Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 69

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 69

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died in March, 1897, when past eighty-five years of age, and his wife died the day after his burial, at the age of eighty-one. As a citizen of the United States he voted as a democrat and he and his wife were active members of the Lutheran Church on the Liberty Road near his farm. He helped that church in many ways and before it was built he attended worship at Quiney. He and his wife had eleven children, nine of whom reached maturity: Lena, who mar- ried Jacob Reichert and died in old age; Kate, who married Andrew Grimmer and also died when old; Tina married Rudolph Housner and left Adams County ; Lizzie married Henry Frey and is deceased; Selma married Louis G. Zander and is deceased; Charles died when an old man in Clay County, Mis- souri ; William never married and died in advanced years in Melrose Town- ship; Englehart is a farmer in Camp Point Township; August is next to the youngest ; and the youngest, Henry, died in young manhood.

The boyhood of Mr. August Horneeker was spent on his father's farm. He was twenty-three years of age when he married Lonisa Rabe, at that time twenty. They had grown up as neighbor children, her home being in Burton Township. Her parents, Christ and Maria (Rhode) Rabe, were married at St. Louis and were early settlers in Burton Township. The Rabe farm in that distriet has passed out of the family ownership. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hornecker spent one year on the old homestead, then rented for two years in Honey Creek Township, and started toward independence by buying eighty acres of the old Doctor Darragh farm in Honey Creek Township. The price fixed at the time of the purchase was $2,500, and Mr. Horneeker went in debt for the entire sum. There were difficulties and discouragements without num- ber. Hogs brought only $2.35 a 100, and one season his wheat crop failed entirely, and at other times this eereal brought only 40e a bushel. His live- stock possessions consisted of two cows and three horses. The land of his farm was nothing more than a pasture, without buildings. The first building was a small two-room house. It required some years to pay for the land and in the meantime Mr. Horneeker had built a better home. For the past twenty- five years he has been steadily on the up grade, and in 1900 he bought 202 aeres in one body at $35 an aere. This was also part of the old Doctor Dar- ragh estate. It had been in the hands of renters for a number of years, and these renters had done nothing more than mine the fertility of the soil and it could not be depended upon to produce a crop worth the time and labor expended. In faet the land had not been considered an attractive bargain for anyone. Mr. Hornecker took the one sure method of improving the land and restoring its fertility. As many cattle and hogs as he could seeure he turned loose on the farm, running about seventy hogs a year, and not only fed all the land would produce but bought eorn in large quantities and by erop rota- tion and the judicious use of fertilizing legumes he has more than put baek on the land what a generation of tenants had taken away, and now has a farm that would measure in point of fertility up to any in that seetion. He is a vaiser of Polled Angus cattle and Poland China hogs, but is not in the fancy stoek business. About ten years ago Mr. Horneeker retired from his farm and has since owned and occupied a neat home at 1627 State Street in Quincy.

His has been a life of continuous and industrious application, though he has not neglected the general welfare. For three years he served as road com- missioner and for eleven years was a school director. Politieally he is elassed as an independent republican. He is a member of the Lutheran Church. Al- ways fond of outdoor life, as opportunity has permitted he has enjoyed many fishing exeursions.

He and his wife reared a very capable family of children. The oldest is Mary, Mrs. Bernhardt Dittmer. Clara, the second daughter, is the wife of Simon Guenther, near the old homestead, and they have three children, Eleanor, George and Clarence. Josephine married Frank Schlipman, and he now op- erates part of the farm of her father. Amelia, who died at the age of twenty-

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six, was the wife of William Knopfmeier, and she left two children, twins, Louise and Amelia, who at the death of their mother were taken into the home of their grandparents.

