USA > Illinois > Henry County > The biographical record of Henry County, Illinois > Part 46
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
In 1852 John Wenke. Sr., returned to one daughter, Ruphina H., who was born Germany for his promised bride, Miss November 22, 1882, and was educated in the common schools of this county and the col- lege at Geneseo, where she was graduated in 1900. She is now at home with her parents. Helena Oltmanns, who was born there in 1820. After his marriage he returned at once to the home he had prepared for her in Illinois. Although now well advanced in years they still enjoy the best of health, For two years after his marriage Mr. Wenke remained on his father's farm. He owned a tract of land in Rock Island county which he rented until 1884, and then sold of. the purchase of his present farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres on section 3. Osco township, Henry county. It has since been his permanent home. At the time of purchase the improvements upon the place were all old, but he has rebuilt the residence and barns, has tiled the land and divided it into fields of convenient size by well-kept fences, making the farm one of the most at- tractive country homes in the locality. In connection with general farming he is en- gaged in feeding stock for market, averaging one car load of cattle and two of hogs each year. and are highly respected and esteemed by all who know them. They have always been active members and supporters of the Luther- an Church. Mr. Wenke has never mingled in politics but votes for the best man regard- less of party lines. Of a generous disposi- tion he makes many friends, and has the con- fidence of all with whom he has come in contact either in business or social life. He is the father of seven children, two of whom died in early childhood. The others are Hannah, wife of Claus Suel, of Milwaukee: Elizabeth, wife of Fred Rested, of Geneseo; Fred, who is engaged in farming on the old homestead in Rock Island county; John H., a twin brother of Fred and the subject of this sketch; and Henry, a grocer of Gen- eseo.
John HI. Wenke is indebted to the pub- he schools of Rock Island county for his educational advantages. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-three years of age. During his youth he assisted his father in the operation of the home farm. and during the last five years he remained thereon he and his brother operated the place. In 1881 he was united in marriage with Miss Helena Oltmanns, who was born in Rock Island county, in 1856, a daughter of Diedrich and Katrina Oltmanns, who still reside there. She is one of a family of nine children who are still living, but with the exception of Mrs. John Buell, of Gene- seo, they are scattered through different states. Mr. and Mrs. John 11. Wenke have
By his ballot Mr. Wenke supports the men and measures of the Democratic party, but aside from voting he takes no active part in politics, though he has been officially con- nected with the schools of his district. He has served as trustee, treasurer and collector of the Lutheran Church, in which he holds membership, and has always been promi- nently identified with the church and its work. He is widely and favorably known and universally respected on account of his sterling worth.
GEORGE PEART.
Among the successful and well-to-do agriculturists who are carrying on their chosen occupation in Kewanee township is
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this well-known immer of section 5. He was born in Cumberlaurel-hire. England, Sep- tember 19, 1834. and as a som of Jacob and Hannah ( Bell) Peart mauves of the same place. The father was engaged in lead min- ing and gave our subject the benefit of his experience and knowledge in that industry. He was born in 1893, and died in 1848, while his wife was born in 1800, and died in 1851. They never left England. In their family were eleven children, namely : John, a miner, died in Australia, in 1890, at the age of seventy-six years. Jacob, a music teacher, died in the same country in 1885, at the age of seventy-four years. Robert is married and lives with his family in Austra- lia, at about the age of seventy two years. He has been interested in gold mining for about forty-five years, and has made and lost three fortunes. Thomas, a resident of To- ronto, Canada, first married Jane Gibbons, and second, Mrs. Byrum Levens, and has the following named children : William, Fred, George, Charles, Hannah Belle and Margaret. Hannah is the wife of Edward Milburn, a farmer of Burns township, this county, and they have two children living, Robert and John, while Anna Belle is de- ceased. George, our subject, is the next one of the family. Anna is the widow of William Scott and a resident of Kewanee. Her children are Hannah, Elizabeth, Mary, Fannie, Emily and William. Tamer is the wife of Jolin Stabler, a farmer of Kewa- nee. William, deceased, was a school teacher by occupation. He married Ann Ridley, now a resident of Toronto, Canada, and to them were born children : Elizabeth, Clement, Effie, Florence, Agnes, Maud and Morley. Joseph, a farmer of Missouri, married a Miss Powell and has two children. Joshua died in England at the age of two years.
