USA > Illinois > Henry County > The biographical record of Henry County, Illinois > Part 15
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The well-known and popular superin- tendent of the Swedish Orphan Home in Andover township, was born in Vennland, that place; Simon, who is now attending
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Rush Medical College at Chicago; Hannah ; Selma, who is preparing herself for a trained nurse in Chicago; Carl, who is a student in Augustana College : and Luther.
Mr. Lincoln continued to reside in Kansas until September 1, 1896, when he ac- cepted the superintendency of the Swedish Orphan Home in Andover township, Henry county, Illinois, and removed to this place, and has since most creditably filled that re- sponsible position. This institution was or- ganized in Minnesota and belongs to the Augustana Synod. It is known as the Swed- ish Evangelical Orphan Home and School and was first located in Swedonia, Mercer county, Illinois, where a building was erect- ed in 1867 and dedicated the following year, but in 1869 the institution was transferred to Andover, Henry county. The first build- ing erected here answered all purposes until 1880, when what is now known as the main building was erected. The farm consists of four hundred and thirty acres, of which three hundred acres are under a high state of cultivation. The farm is largely oper- ated by the inmates under the supervision of Mr. Lincoln, and in 1899 they raised ten thousand bushels of corn upon the place. The first superintendent, S. P. Lindell, was succeeded by John S. Swanson, who filled that position for eight years. E. Hoogner, of Swedonia, was then superintendent for three years, and was followed by Gust John- son for two years, and J. E. Munell for eighteen months. Mr. Lincoln then took charge of affairs, and has most capably and acceptably filled the office since September, 1896. There are now forty inmates at the home, though the enrollment has been as high as sixty-eight. During the school year of 1899-1900, the school was conducted in English for seven months, and in Swedish
for three months. The present capacity is forty, and the inmates receive home care, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln being father and mother to all.
GEORGE J. SMITH.
.Among the leading and representative agriculturists , f Western township, stalwart and sturdy tiller, of the soil, there is none who stands a more prominent figure than George J. Smith, whose home is on section I, where since 1883 he has successfully en- gaged in general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Smith was born in Kombach, Ba- varia, Germany, on the 15th of October, 1851, a son of John P. and Margaret (Grampp) Smith, also natives of that coun- try, where the father followed farming until his emigration to the new world in 1856. On their arrival in this country the family first located in Maryland, but a year later came to Illinois, and the father opened up and improved a farm in Long Point town- ship, Livingston county, on which he spent his remaining days. He was born in 1805 and died in January, 1886. His wife died about five years later.
George J. Smith was about six years of age when he came to America with his par- ents, and in Livingston county he grew to manhood, aiding his father in the improve- ment and cultivation of the farm, which he subsequently purchased. He continued his residence there until after his marriage, but in 1883 removed to Henry county and pur- chased his present farm of three hundred and twenty acres, to the further improve- ment and cultivation of which he has since devoted his energies with most gratifying
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results. He has built a neat and substantial residence, good barns and other outbuild- ings, has set out an orchard and shade trees, and has a good system of water works op- erated by a wind pump. In fact, all of the conveniences and accessories of a model farm are there found, and the place is one of the most desirable farms of its size in the township. Mr. Smith makes a specialty of raising and feeding stock for market, and annually ships about four carloads of cattle and the same of hogs, being accounted one of the most successful farmers and stock- men of the county.
On the 16th of March, 1882, in Henry county, Mr. Smith married Miss Carrie Smith, who was born in Edford township, Henry county, a daughter of William Smith. who was one of the early settlers of the coun- ty, and improved the farm on which our sub- ject now resides. He was born near Hano- ver, Prussia, in 1822, and when about twenty years of age came to the United States, first locating in Cumberland, Maryland, where he married Caroline Emmert. also of German birth. In 1851 they came to Henry county, Illinois, and settled in Edford township. where he purchased land and still lives. He is an extensive land owner, and at one time was the owner of eleven hundred acres.
