USA > Illinois > Henry County > The biographical record of Henry County, Illinois > Part 22
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A. Remington was reared in that city and educated in its common schools. In 1850 he embarked in business at that place, but four years later removed to Providence, where he conducted a mercantile establish- ment until going to Davenport, Iowa, in 1856. He was one of the leading merchants of that city until 1861, when he was ap- pointed route agent on the Rock Island railroad during President Lincoln's admin- istration. During his residence in Davenport he also served as city treasurer for eleven years. In 1872 Mr. Remington came to Geneseo, Illinois, and was made manager of stockyards for the Rock Island Railroad Company, being associated with Colonel Galligan, now deceased, for ten years. He has held that responsible position continuous- ly since, and now has charge of all the stock- yards of the system, which require his ser- vices in Kansas, Iowa and Illinois.
In 1855 Mr. Remington was united in marriage with Miss Maria L. Cole, a daugh- ter of Ebenezer and Maria ( Thompson ) Cole, of Warren, Rhode Island. Through- out his active business life her father was engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. Both he and his wife died in Warren. They were the parents of four children, of whom two are still living. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Remington have been born three children, but only one survives : Henry W., born in Rhode Island, married Annie E. Watson, of Bristol, that state, and has for some years been connected with the Merchant Publish- ing Company of Chicago, where he makes his home. Minnie, born in Davenport, Iowa. died at the age of eight years, and William Gibbs died at the age of fourteen months.
Mr. Remington has been a director of the First National Bank of Geneseo for many
Being taken by his parents to Warren, Rhode Island, during his infancy, William years. Socially he is a prominent Mason.
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Having taken the degree- of the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine, and politically he is an ardent Republican. On coming to Geneseo he at once became identified with public affairs, and his fellow citizens recog- moving his worth and ability, have called upon Dun to fill the highest office of their city. He is now efficiently serving his fourth term it- mayor of the city, and the reins of city government have never been in more capable Tomds, for he is a progressive man, pre-emi- nently public-spirited, and all that pertains to the public welfare receives his hearty en- dorsement.
JOHN M. HATCH.
After an active and useful life, mainly devoted to agricultural pursuits. J. M. Hatch 1- now living retired in Kewanee, Illinois. He is a native of the Green Mountain state. his birth having occurred in Caledonia coun- 11. March 10, 1827, and is a son of Moses mi Jane ( Gates) Hatch, natives of Maine and Vermont, respectively. The father be- come a prosperous farmer of the latter state. Where he owned and operated two hundred poid fifty acres of land, and as one of the leading men of his community he was hon- ored with town offices. He died in April. 1858. at the age of sixty-four years, having long survived his wife, who was only thirty- four at the time of her death. In religious be- lief they were Presbyterians, In their family were six children, namely: Jane, who be- ciane the wife of A. L. Clark and died in January, 1848, at the age of twenty-seven Years, leaving two children, Horace and Wa !. 1. ce: Martha, who became the wife of Sam- Off Page and died in 1851. at the age of Woity six, leaving one child. Martha, who
(lied in 1852, when only two years and a Half old: Eliza, who died at the age of eight- een months J. M., our subject : Horace, who d'ed in March, 1843, at the age of fourteen years and a half; and Eliza, the second of that name, who is the wife of S. D. Lyle of Neponset, Illinois, and has three children, Charles, Herbert and Maxwell.
During his boyhood and youth J. M. Hatch became familiar with agricultural pursuits upon the home farm, where he was rcared and acquired a good knowledge of the common English branches in the schools of the neighborhood. . After completing his ed- ucation he worked in a sawmill, a brick kiln, and at the carpenter's trade for a time, and operated his father's farm one year. On coming west in 1851 he located in Stark county, the nearest town of any importance at that time being Henry. He purchased land in Elmira township, and meeting with success in his farming operations he became the owner of five hundred acres of valuable land, a portion of which he has since divided among his children. Some of this property was in Henry county. In February, 1895. he removed to Kewanee where he built a fine home with all modern appliances for com- fort and economy, where he has since lived a retired life, enjoying the fruits of former toil. He was one of the original stockhold- ers of the Union Bank of Kewanee.
