USA > Illinois > Henry County > The biographical record of Henry County, Illinois > Part 44
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On the 14th of February, 1870, Mr. Fleming married Miss Flizabeth Fall, a na- tive of Illinois, and a daughter of Thomas
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
and Mary Fall, who came to this country from Cornwall, England, in the latter part of the '40s, and first settled in Wisconsin, but in 1865, took up their residence in Henry county, Illinois. The father was born No- vember 18, 1822, and died February 25, 1892. He was a lead, coal and copper miner, but was mstly engaged in lead mining. His widow is still an honored resident of Ke- wanee. They were the parents of ten chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Fleming is the oldest. The others were Elijah, a grocer of Ke- wanee; John, who was accidentally killed in the Lathrop mine in 1870, at the age of sixteen years, falling from the top to the bot- tom of the shaft; Mary J., wife of Enoch Filer, of Peoria; Almira, who lives with her mother in Kewanee; William T., who died in January, 1872, at the age of ten years ; Editli M., at home; Cora I., who died in 1885, at the age of eighteen ; Albert T., a resident of Kewanee; and Esther, who graduated from the schools of Kewanee, and has successfully engaged in teaching here for about ten years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Fleming have been born the following children : Mary E., born March 17, 1871, died September 26, 1872; Annie L., born January 17, 1873, died Octo- ber 11, 1879; Minnie Etta is at home ; Es- tella MI. has been a bookkeeper at Lay & Lymans for the past six years; Albert W. is bookkeeper for the Western Tube Com- pany; Thomas E. is a traveling salesman, living in Denver, Colorado; Eva A. is clerk- ing in the store of Lay & Lyman at Kewa- nice; John C. is with the Kewanee Boiler Company; Flora M. will graduate from the high school of Kewanee in the class of 1902 : Jacob E. is in the eighth grade at school; Ethel A. is in the fifth grade; and Edith O. is in the third grade. Mrs. Fleming is a member of the Primitive Methodist Church : 21
is well versed. and is a lady of pleasing pres- ence, who takes pleasure in making those around her happy and contented.
Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, Mr. Fleming has been identified with the Republican party and has done all within his power to insure its success. For three years he efficiently served as alderman of Kewanee, and has recently been elected assessor for the en- suing year. He was census enumerator in 1900, and has ever taken an active and com- miendable interest in public affairs. He is one of the most highly respected and es- teemed citizens of Kewanee, and deserves great credit for the success that he has achieved in life.
ROBERT MCRELL.
This well-to-do and highly esteemed citizen of Burns township, whose home is on1 section 10, was born near Tubermore, county Londonderry, Ireland, in May, 1827, and was reared and educated in his native land, being a young man of twenty-one years when he came to the new world, in 1848. He sailed from Belfast to New York, and from the latter city to Philadelphia, where he spent four years. His parents, Robert and Catherine (Gibbons) McRell, crossed the Atlantic in 1849, and also took up their residence in Philadelphia. Three years later the family removed to Logan county, Ohio, and in the spring of 1856 came to Henry county, Illinois. Here the mother died in 1888, and the mother departed this life in 1886, the remains of both being in- terred in Cosner cemetery. Politically he was a stanch supporter of the Democratic party.
The five children of the family were all
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born in Ireland, and in order of birth they are as follows: Elizabeth is a resident of Burns township. Robert is the next of the family. Esther, who now resides with our subject, was married in Philadelphia, in 1850, to Robert Hawthorne, who died there in 1863. Of the seven children born of that union only two are now living, these being Robert J., who married Lucy Watson, of Calva; and Lizzie, wife of Leroy Snyder. James, a prominent farmer of Burns town- ship. is represented on another page of this volume. Thomas lives in Arkansas.
In his native land our subject engaged in farming, but while a resident of Phila- delphia he was employed as a weaver of ingrain carpets. In Logan county, Ohio, he engaged in agricultural pursuits for four years, and continued to follow the same oc- cupation after coming to this county, in the spring of 1856. Hle and his brother James each bought a quarter-section of land in Burns township, a part of which had been broken and a part covered with timber. On this farm he lived a number of years, then sold and purchased forty acres on section 10, the same township, and there he has since made his home. He subsequently added eighty acres to the tract, but later sold it to his nephew, and for the last few years has lived retired, but remaining in the old home. He is widely and favorably known and during his long residence in this county he has made a host of warm friends, who esteem him highly for his ster ling worth.