Having no children of their own, our subject and his wife have adopted a daugh- ter. Edna Smith, who was an orphan. They are active and consistent members of the Lutheran Church, and are highly respected and esteemed by all who know them on ac count of their sterling worth and many ex- cellencies of character. In his political views Mr. Smith is a stanch Republican, and has supported every presidential nominee of that party since casting his first vote for General
U. S. Grant in 1872. He is now serving as township trustee with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
AMOS A. DYAL.
Among the self-made men and honored citizens of Orion who have laid aside busi- ness cares to spend their declining years in peace and quiet is the subject of this review, who has been a resident of Henry county since the Ist of October, 1856. A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in the city of Pittsburg on the 7th of March, 1834. and is a son of William H. and Eliza A. (Stewart) Dyal, both natives of West Virginia, though their marriage was celebrated in the Key- stone state. The father was born in 1807, and in early life was engaged in flatboating on the Ohio river, running coal barges. He finally located on a farm in Coshocton coun- ty, Ohio, and devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. There he died in 1891 at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. The mother died in 1885.
On the home farm Amos Dyal grew to manhood, receiving but limitedl school priv- ileges in his youth. In the fall of 1856 he came west, arriving in Henry county, Illi- nois, on the Ist of October, and for about four years he worked by the month on the farm of L. C. Welton, one of the early set- tiers of Illinois, who came to Henry county from Peoria county. Later he rented land and engaged in farming on his own account for three or four years in Osco and Andover townships. In 1862 he purchased eighty acres of land on section 14, Western town- ship, but did not locate thereon until two
AMOS DYAL.
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years later. At time of purchase this was a wild tract, which Mr. Dyal fenced, broke and improved, and as his financial resources increased he added to his property from time to time until, he now owns two hundred and thirty-four acres of rich and arable land, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with a good set of farm buildings, including a pleasant resi- dence and two barns. He raised and fed considerable stock for market, and in all his undertakings met with a fair success.
In November, 1860, in Henry county, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Dyal and Miss Isabella McFarland, who was born and reared in Holmes county, Ohio, and died here in 1872, leaving two children. Ida Eliza, the older, is now the wife of Harry McCleese, of Hancock county, Iowa, and they have seven children : Myron, Clarence. Walter, Bertha, Isabella, Ralph K. and Hazel. Robert, the younger child of our subject, grew to manhood and married, but died May 8, 1896. In 1874 Mr. Dyal was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Marietta Hovey, who was born in New York, but was reared and educated in Henry county, Illinois, and engaged in teaching school prior to her marriage. She died in 1889, and June 29, 1892, in Fayette county Pennsylvania, Mr. Dyal was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary E. Showalter, a native of that county, educated at George's Creek Academy and the Lock Haven Normal School, and also a school teacher. Through- out his active business life her father. James Showalter, also followed that profession, but is now living a retired life in Smithfield, Pennsylvania. He belongs to an old family of that state.
In his political views Mr. Dyal is inde- pendent, but being a strong temperance man.
he usually supports the men and measures of the Prohibition party. He and his wife attend the Baptist Church of Orion, with which he holds membership, but she is still connected with the Presbyterian Church of Smithfield, Pennsylvania, having been reared in that faith. As a citizen of Henry county, with whose interests he has long been identified, he is highly respected, enjoys the confidence of his neighbors and friends, and is regarded as a man of excellent busi- ness judgment. His success in life is due entirely to his own well-directed efforts, dil- igence and sagacity. He is now living re- tired in Orion, to which place he removed in October, 1895, and where he owns a home.
P. E. OSTRAN.
This prominent business man of Cam- bridge, Illinois, who is a member of the well- known firm of Ostran, Hunt & Company, was born in Sweden August 31, 1866, a son of P. Ostran and Catherine Ostran. By occupation the father was a dairy farmer, and was an active member of the Christian Church, to which his wife also belongs. She is still living in Gefle, Sweden, at the age of sixty-eight years, but he died in that country in 1878, at the age of forty-nine. In their family were five children, namely: Mary, wife of August Peterson, of Hartford, Con- necticut ; Anna, wife of N. L. Wahlburg, of Cambridge, Illinois: P. E., our subject ; Christin, wife of C. Nordstrum, of Hart- ford, Connecticut; and Hannah, who lives with her mother in Sweden.
