USA > Illinois > Henry County > The biographical record of Henry County, Illinois > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
Dr. Eaton began her education in the common schools and later attended the high school of Kewanee, after which she success- fully took up the study of medicine, and was graduated at Bennett Medical College, Chicago, in 1896. After practicing in that city for six months, she came to Cambridge atid opened an office. She makes a specialty . i the diseases of women and children, and ix meeting with most excellent success in her chosen profession. She was the first lady
physician in Cambridge and her skill and ability have won for her a liberal patronage. Pleasant and agreeable in manner, she makes many friends, is held in high regard by all who know her, and stands deservedly high in professional circles. Religiously she is a member of the Christian Church.
JOHN A. LARSON.
No foreign element has become a more important part in our American citizenship than that furnished by Sweden. The emi- grants from that land have brought with them to the new world the stability, enter- prise and perseverance characteristic of their people and have fused these qualities with the progressiveness and indomitable spirit of the west. Mr. Larson, who is now livingg a retired life in Osco, is a worthy representa- tive of this class. He came to America in limited circumstances, hoping to benefit his financial condition, and his dreams of the future have been more than realized.
Mr. Larson was born in Uppby hamlet, Recta, Lyndkopenlane, Sweden, August 17, 1826, a son of Lars and Engred ( Peter- son) Johnson. His father died in that country and later his mother came to the new world, where her death occurred. He followed farming throughout life. Of the eight children born to them two sons died in infancy and two in early childhood, while four reached years of maturity, namely : Nels P., who is still living on the old home- stead in Sweden; John A., our subject : Jonas W., a farmer of Andover township; and Andrew Gust, who lives near the village of Osco, in Osco township.
The early education of Mr. Larson was
JOHN A. LARSON.
119
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
such as the boys of My native land usually obtained at that day. He studied his lessons at his mother's spinning wheel, and then joining a class recited them to the minister of the parish. As far as known he was the first person in his parish to emigrate to America. When twelve years of age he found at the home of a companion a goog raphy in which he gained some knowledge. of this country and the animals ghat inhab- ited it, and resolved to make this his future home. He saved his money with the vien of carrying out thi, determination, and at length, at the age of twenty two. bat enrigh money to pay his passage. For five years he had worked, receiving on an average of fifty cents per month in American com. Itis father owned eighty acres of land, which he helped to improve and which was worth about fifteen hundred dollars in Swelisi money, and his interest in this was about one-sixth, which he finally sold to his older brother, whose employer, by advancing his wages, enabled him to pay. Frion this he re ceived about forty dollars in American mon- ey, and to it added the money he had man aged to save from his wages. In 1848 he took passage on a schooner at Guttenberg. and after a voyage of seven weeks landed at Boston, whence he came direct to Andover, Ilinois. The first railroad he ever saw wis the one between Boston and Albany, oover which he rode to the latter city, and from there proceeded by the Erie canal to Buffalo; by the Great Lakes to Chicago; by canal to Uft he has never fully recovered, as his back
Peru, Illinois ( but walking most of the way on account of banks leaking ), and by teain t Andover. In the party was Gust Johns mi and others to the number of twenty.
Mr. Larson obtainel a situation willi Rev. Pillsbury, to whose care, while ill with typhoid fever, he owes his life. He worked 6
as a farin hand until the fall of 18448, when with others he went to Galesburg to find em- ployment, and worked as a tender to masons 1: ho were erecting an academy at that place. Subsequently he was employed in the wagon shop of Fuller & Bergen until the spring of 1851, during which time he partly learned1 the business. In company with two others he then started for California across the plains and endured many hardships and pri- vations incident to such a journey, including troudes with the Indians. At Fort Kear- Hey, Nebraska, a company of about fifty vagyis was formed, with about three men t , sich wagon. Mr. Tucker, an old Indian tinder from Indiana, was elected captain of the train, and had it not been for lus leader- ship possibly all would have perished. Ile carefully instructed them in regard to the ¡ reservation of life, and years afterward Mr. Larson gratefully remembered a part of his teaching. On the roth of February, 1898, he was thrown from a bridge across Edwards river into that stream, which was then at laghwater mark and full of floating ice. Ilis horse and carriage went down with him. Hle was partially stunned by the fall, and on regaining consciousness he remembered Cap- tain Pucker telling his men that when thrown into water or swimming in swift running water towing a line never to guide a horse but give him rein and keep cool, with mouth dosed, breathing through the nose. This he did and managed to reach the bank in safety, was severely injured in the fall. Edwards river bas since been dre lged ane converted in to what is now knownas the Henry conn- t, litch, Mr. Larson being one of the orig- inators of the enterprise. On arriving in Califorir t he engaged m prospecting and mining fon little over a year, by like nony
¡20
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
others he did not meet with very gratifying success, and accordingly returned to Illinois by way of San Francisco, the isthmus of Panama, Cuba, Jamaica and New York. He resumed work at the bench in the shop of his former employers, and in the spring of 1853 moved to Rev. Pillsbury's old residence in Andover, this county, it being his first home in this country.
