Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 89

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 89

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A number of years ago Mr. Vogel bought forty acres of his present farm, and later he bought the interest of other heirs, going heavily in debt, paying high interest, and only as a result of energy, toil and economy did he estab- lish his present home and provide so liberally for his growing family. He has always taken a keen interest in community improvements, especially good high- ways. He is a demoeratie voter and is a member of St. Nicholas Branch No. 1 of the Western Catholic Union at Quincy. His farm is well adapted to grain Vol. II-35

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of all kinds and fruit, and he is now retired and content to see its management in the hands of his capable sons.

BERNARD H. MILLER. By reason of a continuous service and work as a pharmacist and druggist for over fifty years, Bernard H. Miller undoubtedly is the dean of his profession in this eity, and probably more people know his name and his store than any other local institution in the business distriet.

In his long and successful career a tremendous amount of energy has been developed and successfully directed by this Quiney man, who was born at Norden, Germany, January 4, 1848, and was brought as an infant by his par- ents to America. The Miller family located at Quincy April 15, 1850. Here he first became conscious of the realities of existence. The playtime of youth was not long with him, and his schooling was confined to a few brief terms. One of his early experienecs as a boy was selling newspapers on the MeCune line of packets during the Civil war.

One of the most important dates in his history was March 1, 1864. It was on that day that he went to work in the drug store of Adolph Zimmerman at 504 Hampshire Street. The next fall he found employment in the laboratory of Jacob S. Merrill in St. Louis, and found opportunities for wider experience and training later in the laboratories of E. J. Williamson in the same city. Mr. Miller was one of the original members of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

Returning to Quiney in 1866, he went to work as pharmacist for Ruther- ford, Hurlbert & Company, later with Sommer & Metz, until about three years later he formed a partnership with George Terdenge and bought a store at Ninth and Broadway. In 1874 the business was organized under the firm name of Sommer, Miller & Terdenge, and they established a store at 502 Maine Street, where they condueted the largest retail drug house in Quincy. Various changes have been made from time to time in the firm. In 1875 Albert Sellner took the place of Mr. Sommer in the firm, and on January 1, 1884, W. H. Arthur bought out the Terdenge interest. On January 1, 1889, Miller & Arthur became sole proprietors of the business.

In 1900 the Miller & Arthur Drug Company was incorporated, eleeting B. H. Miller as president, which position he has held ever since. In 1916 the drug business of Miller & Arthur Drug Company moved to 520-522 Maine Street.

It is not alone through the drug business that Mr. Miller has made an im- press upon the life and affairs of Quiney. Ile was one of the organizers of the original Board of Commerce. He was also a member of the committee which organized the public demonstration when the Quiney Soldiers' Home was dedi- cated, and for a number of years his services were called to the front to assist in making a success of practically every public demonstration and of public cause undertaken in the city. He was chairman of the committee which in ten days raised the fund of $100,000 for the Young Men's Christian Association Building in March, 1911.

Mr. Miller married twice. On June 6, 1872, he was married to Harriet Henshall, of Quincy, Illinois. They became the parents of two daughters and one son. The two daughters, Mrs. Cora A. Rapp, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and Mrs. Toma H. Gilbert, of Chicago, Illinois, are survivors of this first mar- riage. The son, Bernard H., Jr., passed away in 1914. Mr. Miller's present wife was formerly Mrs. F. H. Connelly, of Red Bluff, California.

J. WILLIAM Loos. The farm now owned and occupied by J. William Loos as his home and place of business is on the township line between Melrose and Fall Creek, his home being in the former township. Competent judges speak of it as one of the best farms in that productive section. It contains a set of splendid buildings, and much of the present condition is due to the industry and good judgment of Mr. Loos.

Mr. Loos is member of one of the widely known families of Adams County,

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and several other members of his relationship are referred to on other pages of this publication. Mr. Loos was born on the old Loos farm in this eounty August 8, 1870, and he is a son of Frederiek Loos. He grew up on a farm, gained his education in the local schools, and at the age of twenty-four started independent farming as a renter. Then in 1896 he bought eighty acres of the William Wand farm of 200 acres. He had only $2,500 in capital and went in debt heavily for the balanee. He has made money through horses and eattle and general farming, and long sinee paid off his obligations upon it. He also has additional land formerly owned by his wife's father, William Speckhart. Mr. Loos remodeled the house and has continued many other improvements from the condition in which they were left by the former owner.