P. E. Ostran was reared and educated in his native land, attending both the com- mon schools and an academy. In the spring
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of 1882, in company with a sister, who after landing remained in New York, he crossed the Atlantic and came direct to Cambridge. On his arrival here he began clerking in a store, and at the same time attended school that he might learn the English language. He was employed as clerk here until the fall of 1887, when he went to Kearney, Ne- braska, where he held a similar position un- til July of the following year. He then re- turned to Cambridge and purchased the in- terest of James Mascall, now deceased, in the firm of Mascall, Walline & Company. for whom he had previously worked. The name was then changed to Walline, Wen- nerstrum & Company, Mr. Ostran being the company, and it remained such until 1894, when it was again changed to Ostran, Hunt & Company. Theirs is the largest store in Cambridge, and they carry a full and complete line of general merchandise, in fact everything found in a first class es- tablishment of the kind. They buy all kinds of country produce, and conduct a branch store at Ulah, Illinois. Besides the members of the firm, employment is fur- nished six or seven clerks, and they en- joy a very large country and city trade, which is constantly increasing.
On the 13th of September. 1888. Mr. Ostran married Miss Delia Pederson, who was born in Mandal, Norway, October 3, 1864. a daughter of Ola and Anna ( Olsen) Pederson. She came with her parents to America in 1871, and located in Chicago, where the family were living at the time of the great fire in October. 1871. In 1881 they moved to Kearney, Nebraska, where the father, a carpenter by trade, remained until 1895. since which time he has been a resi- lent of Cambridge, but her mother died May 9. 1898, at the age of sixty years. Mrs.
Ostran died of apoplexy. July 18, 1900. She was a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on the clay of her death a committee of ladies from the church met at her house. She was called to the door by a visitor, and a few minutes after her return to the parlor the ladies noticed her unnatural breathing, and fearing something serious was the matter summoned a physician and her husband by telephone, both arriving a few minutes be- fore her spirit took its flight. She had united with the church in 1891 and became ar. earnest and zealous worker, who loved the church of her choice with an intense devo- tion. Genial and pleasant in manner, she made many friends, and was highly respect- ed by all who knew her. After dinner, on the day of her death, while apparently in per- fect health, she sat down to the piano and played and sang stanzas of a song, the last of which was:
"In mansion of glory and endless delight. I'll ever adore Thee in Heaven so bright. I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now."
She was buried by the Eastern Star, of which she was a member.
Mr. Ostran is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and for several terms has been treasurer of the blue lodge at Cam- bridge. He is also a member of the chapter at Kewanee, Everts Commandery of Rock Island, the Eastern Star Chapter of Cam- bridge, and is a charter member of Mo- hammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Peoria. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican party, and his fellow citizens, recognizing his worth
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and ability, have called upon him to serve as alderman for several terms. He has made for himself an honorable record in business, and by his well-directed efforts has acquired a handsome competence. As a citizen, friend and neighbor he is true to every duty, and justly merits the esteem in which he is held.
ALBERT PETERSON.
Among the representative farmers and prominent citizens of Andover township, none stand higher in public esteem than the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He was born in Jefferson county. Iowa, December 27, 1861, his parents be- ing P. M. and Hadda Charlotte ( .Anderson ) Johnson, the former born in Norravi Soken, and the latter in Asby Ostergotland, Sweden, where they were reared and mar- ried. In 1860 they left the mother country and came to the United States, locating at Salina, Jefferson county, Iowa, where the father purchased land and improved a farm, making his home there until his death in 1869. His widow subsequently married John Gabrielson, who died September 6. 1896. She is still living and yet makes her home int Jefferson county, lowa. By her first marriage she became the mother of four children-Oscar and Peter, who died in Sweden: Albert, our subject ; and William, a resident of Moline, Illinois. By the sec- ond union there were no children born. By a former union, John Gabrielson had two sons : Alfred, deceased, formerly a physician and surgeon of Trenton, lowa; and Henry, a resident of Montana.
