Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 8

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 8

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Arthur H. Heidemann attended first the parochial school in the parish belonging to St. Peter's Evangelical Church, later the Quincy publie schools and subsequently a commercial school in this city. About five years before his father's death he became identified with the lumber business, as his father's manager at length but at first as bookkeeper, and has continued manager with his sister, Miss Orlinda A. Heidemann as assistant manager. The business has been gradually expanded and the plant enlarged but the old firm name con- tinnes and the same honest business policy is adhered to. Mr. Heidemann, like his grandfather and father, has proved not only an able business man but an upright one.

Mr. Heidemann was married April 15, 1902, to Miss Amelia Peter, who was born at Burton, Illinois, and they have two children : Arthur W., who was born April 9, 1905: and Juliana. who was born December 10, 1912. Mrs. Heidemann is a member of the Lutheran Memorial Church at Quincy, and Mr. Heidemann of St. Peter's Lutheran Evangelical Church, and both are active in these congregations in furthering mission work and aiding in their various commendable plans of benevolence.

Mr. Heidemann is an independent voter, believing in this way he can best use his influence as a public-spirited citizen, which fact he has very often demonstrated. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and has taken both the Scottish and York rites. IIe belongs also to the Elks and to the great lumber organization known as the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoo.

JAMES B. CORRIGAN. During his many years of residence in Quincy and Adams County James B. Corrigan has become known to his fellow citizens as a capable public official, a man of legal training and of thorough business ability. Since 1907 he has been engaged in the general insurance business in the Heintz Building at 3001/2 North Sixth Avenue.

Mr. Corrigan was born in this county February 21, 1856, of Irish parents, a son of James and a grandson of Bernard Corrigan both of whom were natives of Tyrone, Ireland, and of old Irish Catholic stock. Bernard Corrigan came to the United States with his family in 1838, the voyage being made in a sailing vessel and two months were spent in erossing. From New York City he went to Pennsylvania, but after a brief sojourn came west to Quincy in 1844 and bought and settled on a farm in Liberty Township. He cleared up much of his land and was a prosperous and well-to-do farmer in that locality for many years. He died when about fourseore years of age. He and his family were members of St. Peter's Catholic Church. He and his wife are buried side by side in the cemetery of that church. Their sons and daughters are all now deceased.

James Corrigan, Sr., was a young man when the family settled on the old farm in Liberty Township, and that home is still in the family, being now occupied by Daniel Corrigan, a brother of James B. James Corrigan married at Boston, Massachusetts, Sarah Hart, who was born in the same locality in County Tyrone as he was, and soon after she landed in the United States at

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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Boston they married. James Corrigan brought his bride to Adams County and to the old homestead, where they spent the rest of their years. James Corrigan died at the age of cighty-four, and his widow died in the same year, at seventy- eight years of age. They were members of the Catholic church, formerly of St. Peter's in Quincy but later of the church in their home township, where they are both buried. James Corrigan was a democratic voter. In the family were two daughters and seven sons, all of whom married, and all are living except John. The living children are Catherine, Bernard, Ella, Daniel, James B., Frank, Felix and Sylvester.

James B. Corrigan spent his early life on the old homestead which has been with the Corrigans now for three generations. IIe attended the local schools, also the Camp Point High School, and is a graduate of St. Francis College of Quincy. IFis early law studies were directed by the firm of Sibley, Carter & Covert at Quincy, and he also attended law school of Chaddock College. He has used his legal training to good advantage in different ways, but has never formally practiced. His first official service was as deputy under Benjamin Heckley, sheriff at the time. Later he was clerk in the county treas- urer's office for four years, and was then elected to succeed John B. Kreitz as county treasurer. Following his regular term in the office he was assistant in the treasurer's office, for a time was engaged in the hardware business in Quincy, then sold and returned to the treasurer's office as assistant until 1907, when he engaged in the insurance business.

Mr. Corrigan married at Quincy Miss Agnes C. Bernbrock. She was born in the State of California of German ancestry, but was reared and educated in Quincy. Mr. and Mrs. Corrigan are members of St. Peter's Church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Western Catholic Union. Mr. Corrigan is a democrat in his political views.

