and Ollie is a trained musician. Mr. Carter has long been identified with the First Baptist Church of Plainville, was one of its organizers, and has been one of its trustees ever since, and a deacon since 1896.
FRED SCHWENGELS. The most interesting part of a man's carcer is con- cerned with the difficulties and handicaps he has to overcome, how he manages to solve the problems of existence, and get ahead in the world. Before he was three score and ten Fred Schwengels was able to retire with a competency and enjoy life at Coatsburg, and yet thirty-five years ago when he came to America he and his wife were so poor they could not own the simplest kind of a home and had to depend upon their daily work for subsistence.
Mr. Schwengels was born in Oldenburg, Germany, April 14, 1848. He lived in the old country until 1881, when he was thirty-three years of age. He
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escaped the enforced military service of Germany because of the fact that he failed to pass the physical examination. At the age of seven years he was paying his own way by hard work. Until he was fourteen he received nothing at all for his labor and at sixteen was earning only 6 cents a day and at twenty- one 12 cents a day. Most of his time was spent on a farm, but later by employ- ment in a brick yard he earned 50 cents per day for eighteen hours of labor. While working on farms his wages were $5 a month. Making all due allow- ance for the time and for the differences in money values, his hard work barely netted him a meager living.
In 1871 Mr. Schwengels married Anna Joergans. In her he found a most capable helpmate. She was very strong, and after they came to Adams County she was able to perform with as much ease as the average man the work of clear- ing and cultivating as well as the duties of the household.
Mrs. Schwengels' brother, Frank Joergans, came to the United States about 1871, and her sister, Mrs. Mary Kramer, also lived in Adams County for about ten years. These relatives wrote from time to time of the improved conditions of the new world and the better opportunities, and this was the chief cause for Mr. and Mrs. Schwengels starting for the land of promise. They left Bremen on a sailing vessel and arrived in New York City accompanied by two children, the older about ten years of age. Coming on to Adams County Mr. Sehwengels found work at 75 eents a day, but after a year he contracted to buy eighty acres of land a half mile east of Coatsburg. The land was covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the price was $25 an acre. Of course his savings did not allow him to pay cash, and he went in debt for practically all of it. In the course of a few years about fifty acres had been cleared and put into cultivation. The timber he worked up chiefly for fuel and sold it at Coatsburg. Some of his neighbors came and helped him erect a log house, and the first year he was able to get five acres in condition for planting a small crop of wheat and corn. That was the seenc of constant labor on the part of himself and wife for twenty-five years, at the end of which time they had a good farm. They sold the place at $45 an aere, and had paid the original purchase price in eleven years from the time they located there. On selling that farm Mr. Schwengels bought his present place of 170 acres 21% miles east of Coatsburg in Camp Point Township. This farm comprised 100 acres of improved land, and with a small house. The purchase price was $50 an acre. At the present time 110 acres are in cultivation and the rest in timber and pasture. Again he and his wife went into debt, but in five years had paid off all their obliga- tions and had also erected a good, substantial barn and enlarged the old house. This, in brief, is the story of Mr. Schwengels' experience as a home making and home owning citizen of Adams County. Eight years ago he left the old farm, but still owns it, and it is under the capable management of his son. Since then he and his wife have lived in Coatsburg, and have one of the neat homes of that village. Mr. Schwengels took out naturalization papers many years ago and is one of thousands of our citizens of German origin who thoroughly appreciate the meaning of American opportunities and the possi- bility of raising oneself beyond the circumstances to which he was born. In politics he has always affiliated with the democratic party. He and his family are members of the Lutheran Church at Coatsburg. They have four children. Mary is the widow of Louis Givert and lives in Gilmer Township. Sophia is Mrs. George Scheufel, of Honey Creck Township. Anna married Andrew Steinbrecher and lives near Princeton in Millelacs County, Minnesota. Fred D., the only son, now lives on and has the active management of the home farm. He married Laura Hyatt, and they have a son, Paul, aged five years.
THOMAS B. SMITH. The chronicles of early settlement and pioneer activities of northwestern Adams County make frequent mention of the Smith family, who established themselves in Ursa Township almost ninety years ago. Long
Jou B. Smith
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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residence has been accompanied by many other influenees and activities that constitute a justifiable claim to the high esteem in which the members of this family are held.