The primary education of Albert Peter- son was obtained in the public schools of
his native county, where he remained until he was eleven years old, when he came to Henry county, Illinois, to make his home with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John Carlson, of Osco township, who were among the early settlers of the county, and with whom he lived until his marriage, since which time he has been a resident of An- dover township, where he has successfully engaged in farming. Shortly after attain- ing his majority, and wishing to be better prepared for the active duties of life, he took a three-months' course in a business college in Davenport, Iowa, and he feels that the time was well spent.
At Orion, Illinois, on the 16th of April, 1884. was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Peterson and Miss Emma Matilda Young- quist, a native of Western township. Henry county, Illinois, born April 16, 1864. Her father, Jonas A. Youngquist, was born in southern Sweden. He lost his father when quite young, and his mother subsequently came to America and spent her last days in Lynn township. Henry county, where her death occurred. Mr. Youngquist was sev- enteen years of age when he came to the United States, and in June, 1854. came to Andover township. Henry county. For one year he worked on the railroad south of Galesburg, and for the same length of time was employed as a farm hand by Daniel Mix, who lived south of Galesburg, in Knox county. After working fourteen months at twelve dollars and fifty cents per month, he came to Andover and labored in this locality for seven years, during which time he saved enough from his wages to purchase eighty acres of wild prairie land in Lynn town- ship. Later he sold that place and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in Western township, which he improved by
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the erection of good and substantial build- ing. He is a frequent paid correspondent ings. Prospering in his farming operations. of some of the leading agricultural jour- nals of the day, a fact that speaks volumes in his favor. His private library is worthy of special mention, comprising the best literature of the day, as well as the standard authors, found in all carefully selected li- braries. He is the only farmer in Andover township, and possibly in Henry county, having a library of over five hundred vol- nimes. No enterprise of a public nature that is calculated to build up his township or county but finds in him a friend. lie added to his landed possessions from time to time until he owned six hundred and sixty acres in Western and Andover townships. At Andover, he was married, February 11, 1862, to Miss Eliza C. Lin- berg, who was born in southern Sweden, September 29, 1840, and who in 1842 came to the United States with her parents, Swan and Catherine Linberg. She was third in order of birth in a family of five children, of whom the two youngest died in Oxford township, where the death of the parents also occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Youngquist have five children : Emma MI., wife of our subject : Mary A. ; Carrie B .; Julia A., and PLINY FREEMAN. Anna M. The family all held membership in the Swedish Lutheran Church, and are highly respected and esteemed b yall who know them. In politics Mr. Youngquist is a Republican. He and his wife make their home in Cambridge, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have one child, Esther, born January 26, 1890. Both he and his wife are members of the Swedish Lutheran Church, in which he has served as deacon. In politics he is a thorough Re- publican, and an earnest advocate of the principles of the party. He keeps well post- eci in all the political and current events of the day, and while strong in his political convictions he is willing that others should enjoy the same rights as he claims from them. He has never been an office seeker, but has served efficiently as a member of the school board. His interest in the public schools is shown by his service in a thankless position. As an agriculturist, he has always kept abreast of the times, with eyes open to every invention and suggestion that will benefit himself or those in his chosen call-
At the time of his death Pliny Freeman was one of the prosperous citizens of Gene- seo, and his possessions had been acquired entirely through his own efforts. He had also won by an honorable, upright life an untar- nished name, and the record which he left behind is one well worthy of emulation. He was born in Sturbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, April 14, 1806, a son of Pliny and Delia ( Marsh) Freeman, and belonged to one of the old and honored families of New England, tracing his ancestry back to Samuel Freeman, who came to America from England in 1630, with Governor Winthrop, and located at Watertown, or Newtown, Massachusetts, where he died in 1638. He left a son, Samnel, who was born in Water- town, May 11, 1638, and married Mary Southworth of Plymouth. Their son, Sam- tiel Freeman, was born in 1662, and in 1684 married Elizabeth Sparrow, by whom he had a son Samuel, who was born September I, 1688, and wedded Mary Paine. Their first son, who also bore the name of Samuel, was
PLINY FREEMAN.