JOHN H. BEST is one of Quincy's oldest and most honored business men. Ile has been president of the Illinois State Bank of Quincy since it was organized July 1, 1909, and the splendid condition of this institution reflects highly upon his ability as a banker and general business man. When it was organized the bank had a capital of $125,000, which sixty days later was increased $100,000, and in May, 1916, to its present capitalization of $300,000. The Illinois State Bank today has aggregate resources of over $2,500,000 and its deposits total over $2,000,000. It transacts a general commercial banking business, and is also authorized to act as a trust company.

The home of the Illinois State Bank is one of the well known landmarks of the Quincy district, at the corner of Sixth and Hampshire streets, in the splendid seven-story terra cotta building, one of the leading office structures of the city. Mr. Best shares his honors of continuous connection with this in- stitution with Mr. William J. Singleton, the vice president, and William Rupp, Jr., the cashier, both of whom have been with the institution since it started. The directors are all prominent business and professional men of Quincy, including besides the executive officers, H. Weems, G. A. Urban, Will J. Heintz, E. V. Moorman, Prof. J. H. Crafton, and Hon. Lyman MeCarl.

Mr. Best comes of old Scotch-Irish ancestry. He and his family are Epis- copalians and his ancestors were for many generations actively identified with the Episcopal or Established Church of England. His father, John H. Best, Sr., and his grandfather, William Best, were both born in County Monaghan, Ireland. William Best was an Episcopal curate. He was twice married. His first wife was Margaret Stockdale, who was born in County Monaghan. She died there leaving two children, William and Charlotte. Charlotte became the wife of William B. Finley, an Episcopal curate who succeeded to the posi- tion of his father-in-law. William Best married for his second wife Mary McCabe. They came to the United States in 1839 and settled in Adams County, where they spent their last years. William died at the age of sixty-seven.

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For a time they affiliated with the Methodist Church in Quincy, but finally returned to the church of their old faith. William Best was a whig and later a republican, and his death occurred before the Civil war.

John HI. Best, Sr., was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1813, and was rcared and educated therc. At the age of fifteen he came alone to America, arriving a stranger in a strange land after a six weeks' voyage. He had learned the painter's trade in Ireland, and followed that occupation in New York City for about two years. He then, went to Philadelphia, where he mar- ried Miss Ann J. Adams. She was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1816, and was thirteen years old when she came with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Adams, to Philadelphia. Her father and mother spent their last years in Philadelphia, where they died when quite old. Both were members of the Presbyterian Church. They were the parents of one son and four daughters. William Adams, Jr., was captain of a company in the Mexican war, being wounded at the battle of Monterey, and after his return became a captain of ordnance at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where he died.

John II. Best, Sr., and wife were married in February, 1837, and a year later they arrived at Quincy, where he followed his trade as a painter and painting contractor and also conducted a paint store at the corner of Third and Main. On the site which he occupied as his business center for many years now stands a solid and substantial block, three stories high, erected by his sons John H. and Ezra as a memorial to their father. A tablet on the building tells briefly the business record of John H. Best, Sr. This building was erected in 1896 and is now a paper warehouse. John H. Best, Sr., died in Quincey, April 9, 1882, and his widow passed away July 10, 1890, in Los Angeles, but was brought back and laid to rest beside her husband in Woodlawn Cemetery. Both were members of the Presbyterian Church and in politics the father was a republican.

John H. Best, Jr., was born in Quincy September 15, 1841, and has lived in this city for more than three quarters of a century. He was educated in the city public schools and the Bryant & Stratton Business College, and in early life spent eight years in farming. Later he learned the art of telegraphy and became an active man in local transportation circles. He was for a number of years traffic manager and agent for the Quincy, Omaha and Kansas City Road.

Mr. Best also has a public record, having served as alderman from the Sixth Ward, and in 1907 he was elected mayor of the city, and the following two years gave a very progressive administration to the municipal affairs. He has always been a republican.