That year Mr. Larson was united in mar- nage with Miss Martha Hedstrom, who was born in Sweden in 1830, and came to this country as one of Bishop Hill's colony. She died in September, 1878. To them were born three sons and five daughters, all of whom reached man and womanhood, but
Two sons are now deceased. John O., the eldest, is engaged in the manufacture of brems in California, where he has made Ins home since 1878. Emily Caroline, a resident of St. Louis, is the widow of Leoni- das MIcFarland, a son of one of the old set- tlers of Andover township, this county. He lied in Iowa leaving one son, Roy A., who was on the battleship Boston when Dewey captured Manila. On his way home he was taken ill at Port Said and has since been in poor health, although he is now in business with an uncle at Eldora, lowa. He brought Nome many Spanish and other relics from the places he visited, and feels justly proud of the Dewey medal which he wears. He also lias a shell which came nearly ending his life, it striking four inches above his Icad. Ida M., the second daughter of our Chject, is the wife of John I. Wheelan, who engaged in the advertising business in St. Lous, Cordelia is the wife of Robert Fle- lenty, of New York. Mary J. and Olive are 10 at home with their father.
To 1852 Mr. Larson purchased a tract of woodland from Mr. Pillsbury, and convert-
ed the timber into lumber, from which he manufactured wagons. He also bought a farm near Andover, and for many years was actively engaged in farming and wagon- making, but since 1890 has lived a retired life. In his business undertaking's he met with excellent success and added to his land- ed possessions from time to time until he now owns nearly six hundred acres of improved property which he rents. For some years he also followed auctioneering very success- fully, his territory extending from Rock river into Knox and Mercer counties. In May, 1900, he moved to the village of Osco, where he built a good comfortable dwelling house and where he is now living in ease and retirement, surrounded by all the comforts of life.
Mr. Larson is a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church, and is one of its most lib- eral supporters. He has always been liberal ini religious matters and has helped toward building many different churches. Politi- cally he is a strong Prohibitionist, and has served his fellow citizens faithfully and well as commissioner of highways thirty years. justice of the peace twenty-eight years, and in school offices many years. Public- spirited and progressive to an eminent de- gree, his support is always given every worthy enterprise for the public good. At one time he saved the Swedish Insurance Company from failure by financial aid, and through his influence, and that of others, the company was incorporated and placed on a strong financial basis. Over half a century he has been identified with the interests of Hen- ry county, and he is to-day numbered among its most valued and useful citizens-a man lionored and respected wherever known. There are only one or two Swedes in the county who were here before him.
------- ----------
1
121
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
W. PITT WRIGHT.
This well-known retired farmer of Orion, first came to Illinois in April, 1848. and was for many years identified with the agricultural interests of Rock Island county. where he located in May, 1852, but since April, 1881, has made his home in Orion, Ilenry county. Ile is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Goshen township. Belmont county, that state, on the 16th wi March, 1827. His father, Benjamin G. Wright, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1798, and came to America with his father, Joseph Wright, in 1802, or 1804, being among the first settlers of Behnont county, Ohio. Joseph Wright laid out and founde I the town of Belmont, and being a well ed ucated man he became one of the pioneer teachers of that county. In religious belief hc was a Quaker. In Belmont county Ben jamin G. Wright grew to manhood and married Jane B. Broomhall, a native of Penn sylvania, her father being also a pioneer set- tler of that county. In early life he fol- lowed the cabinet maker's trade, but later engaged in farming. In 1851 he came to Illinois, and after a short time spent in Han- cock county took up his residence in Rural township, Rock Island county, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying there in 1890, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-two years. His wife passed away No- vember 11, 1869.