At the age of twenty-four Mr. Loos married Miss Mollie K. Speckhart, a daughter of William Speckhart, now a retired resident of Quiney elsewhere referred to in these pages. Mr. and Mrs. Loos have a happy family of children named Fred, Anna, Edna, Viola, Wilbert, Ida, Carl, Mollie, Edgar, William, Irene and Hilda. Mr. Loos is a demoerat, has served as road commissioner, and is a member and trustee of the Bluff Hall Congregational Church.

WILLIAM SPECKHART, now living retired in a comfortable home at 520 South Twelfth Street in Quiney, is a member of that numerous and prominent Speck- hart family whose activities and citizenship have been prominently sketched at various points in this history.

Mr. William Speekhart was born in Fall Creek Township February 24, 1851, the youngest son of John and Eva Speckhart. He was reared and educated there and since reaching his majority has been one of the snecessful farmers. He settled on part of the old homestead and still owns 154 aeres. He has used his judgment to assist him in seleeting farms in the most fertile distriet of the county, and has assisted several of their children in securing fine farms of their own. Mr. Speekhart was an active farmer until 1916, having spent forty-three years as an Adams County agrieulturist. He has never sought publie office but is a trustee of Bluff Hall Congregational Chureh.

At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Margaret Reich, daughter of John Reieh. Mrs. John Reieh is still living on a farm adjoining that of William Speckhart. Margaret Reich was born there June 20, 1851, and she and her husband grew up from childhood in the same loeality. Mr. and Mrs. Speek- hart lost four children in infaney and childhood and have five living: Mollie is the wife of William Loos, of Melrose Township, and they have twelve ehildren. William Speekhart lives in Fall Creek Township, two miles east of Marble- head, married Laura Loos, a sister of William Loos, above mentioned, and their three sons are Edwin, Herbert and Fred. John Speekhart lives on the old farm in Fall Creek Township, and by his marriage to Nellie Ruby, of Payson Town- ship, has a daughter, Wilma. Sadie is at home with her parents. Margaret married Fred Heeleher, a stove salesman at Quiney, and they have two children, Merle and Marian.

WILBER L. MYERS. The old Myers homestead in Gilmer Township is now owned and occupied by Wilber L. Myers, who was born there and has spent nearly all his life from childhood to the present in that environment. It is unnecessary to repeat here what has been told on other pages eoneerning his parentage, his brothers and sisters, but it should be noted that Mr. Myers is well worthy of membership in such an old and splendid family, and has eon- tributed his share of the activities by which this family name is so well known in eastern Adams County.

The old Myers homestead is fourteen miles east of Quiney, two miles north of Broadway and three miles southwest of Columbus. On that farm Wilber L. Myers was born November 3, 1871. It has been his home continuously exeept for the twelve years from 1894 to 1905, during which time he rented other farms in Gilmer and Burton Township, and also spent one season in Colorado. In

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1905 he bought the interests of the other heirs in the homestead. His father had secured this land in about 1855, and had spent fifty years of his life there. During that time the wild lands had been converted into productive fields and some of the improvements still stand, including the substantial house erected in 1882 and the barn built even earlier. Wilber Myers has continued to im- prove the estate, has erected a new barn, and has also constructed a new tenant house and complete equipment. His farm comprises 207 acres devoted to gen- eral farming, his chief revenues coming from hogs, which he raises to the num- ber of 150 or 200 every year. Mr. Myers has not been an office seeker, has been satisfied to express his citizenship through those influences he can bestow upon all worthy enterprises in the community and a general helpfulness to his neighbors and as a patriotic American. He and his wife are both active in the Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Myers is past noble grand and has sat in the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Myers is chairman of the Mount Pleasant Red Cross Society. Mr. Myers enjoys outdoor life and his favorite recreation is hunting and fishing.

In 1904, at the age of thirty-three, he married Miss Laura Abel, of Burton Township, daughter of Joseph Abel. Mrs. Myers was the only child of her parents.