On the 24th of February, 1853. was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Hatch and Miss Roxana Lyle, also a native of Vermont and a daughter of William Lyle, who brought his family to Illinois in 1834 and became one of the pioneers of Stark county, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying there in the fall of 1858. at the age of fifty-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of At- lanta Darling, passed away in 1885. at the
J. M. HATCH.
MRS. J. M. HATCH.
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age of seventy -seven years. She was a mem- ber of the Congregational Church, and the mother of fifteen children, fourteen of whom reached adult ages and ten are still living. In order of birth they were as follows: Eliza- beth, wife of William G. Perkins, of Elmira. Illinois Thomas, deceased : Thomas, the sec- ord of that name, who died at Pikes Peak in 1859: Stephen D., a resident of Neponset. Illinois : Roxana, wife of our subject : Wal ter and Jennette, twins, the former a resident of Dakota county. Nebraska, the latter the wife of John L. Price of Republic county. Kansas: Julia, deceased wife of Silas Paten ; Lydia J., who died at the age of twenty years ; George W., who enlisted in 1864 with the one-hundred-day men called out by Gov ernor Yates, and died in the service at the age of twenty years: Franklin, a farmer of El. n.ira, Illinois: Norris, a farmer of Modena. Stark county : Emeline, wife of William Ber ry, of Reno, Nevada : Lucinda, wife of Day id Moffit ; and Rufus D., a resident of Nepon- set, Illinois.
Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ilatch. Horace died at the age of thirteen months and Burton at the age of fifteen months. Clara E. is the wife of Charles N. Good, a farmer of Elmira, Stark county. and they have two children, Maxwell C. and Martha. Cora L. married first John Wilcox. by whom she had one child. Burton B .. and for her second husband she married Albert Early, a farmer of Kewanee township, this county. Martha J. died at about the age of eleven years. Orin L., a farmer of Elmira, Stark county, married Mrs. Minnie ( Barry ) Higgins, widow of James Higgins, by whom she had one child, Nevada. By her mar- riage with Mr. Hatch she had two children : Bertha; and John, who died at the age of one year and two weeks.
By his ballot our subject supports the men and measures of the Democracy, and he has filled minor township offices. Having always taken a deep interest in educationa: affairs, he efficiently served as school direc- ter for some time. While a resident ot Stark county he served for ten years as di rector and treasurer of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, but resigned the office on his removal to Kewanee. He is a man of genial disposition, is progressive and public-spirited, and holds a high place in the esteem of his fellow citizens.
WILLIAM L. KIRKPATRICK.
This well-known and popular pho- tographer of Genesen is a native of Illinois. born in Vermilion county, February 5. 1841, and is a son of Dr. William Kirk- patrick, who was for many years a promi- nent and successful physician of Tiskilwa. Bureau county, this state. The father was born in New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio, July 17, 1817. In his youth his health was not the best, and for that reason lis attention was called to the consideration of medicine, which resulted finally in lus becoming a practicing physician. In Knos. county, Ohio, he was married, April 25. 1840. to Mrs. Cornelia ( Benson) Gunn. who by her former marriage had two chil dren : Abel died in Chicago, aged fifty-two years, and Lewis, who died when one year old. while on the way across the country with his parents coming west. Of the children born to the Doctor, William L .. our subject, is the oldest : Sarah is the wife of William H. Whalen, of Des Moines. lowa; Mary E. is the wife of Frank Has kins, of Sioux City, Iowa ; Lyman diel .IL
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the age of nineteen years; and Margaret needed in the business. He has gained an enviable reputation as one of the best pho- tographers in this section, and his patron- age comes from a wide extent of territory, having at the present writing work from Cambridge and Atchison, Illinois, Grinell, Iowa, and other cities. He is very progress- ive and has invented a device for taking stamp pictures, giving fifteen different po- sitions or expressions. This instrument makes one, two, four, eight of fifteen pic- tures all on one plate. A. is the wife of George Dexter, of Tiskil- wa, Illinois. In the fall of 1851 Dr. Kirk- patrick moved to Tiskilwa, where he was engaged in practice until 1863, when he opened a drug store at that place and con- ducted it until his death, which occurred July 26, 1888. He was widely and favor- ably known and was held in high regard by a large circle of friends. In his political views he was a strong Republican, and for a score of years was an efficient member of the board of education in his town. His On the 17th of July, 1862, Mr. Kirk- patrick married Miss R. F. Trask, a native of Maine, and a daughter of William estimable wife, who was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, February 29, 1816, a daughter of Lyman Benson, is still one of. Trask, who with his family was living in the honored residents of Tiskilwa. She is one of the pioneers of this section. In 1836 she drove an ox team from Knox county, Ohio, to Keokuk, Iowa, her only companion being her sick husband, who died while on the journey, and the child Lewis, who also lied while on that trip. She has been a life-long and active member of the Meth- ยท Mlist Episcopal Church.