Upon his home farm in his native coun- ty W. Pitt Wright passed the days of his boyhood and youth, receiving rather lim- ited educational advantages. On coming to Illinois in 1848, he first located in Hancock county, but, in partnership with a cousin, he owned and operated a threshing machine two seasons, in Marshall and Bureau coun-
ties, Illinois, but working on the farm the remainder of each year in Hancock county. In 1852 he took up his residence in Coal Valley, now Rural township, Rock Island county, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he converted into a good farm. In 1873 he purchased a section of land in Adams county, Iowa, of which lic gave his daughter a quarter-section. In 1880 he sold a half-section, and yet retains a quarter-section of well improved land. Renting his property he removed to Orion in 1881 and erected his present comfortable residence. Although he came to this state in limited circumstances, he has steadily overcame the obstacles in his path to success, and is to-day the owner of two well-improved and valuable farms besides his town prop- efty, and can well afford to lay aside all business cares and enjoy the fruits of former toil.
Returning to his old home in Belmont c ninty, Ohio, Mr. Wright was married, De- cember 31, 1850, to Miss Mary Eliza Gregg, also a native of that county, of which her father, John S. Gregg, was a pioneer. For fifty years they have now traveled life's journey together, sharing its joys and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity, and it is their intention to celebrate their golden wedding on the 3Ist of December, 1900. They are the parents of four children, name- ly : Clara E., wife of James W. Alexander, a retired citizen of Lenox, Taylor county, Iowa; Frank G., who died at the age of twenty-three years; Harry P., who is mar- ried and successfully engaged in business in Orion; and Bertha May, wife of John H. Spencer, operator and agent for the Santa Fe railroad at Ottawa, Kansas.
In his political affiliations Mr. Wright is a Jacksonian Democrat, and cast his first
122
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
presidential vote for Franklin Pierce, in academy in Amherst. Throughout his active 1852. He has filled the office of commis- sioner of highways, and has also served as a member of the school board, but has never sought political honors. For over half a cen- tury he has witnessed the wonderful growth and development that have taken place in this section of the state, and in this work he has borne an active part. When he first located here deer, geese, turkeys and other wild game was plentiful, but all have dis- appeared as the country has become more thickly settled, and all the comforts of an advanced civilization have been introduced.
S. HENRY BURROWS.
S. Henry Burrows, an enterprising and progressive agriculturist of Henry county, whose home is on section 12, Andover town- ship, was born in Franklin county, Massa- chusetts, August 20, 1862, and came to this county in 1868 with his parents, Barnard H. and Susan C. (Gonld) Burrows. The Burrows family was founded in America about 1700, and the father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all natives of Frank- Im county, Massachusetts. The last named was a soldier of both the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812, while the maternal great-grandfather of our subject also fought For the independence of the colonies in the Turmer struggle. His ancestors have always been associated with agricultural pursuits.
Barnard H. Burrows was the eldest of Mmsbek, of live children, one of whom is still Tomy boyi Bunaste, who resides in Green- nel, ble cimento. During his boyhood
business life he followed farming, and owned a good farm of ninety acres in his native state, adjoining which is now locat- ed the Moody school. December 14, 1858, lic married Miss Susan C. Gould, a native of Canaan, New Hampshire, and to them were born four children, namely : Alice, now the wife of Frederick W. Hall, of Crookston, Minnesota; Minnie, at home : S. Henry, of this review ; and Leon .A., a resi- cient of Dillon, Montana. All were born in Massachusetts. In 1868 the father brought his family to Illinois and settled in Cam- bridge. The following year he purchased the farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 12, Andover township, which has since been the homestead of the family, and was successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising until called to his final rest April 3, 1895, at the age of sixty-four years. Politically he was a supporter of the Republican party, and religiously was a sup- porter of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In business affairs he was upright and re- liable, and in all the relations of life was to und true to every trust reposed in him. Ilis estimable wife still survives him at the age of sixty-four years, and continues to re- side on the old homestead.