Mr. Best married at Quincy Sophia A. Daneke, who was born in Quincy of German parents. Her father and mother were early settlers here, her father being a victim of the cholera epidemic in 1849. Her mother died about eight years later. Mr. and Mrs. Best have one daughter, Alberta B., now the wife of Edwin S. Massie. Mr. and Mrs. Massie live in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Best. The family are members of the Episcopal Church and Mr. Best has been affiliated with the Masonic order since 1868.

Besides his interests as a banker Mr. Best is almost equally well known as a farmer on an extensive scale. He has one of the complete and well arranged farms of the county, comprising 300 acres, all developed and intensively cul- tivated except twenty acres of native timber. He also has 300 acres in Pike County, Missouri, and four different farm tracts comprising 1,000 acres in Marion County, Missouri. As a boy Mr. Best had considerable experience, and besides the result of that early influence which has led him to invest his means in farm real estate, he derived from it in part at least his splendid physical constitution, which keeps him erect, rugged and vigorous in the prose- cution of his affairs, though past the age of three score and ten.

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J. GEORGE BIRKENMAIER is one of the solid and substantial business men of Quincy, has been a resident of the city thirty-five years, and for twenty-five years has been distributing and purveying meats and provisions to a constantly growing eircle of patrons. He is one of the most popular and progressive men in the business at Quiney.

An American citizen sinee early manhood, he probably appreciates and ean support more enthusiastically American institutions than many native born. He was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, October 23, 1866, and he and several brothers eame to this country for the express purpose of freeing them- selves from the military system and autocratic rule of the old country. His parents were J. George and Catherine (Kroetz) Birkenmaier, natives of the same country, his mother being of Austrian ancestry. His parents spent all their lives in Wuertemberg, and the father died there when about seventy and the mother at forty-three. The father was a farmer and wine grower. The Birk- enmaiers were of Lutheran faith. The first of the family to come to America was J. Jacob Birkenmaier, who arrived in 1878, while his brother John eame in 1879. Jacob finished his education in the Gem City Business College at Quiney, and is a well-to-do man, a resident of San Francisco. John lives in Chieago and is married and has a family.

J. George Birkenmaier lived in his native province until he was sixteen years of age, and while there acquired the fundamentals of knowledge as taught in the German common schools. In 1882 he set out for the New World, taking passage on a steamship at Antwerp and landing in New York City fourteen days later. He came on to Quiney to join his brother John, his brother Jacob having gone west. For six months he lived in Barry, Pike County, Illinois, and there attended school in his effort to acquire the best possible knowledge of the English language. Later his brother Christ eame to this country and is now a farmer in the State of Colorado, and has sons and daughters, some of his sons being in the Government service.

In 1883 Mr. Birkenmaier located in Quincy and was employed by several local butehers, under whom he learned his trade. About twenty-five years ago he engaged in business for himself, his first location being at Sixth and Maiden Lane, from there moving to 912 Maine Street, some years later to the corner of Maine and Ninth streets, and in 1905 he bought the interest of his partner, the late A. August Long, and moved across the street to his present location, where he owns a good business house 24x65 feet and also leases the adjacent store. His first partner in the meat business, with whom he was associated four or five years, was Chris Duker, now a well known commission merehant of Quincy. Mr. Birkenmaier handles many of the standard lines of meat products, and also manufactures a large amount of sausage in his own shop.

In Quincy Mr. Birkenmaier married Miss Wilhelmina Koeh. She was born in Quincy, reared and educated here, and is a daughter of Gottlieb and Cath- erine (Bresing) Koch. Her parents were both born in Prussia, but were married after they came to Quincy. Her father died at the age of seventy- five and her mother at sixty. Mr. Koch was a cooper by trade. The thorough Americanism of the Birkenmaier family needs no further proof when it is stated that one of the sons is now in France with the Allied Armies, and another is awaiting his call to the service under the new age limits. The family consists of three sons and two daughters. Carl J., now twenty-two years of age, joined the National Guard at nineteen and is now a member of the Thirty-Third Division and has been in Franee since May, 1918. The second son, Robert G., aged nineteen, is employed by his father while awaiting the eall to military duty. The third son, George, Jr., is acquiring a knowledge of military science as student in a military school. Edna is in the Quincy High School, Edith is in the grammar school. The family are members of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Birkenmaier is independent in local polities and votes as a republican in national affairs.