William L. Kirkpatrick, of this review, grew to manhood in Tiskilwa, and received a good common-school education. From the age of fifteen years he followed tele- graphing at various places, and was dis- patcher at Geneseo in 1857. In 1856 he began learning the old daguerreotype pro- cess of making pictures and in 1858 he learned the ambrotype process and in 1860 commenced taking photographs. He has once devoted his attention to that business, Aiways keeping abreast with the advance- ment and progress made in the science. In March, 1869, he opened a studio in Geneseo, ad now has one of the best equipped gal- eries in this section of the state, it being supplied with the latest improved apparatus
Buda, Illinois, at the time of our subject's marriage. By this union there is one child, Hali T., collector in a store in Pueblo, Colorado. The son was married, in 1895, to Emma Koster, who has been blind for the past two years, supposedly the result of an attack of smallpox. Owing to ill health Mrs. Kirkpatrick has resided with her son in Colorado for the past two years. She is a member of the Unitarian Church.
At national elections Mr. Kirkpatrick supports the Republican party, but in local affairs votes independently of party lines. He has served as secretary of the board of health for nearly five years, and was alder- man from the First ward two years. He is one of Geneseo's leading business men and honored citizens, and well deserves the suc- cess that has come to him.
THOMAS MCCLURE.
Among Kewanee's leading citizens and prominent business men is numbered Thomas McClure, who was born in Knox
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county, Illinois, May 16, 1848, a son of of nearly ninety-one years, in the house Daniel and Laura Ann (Little) McClure. which had been his home for forty-five years. His first wife had passed away in 1852, leaving two children: Thomas, our subject; and William B., also a resident of Kewanee. For his second wife the fa- ther married Matilda Case, a native of In- diana, who died in 1895. From the or- ganization of the Republican party he was a supporter of its principles, and always took an active interest in public affairs, though he never would accept office, with the exception of school trustee, which he filled for a number of years. He was very successful in business, was a good financier and an excellent judge of men. His circle of friends and acquaintances was extensive, and he was highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him. He was reared in the Presbyterian faith, and, though not a member of any church, he gave liberally to all, and was very charitable and benev- olent. The Little family is of Puritan descent, and was founded in America by one of the pas- sengers of the Mayflower. Our subject's father was born in Ireland of Scotch par- entage, and when a young man came to the United States. He first located in New York, where he was connected with A. T. Stewart for some time, they having been schoolmates in the old country. Coming to Illinois, in 1836, he visited what is now Henry county, but decided to locate at Cairo, where he spent some years. He would build flatboats, which he would load with produce and float down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where he would dispose of his stock, sell his boat for wood and return to Cairo and repeat the operation. This business he followed several years and was very successful in the enterprise. Later he was engaged in general merchandising in that city with a partner for some time, but finally sold out in 1848 and returned to Henry county. He erected a store build- ing in Wethersfield, which he stocked with everything needed by the early settlers. He was one of the pioneer merchants of the place, as only one man was engaged in business there when he opened his general store. Instead of money, which was scarce among the early settlers, he received most- ly produce in exchange for his goods, and this he would sell in Lacon and Peoria, or sometimes Chicago, driving cattle and hogs to those cities, where he received for dressed hogs only seventy-five cents or a dollar per hundred. He continued in that line of busi- ness for about twelve years and later dealt in real estate, and was an extensive owner of real estate in the county. He died at Wethersfield February 16, 1893, at the age
Reared in Wethersfield, Thomas Mc- Clure received his early education in the primitive schools of pioneer days, which he attended until fifteen years of age. In the meantime the Civil war had broken out. and, imbued with a spirit of patriotism, hie enlisted in February, 1863, in Company H, Ninth Illinois Cavalry, which was as- signed to General Wilson's corps and sent to Memphis, Tennessee. He remained in the service and was in all the engagements of his regiment until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Selma, Alabama, October 30, 1865.