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born November 22, 1716, and married Mary Chubb. He was the first of the family to make his home in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, locating in what is now the central portion of the village about the middle of the eight- eenth century, the town having been incor- porated February 13, 1739. After his death, his widow, who bore the maiden name of Mary Chubb, married again and died in 1807, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Their children were Benjamin, Com- fort, Jared, Samuel. Walter, Rachel, Mar- tha and Mary, twins, and Raney. Of these, Comfort Freeman, the grandfather of our subject, was born August 23. 1750, and was married, May 6. 1771, to Lucy Walker, who was born in Sturbridge, February 13, 1749, and died .August 5, 1832, while his death occurred December 4, 1806. In their fam- ily were nine children.
Pliny Freeman, the second son and fifth child of this family and the father of our subject, was born in Sturbridge, Massachu- setts, September 24, 1780, and lived in the vicinity of his birth place throughout the greater part of his life. During his active business career he followed the occupations of farming and carpentering. Ile was one of the prominent and successful men of the community, served as selectman of his town for several years, and was captain in the home militia. Politically he was identified with the old Whig party. On the 5th of October, 1802, he married Miss Delia Marsh, a daughter of Silas and Deliverance ( Fisk) Marsh, farming people and life-long resi- dents of Sturbridge, where the former died 'in June, 1836, the latter in December, 1842. Mr. Marsh was a soldier of the Revolution- ary war. Mrs. Freeman was born April 2, 1781, and died on the old homestead in Stur- bridge, March 19, 1839. The father of our
subject died at the home of a daughter in Webster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, October 10. 1855. In their family were the following chiklren : (1) Silas Marsh, born August 7, 1803, married Maria Upham of Sturbridge, and died at Millbury, Massachu- setts. November 4, 1880. His wife died at the same place. Their children were Andrew Silas, Sarah M. and Flora B. (2) Pliny, our subject, was next in order of birth. (3) Beulah, born in 1807, married Walter L. Rosebrooks, a farmer of Oxford, Massa- chusetts, and was killed by lightning July 5, 1835. Their two children, Walter F. and Mary B., are both deceased. (4) Delia, born April 4, 1810, became the wife of J. S. W. May, fo Holland, Massachusetts, and they have had three children, Laura, Pliny and Comfort. (5) Florilla, born May 26, 1812. was married in 1833 to Bradford Bayliss, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, and died at Bristol, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1876. (6) .Angusta, born December 25, 1815, was married in 1841 to H. A. Perrin, of Massa- chusetts, and died January 14, 1873. Their children were Ambrose D., Charles H. and Myra. (7) Dwight, born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, January 15, 1819, is the only member of the family now living, his home being in Geneseo, Illinois. In 1852 he married Mrs. Sarah Lincoln Negus, who died in Geneseo. Their children were Isa- dora, wife of Joseph A. Mclaughlin, of Gen- eseo : Arabella, wife of Robert T. Smith, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Florence L., wife of R. W. Wing, of Oakland California ; and Fran- ces L., deceased wife of William B. Hunter.
Reared on his father's farm, Mr. Free- man of this review was given the advantages of the common schools of his day, which can hardly be compared to the educational institutions which are now the pride and
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boast of New England. He was early in- try, however, were noted for longevity, and ured to hard work, and during his youth learned the carpenter's trade, completing his apprenticeship with Loren Merrick. Believ- ing that the West furnished better opportu- nity for avancement than the older states of the east, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, at the age of twenty-three, having friends residing in that city. There he found employment at his chosen occupation, but not long after locating there he was seriously injured in the left knee. and was confined to his bed for some months. He then resumed work where he had left off, and for forty years was iden- tified with the carpenter's trade in Cleveland, his specialty being inside finish. In the meantime he saved some capital which he in- vested in a small piece of land near the city, selling it afterward to an advantage.
During this period Dwight had settled in Geneseo, and Mr. Freeman paid him a vis- it in 1853. at which time he bought property ncar the village with the intention of making it his future home, but it was not until the fall of 1869 that he located here. He at once identified himself with the local interests and assisted materially in building up the city. Among the permanent improvements that he made was a business block and hall which bears his name.
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