WILLIAM MCMEEKIN.
Galva's well-known and popular post- water has made for himself an honorable record Depending upon his own resources,
looking for no outside aid or support. he has risen to a place of prominence in the commercial and professional world. . \ na- tive of Henry county, he was born in West- ern township. November 13. 1854. Ilis fa- ther, William MeMeekin, was born in Ire- land, and about 1854 came to this country, locating in Rock Island county, Illinois, where he was united in marriage with Miss Agnes Reed, also a native of the Emerald Isle. Subsequently they came to Henry county and took up their residence on a farm in Western township, which has been their home since 1858. The father has trans- formed the wild prairie land into highly cultivated fields, and has made excellent improvements thereon. He is now seventy- nine years of age, while his wife is sixty- eight.
The children born to this worthy couple are as follows : James, a farmer of Western township; Mary J., wife of W. T. Mc- Whinney, of the same township: William, our subject; Frank, one of the publishers of the Port Byron Globe, of Port Byron, Rock Island county; John, an employe of the Moline Plow Company: Robert, who assists in the operation of the home farm; Hugh, who is also engaged in farming upon the home place and is employed as telegraph operator by the Rock Island & Peoria Com- pany : Alexander and Alida, both at home, and the latter now a school teacher. The children were all provided with good com- mon school educations, and Frank took a course of stenography and bookkeeping at a business college. Politically the family is identified with the Republican party, and the father and seven sons have twice cast their ballots for William Mckinley. The parents are active and faithful members of the United Presbyterian Church, and Mr.
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
MeMeekin was one of the founders of the Homestead church in Rural township, Rock Island county.
During his boyhood the subject of this review attended the public schools of Orion and Coal Valley, Illinois, and then took up the classical course in the Iowa City Acad- emy. After graduating from that institu- tion he entered the University of Iowa. where he also pursued the classical course, but left school during his sophomore year. For four years he successfully engaged in teaching school at Sunny Hill, this county. Coming to Galva in 1886 he commenced the study of law with T. E. Milchrist, now state senator from Chicago, and was prin- cipal of the south side school two years. In 1889 he became a member of the firm of Boyd & McMeekin, publishers of the Stand- ard, which has always been a Republican paper, and ten years later purchased his partner's interest in the business, becoming sole proprietor. During all these years he has served as editor, and under his efficient management the paper has steadily in- creased in circulation and importance until it is to-day one of the leading journals of the county.
In 1889 Mr. McMeekin married Miss Clara C. Bates, who was born in Galva. September 30, 1861, a daughter of John and Julia Bates. Her father was one of the early settlers of Galva, having located here about 1854, and followed cabinet mak- ing for a time. He died in 1870. The mother is still living in Galva, at the age of eighty-two years.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Mc- Meekin has always affiliated with the Re- publican party, and has been an active worker in its ranks, taking especial inter- est in town and county politics. On the
Ist of April. 1899, he was appointed post- master of Galva under President Mckinley. and is now efficiently filling that office, while his wife acts as his assistant. Prior to her marriage she was bookkeeper for Palmer, Walker & Johnson, one of the leading busi- ness firms of Galva. She is an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church; for three years served as president of the Young Women's Christion Temperance Union, of Galva, and takes an active inter- est in the woman's suffrage movement. She is a most estimable lady, and is highly re- spected and esteemed by all who know her. Mr. McMeekin is also a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has served on the board of managers. He is a leader in the temperance cause : has served as chairman of the local committee for five years; and is a member of the Modern Woodmen Camp of Galva, No. 241. On starting out in life for himself he was with- out capital and the success that he has achieved is due entirely to his own well- directed and energetic efforts. He has steadily worked his way upward to a po- sition of prominence in business circles, and well merits the prosperity that has come to him.
THOMAS P. PIERCE.
Thomas P. Pierce, president of the Union National Bank, of Kewanee, Illinois, occupies a foremost position among the prominent financiers of this section of the state. Upon the commercial activity of a community depends its prosperity and the men who are now recognized as leading citizens are those who are at the head of important business enterprises. Mr. Pierce
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is a man of broad capabilities, who carries forward to successful completion whatever ie undertakes.