On coming to the new world in 1857, George Peart first located in Canada, where he was engaged in farming for eight years, and in Oxbridge, Canada, he was married, November 7, 1865, to Miss Mary Jane Legge, who was born in the town of Bee- ford, Yorkshire, England, May 12, 1845, and also a resident of Canada in 1857. Her father, Robert Legge, was born in Durham- shire, England in 1820, and brought his family to America in 1857. Ile made farm- ing his life occupation and died May 3, 1899. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna Molson, was born in Yorkshire, England, March 29. 1820, and is still living at Oxbridge, Canada, a hale and hearty old woman of eighty-one years. They, too, were the parents of eleven children: (1) Har- riet is the wife of Isaac Archer, a farmer of Rockwell, Calhoun county, Iowa, and they have seven children, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Walter, Albert, Charles and Anna. (2) Mrs. Peart is the second in order of birth in this family. (3) Elizabeth married David Parkin, and both are now deceased, together with three of their six children. Mr. Par- kin was a farmer of Manitoulin Island. (4) Charlotte is living with her mother in Can- ada. (5) William, also a farmer of Mani- toulin Island, married Jane Warren, and they have three children. (6) Sarah is the wife of Richard Hoskins, a farmer of Pine- dale, Canada. (7) George D. married Sarah Madill and followed farming at Oxbridge, Canada. Both he and his wife are now de- ceased. (8) Anna L., deceased, was the wife of Samuel Bagshaw, a farmer of Oril- lia, Canada, and left five children, Alice, Sarah, Maud, Hazel and Clara. (9) Mar- garet married first David Hogg, a contrac- tor, by whom she had two sons, and for her second husband she married Samuel Sly,
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD).
by w.Jaun he Had one child. They reside at Whuewww. Manitoba. (10) Robert, a farmer of MLmitoba, married Annie Neu- some ar los live daughters. (11) Han- unul Maria is the wife of Samuel Ball, of UMbridge, Canada, and they have five chil- Gicu. Burt, George, Charles, Rolland and Mary.
Mr. and Mrs. Peart are the parents of eight children, as follows: Hannah Maria, wife of Thomas Dynes, a farmer of Kewa- nee township, this county, by whom she had two children, George C., living, and Roy P., deceased; Robert Molson, a farmer of Anna- wan township, who married Lizzie McDer- inott, and has one child, Lois E .; George D., a farmer of the same township, who married Blanche Barton and has two chil- dren. Morley P. and Thelma; William N .. John. Jennie, Charlotte and Frances, all at home.
In 1865, soon after his marriage, Mr. Peart came to the United States and located at Fredericktown, Madison county, Mis- suuri, where he was engaged in lead mining for a year, but after sinking a shaft eighty feet and not striking ore, he abandoned the project and removed to Kewanee, Illinois, in 1866. Here he was engaged in coal min- ing for five years, under the firm name of Peart & Company, his partners being Isaac Archer and William Coast. In 1871 he pur- chased eighty acres of land in Kewanee township, for which he paid two thousand iolars, and in 1880 bought another eighty Here tract. Subsequently he added by pur- chose until he owned four hundred acres, Dort m 1868 sold eighty acres to his son Robert Of his placed the land under a chystan of cultivation, and has success- 000 engaged in its operation. He is a diocesenel and systematic farmer and a good
reliable business man, In his political afe filiations he is a Democrat. Both he and his wife attend the Umted Brethren Church. and stand high in the community where they reside.
JOHN CALVIN DEWEY.
