Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 94

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 94

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William J. Lepper was educated in both the English and German schools at Quincy, and sinee young manhood has been making his own way in the world. On October 11, 1887, at the age of twenty-four, he married Miss Mary A. Keppner. To their marriage were born six children, five sons and one daughter. The daughter, Ella May, is now deceased, but all the sons have grown or are growing to stalwart manhood. The oldest is Walter C., who was educated in the common schools and now lives on Thirtieth and Broadway

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and is engaged in the grocery business in Quiney. He is a republican. He married Minnie Robertson, and their two daughters are Grace and Helen. Wilbur G., the second son, is a substantial farmer of Melrose Township. He was likewise edueated in the common schools, and his voting is done as a repub- liean. By his marriage to Laura Hoerner there are three children, Virgil Walter, Pansy A. and Violet. Ilarvey H. was educated in the common schools and lives in Quiney. Ralph H. has completed his school work and is greatly inclined to the agricultural vocation and is living with his parents. Clar- ence Frederick, the youngest, is still in grade sehools.

Mrs. Lepper was born June 26, 1869, ninth of the ten children, six sons and four daughters, of Christian and Josephine (Stockley) Keppner. She and three other of the children are still living. Henry is a retired resident of Pasadena. California, was well educated and was a successful man during his active eareer, is a democrat and is a widower with three children. Christ Keppner is a practical and well to do farmer at Bluff Hall in Adams County and has a family of wife and three daughters, and one son now deceased. George is a farmer at LaPrairie in Adams County and has three daughters and one son.

Mrs. Lepper was educated in the common schools, and for thirty years since her marriage has sustained a noble and energetie part in rearing her family and assisting her husband in building up their home. Her father, Christian Keppner was born in Baden, Germany, May 18, 1824, and died February 25, 1891. He came to America when a young man in order to eseape the service of the German army, and from St. Louis made his way to Adams County. He worked for some years at the cooper's trade and finally bought eighty acres of land in Melrose Township. He was an arrival in Adams County when Quiney was a village and when the surrounding country was largely un- touched by the civilizing hand of man. In the early days he frequently cut eord wood, hauled it to town and sold it for 75c a cord. In politics he was affiliated with the democratic party. He and his wife are buried in St. An- tonius Cemetery. His wife also came from Baden, Germany, and was an infant when brought to this county, where she was reared and educated. She was born October 20, 1832, and died April 16, 1896.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lepper established their home on rented land, the old Keppner farm. They were there two years and then contracted to purchase the farm known as the old Beilstein place of 100 acres. It was a big responsibility they assumed. and they not only paid a large debt but with high interest rates. The difficulty of meeting their obligations was in- tensified because of low prices for products in those days. Mr. Lepper fre- quently sold wheat as low as 50 cents a bushel and hogs at 3144 cents a pound. Fortunately he has continued his operations long enough to reap the advan- tages of modern fancy war priees. In 1917 he sold some of his wheat for $3.20 a bushel. On April 1, 1918, he disposed of his hogs at $16.25 per 100. The first home of the Lepper family, where most of the children were born and reared, was a log house, with limited comforts and facilities. That old building is still standing as one of the considerable group of building im- provements that have grown up on the farm. They made their home in that log house for twenty-one years. It was replaced with the present handsome and substantial house, together with many outside improvements. Today the family have their home and property absolutely clear of debt, and the entire achievements stand as a most ereditable testimony to the good work and self denial of Mr. and Mrs. Lepper. Politically Mr. Lepper cast his first presi- dential vote for James G. Blaine and has always been a steadfast republican. He has served as a road overseer and has done what he could to support good highways. Mr. and Mrs. Lepper have surrounded themselves with many of the comforts and conveniences of life, including a good ear which takes them quickly to the city and to their distant friends.

Vol. II-37

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WILLIAM M. LOGUE, a retired eitizen of Clayton. has the enviable distine- tion of a man who has lived almost eighty years. More than six decades of that time have been spent in Adams County. Mr. Logue has put a great deal of experience, hard work and masterful activity into his lifetime. He has deserved well of his fellowmen, and some of the best riches he eounts are the friendships and companionships he has enjoyed.