Returning to Kewanee he attended school two winters and then commenced farming in Wethersfield township on ninety acres of land belonging to his father. He followed that pursuit successfully for twenty
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years, ail is still the owner of two hun- dred and fifty acres of Toml in Kewanee townslojeand one hundred ind thirty-three peres in Minawan town-lap. On his retire- ment inan farming he engaged in buying and selling stock for some years, but dis- continued that business on his removal to Kewanee in 1893, shortly before the death of his father. He has since been interested in the real estate and loan business, and in. 1899, in connection with Frank A. Cahow built the Kewanee Opera House, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, but has since purchased his partner's interest. It is one of the finest building's of the kind in any town the size of Kewanee in the country, while the scenery and general appointments would do credit to a city ten times as large. The stage is 40x60 feet ; there are ten dress- was rooms, supplied with hot and cold wuer: and in fact all modern appliances Good conveniences of a first-class theater are Were found. Mr. MeClure secures only the Dest entertainments of high moral charac- fer and does all in his power to satisfy the villes and desires of his patrons. He is ako the owner of ninety acres of land in Wethersfield township.
On the 27th of May, 1867, Mr. Mc- Clare married Miss Jane Atherton, a na- tire of Henry county, and a daughter of Milton Atherton, now deceased, who was one of the early settlers of Stark county. Timeis, where he followed farming for Way years. Mrs. Mcclure is the sixth in woles of birth in a family of nine children, Obrother- being as follows: Phebe \., wife of Even- Pratt, of Murray, Jona; I. S., a Metoden Episcopal minister, who is now ene teen in farming of Nevada, Missouri ; Fand (. a resident of West Jersey, Stark Ency. Ihop : Iliz Iellen, widow of
Alexander Johnson om! & resident of cali- fornia: Kate, wife of J. M. Jones, of La- fayette, Stark county: Jasper, a farmer of Nevada, Missouri: Emma, widow of John Concins of the same place ; and Carrie, wife of Dorington MI. Good, of Wethersfield township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Clure are the parents of three children, namely: (1) Fred D., general manager of the Gail Borden condensed milk factory at Elgin, Illinois, married Mattie McVicker, and they have three children, Leland, Sadie and Maxie. (2) Emma Edith is the wife of Ira J. Dunlap, of Johnson county. Illi- nois. (3) Sadie died March 15, 1888, at the age of fifteen years.
Fraternally Mr. McClure is an honored member of Julius A. Pratt Post, No. 143. G. A. R., m which he has held nearly all the offices, and politically he is identified with the Republican party. He served one term as supervisor of Kewanee, but has never cared for the honors or emoluments of public office, preferring to devote his un- divided attention to his business interests. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution; and his close application to business and excellent management have brought to him the hig 1 degree of prosperity which is to-day his.
JOHN LEWIS.
For half a century. John Lewis, now de- ceased, was one of the highly esteemed citi zens of Henry county, and in early life was prominently identified with its agricultural interests, though he was living a retired life in Geneseo at the time of his death, which oc- curred March 5. 1900. He was born in Peny-
JOHN LEWIS.
MRS. JOHN LEWIS.
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sylvania, April 17, 1820, but was only three years old when he removed with his parents to Jackson county, Ohio, where he continued to make his home for several years. During his boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the labors of the home farm, and early ac- quired an excellent knowledge of the occupa- tion to which he devoted his active life.
In 1847 Mr. Lewis wedded Hiss Mary Cozad, of Ohio, and three years later came to Henry county, Illinois, locating in Corn- wall township, where he purchased land, and successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising for several years, accumulating a large property. In 1878 he laid aside all business cares and removed to Geneseo, where he lived retired until his death. He was called upon to fill nearly all the local of- fices of his township, and in all the relations of life was found true and faithful to every trust reposed in him. He commanded the confidence and respect of his associates and was held in high regard by all who knew him.
Mr. Lewis' first wife died in 1897. By that union he had fourteen children, namely : William, deceased; Abraham, a resident of Cornwall township; Samuel, who lives in Atkinson township, this county ; George W., who is engaged in farming in Jasper county, Illinois; John and Stephen, both residents of Cornwall township: Francis M., of Peoria county, Illinois ; Charles A., of Kansas City, Missouri; Charity, wife of James Fell, of Geneseo; Alfred, of Munson township, this county; Robert, of Kansas City, Missouri; Mary, wife of George Hudson, of Indian Territory; Albert, who died in infancy; and Andrew, of Spring Creek, Illinois.