This well-known and prominent grain dealer of Annawan belongs to a very old and distinguished family. The Deweys were an old feudal family of French Flanders, from which the town of Douai, France, derived its name. Some of its members went to England with William the Conqueror and settled in Lincolnshire, northeast of Lon- don. The progenitor of the family in Amer- ica was Thomas Dewey, who became a dis- senter and emigrated from Sandwich, Kent county, England, with Governor Winthrop and Rev. John Warham. It is supposed that he was a passenger on the Lyon, which ar- rived at Salem, Massachusetts, from Bris. tol, England. in 1630. He was the com. mon ancestor of the large and influential family now scattered throughout this coun- try. He settled in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1630, and from him our subject is de- scended in direct line through Josiah, who was born in Windsor, Connecticut, October IO. 1641: Josiah, born in Northampton, Massachusetts. December 24. 1666: Will- iam, born in the same place, in January, 1602: Simeon, born in Lebanon, Connecti cut. May 1, 1718: and William, who was not only the great-grandfather of cur sub- ject, but bore the same relation to Admiral George Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay. He was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, January 11. 1746, and died in Hanover, New Hamp- shire, January 10. 1813. He married Re becca Carrier, and to whom were born four-
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
teen children, one of whom was Simon, whole son Julius Yema- Dewey, was the father of the Admiral. Israel Dewey the grandfather of our subject, was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 1777, and died in Lunenburg, Vermont, July 21, 1862.
Harry Hovey Dewey, our subject's father, was born in Berlin, Vermont, De- cember 30, 1809, and was one of a family of ten children. In early life he followed farming in Berlin and Lunenburg, Ver. mont, removing to the latter place in 1848. In 1863 he came to Sheffield, Illinois, but after residing there for three years he went to Keosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa. In 1877, however, he returned to Sheffield, where he spent the remainder of his life in retirement from active labor, dying there in September, 1899. He married Miss Mary Louisa Cummings, September 25, 1836, who was also born in Berlin, Vermont, January 19, 1816, a daughter of Deacon Fenno and Rebecca (Smart) Cummings. She died No vember 27, 1890. By this union were born seven children whose names and dates of birth were as folows: Lucia Louisa, Sep. tember 23, 1837; Anna, December 8, 1839; Henry Harrison, March 20, 1841 ; John Calvin, April 18, 1843: Benjamin Fenno, November 25, 1845: Mary Evaline, Au- gust 12, 1848; and William Whipple, July 14, 1851. Anna died at birth, and Evaline died October 5, 1865.
John C. Dewey, of this review, was born in Berlin. Vermont, and was reared and edu. cated in his native state. In 1863, at the age of twenty years, he came with the family to Illinois and settled in Sheffield, Bureau county, and there he enlisted, May 14, 1864, in Company H, One Hundred and Thirty. ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under
Captain William Fairmon, He Mis honor ably discharged October 28, 1864. aun1 -001 afterward went to Keosauqua, Van Buren county, lowa, where he spent eight years. During the following two years he was again a resident of Sheffield, Illinois, and then came to Henry county, being engaged in the grain business in Atkinson for four years. He next spent two years in Centre. ville, lowa, and from there went to Mendon, Nebraska, where he made his home until 1888. Subsequently he was a resident of Loomis, that state, and in the spring of 1895 located in Buda, Illinois, where he lived until coming to Annawan on the first of De- cember, 1897. Since 1886 he has engaged in the grain business, and now handles about four hundred thousand bushels of grain an- nually. The capacity of his elevator is about thirty-two thousand bushels. He is a man of keen perception, sound judgment and un- bounded enterprise, and to these character- istics may be attributed his success in life.
On the 30th of September, 1880, in Au- rora, Illinois, Mr. Dewey was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth Mears, who was born in Chicago, September 24, 1854, and is a daughter of William and Ann Latham. natives of Ireland. Five children blessed this union : Fenno Cummings, born November 8, 1881 ; Harry Mars, born October 4, 1885 ; a daughter, who was born and died January 16, 1886; Annie Louise, born November 15. 1891 ; and William Joseph, born September 5, 1893. The two oldest are now attending school in Davenport, Iowa.
ROSSETER F. SCHOONOVER.
Among the leading citizens and represen . tative farmers of Burns township is num bered Rosseter F. Schoonover, of section.
