Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 77

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 77

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December 27, 1881, Rev. Mr. Omer married Miss Jessie B. Dewey. Mrs. Omer was born at Mendon in this county March 24, 1864, a daughter of L. D. Dewey, one of the prominent citizens of Camp Point Township. Her father was born in Chautauqua County, New York, August 13, 1827, son of Russell and Elizabeth (Meeks) Dewey. Russell Dewey was a miller by trade and also a I local preacher of the Methodist Church. It was his intimate friendship with the great Lorenzo Dow which accounts for the name given his son. Lorenzo Dow Dewey came to Adams County in 1848, and for fifteen years had charge of the Fletcher Mill on Bear Creek in Honey Creek Township. He also spent two years in Quiney as a grain dealer and was a farmer in .Mendon. He mar- ried February 28, 1847, Amanda Fletcher, who was born in Ohio April 14, 1827. When Mrs. Omer was eight years of age her parents eame to Camp Point, where her father took charge of the Casco Mills.

Rev. and Mrs. Omer had three children, only one of whom is now living. The oldest, Roy D., died in infancy and Zula G. died in 1894, at the age of nineteen. She was just at the entrance upon a promising womanhood, having graduated from the Maplewood High School, and during her school work having won three medals for eloention.

The living son, Floy D., is a graduate of the Maplewood High School, the Gem City Business College, and is a successful young business man at Camp Point, where he has a vulcanizing and motor repair establishment and handles batteries and other motor accessories. He married Grace Sigler, of Memphis, Tennessee, and Reverend Omer and wife are very proud of their two grand- children, Robert Charles and Mary Belle.

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J. ALBERT MARSHALL has spent practically all his life in Columbus Town- ship. On reaching manhood he had abont the same opportunities that most young men have, but has vigorously prosecuted all his advantages and managed his affairs so well that he is now one of the large and successful farmers of that locality, with 200 aeres in section 29. Of this extensive farm he has 140 acres improved and cultivated, the rest being in timber and pasture. He gives his attention to the entire farm, grows large crops and is doing much with good livestock, cattle and hogs in particular. Mr. Marshall bought and located on this farm in 1901. For five years previously he had lived on another place in the same section. Sinee coming to his farm he has erected a good class of farm buildings, including a barn 28x32 feet, with a 12-foot shed on one side, and he also has a cattle shed 20x48 feet. The barn improvements he erected in 1903 and his good substantial farm house of seven rooms was built in 1901.

Mr. Marshall was born in Columbus Township April 15, 1864. He grew up here, was educated in the common schools, and has been a farmer for over thirty years. He is a son of John C. and Mary E. (DeMoss) Marshall. His father was born in Europe April 6, 1840, and on his sixth birthday his parents set out for the United States. After seven weeks on a sailing vessel they landed at New Orleans, came up the river to Quincy, and soon afterward located on a new farm in Liberty Township. In 1853 the family moved to Columbus Township, acquir- ing a tract of wild land in the northwest quarter of section 29. The first im- provement was a hewed log house. The grandparents spent the rest of their days there and made a good farm of it. They died when between fifty and sixty years of age. They were Protestant in religion.

John C. Marshall grew up on the farm in Adams County and married Miss DeMoss, who was born in Columbus Township July 4, 1844, daughter of Peter DeMoss, one of the noted pioneers of the county, who owned a large amount of land in Columbus Township. Mr. and Mrs. DeMoss both died in Adams County. His wife whose maiden name was Catherine Herring, lived to be eighty-seven years of age.

John C. Marshall and wife after their marriage lived on the old home farm three years, when he bought land in section 29 and some years later added to his possessions. He lived the life of a practical farmer and died there in 1888. His widow is still living, at the age of seventy-four, hale and hearty, and is a much respected resident of Columbus Village. Both parents were members of the Christian Church.

J. Albert Marshall was the oldest in a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters. All of them are still living and all married except Garnett, who lives with his mother.

J. Albert Marshall married Minnie R. Gibbs. She was born at Coatsburg in this county February 18, 1868, and was reared and educated there. Before her marriage she was a snecessful teacher. Her parents are Charles M. and Frances (Murray) Gibbs. Her father is still living at Coatsburg, at the age of eighty- one, and, as noted on other pages, is a veteran railroad employe, having been station agent at Coatsburg more than fifty years. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have three children : Mary, born in 1899, was educated in the township schools and is still at home; Orin L., born in 1902, is, still pursuing his education ; and John M., born in 1905. is also a schoolboy. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are mem- bers of the Christian Church at Columbus. He is a republican and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Columbus.

