Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 74

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 74

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William Haistings was eleven years old when brought to Adams County, and he lived with his parents until he was twenty. At the age of thirteen he gained his first practical experience in assisting his father in the operation of a threshing ontfit. It is as a thresherman that Mr. Haistings' career is of special interest to recall as a matter of local history. During his boyhood the thresh- ing of grain had advanced very little beyond the ancient customs of flail and threshing floor with wind as the chief method of separating the grain from the chaff. This improvement consisted at the time of Mr. Haistings' earliest recollection of what was known as a "chaff piler," operated by a very crude horse power. The chaff piler bore little resemblance to the modern separator, though it had its essential principle, a revolving cylinder, which beat out the grain. However, there was no supplementary process, and the grain, straw and chaff were all landed in one pile, where a couple of men stood with forks lifting and shaking until all the heavy grain had fallen to the ground, from which it was collected and put through a hand power fanning mill to winnow out the remaining chaff.

From that time Mr. Haistings operated practically every type of threshing machine. He had several of the old horse power outfits with their turntable and tumbling rods to transmit the power. He was operator and owner of every successive new type and improvement of separator, each one representing some advance on the original drum or revolving cylinder for beating out the grain. He also helped operate the first steam driven threshing outfit in the county.

Before he was of age he was a partner with his brother-in-law, Joel Maston, in the ownership of a threshing outfit and from that time for forty-nine years made threshing his annual business. He also had a clover huller, and thus his season of activity extended from late summer until far into the winter. Were the grain which he threshed during half a century all collected together at the present time it is safe to assume that it would be sufficient to feed the allies for much longer than the present war is liable to endure. Mr. Haistings has always been a progressive, and however satisfactory a certain type of machinery might be he was cagerly looking out for improvement. Thus his outfit contained a succession of standard makes of the time, including the MeCIre, the Rice and Swartz, the Case, the Springfield, the Massillon and the Bellevue, and whenever a newer and better machine was put on the market he was ready and willing to exchange his older one and replace it with the new. The territory which he served as a thresherman extended from Quincy to beyond Columbus, and some of his older patrons had his services consecutively for twenty-five years or more.

Mr. Haistings owned several farms, including one of 400 acres in Honey Creek Township, which is one of the best in the county. Seventeen years ago he bought the old Gilliland farm from his wife's father's estate. For the last nine years of his life he lived in Mendon, and though nominally retired his activity hardly slackened and he went about to the full bent of his energy, find-

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ing always something useful to employ his time. He invested in several prop- erties, including lots in the new addition to Mendon, where he erected several residences. Few men in Mendon were keener for a bargain than this vigorous octogenarian. He was a director in the Farmers State Bank at Mendon and was a factor in its growth from organization. Politically a democrat, he was instrumental in road improvement and served many years on the school board. While the story of his career is thus briefly told, it seems to suggest few set- backs or obstacles, the fact is, however, that again and again he was confronted with impediments and opposition, but they only served to strengthen his deter- mination and his energy to succeed in spite of them. Frequently he turned an apparent defeat to a real victory in the matter of business transactions.

At the age of twenty-three Mr. Haistings married Eliza Jane Gilliland, daughter of Squire William Gilliland of this county. To their marriage were born a large family of children : Jolin C., on the home farm; Letetia Adeline, who died at Lorraine, wife of Warren Asher; Cassandra, living at Quincy, widow of William Berry; Anna, who married Al Claim and is deceased ; Lillie, who died in young womanhood; Emma, who married William Hendricks and lives in Chicago; Edna, deceased wife of James Shay; William Perry, who lives in the Village of Lorraine; Robert N., who is a thresherman living at Mendon ; Cora, wife of Frank Sloniger, of Honey Creek Township; Mary Lohr, of Poloma ; Fred, of Mendon; and Gilbert, also of Mendon.

LEO FRANK LECHTENBERG. For many years one of the principal claims of Quincy to greatness among the cities of Illinois has rested upon the investments of capital and the employment of energies in those lines of manufacturing where iron and steel are the primary commodities and materials. With this phase of Quincy's industrial growth and progress Mr. Lechtenberg has many honorable and active associations.