A native of Illinois, he was born in Kane county, October 3, 1838, and is a son of Thomas and Ruth ( Powell) Pierce. The father was a Welshman by birth, and when a youth emigrated to America, locating in New York state, where he made his home from 1817 to 1835, engaged in contracting and buildling, having learned the carpenter's trade in Wales. In the Empire state he married Ruth Powell, whose family was also from Wales, although she was born in New York. In 1835 Mr. Pierce came to Illinois by way of the Great Lakes, and settled near Aurora, Kane county, taking up a tract of government land near Jericho Corners. Hle pre-empted this land, and for many years devoted his energies to the improvement and cultivation of his place. In 1854 he removed to Aurora, where he lived retired throughout the remainder of his life, dying there in 1872. His wife long survived him and passed away in 1892. Unto them were Torn four children, namely: William died several years ago in Kewanee, where he was engaged in the hardware business. His wite, who bore the maiden name of Fannie Lay, has since married again and now lives in Chicago. Elizabeth is the wife of H. M. Howard, of Aurora. Thomas P. is next in order of birth. John Il. is presi- dent of the Western Tube Works, of Ke wance.
During his boyhood Thomas P. Pierce pursued his studies in the district school of Sugar Grove township, Kane county, which was about a imile from his home, and later attended the high school of Aurora. After completing his education he learned the trade of a tinner, and in the fall of 1863
embarked in the hardware business in Ke- wanee. Three years later he admitted his brother John H. to partnership in the busi- ress, which was then carried on under the firm style of Pierce & Brother for about fifteen years. Subsequently O. J. Brown became interested in the business, under the firm name of Pierce & Brown, but this part nership did not last long on account of Mr. Brown's health, and Mr. Pierce was alone in business until he disposed of the store. 11 December, 1880. the Union National Bank secured its charter and began business, its original directors being Stephen Bull, R. F. Wiley, M. C. Quinn, W. H. Lyman, T. P. Pierce, W. W. Stevens and A. F. Bige- low. Mr. Pierce has served as president from the beginning, while H. L. Kellogg is now cashier, and W. H. Lyman, vice- president. Under the able management ot its officers the bank has steadily prospered and the capital stock has been increased from fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars, with a surplus now equal to the capital. It built and occupies a fine stone building with latest improved vaults and safes. Mr. Pierce is also a member of the board of directors vi the Kewanee Boiler Company.
In September, 1864. our subject was united in marriage with Miss Charlotte L. Talcott, a native of Michigan. Her father. Joseph Augustus Talcott, was born in Coventry, Connecticut, May 12, 1810, and was a son of Joseph and Mary ( Loomis ) Talcott, natives of the same state. The Talcott family came originally from Eng land, and was founded in Connecticut in early colonial days. Mrs. Pierce's father was the eldest of a family of three children. the others being Nathaniel Ells and Mercy Rebecca, both now deceased. Joseph 1. Talcott received a good common-school el-
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ucation and for many years engaged in was one of Kewanee's most honored and re- teaching. In 1836 he removed to White spected citizens during the long years of his residence here. Pigeon, Michigan, where he followed that pursuit for some time, three of his children being born there. In 1850 he came to Wethersfield, Illinois, and taught the old Wethersfield school for a few years. When Kewanee was platted he removed to the new village, and in the midst of a cornfield built his residence on what is now Chestnut street, just south of where the Episcopal Church stands. Here he engaged in the in- surance business for many years, at the same time filling the office of justice of the peace. He wedded Miss Mary M. Loomis. also a native of Connecticut, and they be- came the parents of five children : Mary Elizabeth, born in Coventry, Connecticut. is now the widow of J. D. K. Sleight, and makes her home in Richmond, Virginia. though she spends the greater part of her time in traveling: Harriet Rebecca died at the age of three years; Charlotte Maria is the wife of our subject: Joseph died in in- fancy : and Alice Louisa, born in Wethers- field, is the wife of John Ellis, of Kewanee. Mr. Talcott died January 31, 1891, at the age of eighty years, and his wife passed away April 27, 1895. at the advanced age of eighty-six years and eleven months, the remains of both being interred in Pleasant View cemetery. They were active and faithful members of the Congregational Church for over sixty years, and Mr. Tal- cott served as trustee of the church and su- PETER O. NORLING. perintendent of the Sunday-school for many years. He also sang in the choir in early This prominent druggist of Galva has probably done as much to promote the com- mercial activity, advance the general wel- fare and secure the material development of the town and surrounding country as any other individual. As a business man clays. He was an active member of the Ma- sonic fraternity for a great many years. and was a stanch supporter of the Republi- can party, though he would accept no office besides that of justice of the peace. He