CHARLES E. GABRIEL has been one of the chief factors in the activities of the village of Payson a number of years. He was postmaster nine years and for the past ten years has been eashier of the Bank of Payson, which is operated by the directors of the State Savings, Loan and Trust Company of Quincy.

Mr. Gabriel was horn at Payson February 18, 1865, son of William R. and Sarah E. (Collins) Gabriel. William R. Gabriel, a native of Ohio, came as a young man to Adams County, and for a time followed his trade as black-

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smith on Mill Creek in Melrose Township, and later located at Payson, where he lived until his death at the age of fifty-five. During the period of the Civil war he had to carry the mail from Quincy to Payson, and made the trip thrice weekly. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a local exhorter, and for some years also filled the office of justice of the peace. He was twice married. His first wife was Mary Greno, who died leaving four daughters and two sons: Susan, widow of Richard Eels, residing in Cashmere, Washington ; Melissa married William A. Mitchell and both are now deceased; Emma, who lives at San Diego, California, is the widow of L. M. Dort; Lavina, who resides in Los Angeles, is the widow of John A. Rob- ertson ; Newton A. was a soldier in the Civil war and died soon afterwards; William died in Helena, Montana. For his second wife William R. Gabriel married Sarah E. Collins. She was born at Elizabethtown, Spencer County, Kentucky, and was a girl of eight years when her parents. David and Sarah Collins, came to Adams County. The Collins family located three miles east of Payson, where she grew up and where her parents died in old age. Mem- bers of the Collins family were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. The Collins family spent their first winter in Illinois on what is now South Park, Quincy. They found Payson Township a wilderness, covered with heavy timber, but they eventually carved out a good farm there. Sarah Collins Gabriel, who died at Payson October 29, 1908, was the mother of two daughters and four sons : Effie, Mrs. W. A. Dunlavy, of Bloomington, Nebraska ; Jessie M., who died at Lucia, New Mexico, in 1916, was the wife of John Bingham White; Charles E. Gabriel is the third child; George G. is manager of the Halbach-Schroeder Company at Quincy; E. J. is a physician at Payson; and Frank R. lives at Keokuk, Iowa.

Charles E. Gabriel has spent all his life at Payson. He attended the local schools and had a partial course in the high school. For seventeen years he has been the local undertaker and his service as postmaster was from September 18, 1905, until October 1, 1914. In December, 1909, he was chosen cashier of the Bank of Payson, one of his strongest recommendations for that post coming from David Wilcox of Quincy. His chief assistant in the bank is Mrs. Gabriel.

October 19, 1901, Mr. Gabriel married Miss Maggie Hall, of Camp Point, daughter of Professor and Mrs. S. F. Hall, well known and noted characters in the educational life of Adams County, elsewhere referred to. Mrs. Gabriel attended the Maplewood High School at Camp Point, also the Blandinsville High School, and for one year was a student in De Pauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. At the age of eighteen she was employed as a teacher at Blandins- ville, and altogether taught sixteen years, ten years at Payson and five years in the Highland School of Quincy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel have been very active in Red Cross work and he has been chairman of his local district in the bond drive. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Burton, and for sixteen years was master of Payson Lodge, No. 379, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is now the present master and has attended many sessions of the Grand Lodge. He and his wife are both prominent in Pay- son Chapter, No. 375, of the Eastern Star, and he is a charter member of that organization and was its first and its present patron.

SAMUEL F. HALL. The highest tribute to a man's character and usefulness is the quality and duration of the memory that survives him and persists among those people outside his immediate blood relationship with whom he lived and worked. On that score the late Samuel F. Hall died content and well satisfied. Hundreds of men and women in Adams County and elsewhere have a grateful memory of what he did for them as a teacher, friend and guide of their youth, and while his services were not altogether concentrated in one community the splendid record of the Maplewood High School at Camp Point alone would be a sufficient monument to his life.