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FRANK E. MORRIS. One of the most flourishing industries of Quiney is the Morris Brothers Shoe Company, which as a business is a lineal successor of one of the pioneer shoe factories of the Middle West. Quincy was fortunate in inducing the Morris Brothers to locate here a few years ago, and this is now one of the few industries of the eity that produce goods to a total value of over $1,000,000 annually.

The business was established at Quincy in February, 1914, and on February 8, 1916, it was incorporated as the Morris Brothers Shoe Company, with a capital stock of $85,000. Frank E. Morris is president of the corporation, Evan F. Morris is secretary, William J. Morris is vice president, and two other brothers are on the board of directors. It is a close corporation, the capital stock of 600 common shares and 250 preferred shares being practically all owned by the brothers.

The main factory building, comprising nearly half a block, is located at 237-239 North Second Street. About 450 people are employed. They man- ufacture all kinds of men's dress shoes, workmen's medium grade shoes, and in 1918 completed a separate factory for the manufacture of interlined shoes for mechanics. The goods of this company are sold everywhere. In four years time the business has been built up to an aggregate value of $2,000,000 a year.

While never a resident of Quincy, the real pioneer and founder of the busi- ness was the father of Morris Brothers, Evan Morris, who was born in Wales of Welsh parentage in 1830 and died at St. Louis, Missouri, December 1, 1898. He was brought to America when a child, bis parents Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Morris, locating in Maryland. His father soon afterward enlisted for service in the Seminole Indian war in Florida and was killed there in the prime of life. Evan Morris grew up and learned his trade as a shoemaker, and developed the highest degree of skill as a bench and custom shoemaker. Back east he was fre- quently employed in making the finest shoes, and one of his customers was Charlotte Cushman, most of his trade coming from people of exclusive tastes like that famous actress. He left his trade to enlist in the Union army and served four years, coming through unharmed, and then resuming work at the beneh.

About fifty years ago a Mr. Corning brought from Cincinnati to St. Louis the first MeKay sewing machine for machine sewing of soles on boots and shoes. He started a factory in St. Louis, bringing with him experienced men from Cincinnati. After getting the business under way all his employes left him and returned to Cincinnati. He inserted an advertisement asking for skilled men at the business, and one of the replies received came from Evan Morris. He thus became identified with the new system of using machinery, recognized the value of machines as superior to the slower method of hand manufacture, and after developing a force of proficient men he and associates organized in 1868 a factory which was the first west of the Mississippi River. Out of this grew the Excelsior Shoe Company, with Evan Morris as one of its chief officials. He lived to see and use all the machines made and employed in the most modern work of shoe manufacture. Every trade paper has long recognized his pioneer standing in the shoe business in the Middle West.

At his death he left the business to his sons, and they sold it to the Goodyear Shoe Company. They then established the George F. Dittman Shoe Company, which they ran successfully until 1906. In that year they accepted a proposi- tion from the citizens of Mexico, Missouri, to start a factory, were proprietors of it for one year, and then sold their interests to the Friedman Brothers Boot & Shoe Company. They continued the management of the factory, however, for several years more. This factory at Mexico was finally taken over by the International Shoe Company of St. Louis.

It was in 1913 that the Morris Brothers accepted a proposition from the people of Quincy to establish a plant in this eity.

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At St. Louis Evan Morris married Mary Scully, a native of Ireland. She died November 3, 1892. They had ten children, all of whom were born in St. Louis and all grew to manhood and womanhood. Six of them married, and five sons and two daughters are still living. The sons all live at Quincy except Robert M., who is a manufacturer of shoe colorings and specialties. Edward T. Morris learned his trade with his father in the original factory at St. Louis. He is married and lives on Twelfth Street in Quincy.

Mr. Frank E. Morris was born in St. Louis in 1865 and after his education went into his father's shop and learned every detail of the business. He and his brothers all married in St. Louis, and all had been associated with their father after they reached maturity.