He was born in West Virginia July 8, 1839, son of John and Elizabeth (Mahan) Logne. His father was born in West Virginia in 1810 and his mother in Brooke County of the same state, then Old Virginia, March 7, 1816. They were married March 8, 1838, and the mother died March 16, 1875, and the father in 1888. John Logue brought his family West and located in Adams County in 1855, settling in Clayton Township and acquiring 570 aeres of land there. He spent his last years on the old homestead with his son William. He was a demoerat and a member of the Presbyterian Church. John and Elizabeth Logne had the following children: William M .: Joseph, who died in infaney ; John C., who was born February 17, 1842, served in the Union army during the Civil war, was for many years a well known resident of Clayton Township, and is now living in Nebraska; Irvin, born July 17, 1843; James, born in 1845; Mary, born August 6, 1848; Albert, born February 12, 1850; Margaret E., born April 12, 1852; and Virginia, born January 25, 1855. Most of these children died young, five of them in 1855, and one in 1860. William and John C. are the only sons still living.

William M. Logue was sixteen years of age when he arrived with his par- ents in Adams County on April 8, 1855. He had attended school in West Virginia and also an academie institution at Paris, Pennsylvania. It is a long look backward to his school days, but Mr. Logue reealls with appropriate pride the fact that while at Paris he was given a prize for his penmanship. After reaching Adams County his routine was one of hard work on the farm, helping his father elear up the land, and eventually he succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead of 570 aeres in Clayton Township, and also had some land in Brown County. In later years he sold a quarter seetion from the old farm, but still owns 410 aeres, under a high state of cultivation, a most valu- able property. In March, 1915, Mr. Logne left the care of the farm to others and moved to the village of Clayton, where he has one of the good homes. He is a demoerat in politics, and for fifteen years while living in the country served as road commissioner. He is a devout Baptist and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

October 17, 1861, fifty-seven years ago, Mr. Logue married Harriet E. Davis, who was born in Clayton Township January 6, 1844, daughter of Wash- ington and Naney (Chipman) Davis. Her father was a native of Virginia and her mother of North Carolina, and they were among the pioneer citizens of Clayton Township, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mr. Logue and wife had five children: Curran E., born August 31, 1862, a farmer in Clay- ton Township, who married Effie Curry; Julia B., born Jannary 11, 1865, and died in infaney; Nannie C., born October S. 1867, and died in October, 1914, the wife of B. F. Clark, and their only child, Floyd Clark, died in 1915; William Chester, born February 25, 1869, was formerly a merchant at Clay- ton, and by his marriage to Neva Kirkpatrick had one ehild, Nina; and Lizzie, born July 25, 1870, wife of G. W. Sargent and mother of one child, Elvira.

Mr. Logue's father before coming to Adams County lived in what is known as the Panhandle of West Virginia, near the Ohio River. He was a farmer and also participated in the transportation of that day, taking a flatboat of goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, disposing of his eargo at New Orleans, and returning either on foot or by boat. Mr. and Mrs. William Logue have always been very active in church and Sunday sehool, and have been among the leading supporters of the Baptist denomination in their part of the county. When in the high tide of his work as a farmer Mr. Logue did mueh ·

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in the breeding of Polled Angus cattle, and was one of the large cattle feeders of the township.

GOTTLIEB BUNTE. The home of Gottlieb Bunte and his capable and en- terprising wife and companion, to whom he gives the chief credit for their splendid success and prosperity, is at 2615 State Street, Quiney, in Melrose Township.

Mr. Bunte was born in Herford, Germany, November 9, 1857, and was eight years of age when he came to the United States with his parents, Casper and Louisa (Hadenherst) Bunte. His father was a stone mason and buteher by trade and also a farmer. A cousin, Herman Bunte, had come to Quiney some years previously, and that was the attraction which brought Casper and his family to Quincy. He arrived with some means and soon bought a resi- denee on Jackson between Eighth and Ninth streets. That was his home until he went to a farm, and in the meantime he followed his trade as a stone mason. For some years he farmed at Fowler Station, but finally returned to his trade in Quincy and his old home. ITis last years were spent partly with a son Her- man in Burton Township, but his very last days were passed quietly with his son Gottlieb, who dutifully looked after both his parents in their old age. His mother died on her eighty-fourth birthday and his father passed away at the age of eighty. There were five children in the family. Herman is a farmer in Columbus Township. Henry, who died at the age of thirty-three, was a foundryman. William, known as "Big Bill," died at the age of fifty-seven, and his son, Gustav A., is now a farmer and is also a elerk in the postoffice at Quincy. William, known as "Little Bill," was adopted at the death of his mother. His father had requested that he he known as William, and in order to distinguish these two sons in the Bunte family one was called Big Bill and the other Little Bill. Little Bill is now a retired farmer at Twenty-fifth and Broadway in Quiney. The next in age is Gottlieb, and his sister Hannah married Henry Hayner and died leaving five children.