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34. Klor wa loro near Marietti, Washing ton . my. Olf. April 11. 1833. and is a son qp Henry som Eunice ( Hopkins ) Schenlever, maweenif the same county. His paterall grandfather, Nicholas Schoonover. was loorn in Connecticut of Holland ances try. and become one of the pioneers of the Buckeye state, where his death occurred. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and a far- irer by occupation. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Blue, was also a native of New England. The remains of both were interred at Belpre, Ohio. The father of our subject was killed March 4, 1842, by being thrown from a horse, at the age of thirty seven years. The mother long survived him and married again. She was eighty-two years of age at the time of her cleath. April 18. 1893. She was born in New Jersey, of English descent and was 2 daughter of Freeman and Sarah ( Leach ) Hopkins, who moved to Ohio when Eunice was but two years old.
Our subject is one of a family of six children. His sister Emeline, now the widow of John F. Finch, is represented on another page of this volume. Adolphus enlisted in Cambridge in Company .1, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry and was taken prisoner while on duty in Louisiana and sent to Ty- ler. Texas. lle died at Shreveport, Louis- Tana, from the effects of his prison life March 4. 1864, at the age of twenty seven years. Mary wedded Alonzo Reardon, a native of ofrio, who was killed in the battle of Look om Mountain during the Civil war. She chat in lowa, in 1860, leaving two children. Cantine became the wife of Stephen Need- liant & Mimer of Ohio. Asa enlisted in an Kjø regiment in 1864, and served until the Give ni the war. He married Maggie Ro-
rah. a native of Pennsylvania, and lives in Missouri. For her second husband the mother married Aaron Herrington, a native of South Carolina, and by that union had five children, namely : Dallas, who mar- ried Ella Breckenridge and follows farming at Princeton, Illinois: Barbara, who mar- ried William Harvey and died in Marion, lowa: Lillie, wife of William Wheeler, a mason of Parkersburg. West Virginia; Do- rinda. wife of Jefferson Potter, a farmer of Kewanee township, this county ; and Joseph who married Lizzie Burford and lives on the old homestead in Washington county, Ohio.
Rosseter F. Schoonover was edticated in the public schools of his native county, and assisted his step-father in the work of the home farm until nineteen years of age, when he came to Peoria, Illinois, where he worked on the farm of Lyman Hitchcock for three years, and on G. Dickinson's farm two years. On the ist of January, 1857. he was united in marriage with Miss Mar- gery Harlan, who was born and reared in Peoria county and is a daughter of Moses Harlan, a pioneer of that county, coming. from Indiana. He was born in War- ren county, Ohio, July 5. 1787, and first married Ann Jennings, of Ohio, January 28. 1813. and the children born to them were as follows: George B., deceased, married Sarah Cornelison and lived in Peoria coun- ty, where he followed farming : Sarah Hop- kins is the widow of Aaron Wilkinson and a resident of Newton, Nebraska: John, a resident of Newton, Harvey county, Kan- sis, lost his wife before the Civil war, and enlisted at Peoria, Illinois, in 1862, remain- ing in the service until hostilities ceased : Plebe, a resident of Princeville, Illinois, is the widow of Rice McMillan, who took his family to Oregon about 1849: Milton mar-
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ried Susan Gelkenson and died six months after their marriage, while she is now liv- ing in Stuart, Iowa: and Lewis, deceased, married Eveline Chapin in 1846 and lived in Iowa. For his second wife the father of these children wedded Mary Butler, who was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia. August 9. 1797. By this union were born four children, namely: Joseph married Arminda Hadsall and is at Stuart, Iowa, retired. He enlisted in the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the war, in 1861, and later re-enlisted, serving in all four years. Ile came very nearly losing his eyesight. Thomas married Lizzie Sterns, of Peoria county, Illinois, and is now a lawyer, editor of a paper and over seer of government timber in Oregon. Mary died unmarried at the age of thirty years, and was buried in Wethersfield. Margery, wife of our subject, completes the family. She was educated in the country schools and remained at home with her parents in Peoria county until her marriage. Moses Harlan moved to Peoria county, Illinois, about 1833. and was a pioneer of Radner township. He was one of the leading men of that county and served as a member of the legislature about 1846. In politics he was a Whig, and in religious belief a Univer- salist. He died September 3, 1842, and his wife, November 21. 1876. His father. George Harlan, died May 6. 1821, aged eighty-two years, and his wife, Margery, in 1821, in her seventy-eighth year. They were of the same family as Chief Justice Harlan.