S. Henry Burrows, of this review, grad- uated at the Cambridge high school in 1881. as did also his sister Minnie. He remained on the home farm assisting his father in its operation until 1883, when he went to North Dakota and took up a homestead in Benson county, remaining there about thirteen years, during which time he placed the land under a high state of cultivation and made many improvements thereon in the way of buildings. He still retains the same, and derives therefrom a good income. In the ia"
.
123
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
o! 1895 he returned to the old homestead in: Illinois, but still visits his Dakota farm each fall to see that everything is kept in perfect order. After the death of his father lie assumed charge of the home place, which he continues to successfully operate, being engaged in general farming. Since the fa- ther's death a good residence has been erect- ed and is fitted up with all modern conven- iences. As a Republican Mr. Burrows takes an active and commendable interest in public affairs, and while a resident of Da- kota served two terms as county commis sioner in a most creditable and acceptable manner. He is one of the most public- spirited and enterprising citizens of his community, and gives his support to all worthy objects for the publie good.
CHARLES M. SAMUELSON.
For a period of about forty years Charles M. Samuelson was one of the most active and successful farmers of Henry county. Fawning and operating a well-improved and Valuable place of four hundred and eighty acres pleasantly located two miles from Or- ion, but he is now living a retired life in that village, having acquired a comfortable com- petence that enables him to lay aside all busi- ness cares.
Like many of the best citizens of Henry county. Mr. Samuelson is a native of Swe- den, where his birth occurred November 28. 1826. His parents were Samuel and Anna (Nelson) Johnson, in whose family were six sons and one daughter, the latter being Mrs. Magnuson, of Osco township. this county. The two older sons remained in Sweden, but the other members of the
family came with the parents to the United States.
Our subject was reared on a farm in his native land, and received the rudiments of an education at his mother's knee, but is almost wholly self-educated. In 1851 he took pas- sage on a sailing vessel at Wurtemburg, and was about thirteen weeks in crossing the ocean to New York, during which time the ship encountered a number of severe storms. In October of that year he went to Buffalo by way of the Hudson river and the Erie canal, and was engaged in chopping wood in the timber until the following spring, when he crossed the lakes to Chicago, whence he proceeded by canal boat to La Salle, Illi- nois, and by team to Andover, Henry county. Shortly afterward he went to Galesburg, where he worked by the month on a farm for two years, and did not locate perma- nently in Henry county until October, 1854. His father and three brothers also located here, and the former entered eighty acres of land in Western township, now owned by our subject. He commenced work here and later succeeded to the place. Prospering in his farming operations, he purchased more land from time to time, until he now owns four hundred and eighty acres. He has erected thereon a good residence, three barns, sheds and other outbuildings, has planted an orchard and made many other valuable in- provements on the place, so that it is now one of the most desirable farms in the locali- ty. He continued the cultivation of his fields until 1895, when he rented the farm and moved to Orion, where he owns a pleasant home.
In September, 1856, in Henry county, Mr. Samuelson was united in marriage with Miss Johanna Swanson, daughter of John Swanson, who was born and reared in Swe-
124
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
den, but came to Andover in 1853. They have become the parents of the following children : Albert, who is married and en- gaged in farming on the home place ; Peter and Edward, who are also married and fol- low farming in Western township: Victor, at home; Oscar, who operates a part of his father's land; Hannah, wife of Bert Butler, a noted vocalist, while she is a violinist of considerable ability, both having studied at the conservatory of music in Berlin ; Minnie, wife of William Westerlund, a business man of Chicago; and Mary, who died in child- hood.
Since casting his first presidential bal- lot for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, Mr. Sam- uelson has been unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party and its principles, but has never cared for political preferment. He has, however, taken an active interest in educational affairs as a member of the school board. Both he and his wife are earnest and consistent members of the Swedish Lu- theran Church,and are justly deserving the high regard in which they are uniformly held. Having started out in life for him- self empty-handed, his record is one well worthy of emulation and contains many val- uable lessons of incentive, showing the pos- sibilities that are open to young men who wish to improve every opportunity for ad- vancement.