Gottlieb Bunte learned the moulder's trade, beginning in 1875 in the Com- stock foundry. That was his business for over thirty years, until 1906, and most of his work was done in the same shop. For eleven years he was at the Sheridan factory. Most of his experience as a foundryman was in the molding of stoves. In 1906 Mr. Bunte moved to his present farm of twenty-three aeres just outside the city limits, where he established a dairy and is still sup- plying a large line of old customers with milk. He has a herd of twelve eows, Holstein and Guernseys. He also keeps a number of pure bred Hampshire hogs.

This place was the old Von der Reith place of Mrs. Bunte's father, Henry Von der Reith, who erected the house twenty years ago, a substantial two- story, briek, six-room house, first elass in every particular and comparing fa- vorably with many eity homes. Mrs. Bunte had eared for her parents some years, and after their deaths she bought the place.

At the age of twenty Mr. Bunte married for his first wife Anna Wellhaner. Their companionship continued for seventeen years. By this marriage Mr. Bunte had three children: Mrs. Nora Lepper, of Quiney; Arthur, a farmer in Colorado; and Elsie, at home.

January 16, 1902, Mr. Bunte married Miss Adele Von der Reith. She was born in Hanover, Germany, and was twelve years of age when she came to the United States with her parents, Henry and Catherine Von der Reith. Her father was an employe in a paper mill until he took up farming on land sub- sequently ineluded in the campus of the Chaddoek College at Quincy. He bought this land from Mr. Littlefield, who had owned the site of Chaddoek College. Henry Von der Reith died on his farm at the age of seventy-nine and his wife at sixty-five. Both had been solieitously cared for in their later years by Gottlieh and Adele Bunte. Mrs. Bunte's only brother is Claus Von der Reith, a gardener located at Twenty-fourth and Jefferson streets in Quiney.

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Mrs. Bunte inherited half of her parents' estate and bought the interest of her brother in the other half. She has been a splendid helpmate to her hus- band and a most methodical and thorough business woman. Mr. Bunte dates his real prosperity and substance from his marriage to Mrs. Bunte. Besides their home property they have city property.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunte have two children, Mary, in the office of the Quincy Stove Works, and Walter. Walter, aged fifteen, is very popular along the Bunte milk route, where he delivers the product of the dairy to the eustomers, many of whom are among the best people in Quiney and look upon Walter as a member of their own families.

JAMES B. COE. For fifty years the name of Coe has been a factor in the mercantile and other lines of business at Clayton, and in Concord Township, a few miles south, there is a large body of fine farming land which has never been out of the Coe title since the government transferred it to private owner- . ship.

It was on that land, which he now owns, that James Bissell Coe was born in Concord Township June 25, 1853, son of Henry P. and Mary Ellen (Bis- sell) Coe. His parents were both natives of Connecticut. Henry P. Coe was born in that state November 27, 1817, son of Henry and Sophronia ( Elmar) Coe. Mary Ellen Bissell was born in Connecticut in 1818. They married in that state, moved to Ohio in 1837. and in 1842 arrived in Adams County and acquired a traet of government land in Concord Township. Henry P. Coe extended his possessions until he was owner of 500 aeres there. He was also a traveling salesman for a number of years. His wife died in 1865, and in 1866 he removed to the Village of Clayton, where he engaged in the hard- ware and tin business. He was quite active in democratie politics, serving in local offices in Concord Township. He died at Clayton January 18, 1897, when in his eightieth year. He was the father of four children by his first marriage : Henry P., born November 27. 1847; Mary Ellen, born in 1850, and died in 1854; James B., born June 25, 1853; and Charles A., born De- cember 30, 1855. Henry P. Coe married for his second wife Mrs. Helen (Brown) Le Saage. They had one child, Edwin B.