Samuel F. Hall was born at Oswego, New York, November 14, 1838, and died

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April 11, 1903, in his sixty-fifth year. His parents were John Hall and Eliz- abeth (Maxwell) Hall, both natives of Ireland, though they were reared from childhood in America. John Hall was a New York State farmer. He met and married his wife in Canada. From Oswego soon after the birth of Samuel they returned to Livingston County, New York, where the mother died when Samuel was twelve years of age. The home was then broken up and the boy had to shift for himself, working among farmers in summer and attending district schools in winter. Later he satisfied his ambition for a better education by entering at the age of seventeen Nunda Academy, going there with only $1.50 in cash and without books. The head of the school offered to lend him books and also to wait for the tuition. He earned his living while attending school by sawing wood, spading gardens and performing any other honest toil which people of that community were willing to assign him. At the close of his term he secured a school to teach, and for several years he taught alternately with attending school. After the Nunda Academy was burned he continued his studies at Dansville, New York.

During his work as a teacher in New York State he met and won the heart of Ellen Artemisia Burroughs. They were married September 8, 1861, and in March of the following year they went west, and located at Princeton, Illinois. Both became teachers in the public schools at Princeton, Mr. Hall as principal and his wife as assistant. They were connected with the schools of Princeton five years and many of their old pupils are still living in that rich community, and Professor Hall's portrait hangs in one of the city school buildings.

About the close of the Civil war the citizens of Camp Point planned and built one of the most perfectly appointed school buildings in the state at that time, costing $30,000, and named, because of the maple trees that surround it, Maplewood High School. Through the recommendation of Professor W. H. V. Raymond, the local board at Camp Point negotiated with Mr. Hall at Princeton to organize and take charge of the new school. He entered upon that work in the fall of 1867, and it is hardly necessary at this point to state the thorough- ness and efficiency of his work. He installed a complete graded system and soon had 500 pupils enrolled. At the end of five years he resigned and then for two years taught at Payson, after which he returned to the Maplewood High School and was its principal for a total period of a quarter of a century. In 1877 he was unanimously nominated by the republican party for county super- intendent of schools, but he declined to leave his work at Camp Point to be- come a candidate. He bought property adjoining the village, and made a very complete and comfortable home there. Maplewood High School under his prin- cipalship had a just fame all over Illinois, and attracted to it a large number of pupils who were non-resident in the township and district. It is said that fully half of the teachers of Adams County at one time had been students at Maple- wood. Some of the men now living who received a portion of their education there were Attorney Sam Woods, Judge Albert Akers, Judge Lyman McCarl, and former county treasurer, James D. Corrigan.

The affection paid by old pupils and friends was equally divided between Professor Hall and his equally cultured and gracious wife. Mrs. Hall was born in Wyoming County, New York, September 13, 1841, daughter of Jeffer- son and Zilpha (Manchester) Burroughs. Her grandfather Manchester was a Revolutionary soldier, and several of the Burroughs family became prominent as teachers and educators. Mrs. Hall was a teacher when she married Mr. Hall, and always took a deep interest in every educational movement. After the death of her husband she moved to Quincy, where her daughter Edith has for a number of years been one of the valued members of the teaching staff in the Quincy public schools.

Professor Hall and wife had cight children: Lonis A .. born November 12, 1864; Nina B., born November 1, 1866; Angie E., born July 12, 1869, and died September 26, 1872; Maggie M., born October 25, 1871; Edith E., born Feb- rnary 26, 1874; S. Fred, Jr., born October 7, 1875, died May 31, 1895; Bessie

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A., born October 1, 1877 ; and Harry Maxwell, born September 18, 1879 and died August 1, 1880. The son Louis now lives at Camp Point. The daughter Nina is the wife of George Gabriel of Quincy, Maggie is Mrs. Charles E. Gabriel of Payson, and Bessie is the wife of William Dunn.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall were active members of the Church of the Disciples. Their pastor, Rev. Ayres Omer, a former pupil of Professor Hall, officiated at the funeral services of Professor Hall and also of Mrs. Hall eleven years later.

RICHARD M. JOHNSON. Some of the best farms and best farmers are found in Columbus Township, and one of them is located on section 29, the home of Richard M. Johnson. Mr. Johnson has been a resident of Adams County for over fifty years, and since early manhood has been a practical and progressive farmer. He has made several changes of location, and all of them for the better. His present home has been occupied by him for the past twelve years. It contains eighty acres, all under the plow and productive of large crops of corn, wheat and oats.

He came to the county when a small child in 1862. For fifteen years he farmed in section 20 of Columbus Township, and for five years before coming to his present place had another farm, also in section 29. Besides his eighty acres he operates fifty-five acres adjacent. He keeps his land well tilled, and feeds all his products to his horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.