Mr. Bernhardt Dittmer, who married Miss Mary Ilornecker, and whose home is in Mendon Township, four miles northwest of the Village of Men- don, was born on the old Dittmer farm 114 miles north of Coatsburg August 8, 1870. His parents were John and Anna (Ackerman) Dittmer. John Ditt- mer was born in Hanover, Germany, June 3, 1831, and came to America in the fall of 1853. He married Anna C. Ackerman, who was born in Saxe Olden- burg June 12, 1835. He and his wife eame to Ameriea on a sailing vessel, being two months on the voyage. They landed in New Orleans, and he gained his first opportunity to earn a living by railroad work. At St. Louis he worked in a brick yard at $1 a day, and on his arrival in Adams County was employed at farm labor for $10 a month. Ile rented a farm ten years, and in 1868 bought a place of about 140 acres in section 24 of Honey Creek Township. He lived there and prospered, but died when his son Bernhardt was only eleven years old. His widow survived him and married for her second husband Herman John Peters. She died June 20, 1917, at the age of eighty-one. Bernhardt Dittmer made his home with his mother and step-father until he was about eighteen years old. He worked out on farms and did independent farming as a renter for a time. On February 12, 1896, he married Mary Hornecker, who was then eighteen years of age. Following their marriage they rented for a year in Camp Point Township, and for nine years lived on one farm in Honey Creek Township. In 1906 they came to their present farm, buying 100 acres at $80 an aere. Since then they have added forty-five acres at $95 an acre. Mr. Dittmer has kept improving his land, adding to the house and to other buildings, and an important item in the farm revenue is a small dairy of ten cows, the cream only being sold.

Mr. Dittmer is a school director and has also served as tax colleetor of Honey Creek Township two years. He is a demoerat and a member of the Lutheran Church at Mendon. Mr. and Mrs. Dittmer have five children : Mabel, Benjamin, Henry, Clara and Mary.

AMOS DILLARD BATES, M. D. On the roll of Adams County's physicians and surgeons Doctor Bates has a prominent place because of the long period he has practieed and served his patients in Camp Point, and also for the ehar- acter and abilities he has exemplified both in his personal and civie life.

Doetor Bates represents one of the older families of this part of Illinois, a number of whom have been identified with Adams County. However, he was born in Hancock County, Illinois, September 3, 1855. His parents were Wil- liam I. and Mary A. (Robertson) Bates. William I. Bates was born in Ten- nessee in December, 1828, and was a small boy when he came to Adams County with his father Joseph H. Bates, a minister of the Presbyterian Church. Rev. Mr. Bates married Elizabeth Goodpasture. He was both a farmer and preacher, and he died at Lincoln, Illinois, while his wife died in Knox County, both in advanced years. William I. Bates received his education in the public schools of Adams County, married here, and after his marriage moved to Hancock County, where he was a farmer for about twenty years. Returning to Adams County, he spent his later years at Camp Point, where he died in April, 1913. His wife survived him only fourteen days. She was born in Adams County in 1832, a daughter of James Robertson, one of the pioneers of this county. William I. Bates for several years served as superintendent of the Adams County Home, but was never a seeker for office. He was a democrat, and in Hancock County joined the Masonic lodge and was always faithful to its teachings and practices. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. Their family of children consisted of Dr. Amos D .; Myra J., de- ceased ; Ida, Mrs. David Lee Myers, of Columbus, Illinois; Mary Effie, wife

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of James MeAnulty. of St. Joseph. Missouri: William E .. of Camp Point ; Hattie. who died in infancy: Joseph M .. a farmer in Camp Point Township; and Orville Lee, well known as a dentist at Camp Point.

Doctor Bates during part of his boyhood attended school in Hancock County. He was also a student in the Carthage High School and for two years in Carthage College. His home has been in Adams County almost continuously since 1576. For four years he was a teacher in this county. He prepared for his medical career in the Northwestern University Medical School. where he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1852. Since June. 1882. he has been in practice, and with the exception of four years his home has been in Camp Point. from which village his service has radiated all over the surround- ing country. He is a member in good standing of the County and State Med- ical societies. and has served on the Adams County Exemption Board. Doc- tor Bates is a Mason and Knight of Pythias. is a Methodist. and Mrs. Bates is a member of the Christian Church.

September 20. 1852. soon after taking his place in the ranks of physicians, Doctor Bates married Miss Florence Seaton. Mrs. Bates was born in this county Augas: 25. 1860. a daughter of Richard and Nancy E. (Curry) Seaton. The Seaton family has been a historic one in Camp Point Township. Richard Seaton. who is now retired, was born in that township December 19. 1935. and in his active career was a farmer, was long identified with the Camp Point Bank. and for four years served as sheriff of the county.