One of the larger business establishments of today acknowledges as pro- prietor Leo Frank Lechtenberg, a young man of thorough training in this branch of industry, who was born at Quincy August 1, 1888. He is a son of Henry and Anna Lechtenberg, his father a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and his mother of Quincy. His father was an expert mechanic and machinist, and on coming to Quincy engaged in machine shop work and in 1883 organized the Central Iron Works. In 1889 this business was incorporated as the Central Machine & Foundry Company, of which he was president and manager until his death in May, 1912. His widow is still living at Quincy and is the mother of nine children: Bernard, deceased; Clara, at home; Minnie, wife of F. M. Brow, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Anthony, deceased; Leo F .; William, of Quincy; Adelaide, wife of Walter Sturhan, of Quincy; Lawrence A., of Quincy; and Henry, deceased.

Lco Lechtenberg secured his literary education in the parochial schools of Quincy, attending until the age of fourteen, when he entered his father's shop. There he learned the machinist business in every detail, and worked at it as a trade for about ten years. He was then appointed foreman in the Central Machine & Foundry Works, and at his father's death became superintendent. Later he retired from this plant and with his two brothers established a sepa- rate industry for the manufacture of specialties in iron and wood. It is a flourishing business and with thoroughly experienced and competent men at the head, has a large future.

Mr. Lechtenberg is independent when it comes to voting, is a member of the Knights of Columbus and of St. Francis Catholic Church. June 21, 1911, he married Miss Leona S. Roop. They have two children, Louise, born March 30, 1912; and Leo F., Jr., born December 19, 1913.

CHRISTIAN G. DICKHUT represents one of the old and prominent families of Adams County, and has for half a century been active in the life and affairs of his home City of Quincy.

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Mr. Dickhut was born near the center of Quincy on February 1, 1847. He is a son of Christian G. Dickhut, Sr. The Dickhut family has been in this coun- try for more than eight decades. Christian G. Dickhut grew up at Quincy, was educated in the common school, and has lived here practically all his life. He was a very small boy, only fourteen, when the war broke out, but he showed the spirit of his patriotism by attempting to get into the army and finally succeeded in February, 1865, at the age of eighteen. He served in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Infantry under Colonel Fonda and Captain Rora- baugh. He received his honorable discharge in October, 1865, and his desire for active fighting was never gratified. He is a member of Wood Post No. 96, Grand Army of the Republic, and is now junior vice commander.

Up to the age of twenty-four Mr. Dickhut lived at home and gave all his earnings to his parents. At that age he went to work as a teamster, and along that line has continued steadily to the present time. In 1876 he began hauling coal for different companies in the city, and in 1905 became agent and collector for the Wabash Coal Company. In 1915 he transferred his services in the same capacity to the Quincy Coal Company. He is well known himself and is prob- ably acquainted with more people in Quincy than any other citizen. He has always been a steady worker and a man of great energy, and in a long period of years can remember only taking five days away from business. He has the physique that justified such a record. He is a large man, six feet tall, very active and could give a handicap to many men nearly half his age. Politically Mr. Dickhut is a republican, and began voting that ticket for General Grant half a century ago.

At Quincy February 6, 1873, he married Elizabeth B. Thole, who was born in Quincy September 8, 1853. She died at her home in this city March 3, 1913. Her parents were natives of Germany, but for many years lived in Quincy. Mrs. Dickhut was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of her children nine reached maturity, three sons and six daughters. One son, a railroad man, was killed in a railroad wreck near Canyon City, Colorado, March 16, 1906, at the age of twenty-six. His death was a grievous blow to the mother and the shock was such that she was never able to do a day's work after the sad news reached her. One daughter, Della, born August 9, 1874, died August 3, 1912. The living children are : Minnie, wife of George Dasbach; Alfred, a machinist at Quincy, who is married and has a son and daughter; Emma F., a stenographer employed in the Swift Packing Company at Chicago; Irene, a stenographer for the State Street Bank of Quincy; Myrtle, who is housekeeper for her father; Ralph, a member of the Quincy fire depart- ment; and Ruth, a stenographer with the Quincy Carriage Company.