The founder of the family here was James G. Smith, who married Sarah Cundiff. James G. Smith drove overland from Kentucky with an ox team and on October 5. 1829, arrived in Adams County and pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 24 in Ursa Township. He eleared up some of the heavily wooded land of that region, made a farm, was esteemed as a good eitizen, and lived there until his death in 1853. His wife passed away about 1840.
The second generation of the family was represented by William B. Smith, who was born in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, February 16, 1823. As a boy of six years he probably remembered many of the incidents of the family migra- tion to Adams County. In 1848 he married Miss Susan L. Lowry, who was born in Londonderry, Ireland, November 22, 1830. Her family came to Adams County in 1836. After his marriage William B. Smith bought 110 acres in section 18 of Ursa Township, and during the next thirty years he added to his possessions and became one of the largest land owners in Adams County. His estate at the time of his death included 968 acres. Part of his land included the site of the Village of Ursa, which he laid out in 1875. Suecess came to him by honorable methods and his name will long be spoken with the respect it deserves. He died March 26, 1882. He had a family of four children : Sarah E., born October 17, 1849, who was first married to William MeCormick and after his death became the wife of Otto Keim; Isabelle L., born June 5, 1851, who first married Dr. W. A. Byrd and later became the wife of George H. Walker: Thomas B .; and W. J. who was born July 26, 1870, and is the present county clerk of Adams County.
Thomas B. Smith, who has followed with great success the profession and calling of his father and grandfather as a farmer, was born at the old home in section 18 of Ursa Township June 13, 1853. In that locality he grew up, attend- ing the local schools, and was well trained for farming by his association with his father. In 1877, after his marriage, he bought the farm where he now lives in section 13 of Ursa Township. His first purchase was 160 aeres, and later he bought 120 acres adjoining on the south, and later eighty acres in sec- tion 26. With the assistance of his sons he has eultivated large tracts of land and has helped to keep up the average of production in Adams County in such erops as wheat, hay and livestock.
Mr. Smith has also taken an active part in local affairs, has served as super- visor of Ursa Township, as town clerk and assessor, and for twelve years was president and for a number of years secretary of the Mutual Insurance Company of Ursa Township. When the community needs something that requires leader- ship and cooperation it usually looks to Thomas B. Smith as one of the citizens best fitted to promote and insure the success of such an undertaking. Mr. Smith is affiliated with Ursa Camp No. 995 of the Modern Woodmen of America, with Quiney Lodge No. 44, Knights of Pythias, and with Marcelline Lodge No. 127, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife is a member of the Christian church.
Mr. Smith married Miss Josephine Frazier. She was born February 27, 1856, a daughter of Lemuel G. and Eva (Ahalt) Frazier. The Fraziers were even earlier settlers in Ursa Township than the Smiths, and reference to the career of Lemuel G. Frazier and other members of the family will be found on other pages of this work. Mrs. Smith's father died October 5, 1880, and her mother on December 7. 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had five children: Edna born January 24, 1878, is the wife of D. C. Hill; Jessie B., born September 17, 1882, married Arthur Bittleston : Thomas B. Jr., born July 22, 1888: Boyd F., horn August 27, 1890; and Nellie M., born June 14, 1892. Mr. Smith lived in his present home for forty years. Mrs. Smith died on the 9th of October, 1917.
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JOHN G. THOMPSON is cashier of the Payson branch of the State Street Bank of Quincy. He is also a farmer and land owner, a citizen active in affairs in Payson and Fall Creek townships, and member of one of the earliest settled families in that section of Adams County.
His grandfather was William Thompson, who came from Athens, Ohio, in 1833, down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi, and located in what is now Fall Creek Township. The land he first settled there was afterward occupied by his two daughters. He died on his old farm in 1880, at the age of ninety- one. One of his sons was Vincent Thompson, who became a well known phy- sician at Payson, and the other was Marcus L., father of the Payson banker.
Marcus L. Thompson was born at Athens, Ohio, January 6, 1816, and was seventeen years of age when his parents came west. At the age of twenty-six he married Louisa Gamble, daughter of William Gamble. The Gamble family came from the same section of Ohio and likewise were early settlers in Adams County. Marcus Thompson and wife were married in Greene County, Illi- nois, and after their marriage they rode eighty miles on horseback to Adams 'County, locating on land adjoining that of his father and later moving to still another tract. He owned a fine farm of 240 acres, and was a successful busi- ness man, though he was never rugged in health and also suffered from weak eyes and finally lost his eyesight altogether. He lived long and usefully and passed away in 1907, at the age of ninety-one. He had been retired for about twenty years before his death. He was a stanch republican, but never sought official honors, and was a member of the Payson Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died in 1905, aged eighty-two, terminating a marriage companionship of nearly sixty years. Their children were eight in number: Sarah Frances, widow of Henry Walker, of MeDonough County ; Lois, who has never married and still occupies the old homestead: William Elmer, a farmer on a farm adjoining the homestead; Mattie J., who lives with her sister Lois at the old home; Kate, who died at the age of thirty-five in Missouri, wife of Asa Berry; Charles A., a former teacher in Adams County, married in Iowa, and is now a fruit grower in the State of Washington; John G .; and Ella M., wife of William Waddill, of Payson.