Doctor and Mrs. Bates have one son. Charles R .. who is also a physician, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. He had two years of thorough hospital experience and is now railroad surgeon located at Roodhouse. Illinois. Dr. Charles Bates married Marian Alexander. and they have two children. Richard Alexander and Virginia.

JOHN T. WILLARD. In the year before the Blackhawk Indian war there came into Houston Township some of the first white families to invade that wilderness. and among them were the Willards. For nearly ninety years that name has been prominent and has been and is today associated with some of the largest and most prosperous farmers and farm holdings. A leading rep- resentative of the present generation is John V. Willard, a grandson of one of the pioneer settlers.

This grandfather was John Willard. who was born in Tennessee January 20. 1516. He married Rebecca Ann McFarland, who was born in Ohio July 21. 1817. The Willard family were early pioneers both in Southern Illinois and in the State of Missouri. John Willard located in Morgan County. Illi- nois. and later with two brothers, Madison and Davis. arrived in Adams County in 1531. He and his brothers took up government land in Houston Township, John Willard having 120 acres that is still held in the family. On this land he erected a log house, and gradually accumulated comforts and possessions which were equivalent to prosperity. He died at the old home in section 9 April 8. 1559. His widow survived and died in Houston Township March 13, 1594. They were the parents of four children: William Madison: Rebecca Ann born December 1. 1840. and died June 22. 1911: James. born October 29. 1543. now deceased: Delia. born November 3. 1549, died February 10, 1688.

William Madison Willard. father of John V .. was born on the old home- stead in section 9. Houston Township. March 16. 1835. He still owns that farm, and is one of the oldest citizens of the county. having passed his eightieth birthday. He married Elizabeth Meats, who was born at Wellington. Eng- land. Angus: 10. 1640. daughter of Isaac and Mary Elizabeth Meats. The Meats family came to America and settled in Brown County. Illinois, in 1842. later moved to Hancock County. and Isaac Meats and wife later went out to Kansas. and they both died there. William M. Willard and wife were mar-

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ried February 24, 1559. and fifty years later they celebrated their golden med- ding anniversary, and the ties of marriage and of intimate companionship were unbroken for nine years longer. Mrs. Willard died January 1. 1917. less than two months before their fifty-ninth wedding anniversary. William M. Willard is still living on the old farm, where he owns 130 aeres. He grew up in Adams County when it was practically a wilderness. and had the advan- tages of only such schools as were then maintained. He has always been a democrat, and for a number of years served as road commissioner. His wife was very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had a large family of children. William and Emma, both deceased: John V .: Annie. deceased : Thomas E .; Katie; Jane: Idona; Ella : Nellie: and Charles N.

John V. Willard was born on the home farm in section 9 February 10. 1563. He grew up in that community and attended the Glenwood School House in Houston Township. For over forty years he has been an independent and progressive farmer. His place comprises 200 acres and it has been under his ownership for thirty years and has improvements that measure up to the best standards of farms in Adams County. Mr. Willard has done much as a raiser of pure bred stock. He has some splendid Shorthorn cattle of pure breed. also Poland China hogs. and has made most of his money as a stoek raiser. He is a democrat. and in public affairs has concentrated his interest chiefy upon good roads. He is not only an advocate of good roads box in his long teunre of the office of road commissioner. now in the fifteenth rear. he has done much to give his ideas effective force. He has many other interests and relations with the community. For twelve years he has been a director of the Houston Telephone Company. is a director of the Farmers Elevator Com- Tany at Chatten and La Prairie, and for eight years has been solicitor and for two years a director of the Camp Point Mutual Insurance Company. He has also served as a member of the school board seven years. My. Willard is af- Bliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows &: Bowen, and attends the Christian Church and was active in rebuilding the church edifee. These facts reflect his publie spirit and his willingness to identify himself with every movement for the general welfare.

January 25. 1889. Mr. Willard married Miss Laura Barger. of Bower. Illi- nois, daughter of John and Martha Barger. Her parents were early settlers in Adams County. Her father died in Missouri in April 1915. a: advanced age, and was laid to rest at Clayton. Her mother died at Clarion in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Willard are the parents of seven children, and they have one star in their service flag. The oldest. Pearl. married. and died in Utah in 1914. at the age of twenty-six: Merle is the wife of Owen Sammons and the mother of one child. Marjorie Laverne: Carl Russell died in infaner: Clyde. the fourth child. is the war representative of the family. and is now in service in the navy and in France: Roscoe is a graduate of the Camp Point Maplewood High School. graduating at the age of sixteen. and now a student in the Gem City Business College at Quiney: Dale. the sixth child, died in infancy: and the youngest. Neva. is still at home.