James B. Coe spent his life on his father's farm until he was twelve years of age, and afterwards attended the village schools of Clayton and was also in school in Chicago for a time. In 1883 his father's place of business at Clay- ton was burned out, and in the reorganization that followed in 1884 James B. Coe took over the hardware department and continued that business from 1884 until 1909, a period of twenty-five years. Mr. Coe also owns a farm near Clayton, and his place in Concord Township comprises 386 aeres. He handles his crops and his land through the serviees of tenants and hired help.

Mr. Coe is a democrat, as was his father before him, and has served two terms as president of Clayton Village, for about twelve years was a member of the school board, and president of the board when the new school house was built, and during the second administration of Cleveland was appointed postmaster and filled that office six years. He is affiliated with Clayton Lodge No. 147, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Clayton Chapter No. 104, Royal Arch Masons, Delta Commandery No. 48, Knight Templar, and he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star and he also belongs to the Modern Wood- men of America. They attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Coe was secretary of the Clayton Building and Loan Association during its ex- istenee.

June 24, 1885, he married Miss Mary C. Smith. Mrs. Coe was born in Pike County, Illinois, at Perry. Mareh 9, 1862, daughter of Milby and Elvira (Summers) Smith. IIer father died March 14, 1879, and her mother in 1875.

Mr. and Mrs. Coe have one daughter. Mary Greta, who has had a very un- usual experience and success as an educator. She was born December 6.

LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

FREDERICK MILLER

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1886, was educated in the Clayton High School, in the Illinois Woman's Col- lege of Jacksonville, of which she is a graduate, and she now holds a life cer- tificate as teacher from the State of Illinois and also from Indiana. For five years she was connected with the public schools of Clayton, was also located at Roseville, Illinois, and for a time at River Forest in Cook County. She is now supervisor of music in the schools of La Porte, Indiana.

JAMES HENRY CRAIG. The Craig family have been identified with Liberty Township for over eighty years. The late James II. Craig was born in that township nearly seventy-five years ago, and was long one of its most capable farmers and hardworking and straight-forward citizens.

He was born on an adjoining farm June 23, 1844, and died at his home place in section 36, five miles southeast of Liberty Village, June 9, 1909, aged sixty-four years, eleven months and seven days. His father, John Craig, was born in Kentucky August 10, 1812, and when a child went with his parents to Indiana. In 1830 he came to Adams County and settled in Liberty Township. In 1836 John Craig married Agnes Farmer. She was born in Alabama May 18, 1818, and was brought to Adams County by her father in 1835. John Craig was one of the prosperous pioneers of Liberty Township, owned 400 acres of land, and died August 28, 1877. He and his wife had twelve children, and of those to reach mature years there were four daughters and six sons, named Milton, Sarah A .. Charles W., James H., Perleta J., John C., Jasial, Andrew J., Lucy E. and Malvina A. Those who survived James Henry and have since died were : Sarah, Mrs. Gordon, who died at Santa Rosa, California; Mrs. Luey Hunsaker, of Decatur, Arkansas: Mrs. Malvina Callahan, of Wichita, Kansas; Jesse, of Timewell, Illinois; Jackson, who lived with his brother James: and Paulina A. Miller. Those who died before James were Milton, who served as a Union sol- dier from 1862 in the Seventy-Eighth Illinois Infantry to the end of the war, and afterwards lived in Liberty Township and died about a year before his brother James ; Robert, who died in early yonth; and Charles, who died at the age of thirty-five.

May 23, 1883, James Henry Craig married Miss Sarah Miller. Theirs was an ideal companionship for over a quarter of a century. For four years James Craig served as deputy sheriff under his cousin, George Craig, and during that time lived in Quincy and had charge of the jail. His home farm comprises 160 acres, a part of his father's old homestead. James Craig built the present house just before his marriage and afterward put np barns and there lived an indus- trious and peaceful life. He was a democrat. He was not a church member but attended the Pleasant View Baptist Church of which Mrs. Craig is a member.

FREDERICK MILLER was one of the pioneers of Adams County, and the family have been numbered among the good citizens of this locality for over eighty years.