John G. Thompson was born March 19, 1858, just a quarter of a century after his family had settled in Adams County. He grew up at the home farm, and in 1881 finished his education in Chaddock College of Quincy. He taught in district schools for fifteen years, living at home and during the intervals of school operating the farm. A number of his old pupils have since become prominent in the professions and the business affairs of life, including former County Judge Charles MeCrory, now of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For three years Mr. Thompson was secretary of the Payson Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and now for the past ten years has been cashier of the Payson branch of the State Street Bank of Quincy. From 1898 to 1902 he served as a member of the Board of Supervisors, and was the first republican elected to that office in Fall Creek Township for a long period of years. He has always been active in county politics, has attended county, state and other conventions, and has been a delegate to many of them. Mr. Thompson owns part of the old homestead of 150 aeres, and now entrusts its management to his son John B. He also bought the Shinn farm of 173 acres in Payson Township, and this was occupied by his oldest son, C. H. Thompson. His farms are conducted on the general plan, without any unusual specialization, though he has always raised a number of high grade hogs.
December 23, 1886, Mr. Thompson married Miss Olive B. Shinn, daughter of O. H. and Susanna (Seehorn) Shinn. Her parents are both deceased and were long residents of Payson Township. Mrs. Thompson was born in Payson Township and was nineteen years of age at the time of her marriage. Her father was a very enthusiastic citizen and prominent in all local matters. He was a republican in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have the following chil- dren : Charles H., who married Cynthia Nesbitt and has one child, Charles H.,
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Jr. ; John B., who married Edna N. Larrimore, of Payson: C. Josephine, who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Payson; Mareus L., still attending school. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Thompson has served as steward. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, is a charter member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Payson, and was formerly affiliated with the lodge at Marblehead. He has been a Mason for twenty years or more and has affiliations with the Seottish Rite Consistory at Quiney.
JAMES WILLIS LIERLE. Lierle is one of the oldest family names in Adams County. It has been borne by a number of the useful men and women here during the past seventy or eighty years, and among them is James Willis Lierle, for many years a praetieal thresherman, a business man and a farmer whose home is in Liberty Township, three miles east of Liberty Village. He was born in the northwest corner of that township, in section 6, December 27, 1853, and is a son of William and Diana (Gooding) Lierle. llis parents had both been married before. William Lierle by his first marriage had twelve children, and he and Diana Lierle were the parents of four. The first family comprised the following, including several who were formerly well known in Adams County. Zachariah, born May 21, 1815; Sarah, born October 28, 1816: William, born Angust 16, 1818, who was the father of Mrs. Nathan Fessenden; John, born July 1, 1820; Naney, born March 30, 1823; Elizabeth; Catherine, born March 31, 1827 ; Anderson, born June 8, 1829; Rhoda, born January 7, 1832; Martin, born September 3, 1833; Susanna, born August 7, 1835; and George, born Oeto- ber 20. 1837.
William and Diana Lierle's four children were: Manda, born May 2, 1845, married James Allen, and both are now deceased, he having died at the Sol- diers Home at Quincy : Huldah, born in 1848, died May 6, 1890; Richard, born January 6, 1852, a resident of Butler County, Kansas; and James W., the youngest of the family.
James W. Lierle lived on the old home farm until he was thirty years of age. In the meantime, at the age of twenty-three, on February 3, 1876, he married Melisia Jane Schwartz, who was born in Liberty Township May 13, 1856. Seven years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lierle moved from the old homestead and bought eighty aeres in another part of Liberty Township. They were there seven years and then sold and in 1890 bought their present farm, the John Gorman estate of 160 aeres. For this they paid $35 an aere. It had few buildings, and its improvements were by no means high class, and mueh of the land was not ready for cultivation. Mr. Lierle steadily progressed toward better things on that farm, eleared off the land, and in 1907 put up his present neat and comfortable residence.