Frank E. Morris married in St. Louis Alice Burk, who was born in that city of Irish parents. They are the parents of six children, Evan F., Margaret, Richard, Mary, Francis and Alice. The younger children are students in St. Francis and St. Mary's Colleges. All the family are members of St. Peter's Catholic Church. The Morris brothers are active in the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Frank E. Morris' oldest son, Evan F., though secretary of the company, is now in the service of the Government in the war.

DANIEL SPEYER, one of Quincy's prominent clothing merchants is successor to one of the oldest established wholesale and retail clothing houses of the city, for many years conducted under the name Jonas Meyer & Company. The late Jonas Meyer and L. Whitchead engaged as partners in the clothing and men's furnishing business at Quincy in September, 1868, just a half century ago. Their original location was at 323 Hampshire Street. They dissolved partner- ship in 1879, but Jonas Meyer continued in business from that time forward and with other associates until his death.

Mr. Daniel Speyer was born in New York City November 22, 1854, son of Elias and Eleanor (Silverman) Speyer. Both parents were born in Bavaria, Germany. The father came to New York in 1835 and was a merchant for many years.

Daniel Speyer grew up in New York State, was educated in the common schools, and had an extensive experience with a wholesale clothing house before he came to Quincy in 1879. Here he joined Mr. Jonas Meyer as an employe, in 1882 was taken into partnership as member of the firm Jonas Meyer & Company, and gave his utmost energies and abilities to the successful con- duct of this well known house. Mr. Jonas Meyer died in 1911, and Mr. Speyer is now sole owner of the business, which occupies three floors of one of the best known store buildings in the downtown district, at 421 and 423 Hampshire Street.

Mr. Speyer is a republican, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and worships in the Jewish Temple.

DAVID D. STEINER, M. D. One of the busiest professional men of Quincy is Dr. David D. Steiner, who graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, with the class of 1886, and after a few years of practice at his native Village of Lorain in Adams County moved to Quincy twenty-six years ago and is now one of the older representatives of the pro- fession in this city. He ranks high as a physician, and his solid abilities have justified all the liberal patronage extended him.

Dr. Steiner was born at Lorain in Keene Township of this county July 6, 1860. He grew up on his father's farm in that locality and first qualified him- self for teaching. The work he did as a teacher enabled him to carry on advanced literary courses in the Valparaiso Normal School in Indiana, where he graduated in 1883. IIe continued teaching another year before entering Kcokuk Medical College.

Dr. Steiner is a son of Michacl Steiner, one of the prominent early settlers

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of Keene Township. Michael Steiner was born in Germany January 30, 1810, and was well educated. He served a term in the regular army and the captain of his company was the father of Prince Albert of Germany. Michael Steiner came to this country in 1836, and while at New York saw Martin Van Buren, who was elected in that year president of the United States. At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he found employment on a coal boat, went to New Orleans, thence up the river to Galena and back to Quincy in 1837. He continued boating for a time, and was employed on the steamboat Olive Branch plying between St. Louis and Galena, one of the first boats to run on the Upper Mississippi. Later he was employed in the Whipple Saw Mill and sawed the blue ash flooring which went into the first home built by General Browning. Michael Steiner was a pioneer of many experiences. He often told of conditions during the hard winter of 1839-40 when the Mississippi froze so early that the merchants were unable to get their supplies from St. Louis, and goods had to be carted all the way from that city. Salt commanded a price that winter of $4 a bushel. In 1845 he was summoned as a witness at Macomb and had to find his way across the country the best he could in the absence of roads.

In 1839 Michael Steiner married Ann Catherine Goebel, who was born in Germany February 20, 1820. She had come to America with her brothers and sisters in 1826, and she located at Quincy in 1838. In 1842 Michael Steiner and wife moved to a tract of Government land in section 5 of Keene Township, and that was their home the rest of their industrious careers. Michael Steiner accumulated a large and well developed farm, and assisted some of his children to the ownership of homes of their own. He died at the age of eighty-two and his wife at seventy-nine, and both were members of the Lutheran church. They had nine children, seven of whom reached maturity, and when the parents died there were forty grandchildren to do them honor. Dr. Steiner is one of four still living.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 8

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