JOHN M. MAVITY.
One of the prominent representatives of' the journalistic profession is the gentleman whose name introduces this brief notice, the editor and proprietor of the Chronicle of Cambridge. He was born in Decatur county, Indiana, May 14. 1802, a son of John A.
and Susan Z. ( Wise ) Mavity, both natives of Jefferson county, that state. His ma- ternal grandfather was Thomas Wise, a cousin of Governor Wise, of Virginia, who hung John Brown. The grandfather was a member of the first session of the Indiana state legislature, which convened at Corydon in 1824, and continued a member for many years, until after the capital was removed to Indianapolis. He died at the extreme old age of eighty-eight years. He was a farmer by occupation, and a soldier of the war of 1812. He took part in the battle of Tippe- canoe in 18II.
John A. Mavity, the father of our sub- ject, followed blacksmithing until after the Civil war broke out, but in June, 1862, he laid aside all personal interests to join the boys in blue of Company B, Sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He took part in the bat- tles of Stone River, Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga, and was with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign until the battle of Re- saca, when he was seriously wounded in the right leg above the knee. It was thought that the limb would have to be amputated, but he had one of his comrades get him a club, and with it he kept the surgeon away. After his recovery he remained in the hos- pital as assistant, and in that capacity did excellent service until discharged, in June. 1865. Returning to his home in Indiana. he followed his trade for a few years, and then entered the ministry of the Christian Church, with which he had united a number of years before the war. He successfully engaged in preaching for a quarter of a cen- tury in different parts of Michigan, Indi- ana and Illinois, filling some of the best pul- pits of his church, but now, at the age of sixty-seven years, is living a retired life in West Lebanon, Indiana, enjoying a well-
125
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
earned rest. His has been an honorable and useful life, in which he has labored untir- ingly for the good of his fellow men, and he has the respect and confidence of all who know him. His estimable wife is still living at the age of seventy-one, and is an active member of the same church. Of their four children, John M. is third in order of birth. Jesse, the oldest. is foreman of a tinplate factory in Atlanta, Indiana, where he resides with his wife and three children. Helen died in infancy. Thomas W. married Nettie Musick, of Eureka, Illinois, who died in 1896, and he died in 1898, at the age of thirty-two years, leaving two children- Maurine and Grace.
After pursuing a high-school course John M. Mavity attended Franklin College, and after completing his education engaged in teaching school for four years in Johnson and Bartholomew counties, Indiana, and six years in Warren county, that state, having charge of country schools two years, and later serving as principal of the schools of State Line and West Lebanon for two years each. In 1889 he purchased the West Leb- anon Gazette, which he successfully con- ducted until the Ist of August, 1900, when he sold that paper and bought the Chronicle of Cambridge, Illinois, which he is now pub- lishing. Having studied law, Mr. Mavity was admitted to the bar in 1892, and from that time until coming to Cambridge he served as city attorney of West Lebanon, Indiana, and also as notary public. He did, however, only an office practice.
Mr. Mavity was married in July, 1886, to Miss Laura F. Hendricks, of Hedrick, Indiana, a daughter of John L. and Bethier Hendricks, and by this union have been born two children: May and J. Earl. Our subject and his wife are both active members
of the Christian Church, and while a resi- dent of Indiana he served as clerk and elder in the same. Ile is also a prominent mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias and the Mod- ern Woodmen of America. In the former lie has filled every office and served as dele- gate to the grand lodge of the state, while in the Woodmen Camp he has served as venerable consul, a delegate to the grand lodge of Indiana, and to the supreme lodge. which met at Kansas City in 1899. Through the columns of his paper and by personal effort Mr. Mavity has done much to ad- vance the interests of the Republican party and insure its success, and was a member of the Republican central committee of War ren county, Indiana, from 1884 to 1898, inclusive, serving as secretary and chairman of the same from 1890 to 1896. He has also been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions of his party.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.