Mr. Johnson was born in Marion County, Missouri, not far from Palmyra, March 6, 1853. His father, Joel Johnson, was born in Ohio in 1827. He grew up and married in that state Christina Braught, a native of Pennsylvania. After their marriage they started out as farmers in Ohio, but being very poor they sought a country where cheaper lands could be secured and made the journey on foot to Missouri, carrying practically all their worldly possessions on their backs. In Marion County they secured a small log cabin. Two chil- dren were born in that home. The parents one day were out gathering nuts in the woods when their cabin caught fire and burned to the ground, both the children losing their lives. They then moved to another home. There the fol- lowing children were born: Elijah, Jeremiah, Joel, Jr., Commodore, Amanda and Richard M. Three years after the birth of Richard the father died when in the prime of life, at the age of thirty-nine. Of the children Elijah, Commo- dore and Richard are still living, all married and with children. Elijah lives at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Commodore is a farmer in Liberty Township of Adams County. Elijah served all through the Civil war, and Jeremiah and Joel, Jr., also enlisted in the Union army in that struggle and both died of measles in a hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, their deaths occurring but three days apart.

The widowed mother married for her second husband Joshua Piles. In 1862 they came to Adams County and settled in Columbus Township, where Mr. Piles died about 1885. His widow survived him about twenty years and passed away in March, 1905, at the age of eighty-seven. By her second marriage she had a son and daughter, Sampson and Rebecca Piles. Sampson now lives in Milam, Missouri, and has a family. The daughter, Rebecca, died after her marriage, leaving five daughters.

Richard M. Johnson received his early education in Columbus Township. He married there Rachel Wear. She was born in Pike County, Illinois, in 1854 and was one year of age when brought to Adams County by her parents, who lived and died there. She had two brothers, Joseph and Albert, still living. Mrs. Johnson died at her home in Columbus Township October 12, 1896. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom are still living, named La- verna, Eva, Zelda, Adam, Elva, Ruth and Grimes. Laverna is the wife of Wilham Williams, a farmer in Columbus Township, and has two children. Orin and Wade. Eva is the wife of Fred Ertz, of Columbus Township, and their children are Fay, Ray and Delbert. Zelda married Clifford Lierle, of Liberty Township, and they have one child, Merle. Adam lives on a farm in

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McGee Township, and he and his wife have Elmo, Darling, Maxine and Glen- don. Elva is the wife of Ray Cutforth, of Quincy, and has a daughter, Urith. Ruth married Fred Hall, of Camp Point, a man of superior education, a gradu- ate of the McComb Normal School, and now principal of the Liberty schools. They have two children, Glenedene and Fred, Jr. The youngest child, Grimes, is still unmarried.

Mr. Johnson married for his second wife at Barry, Pike County, Illinois, Mrs. Sarah E. Woodward Curry. Her first husband. John E. Curry, died in 1906, when in the prime of life. He left one daughter, Clara, wife of Riley Byers, now of Kenneth, Kansas, and they have children named Hazel, Helen, Glen, Mary and Ellen.

Mrs. Johnson was born in Adams County February 15, 1861, and from the age of four years lived in Pike County, attending the schools near Barry. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have two children : Walter, aged nineteen, and Paul Clifford, aged fourteen, the latter still in school. The family are members of the Church of the Brethren at Liberty, Mr. Johnson being a deacon in the church. Politi- cally he is a democrat.

THOMAS A. ECKHOFF. One of the prominent farmers of Adams County, Thomas A. Eckhoff for the past twenty years or more has given his time and attention to the development of a good farm and to the raising of crops and livestock in Columbus Township. He is a citizen whose material circumstances have improved steadily with the passing years, and who at the same time has gained the esteem of his community for his good judgment and his public spirit in all matters affecting the common weal.

His farm is in section 23 of Columbus Township. He owns 340 acres there, nearly all of it well improved and productive of the best crops of corn, wheat, oats, etc. Most of his grain and other forage he feeds on the farm. and hc raises a large number of cattle, hogs and horses. His farm is good soil and has the benefit of a thorough natural drainage system. Mr. Eckhoff has owned this farm for a number of years and has cleared up many acres by his own labors. He has a set of excellent farm buildings, including a substantial six room house. One of the valuable features of his farm is a tract of good native timber.