JOHN BATSCHY. An architect, if genius has endowed him, is a man of dreams, but to be successful he must be a practical dreamer, able to convert his beautiful visions into utilitarian as well as magnificent structures. Such an architect has Quincy in John Batschy, who has had so much to do with the beautification of this city, of which he has been a valued resident for thirty- two years.

John Batschy was born in Filisur, Switzerland, March 8, 1855. His par- ents were John and Rosina (Schmidt) Batschy, who spent their entire lives in Switzerland. They had three children: John. the only one to come to Amer- ica, and Martin and Anna Verena, both of whom live in Switzerland, the latter being the wife of Michael Mettier.

The parents of Mr. Batschy were people of means and standing and afforded their children excellent school advantages, and naturally felt some pride when their eldest son was so creditably graduated in architecture from the noted schools of design at Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland. In 1884 the young man came to the United States, seeking, as have hundreds of other young men, a wider field of opportunity than his own land offered at that time. For a short time he lived in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, from there going up the Missis-

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sippi River to Dubuque, Iowa, and from there in the spring of 1886 he came to Quincy. For one of his profession the time was favorable, for this city was entering an era of development that demanded progressive ideas and talented men to carry them out.

Working at first in the offices of local architects, Mr. Batschy soon proved his ability and at the same time saw his opportunity, taking advantage of it in 1887 by opening his own office, which he has continued here ever since. He has been the architect of almost all of the most notable buildings of Quincy, among which may be mentioned such noble and beautiful structures as the fine residences that attract attention because of their beautiful design, also the Washington, Berrian and Irving public school buildings, the Woodland Orphans' Home, the Soldiers and Sailors Home Buildings, the Musselman business block, the largest in the city, the George Ertel block, the Schott office building, the Gardner Governor Company's immense buildings, the Quincy Show Case works, the Flynn bottling works, the noted Masonic Temple, and other structures for business, residential or benevolent purposes. In neighboring cities also Mr. Batschy can point to many fine public and private buildings of his designing both in Illinois and in other states. He is now engaged as supervising archi- tect of the Adams County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which is to be built at Quincy, Illinois, With this gift of beautiful design Mr. Batschy has wrought wonders in wood, stone and steel, and Quincy may well congratulate herself in the citizenship of one so perfect in his art and so devoted in every way to the best interests of the city he has so helped to adorn.

Mr. Batschy was married August 4, 1891, to Miss Louise Schoeneman, who was born in Quincy, and died in the same city, May 29, 1898. One son was born January 1, 1893, John Martin, who, at the time this record is being pre- pared is in service as first lieutenant in Europe, after graduating in 1917 from the military school at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, for service in the National army in the World war. He is a university man who spent two years in the study of architecture at Boston, Massachusetts, and five years at Washington, Mis- souri, graduating from both with the highest honors. The stern duty to which he has set his face not only demonstrates personal character and courage, but the spirit of freedom that belongs alike to Switzerland and America.

As a lover of order, an observer of the law, and a believer in those elements that make life in any section more satisfactory and worth while, good housing that includes sanitation and utility, and a recognition of men's duties to one another, Mr. Batschy has often been led to express his opinions publicly hut never in a political capacity, for his activity in this direction has always been limited to casting his vote with the republican forces. Fraternally he is identi- fied with the Masons, and he is a member of the Congregational Church.

GEORGE T. PEARCE. Adams County has a number of men who do farming on a large scale, commensurate with modern ideals and ideas of business man- agement. One such man now in the high tide of his carcer and usefulness is George T. Pearce of Houston Township. Mr. Pearce has more than a section of land under his control and management and raises enough grain and live- stock to furnish food stuffs for at least a small army.

Mr. Pearce belongs to the old and substantial stock of Adams County. He has always kept close to the soil and to the locality where he was born and rcared. He was born on the farm he now owns in Houston Township Janu- ary 27, 1872. He is a son of John C. and Sarah (Powell) Pearce. His grand- parents were David and Elizabeth (Stabler) Pearce. David Pearce was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, March 18, 1807, and died at his home in Gilmer Township of this county December 16, 1878. He was a well educated man and in early life was a teacher. One of his pupils was Elizabeth Stabler, who was born in Pennsylvania September 16, 1808. They were married Feb- ruary 27, 1829, and in 1835 moved to Butler County, Ohio, and from there came to Adams County in 1848. Arriving here in the spring of that year they

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located in section 30 of Gilmer Township, acquiring 160 acres of raw land, and they made that their home the rest of their days. David Pearce in the course of time acquired a handsome property and a comfortable home. He served as justice of the peace, was a member of the Masonic order, and he and his wife were both devout Methodists. They had five children: Ruth, Mary A., Elizabeth S., Thomas D. and John C., all now deceased.