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pierce were born two children, but the elder, a daughter. died in infancy. William T., who is with the Western Tube Company, of Kewanee, married Teressa Cronan and they have one child. Thomas C. Mrs. Pierce is a member of the Congregational Church. Fraternally our subject is a Knight Templar Mason, and politically is an ardent Republican. Since 1884 he has been a member of the state board of equalization and is to-day the oldest in the service. He has served on all of the important committees, and was chair- man of the committee on lands for several years. He was president of the village board several terms was also a member of the county board of supervisors a number of years, and was a presidential elector in the fall of 1900. The career of Mr. Pierce has ever been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has ever conducted all transactions on the strictest principles of honor and integrity. His devotion to the public good is unques- tioned, and he has ever maintained a char- acter and standing that has impressed all with his sincere and manly purpose to do by others as he would have others do by him.
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he - enterprising, energetic and always abreast of the times, and has been rewarded by a comfortable competence.
Mr. Norling was born in Sweden, about fifty miles from Stockholm. December 15. 1852, and is the oklest child of Andrew O. and Elizabeth Norling, both of whom were born in that country in 1826, and as mem- bers of the Bishop Hill colony came to Hen- ry county, Illinois, in 1854. Throughout liis active business life the father followed farming, but is now living a retired life in Galva, enjoying a well earned rest. Hc became owner of one hundred and twenty- seven acres of land in Galva township, which was his portion when the land owned by the colony was divided among its members. Ile has made his home in Galva since 1893. Politically he has always been a strong Re- publican, but has never aspired for any polit- ical honors. His family consists of seven children, all of whom reached years of ma- turity. Peter (). being the oldest. Andrew. who was formerly engaged in the drug busi- ness with our subject. now owns about eleven hundred acres of land at Litchfield, Nebraska, in company with his brother, John E., and is conducting a large cattle ranch. John E. is treasurer and secretary of the Swedish Tribune, of Chicago, which is one of the oldest Swedish newspapers in the L'mtel States, being first started at Galva under the name of the New World. At one time he was also associated with our subject in the drug business for several years. Amodo diel on her father's farm Decem her 23. 1802 Matilda lives with her par ent w Galva Lailhe is the wife of S. P. Sa0-60. You effluiets a prosperous tail Time est Alfelhilent in Centerville, lowa. Spel i graduated in pharmacy at the I min woot Undis, and was in the drug
business with our subject for a number of years, but is now engaged in the insurance business at Galva.
Mr. Norling, of this review. was only two years old when brought by his parents to the United States, and he received his early education in the public schools of this county. He remained on the home farm, assisting his father in its improve- ment until 1876. In the meantime he took a trip to Sweden and remained there about a year. On the 20th of March, 1876. he opened a drug store at Bishop Hill. though he had but little capital at that time. He hired competent help, and by his unusual business ability built up an excellent trade. In 1881 he formed a partnership with his two brothers, and opened branch stores at Nekoma and Galva, and this connection was dissolved a year later, and our subject be- came owner of the store at Galva, where he carried a complete line of drugs, druggists' sundries, patent medicines, paints, oils, wall paper and fancy goods, valued at thirty-five hundred dollars. Selling a one half interest to his brother in 1884. this partnership continued till 1887. when they sold to P. Ilanson. In 1884 he purchased a grocery store in Peoria, which he conducted for fifteen months, and then sold his interest in the business to his partner. On his return to Henry county he located at Cambridge. where he purchased a store building and stocked it with drugs, etc., doing a thriving business there from 1886, to 1893. Seeing a good opening at his old home in Galva. Mr. Norling re-purchased the drug store it the widow of P. Hanson, and has since successfully engaged in that business at this place.