CHRISTIAN F. MAST. There was a time when farm life in Illinois was one of continuous hard work and more or less social exclusion, but no better proof is needed to mark the change than is afforded in Melrose Township by such careful and progressive agriculturists as Christian F. Mast. On a finely im- proved estate located in a section of the county where publie spirit is indicated by its material improvements Mr. Mast has lived for more than half a century. and in that time has proved that farming is not only one of the most profitable of occupations but the most independent.

Mr. Mast was born in Adams County, Illinois, January 15, 1850, and is the third in a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, born to Casper and Rosena (Dold) Mast. Three of the children are still living: Mary, wife of Joseph Heckle, a retired citizen of Quiney ; Christian F .; and Victoria, wife of Ben Heckle, a justice of the peace in Quincy.

The late Casper Mast was born in Baden, Germany, was educated in the German language, and when a young man came to the United States. He crossed the Atlantic in one of the old slow-going sailing vessels, and the voyage was one of six months duration. He landed at New Orleans and from there came up the river to Illinois. His first land was in section 31 of Melrose Town- ship. Adams County, where he acquired 160 acres. It was at a time and place when all this region was little better than an unbroken wilderness, covered with heavy timber. It was characteristic of most of these early German settlers to look for "wood and water," and sixty years ago the original Mast homestead answered these requirements to the letter. Casper Mast became owner of a farm of 220 acres in that township, and proved in every way a successful agri- culturist as well as a man of such character and qualities as to gain the gen- eral respect of the community in which he lived. He was a devout member of St. Boniface Catholic Church at Quincy. He died about 1885, and is at rest in St. Boniface Cemetery. His wife was also a native of Baden, and dis- tinguished herself as a kind Christian mother, and the grateful memories of her children follow her.

Christian F. Mast grew up on his father's farm, and had a good education in the common schools, supplemented by a term in Bryant & Stratton Business College. Otherwise his entire active career has been spent as an agriculturist. He owns ninety-nine acres of fine land in Melrose Township, and he used such intelligence in its management that its products furnished ample provision for all the needs of a growing family. Besides general crops Mr. Mast has been a snecessful stockman and has given special attention to Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs. His career has been a reward of honest, self-sustaining

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industry. When he was eighteen years old he began working at monthly wages of $15 a month. Two years later he started farming on his own account. His father let him have a team, and a spur to his industry was a debt of $100. Ilis first purchase of corn was 100 bushels, which cost him $95. He bought this corn from Will Perkins.

On February 10, 1870, Mr. Mast married Miss Mary Freese. The best evidence of Mr. Mast's success in life will be found in the noble family of sons and daughters who have grown up around him. Altogether there were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and seven are still living, two dying in infancy. The following is a brief individual record of these chil- dren. Besides his living sons and daughters Mr. Mast has a number of grand- children and great-grandchildren.

The oldest is William Mast, who is engaged in ice ercam manufacturing at Quincy. He was educated in the common schools, is a democrat in politics, and is very active in the Catholic Church and its different organizations. Ile is a member of St. Boniface Church, is a Knight of Columbus and a member of the Western Catholic Union, and was financial secretary of the latter for fifteen years. He is married and has ten living children. Ilis wife was formerly Miss Frances Herold.

Benjamin C., the second child, lives in Ellington Township, owns a large farm and uses motor power wherever possible. He has a fine herd of cattle and is an all around successful farmer. He is married and has one son, Roy. His wife was formerly Miss Rose Lacke. They are members of St. Francis Catholic Church. He is also a member of the Western Catholic Union.

Casper, a farmer in section 19 of Melrose Township, is one of the prominent men of that locality. His home on South Thirty-sixth Street is noted for its hospitality and is modern in every way, with electric lights, bath, running water and furnace. Ile is a farmer who makes a specialty of Jersey cattle, thoroughbred and in the Register of Merit. Class A. A. At present he holds the office of food administrator for the township, and is also a school trustee. Ile is a member of Branch No. 30 of the Western Catholic Union, and of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He and his wife have five children. His wife was formerly Miss Nellie Chase.