On the 29th of November, 1899. Mr. Lewis married Mrs. Kate Crain, a native of McHenry county, Illinois. Her parents, 11
Horace and Rebecca (Warner) Mitchell, were born in New York state, and on coming to Illinois about 1850 settled in McHenry county. Her father was a railroad conduct- or, and was with the Rock Island road for nearly fifty years, during which time he made his home in Geneseo. He was killed while in the discharge of his duties in 1877. Mrs. Lewis' mother had died many years be- fore, and for his second wife he married Eva Mitchell, by whom he had two children. There were five children by the first mar- riage and four of the number are still living .. Mrs. Lewis being the third in order of birth. Mr. Mitchell was a prominent Mason and took an active interest in the work of that order. Mrs. Lewis' first husband was Bruce Crain, who was born in New York state, and was only two years old when brought by his parents to this county, the- family locating in Atkinson township. Mr Crain was a soldier of the Civil war and fol- lowed the carpenter's trade for many years. By her first marriage Mrs. Lewis has two sons : Albert, who was born in Kansas in 1877, now employed in the boiler shop at Kewanee, and who served as a soldier in the Spanish-American war in Porto Rico; and Frank, who was born in 1886 and lives with his mother in Geneseo, and is attending the high school.
JOHN FISCHER.
Prominent among the energetic, far- seeing and successful business men of Ke- wanee is the subject of this sketch, whose life history most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out an honest purpose. Integrity, activity and energy have been the
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crowning points of his success, and his connection with the various business enter- prises and industries have been of decided advantage to Kewanee, promoting its ma- terial welfare in no uncertain manner.
Mr. Fischer was born in Schaffhausen, Prussia, Germany, February 20, 1858, and attended the public schools of his native land from the age of six until coming to America with his parents, Peter and Mar- guerite Fischer, in 1870. The family ar- rived on the 27th of June at Kewanee, where our subject's oldest brother, Nicholas, had located in 1867. Here the father worked in the mines for some years, having been a mine carpenter and boss in Germany. He was born in 1820, and died in 1878, while his wife was born in March, 1820, and died on the seventy-second anniversary of her birth. In their family were ten chil- dren, namely : Nicholas, who died in 1870, at the age of twenty-three years; Michael, who conducts a meat market at Kewanee; Mary, wife of Joseph Hoffrichter of the same place; Elizabeth, widow of C. G. Bauer; Margaret, widow of John Streicher ; Peter, who died in infancy; John, our sub- ject; Peter, a business man of Kewanee; Carl, who died in infancy; and Mitchell, who died in this county at the age of six years. The family are communicants of the Catholic Churfch.
After coming to this country John Fischer attended a country school in Ke- wanee township for two years and then be- gan his business career by working in the mines with his father for three weeks, which he says was one of the happiest periods of his life. He then worked on a farm for two years, and at the end of that time be- gan delivering groceries for the firm of Wood & Lewis. When those gentlemen
dissolved partnership he found employment with the Haxtun steam heater works at sev- enty-five cents per day. but three months later L. W. Lewis again embarked in the grocery business and persuaded our sub- ject to again enter his services. He re- mained with him five years, and then clerked for M. C. Quinn one year, at the end of which time he purchased Mr. Lewis' store and continued in the grocery business alone for three years. He was a member of the firm of Fischer & Mahew from 1884 to 1889, and then sold out to his partner and embarked in the real estate and loan busi- ness, which he still carries on. He has a government broker's license, for which he pays fifty dollars per year, and does the largest business in his line in the city. In 1890 when C. C. Blish was president of the First National Bank he induced Mr. Fischer to buy some stock, and at the fol- lowing election our subject was made a di- rector, which position he has filled ever since. For the past five years he has served as vice-president. He is also a stockholder, secretary and treasurer of the Kewanee Coal & Mining Company. He is the owner of the Fischer building, which is the oldest brick store building in Kewanee. This he has remodeled and converted into one of the nicest store and office buildings in the city. He also owns five new store and office buildings in Chicago. He does an extensive business in buying and selling mortgages for friends and clients, having handled over three hundred thousand dollars worth, but lias foreclosed only one and that was a friendly foreclosure. He makes loans in Kewanee, Chicago and elsewhere.
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