On the same section and at his father's farm and old homestead nearby Mr. Eckhoff was born May 12, 1869. An interesting relic of the old homestead is the log cabin in which he first saw the light of day and which is still standing on the old farm now owned and managed by his capable sisters. Further refer- ence to his father, Andrew T. Eckhoff, and family will be found on other pages.

Mr. Eckhoff grew up at home, attended the old Excelsior School, the land for which and the church was donated by his father. At the age of twenty- four Mr. Eckhoff made his first purchase of land, and has since added as his means and opportunities justified until he has a well proportioned farm. He has lived in his present farm residence since 1911.

In 1894 Mr. Eckhoff married Miss Flora E. Shultz. She was born in Con- cord Township of this county March 30. 1877, and was educated in the district schools. Her parents were Henry and Margaret (Kinker) Shultz, both natives of Germany. Her father came to this country alone and her mother with her parents. Her father came by sailing vessel to New Orleans, came up the river to St. Louis, where he married, and about 1870 moved to Adams County and bought land in Concord Township. In 1894 the Shultz family moved to another farm in Concord Township, where Mrs. Eckhoff's father died in Feb- ruary, 1903, at the age of eighty-four. Her mother is now living in Quincy with her widowed daughter, Mrs. Lizzie Gnuse. She celebrated her eightieth birthday November 3, 1918. She is a member of the Methodist Church and Mr. Shultz was also a member of that church. Of the three sons and four daughters born to Mr. and Mrs. Shultz two sons and three daughters are still living, and all married.

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Mr. and Mrs. Eckhoff have an interesting family of children: Edna E., born June 26, 1895, was educated in the Liberty School, is still at home and is secretary of the Christian Church Sunday school. Etta M., born November 1, 1897, died July 5, 1913, while a school girl. Dottie E., born February 1, 1904, and Norma M., born May 22, 1908, are both attending the local schools. Hazel N., born October 13, 1913, and Flora T., born January 1, 1918, are the two younger children. The family are members of the Wolf Ridge Christian Church. Mr. Eckhoff has been quite active in the church, especially in helping with the musical programs of the Sunday school. In matters of politics he casts an iu- dependent republican vote.

FRED G. BRAKENSIEK. It was a life of effective purpose, worthy endeavor and beneficent influence that was lived by the late Fred G. Brakensiek of Columbus Township. Mr. Brakensiek spent all his life in Adams County and was distinguished by unusual business qualifications, resulting in large landed properties and several well managed farms. He was equally prominent in church life, gave liberally of his means, and was a personal worker in one of the leading centers of religious activity in this township.

Mr. Brakensiek was born at Quincy April 19, 1851. His parents, Gottlieb and Henrietta Brakensiek, were born in Prussia, Germany. Gottlieb married his first wife in Germany, and coming to America located at Quincy, where his wife died in the prime of life. She left one son Ferd, who now lives on his farm in Melrose Township. He has lost both his wives and has children by both marriages. In Quincy Gottlieb Brakensick married Henrietta, his second wife, and for several years they lived on a farm east of the city and later moved to the southeastern corner of Columbus Township and finally to the vicinity of Carthage, Illinois, where his wife died in 1883. He passed away at the home of his son Fred G. September 14, 1890. He was born in February, 1818. He was a Lutheran and both he and his wife gave their utmost to the maintenance of church influences in their community. He was a charter member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, which stood on his farm. Among his children were Henry, Fred G., August, Ferd and Simon, and four daughters. The only ones now living are Simon, Ferd, Mrs. Lena Weinreich and Mrs. Lizzie Hefler.

Fred G. Brakensiek grew up in Columbus Township, and on March 16, 1876, married in Concord Township Miss Wilhelmina Rippel. She was born in Fair- field County, Ohio, September 24, 1855, and was five years old when her parents came to Concord Township, where she was reared and educated. She was a daughter of Christian and Caroline (Garke) Rippel, who were born in Germany, and their two oldest children, Mary and Charles, were also born in that country. They came to America on a sailing vessel and from New York settled in Ohio, and in 1860 located on a farm in Concord Township of Adams County. Her mother died there in June, 1891. Her father afterwards moved to Mount Sterling, Illinois, where he passed away February 12, 1910. He was then very old, having been born in June, 1822. The Rippels were active members of the Lutheran Church, and the father helped found Zion Church in Concord Town- ship and was one of the builders.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 77

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