John C. Pearce was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1841 and was seven years of age when brought to Adams County. He grew up on the farm here, attended the public schools, and in April, 1868, married Miss Sarah Powell. She was born in Missouri in 1843. Soon after their marriage they moved to Houston Township, where John C. and his brother Thomas D. bought 320 acres of land. They held it in partnership for a number of years, and later secured another 320 acres adjoining. They then divided the property and Jolın C. Pearce kept his share and at the time of his death owned 400 acres in one body and 180 acres in another part of the township. He put up good build- ings, and was properly regarded as one of the most enterprising farmers of his day. In September, 1898, he retired from the farm and moved to Camp Point, a year and a half later went to Bowen, and died at West Point, Illi- nois, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth McMillan, on June 30, 1915. Mrs. John C. Pearce died in 1901. He was a democrat, as was his father, and served as assessor for twelve years and also as road commissioner. He and his wife were Methodists. They had the following children: Mary Eliza- beth, wife of Milo MeMillan, of West Point; George T .; and David Otho, who died in infancy.

George T. Pearce, only surviving son of his father, has always lived on the farm where he was born. Besides the public schools he had the advantages of the Gem City Business College at Quincy. He is, in fact, a business man as well as a farmer, and that combination of qualities is the more necessary in successful farming today than ever before. Mr. Pearce has 640 acres in his home place, besides 100 acres of timber and pasture land, and has a half interest in a 100-acre farm near Mount Sterling. Nearly all the products of his land he markets through the route of live stock, and is one of the chief cattle feeders in the northern part of the county. Mr. Pearce has not neglected the call of public duty, has been assessor of the township four years and township clerk, and is now a member of his local school board. He is a democrat, like the rest of the family, and is a member of the Methodist Church.

February 14, 1895, he married Miss Amy Boyd. Mrs. Pearee was born in Pennsylvania August 16, 1871, but has been a resident of Adams County since she was seven years of age. Her parents were Robert and Margaret (Ross) Boyd, the father born in Ireland and the mother in Scotland. In 1878 they came to Adams County, lived for a time on the George Smith farm in Camp Point Township, later settled in Honey Creek Township, and finally in Houston Township, where they spent their last days. The father died in 1908. In the Boyd family were the following children: Edward, Robert R., Sarah A., Jen- nie, Maude, who died in infancy, Amy and Lilly, twins, and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Pearce have two children: Wilbur C., the son, was born in 1895, was educated in the public school and the Bowen High School, and is also a graduate of Knox College at Galesburg. He was a splendid student and very popular in all college activities, and was valedictorian of his graduating class. After leaving college he came home, and on June 5, 1918, was enrolled in the United States Navy for service in the great war. The daughter, Sarah Ruth, born July 27, 1900, is a graduate of the Bowen High School, and is now in the first year of Knox College.

HON. WILLIAM H. HOFFMAN. A Quincy citizen who has enjoyed many distinctions at the hands of his fellowmen is Hon. William H. Hoffman, a vet- eran printer and newspaper man, proprietor of a commercial printing estab- lishment in Quiney for a quarter of a century, and especially well known over

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the state at large through his valuable services as a member of the State Legis- lature, representing the Thirty-Sixth District.

Mr. Hoffman is of Scotch-German ancestry, though both his parents and grandparents were born in the United States. He is a son of James M. and Phoebe (Dodge) Hoffman, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Dodge, was a native of New York State, married there, moved to Iowa, and spent the rest of his life on a farm in Appanoose County, where he and his wife died when past eighty-five years of age. They were members of the Baptist Church.