Mary, the only daughter, married L. F. Albers, and they reside at Fort Mad- ison, Iowa, where Mr. Albers is in the grocery business and is present city clerk of that municipality. They are devout members of St. Mary's Catholic Church and are parents of two children.

Christian C. was educated in the parochial school and also in the Gem City Business College and for fifteen years was general sales manager for the Williamson Produce Company. Since the death of C. H. Williamson he has had a clerical position with the Pape and Loos Milling Company, Mr. Pape being his father-in-law. He is married to Miss Jessie Pape, and has two children. Ile is a Knight of Columbus, a member of the Western Catholic Union, and of St. Francis Church. He lives in Quincy.

Lawrence, who is now manager of his father's farm, had a common school education and has developed into a splendid practical farmer. He is a breeder of Jersey cattle, line bred, and his cows are the Register of Merit, Class A. A. Ile is married and has two children, his wife being formerly Miss Ida Dunker. They are members of St. Mary's Church, and he is also a member of the Western Catholie Union.

Clarence F., the youngest child, lives on his fifteen acre farm on South Twenty-Fourth Street in Melrose. Ile also is a capable agriculturist and has all the qualities of a successful farmer. Besides his own place he is farming the Erke estate. He has a modern home, his wife being formerly Miss Helen Thieman, of Quincy. They are members of St. Mary's Church. He is a Knight of Columbus, also a member of the Western Catholic Union.

Mrs. Mast, the mother of these children was born in Quiney August 1, 1850, and was educated both in the German and English schools. For over thirty

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years she held up her noble part as wife and mother and homemaker, and it was not alone in her own family that she was missed when she died suddenly August 8, 1902. Her remains were laid to rest in St. Boniface Cemetery. Her family was always with her the first consideration and object of her care.

Mr. Christian Mast has shared many of the honors and responsibilities of good American citizenship. A democrat in politics, he cast his first presidential vote for Tilden more than forty years ago. He.served several years as a tax collector, twenty-four years as township clerk, three years as road commissioner, twenty years as president of school trustees, and he is now chairman of the school board, and for twenty years has been trustee of St. Mary's Catholic Church. For the past eight years among other duties he has acted as justice of the peace. In his party he served as delegate to numerous county conven- tions. He is now living in comfort on his beautiful estate in Melrose Township, and has well earned the esteem of his neighbors and friends by a life of honest and upright integrity and earnest and fruitful effort.

WILLIAM W. WILLIAMS, M. D. Of the men devoted to the practice of medi- cine in Adams County few brought to bear upon their calling larger gifts of scholarship and personal resources than Doctor Williams, who has been in practice at Quincy more than twenty-four years, and a member of the medical profession over thirty-five years. His home and offices are at 1250 Maine Street.

An authentic genealogy is extant showing that Doctor Williams is one of the descendants of the great Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation. Some eight or nine generations separate the Quincy physician from that pioneer character whose name is made familiar to every American school child. As Roger Williams was a pioneer in exploration and discovery as well as in the domain of religion and thought. so the pioneer instinct has descended to his descendants and was notably expressed by Doctor Williams' grandfather, Gamaliel B. Williams, who became one of the first pio- neer settlers of Lonisa County, Iowa. He went to the Territory of Iowa from Indiana, and settled at what is now Columbus City. That was then a district inhabited by Indians and wild animals, and was a lonely and isolated prairie on which he established his first home. Gamaliel Barstow Williams had the sturdiness of character which enabled him to endure the sufferings of the first settlers, and he not only made a good home but bore himself as a substantial citizen in his enlarging community. He died there when past fourscore years of age. In nearly all the generations of the family its members have been noted for their remarkable strength and athletic prowess. Gamaliel B. Williams married a Miss Hall, whose father, James Hall, was also of New England stock. She died in Iowa some years before her husband, when past forty years of age. Both had become converted to the preachings of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian Church, and Grandfather Williams was for many years an elder in the church.