In recent years Mr. Lierle has been greatly handicapped physically, though he has accomplished a wonderful amount of work. For thirty years, as already noted, he operated a threshing outfit. Some of his patrons had him come around to their grain fields year after year, without a thought of considering any of his competitors. He knew every branch of the business, and rendered adequate service at every point. ITis last experience in the threshing business was when he undertook to start a new self-feeder for another party. A belt slipped, and he lost his left arm, the injury being such that his arm had to be amputated close to the shoulder.
Mr. Lierle has made mueh suecess as a breeder of Poland China hogs. Morris Kelly was the first in that neighborhood to breed this stoek, and more farmers handle the Poland China than any other breed in this part of the county. Mr. Lierle now furnishes much of the breeding stock on the neighboring farms and has developed many splendid specimens of the Poland China. He has demand for all that he can supply, but has never exhibited any of his animals at shows. For twenty-one years he was a road commissioner in his distriet. He is a dem- ocrat, and that is the political faith of most of the Lierle family.
A brief record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lierle is as follows: Oliver
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is in Government serviee at Roek Island, Illinois; Maud is Mrs. William Ruhl, of Richfield Township; Stella is Mrs. Fred Manuel, of Payson Township; Clifford is a farmer in Liberty Township; Pearl married Walter Wilkey, a farmer in Liberty Township; Quendo is the wife of Earl Blagg, a fruit man in the Hood River District of Oregon; Emma is the wife of Herman Fingel, also a resi- dent of the Hood River Distriet; Roxie is Mrs. Edward Keller of Liberty Township : Chloe, a teacher now living with her father, is the wife of William Detterding, who during the war is with one of the American divisions in France ; and Alva, who operates the home farm for his father, married Susie Kline. Mrs. Lierle is a member of the German Baptist or Dunkard Church.
WILBUR F. COE. While one of the younger men in the farming activities of Adams County, Wilbur F. Coe laeks none of that enthusiasm, energy and en- terprise which are fundamentals in suecess and the advancement of community. He has one of the best cared for and cultivated farms in Melrose Township.
He was born in Montrose Township of Adams County September 20, 1887, the only child of Iro and Ella (Felt) Coe. Iro Coe was a native of Ohio, was born and grew up near the Town of Clyde, and the first ehange of location took him to Michigan. Ile was there when the Civil war was in progress and re- sponded to the call of patriotism and enlisted in the Sixth Michigan Heavy Artillery. He faithfully served his country until granted an honorable dis- charge. He was well edueated and for a number of years was engaged in the profession of teaching. He eame to Adams County, and married in this eounty Miss Ella Felt. He finally located in Melrose Township and bought fifty aeres near the Coe Spring. This land is still owned and occupied by his widow and their son Wilbur. Iro Coe was a republican voter, and his early experience as a teacher always made him an advocate of good schools. He was an honored member of the Grand Army Post at Quiney, and some of the happiest occasions of his later years were mingling with the old comrades of the war. Iro Coe died in April, 1907. One of the appropriate monuments in Woodland Cemetery marks his last resting place.
His wife was born in Adams County, was educated in the common schools and in the Young Ladies Seminary, and has long been identified with the Mel- rose Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society and is an enthusiastic worker in the Red Cross.
Wilbur Coe grew up on his father's farm, and in addition to the common schools attended the Quiney High School and spent two years in the agrieul- tural department of the University of Illinois at Champaign. This edueation supplemented the practical knowledge he had acquired as a boy on the farm. and he is one of the men well fitted by training and experience for the heavy responsibilities that now devolve upon the American farmers.
On June 30, 1915, Mr. Coe married Miss Leone F. Humphrey. They have a daughter. Wilma Ellen. Mrs. Coe was born in Adams County March 22, 1893, daughter of E. D. and Rena (Timmons) IIumphrey. She was educated in the common schools and spent one year in the Illinois State Normal University and one year in the Macomb Normal. Prior to her marriage she was a teacher in Melrose Township four years, and drew many commendations for her work. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coe are active members of the Melrose Chapel, of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and its various kindred organizations. Mr. Coe has been president of the Melrose Township Sunday School Association and was treas- urer of the Missionary Unit. Mrs. Coe is a teacher in Sunday School. The Melrose Sunday School is a prosperous one, with an enrollment of 125 and an average attendance of seventy-five. Mr. Coe in politics is a republican and gave his first presidential vote to Theodore Roosevelt.
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