James M. Hoffman and wife were married at Nebraska City when Nebraska was still a territory. It was in that pioneer locality and in pioneer days that William H. Hoffman was born. In 1867 the family moved to Quincy, and his father was for twenty years baggage agent on the Wabash Railroad, and later was transfer mail agent. He finally retired and died at Quincy in 1910, at the age of seventy-six. He was a lifelong democrat and very active in politics. His widow is still living in Quincy, at the age of eighty-four, sound and well in both mind and body. Mr. Hoffman was one of two children. His brother, Charles Leroy, lost his life in a railroad accident on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad about the time he reached his majority.

Mr. Hoffman was educated in Quincy, attending local schools and early beginning an apprenticeship to learn the printer's trade in the old Quincy Ledger office. The Ledger, long since extinct as a Quincy newspaper, was at that time conducted by David Williams and William Avis. Later Mr. Hoff- man was employed on the Quincy Whig and acquired a detailed knowledge of every phase of the newspaper business from printer to editor. For many years he has been a member in good standing in the Typographical Union and Printers' and Pressman's Union. He has been a general commercial printer for twenty- five years, and his establishment at 331 Hampshire Street is one of the best equipped and largest institutions of its kind in Adams County.

Mr. Hoffman has always been a loyal democrat. In 1910 he was nominated by his party for the House of Representatives to represent Adams, Pike, Cal- houn and Scott counties. During the session of 1911 Mr. Hoffman prepared the bill known as House Bill No. 203, providing for an efficient system of county highways. This bill did not pass, but its main features and substance are the basis of the bill passed during the session of the Legislature in 1913. During the Forty-Eighth General Assembly Mr. Hoffman was chairman of the com- mittee to visit penal and reformatory institutions, and a member of the appro- priation, congressional apportionment, contingent expenses, farm drainage, good roads, parks and boulevards, state and municipal indebtedness, state institu- tions, Soldiers and Sailors Home and Soldiers Orphans Home committees. Mr. Hoffman was elected to the Legislature in 1910, 1912 and 1914. He was nomi- nated for speaker of the 1912 session and received more votes of his party than had ever been given a democrat in one session in, the state before that time, but was beaten by a combination of republicans, progressives and a few demo- crats.

Thirty years ago Mr. Hoffman was married at Quincy to M. Anna Hoffman, but no relation, who was born in this city and is ten years younger than her husband. She was educated in Quincy. They have two children, C. Leroy and Edna. The son was born in Quincy, is a graduate of the high school and is now superintendent of his father's printing plant. He married Margaret Brose, of Quincy. The daughter, Edna, is a graduate of the Quincy High School and is the wife of Clarence Walker, and they now live in Covington, Kentucky.

CHARLES E. STEINER. In the beautiful and productive region of Columbus Township there are some of the model farms of Adams County. Conspicuous among them is that operated by Charles E. Steiner. This is the old Steiner homestead, located in sections 13 and 14. The land under his management com- prises 350 acres, and at least 200 acres have been put under cultivation to the

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crops that succeed best in this soil and climate. A considerable part of his land is seeded to clover and timothy. In a modern farm one of the things that count most is the building equipment. The Steiner farm has everything that could be required in that line, including a fine nine room house, a barn 40x50 feet, with other sheds and outbuildings.

Charles E. Steiner, the present proprietor of the farm, was born there June 9, 1884. As a boy he attended the Oakwood District School, and has spent practically all his life on the land that he now cultivates. He was associated with his father, the late Louis Steiner, in farming the land, and for four years was in partnership with his brother George. Only recently he took over the farm on his own responsibility.

Louis Steiner, his father, was born in New Orleans in 1840. His parents came from Switzerland, and his father died when Louis was a small child. The mother married a second time, wedding a Mr. Hartune, and they came north and settled in Adams County, where both of them died. Louis Steiner was a young boy when he came up the river with his mother and stepfather, and his early training well fitted him for farming. He also followed the business of threshing nearly all his active years. In Columbus Township he married Mary Zeiger. She was born in Germany and was a small child when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Zeiger, came to the United States and settled in Adams County. Her mother died in Columbus Township and was buried on the old farm where Mrs. Steiner was born. William Zeiger died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Steiner when past eighty years of age.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 74

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