At the old homestead in Iowa Dr. Wright Williams, father of the Quincy physician, was born nearly eighty years ago. That old homestead is still kept by the family. Dr. Wright Williams grew up in his native town, studied med- icine under a prominent local practitioner, Doctor Overholtz, and after his marriage practiced there until 1867, when he removed to Unionville. Putnam County, Missouri, and for nearly half a century was one of the leading men of his profession in that part of Missouri. He died at Harris, Missouri, March 28, 1918. He was an official member of the Christian Church for many years. In Iowa Dr. Wright Williams married Sarah S. Geisinger, who was born near Medina County, Ohio, daughter of John and Lydia (Overholt) Geisinger, who were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and spent their last years in Missouri. Mrs. Sarah Williams is still living at the age of seventy-five.

Dr. William W. Williams was born at Columbus City, Iowa, July 4, 1861, and was six years old when his parents moved to Unionville, Missouri. His early home influence were calculated to bring out the best in his talents and

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abilities, and from the local schools he entered the University of Iowa, where he graduated in medicine in 1884. Later he took post-graduate studies in the New York Polyclinic and at Chicago. For several years he practiced with his father, spent four years in professional work at Wichita, Kansas, and in Octo- ber, 1894, came to Quincy, where his reputation as a capable medical man and surgeon has been steadily growing. During most of these years he has been a member of the surgical staff of Blessing Hospital, is a leading member of the County and State Medical societies and a member of the American Medical Association. Since he was seventeen years old Doctor Williams has been a working member of the Christian Church, and for years has held the post of deacon and trustee in that church. Mrs. Williams is a member of the same church.

Doctor Williams married Anna Tatman, member of one of the substantial families of Unionville, Missouri. She was born in Illinois, daughter of James E. and Lavina Tatman. Mrs. James E. Tatman is seventy-nine years old and has made her home with Dr. and Mrs. W. W. Williams since the death of her husband, James E. Tatman, July 31, 1916. To the marriage of Doctor and Mrs. Williams were born five children, one now deceased. Their daughter Nita is the wife of Judge Fred G. Wolf, of Quincy. Doctor and Mrs. Williams have two soldier representatives in the family. The son James R. is a graduate of the Quincy High School and the State University of Illinois, and is now president of the Ellington Electric Company of Quincy. He volunteered and entered the School of Artillery at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and was in training when the armistice was signed. He married Florence Halbach, and they have one daughter, Constance. The second son, Robert T., is in the Observation Balloon Works and was at the front under fire for four months. This son is a graduate of the high school, spent one year in the University of Illinois and two years in Leland Stanford University in California, and is a member of the Observa- tion Balloon Corps with rank of first lieutenant. He married Marjorie Curry, of California. They have one son, Robert T. Williams, Jr. Doctor Williams' youngest son, Gordon H. Williams, age fifteen years, is a student in the Quincy High School.

GEORGE HUBER is one of the well known residents of Melrose Township, and occupies a fine farm that has been in the ownership of the Huber family for over sixty years.

He was born on that farm September 16, 1858, son of Lawrence and Eliz- abeth (Zoph) Huber, the former a native of Baden and the latter of Bavaria. After coming to Adams County they settled in the woods of Melrose Township, having only a one-room log house as a home, and there Lawrence Huber carried on the activities which were interrupted by his early death about 1860. He left his widow with seven children. His widow died in 1896, at the age of seventy- two. Their seven children were: Virginia, who married Fred Wellmann and died in middle life; Adam Huber, who died at the age of sixty-one in Melrose Township; John, of Montana; Mary, Mrs. Fred Jeddy, of Palmyra, Missouri ; Lawrence, of Quincy ; George; and Lizzie, Mrs. Martin Wolf, who lives on the Payson Road in Melrose Township.

Adam Huber married Elizabeth Rupp. He was a farmer and spent his last days with his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Ehrhardt. His wife died in Quincy. Adam Huber had two daughters, Mary and Sophia, the latter the wife of Joseph Ehrhardt and the former unmarried.

George Huber has spent all his life on the old farm of 105 acres, buying out the other interests at the death of his parents. He erected a good house and barn, and has devoted his attention steadily to the business of farming. He has served as school director. On November 15, 1885, he married Miss Frances Meyer, daughter of Landon and Katie (Ohnemus) Meyer. She was born in Burton Township. They have two living children. George is now in Camp

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 89

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