Frederick Miller was born in Germany February 5, 1821, son of David and Dora Miller. When he was a small boy his parents came to the United States, lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio several years, and in 1836 established their home in Liberty Township of Adams County, near the present village of Kingston. David Miller and wife both reached advanced years, she passing away at the age of eighty. David Miller finally moved to Liberty Township with his three sons. Frederick, Gottlieb and Jacob, all of whom settled in the same locality. Jacob later moved to Hancock County and died there in advanced years. Gottlieb spent his last days at Barry, where he died January 12, 1896. His son, William Miller, is a merchant at Barry. Jacob has a son David who is in the lumber business at Carthage, Illinois.

Frederick Miller was about fifteen years old when he came to Adams County. Ile grew up here and in November, 1847, married Elizabeth Perkins. She was born in Iowa August 30, 1830, and died July 30, 1908. Her parents were Solomon and Mary, or Polly (Ogle), Perkins. Solomon Perkins was born in Kentucky and was brought to Ilinois at the age of seven years. At the age of

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nineteen he married Mary Ogle, then sixteen. She was born in St. Clair County. Illinois, in 1802, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Ogle. Solomon Perkins served as a captain in the Blackhawk Indian war, being at that time a resi- dent of Sangamon County, Illinois, About the elose of that war he moved to Des Moines County, Iowa, and in 1844 eame to Adams County. In 1852 he again went to Iowa, and when an old man, at the age of eighty-four, he moved out to Butler County, Nebraska, where he died December 17, 1886, at the age of eighty-six. His wife also died near David City, Nebraska, November 8, 1884, aged eighty-two.

Frederick Miller learned the blacksmith trade when a youth and set up a shop on his farm, working in it day and night and hiring help to run the farm until his own sons were old enough. His farm was on the township line between Liberty and Ridgefield townships, and contained 270 acres. It is still owned by his heirs. Frederick Miller was reared a Lutheran, and always adhered to that religion, while his wife was a Baptist.

Frederick Miller and wife had six children to reach mature years: Sarah, who was born on the old Miller farm November 28, 1848, and is now the widow of James H. Craig ; Isaae, a resident of Macomb, Illinois; George, who spent his life in Liberty Township and died at Coatsburg at the age of fifty-one; Mary, wife of William H. Barnard; Emma, who has never married and for years devoted herself self-sacrifieingly to earing for her parents at their old home and is now living with her sister Mrs. Craig; and Calvin F., a traveling salesman whose home is at Maeomb.

HENRY L. ADAIR, father of the present state's attorney of Adams County, has long been a prominent factor in the farming and stoek raising interests of the county, and though never inelined to polities made a very enviable reeord while on the board of supervisors.

Mr. Adair was born in Honey Creek Township December 14, 1855. His father, Willis M. Adair, was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, and came to Illinois when a young man. He bought 400 aeres in Honey Creek Town- ship, and lived on that place the rest of his life, clearing and improving and otherwise making his industrious presence felt. A few years after coming to Adams County he returned to Kentucky and brought some Short Horn Durham eattle, both male and female, and these no doubt were the first of these eattle brought to Adams County. Mr. Adair died April 6, 1866. He was one of the leaders in the democratie party, and served as assessor for fif- teen or twenty years and also as school director. He was twiee married. His second wife was Margaret J. Hester. She was born in Tennessee February 4, 1829, and came to Adams County when a young girl. She was still very young at the time of her marriage. She survived her husband half a century and at her death in January, 1917, lacked only a few days of being eighty-eight years of age. She kept her children together, reared them on the old farm, and about 1895 went to live with a daughter at St. Paul, Minnesota, afterward lived with a daughter at Springfield, Illinois, and about 1910 established her home in Clayton, where she could be near her son Henry L. Her four ehil- dren were: Henry L .; Joel D., a farmer at Carthage, Illinois; Emma, who was married to John MeGinley and died a few years later; and Amanda, wife of D. C. Frederick, a railroad man living at Springfield, Illinois.

Henry L. Adair grew up on the old farm in Honey Creek Township and had active charge of its eultivation and management from about the time he was fifteen or sixteen years old. When he was twenty-six he married Miss Emma Pevehouse, daughter of J. J. and Susan Pevehouse, of Brown County. Mrs. Adair was born in Brown County, her parents living four miles east of Clayton. In order that she might remain near them Mr. and Mrs. Adair sold their interests in Honey Creek Township and bought a place two miles east of Clayton in Adams County and half a mile from the Brown County line.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 94

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