Pre-eminently public-spirited and pro- gressive, Mr. Norling has done much to
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
advance the interests of the town, especially along industrial lines. Hle purchased a large amount of stock in the Mulford Heater Company formed at Streator for the manti- facture of different articles, and through the influence of himself and brothers the plant was removed to Galva. The company is now doing business on a thriving basis, with a capital stock of forty-five thousand dollars, its officers being E. W. Houghton, president : P. O. Norling, secretary : T. H. Johnston, treasurer: O. E. Yocum, vice- president : and Randolph Boyd, manager. They now manufacture the Mulford heaters and the Boyd corn planters. In 1899 Mr. Norling became interested in a stock com- pany made up entirely of Swedish people, known as the Westrand Manufacturing Company, which was organized with a cap- ital stock of twenty thousand dollars and is also engaged in the manufacture of corn planters and other farm implements. They have erected a large building for the conduct of their business in the northeast part of Galva. Our subject is one of the largest stockholders and a director of this com- pany ; is also a director and stockholder of the Galva Telephone Company ; and a stock- holder of the Wood Mining Company of Boulder, Colorado, which is developing and working one of the largest gold mines of the west. He has been manager of the Galva opera house for some time, and en- deavors to treat the people of Galva to some interesting and enjoyable entertainments. He has through his own well-directed efforts accumulated considerable property, includ- ing real estate in Chicago and Peoria. He still owns a store building at Bishop Hill; in 1897 erected a modern brick building in Cambridge, now occupied as a drug and jewelry store ; and has a good farm of three
hundred and twenty acres in Nebraska. Mr. Norling is also connected with newspaper work. During the Civil war the New World was started at Galva by Chaiser & Johnson and published partly in Swedish and partly in English. Shortly afterward it was removed to Chicago, and in August, 1900, was published by P. O. and J. E. Nor - ling and S. E. Carlson, editor of the Foster- landet, a Swedish religious paper. They combined the two and now publish what is known as the Swedish Tribune or Svenska Tribunen and Fosterlandet. The circula- tion is rapidly increasing, and it is proving a very paying investment.
In 1880 Mr. Norling married Miss Amanda Nordstedt, who was born in Bish- op Hill, January 1, 1860, a daughter of Olof B. and Christine Nordstedt, who came to this country from Sweden in 1852 and settled in the colony here. Her father was born in 1822 and died in 1892. He served through the Civil war as a member of the Fifty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry. taking with him his ekdlest son. Fred, who was but fourteen years old when he entered the service. The father was taken prisoner but soon exchanged at Fort Donelson and rejoined his regiment, remaining at the front until hostilities ceased. His wife sur- vives him and continues to live in Bishop Hill. Their children were Christine, wie of Peter Johnson, of Bishop Hill, who is an ex- sheriff of Henry county ; Jane, wife of An- drew Johnston, a manufacturer of pop and soda water at Galva: Kate, wife of H. Harmon, a grocer of Fitzgerald, Georgia, Mary, wife of Howard Fuller, of Peoria; Ella, a dressmaker of Peoria; Minnie, wife of Charles Hedley, telegraph operator for the Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company at Galva; Amanda, wife of our subject ;
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and Friends a farmer of Sydney, Iowa. Mr. and Mr- Norling have two sons: Milford P., who was born December 23. 1881, and is now attending the Young Men's Chris- tian Association College at Chicago; and Le Roy .A., who was born April 9. 1884, and is at home.
Mr. Norling is quite prominent in fra- ternal circles and is now serving as treas- user of the Odd Fellows lodge of Galva. in which he has passed through all the chairs ; and is chief of the Galya lodge of Fraternal Tribunes. Ile also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America: and is a thirty-sec- ond-degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and the Yeomen of America, while both he and his wife belong to the Eastern Star Chapter, of which she is worthy matron. As a Republican Mr. Norling takes an ac- tive interest in political affairs, and has been a delegate to county conventions several times, but has never aspired to office. He does all in his power to promote the interests of his town and advance the welfare of its citizens. He is widely and favorably known, and his extensive circle of friends estecm him highly for his genuine worth.
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