LAWRENCE L. CALLAHAN. Few men have applied themselves more success- fully to the business of farming and stock raising than Lawrence L. Callahan. of Columbus Township. Mr. Callahan lives on his father's farm. 160 aeres located in one section and twenty aeres in another. His farm is improved. good soil. well cultivated. firs: class buildings, and all managed with a view : utmos: eCeiency.

The buildings on the land were erected by Mr. Callahan's grandfather. John Callahan, who secured the land forty or fifty years ago. It was the home of John Callahan for many years, and he died while moving from the farm to Camp Point in 1894. He was then about seventy years of age. He was born in Penn- sylvania of Irish ancestry. and was a child when his parents moved to the vicinity of Kingston. Illinois. They came overland from Pennsylvania with ox teams

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and they broke out the wild prairie land with oxen, ten or twelve being yoked to the plow. John Callahan is said to have done his courting with an ox team. He married Jane Henry, of Kingston, Illinois. She was born in Ireland and her people came when she was young to Illinois and located in the vicinity of Kingston. John Callahan and wife after their marriage became farmers near Kingston, and most of their children were born there. Mrs. John Callahan died at Camp Point when about fourscore years of age. All the Callahans had been Protestants, and in politics they have never deviated from their allegiance to the democratie party.

J. Alexander Callahan, father of Lawrenee L., was born at Kingston, Illinois, in 1850 and was a small child when his parents moved to Columbus Township. He grew up on the old farm, attended the local schools, and subsequently ae- quired part of the homestead and farmed it until about twenty-seven years ago, when he retired to Camp Point, where he is now living. He married in Gilmer Township Jane A. Yeargain. She was born in that township in 1854, daughter of John P. and Elizabeth (Lawless) Yeargain, natives of Adams County, who spent all their lives in Gilmer Township, and were representatives of some of the oldest and best known people of the county. J. Alexander Callahan and wife have three children: Lawrence L. ; Albert Arthur, who was formerly con- nected with an ice plant and is now a railroad employe at Osawatomie, Kansas, and by his marriage to Lulu Childs has three children, Grace, Ethel and Floyd, all in school ; Myrtle, who is unmarried and is living with her parents.

Lawrenee L. Callahan was born in Columbus Township July 31, 1871. As he grew up toward manhood he attended the public schools and for six months a business college. Since manhood he has steadily devoted his best energy to farming and stoek raising, and in that sphere is recognized as one of the leaders in his township. He has also been active in local affairs, especially in helping forward war activities, serving on the Liberty Loan Committee and in other ways. He and his family are all members of Mount Pleasant Methodist Epis- copal Church, which he is serving as a steward and is also a teacher in the Sunday school.

Mr. Callahan married Anna L. Brenner in Mendon Township, where she was born May 10, 1867. Besides the country schools she attended the Quiney High School and for two years was a student in Chaddoek College, after which she taught until her marriage. She is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth ( Hecker- mann) Brenner. Her mother was born near Essen on the River Rhine and her father in Northern Germany. Her father was born in October, 1834, and came to America at the age of eighteen by way of New Orleans and thenee to Quincy. Her mother was born in September, 1832, and was sixteen years of age when she came to this country, also by way of New Orleans, thenee to St. Louis, two years later to Beardstown, Illinois, and from there to Qniney. After their mar- riage they lived at Fowler and kept a boarding house for three years while the railroad was being built through that village. Later they bought a farm in Mendon Township, subsequently a second place known as the John Stahl Farm near the Elm Grove Church. They finally lived retired at Fowler, where Mrs. Callahan's father died October 5, 1908, at the age of seventy-four. Mrs. Brenner has since made her home with Mrs. Callahan, and is now eighty-six years of age, but still hearty and active. The Brenners were German Lutherans, but soon after moving to Illinois became members of the Methodist Church. One of their children died at the age of nine years, and nine are still living, all well known in Adams County except two prosperous farmers in Missouri.

Mr. and Mrs. Callahan have two children : Earl Brenner, born January 20, 1900, a member of the Maplewood High School Class of 1919; and Raymond Harold, horn February 17, 1904, now in the eighth grade of the publie schools.

PHILIP J. DEEGE. Representing a family that has been in Adams County for over sixty years, Philip J. Deege has concentrated his chief interests in the county in Columbus Township, where he owns a fine farm of ninety-six

LIBRARY ' !: THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

WILLIAM B. QUIGG

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acres in section 31. This farm is replete with evidence of his thrifty manage- ment and toil, the land being well drained and improved with the best of buildings. Mr. Deege has lived here since 1897.

He eame here from Liberty Township, and was born in Quincey October 29, 1863. He lived and grew up on his father's farm in Burton Township, and also had a home in Gilmer Township for a time. In the past twenty years he has effected many changes on his home-farm. His barn is 32 by 42 feet and he has a substantial six-room house. The farm is well known as Elm Dale Farm.

Mr. Deege is a son of John Philip and Catherine (Petre) Deege. His father is a well known resident of Burton Township, and all the particulars concern- ing his career from the time he came from Germany as a boy, his marriage, his children, his experiences as a farmer and blacksmith, are reeounted on other pages of this publieation.

Philip J. Deege married in Adams County Elnora Cook. She was born May 7, 1870, and was educated in the public schools of Columbus Township, also at Carthage College and in the Gem City Business College. For a time she taught school. Her parents, William and Maria (Fry) Cook, eame from Penn- sylvania and were early settlers in Columbus Township. They had a farm there and her father died in 1890, at the age of fifty-six. Her mother is now living with her children, eighty-two years of age and still active. Mr. and Mrs. Deege have two children. Wesley J., registered for the army but was not ealled into service. He was born October 13, 1899, graduated from the eighth grade of the public schools in 1917 and is now a student in the Gem City Business College. Helen, born in 1905, is in the eighth grade of the West Union High School in Columbus Township. The family are members of the Lutheran Church in Liberty Township and Mr. Deege votes as a democrat.

WILLIAM BARCLEY QUIGG. Though he is numbered among the bankers of Adams County as president of the Farmers State Bank of Mendon, William Bareley Quigg is essentially a farmer, and the land, its cultivation, its improve- ment and the interests of rural life have really constituted the basis of his effective career.

Mr. Quigg was born at Mendon August 24, 1848, and is related to some of the pioneer names of the county. His parents were Conrad and Margaret (Shupe) Quigg. Conrad Quigg was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1818, and arrived in Adams County, Illinois, in November, 1843. Two years later, in March 1845 he married Miss Margaret Shupe. She was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and came to Adams County in 1842 with her parents and brother, Christopher Shupe, long a prominent resident and farmer and land owner of Adams County.

Conrad Quigg was a carpenter by trade and followed that occupation in Adams County for several years. Though he was married and had a family, he succumbed to the mighty influence which drew so many young men from the Middle West to the gold fields of California after the discoveries there of 1848. He had four companions on that trip, well known Adams County men, Shuey, Sproat, Webb and Clark. They bought three yoke of oxen and hitched them all to one wagon, and accomplished the long trip over- land during the summer of 1849. Indians were numerous along the route, but were still friendly, not having been driven to the hostilities which later made them so dangerous to overland traffic. Conrad Quigg was absent in California about two years. During that time he and his partners prospected, worked in the mines, and also developed a dam in order to secure a head of water for operation. A freshet carried away this eonstruetion before they had realized much benefit from it. About that time, on account of failing health and the result of discouragement due to the destruction of the dam, Conrad Quigg returned to the states, making the voyage around the isthmus in the spring of 1851. Here he resumed his trade as carpenter and in 1857

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bought a farm 11% miles from Mendon. He became a large property owner, having in addition to his farm of 240 acres in section 35 several houses and lots in Mendon, and at one time also conducted a meat market in the village. He lived to a good old age, being eighty-four when he passed away in 1902. After his marriage he and his wife became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years he was on the official board. His widow survived him several years and was abont the same age when she died.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 69

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