Immediately after their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Schoonover came to Henry county. and he purchased eighty acres of land on sec . tion 27, Burns township, to which he has since added eighty acres on section 34: sixty acres on the same section ; eighty acres on
section 21 ; and two hundred acres on sec- tion 26. The first eighty acres were un- broken when they came into his possession, but the other tracts were all under culti- vation. The improvements that he has placed upon his land amount to about eight thousand dollars, and he now has one of the lost and most desirable farms in Burns township. Besides this valuable property he has a well improved farm of one hun- (ired and sixty acres in Riley township, Ne- maha county, Kansas. In connection with general farming he is successfully engaged in stock raising, his specialty being hogs.
Mr. and Mrs. Schoonover have become the parents of eleven children : Mary Eunice, born November 7, 1857, first married John Wilhelm, a farmer of Burns township. and second, William Chadwick, a veteran of the Civil war, now living in Nemaha county, Kansas; Joseph Ward, born July 8, 1860, was married in 1886 to Elsie Ronstrom and is a resident of Kewanee; Lee B., born Feb- ruary 7, 1862, was married September 7, 1888, to Ada Daily, and is a farmer of Corning, Kansas; Adolphus, born June 13, 1864, married Lizzie Earl and is a farmer of Corning, Kansas; Etta, born November 6. 1868, died at the age of nearly four years; Emeline, born February 14. 1871, is the wife of John Anderson, of Nobles coun- ty, Minnesota; John Rosseter, born Octo- ber 28. 1873. wedded Mary Helchsell and is a farmer of Galva township, this county; Grace, born January 10, 1876, is the wife of Lyman Snyder, who is engaged in farm ing on the home place: Ruea, born August 20, 1879. is the wife of Orville Snyder, a farmer of Burns township: Olive. born March 8, 1882. is at home with her parents ; and Bethula, born January 6. 1887. died November 7. 1887.
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Sines cisting los first presidential vote ings. He carries on mixed farming and is for Joli C. Fremont. 1 1856, Mr. Schoon- meeting with well-deserved success in his- labors. He is a stockholder in the Farm- ers Elevator of Galva, and is also inter- ested in the Westrand Manufacturing Com- pany of that place. over has been a stanch supporter of the Re-, publican party, and he has most efficiently filled the office of school director. His wife ir a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and both are held in high regard by all who know them.
LOUIS OBERG.
This well-known and energetic farmer residing on section 20, Galva township, was boru in Sweden on the 29th of September, 1849. His parents died in that country and there two sisters still reside, but his only brother. John Oberg. is also engaged in farming in Galva township. this county. By occupation the father was also an agri- culturist.
Our subject was reared upon a farm. mul early in life gained a good practical knowledge of agricultural pursuits, although In. literary education was limited. He pointed to engage in farming in the land w Mh birth until 1875. when he determined te ik his fortune in the United States. where he believed that better opportunities Sere afforded ambitious young men. On che-ag the necan that year he came direct t Dery counts. Mmois, where he worked by the month as a firm hand until . 1879. and then went to Cinego, where he was em jo gel pte friture factory for six years. 0; no espres or do lat period he returned t liemy mommy wood resumed farming. Inter sempre Lapl for some time he pur . chal In presso kon of one hundred and Si mir- mise fall 20. Galva township. solong as well filed under a high state of clb Low zow oppwed with good build
In 1879 Mr. Oberg married Miss Kate Peterson, who was born in Sweden, De- cember 9. 1844. and came to Illinois in 1869. Her parents both died in Sweden, but she has one sister. Annie, wife of Emil Wal- gren, who resides in Chicago: Peter, who- died in Chicago, in 1898: and five others. who reside in the old country, namely : Elsie, Christine, Eric. Andrew and Betsy. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Oberg. Jennie, born in Chicago, died at the age of fifteen months: and Alben died at the age of three years. Esther, born January 7. 1883. and Edward, born May 7. 1885. have been educated in the country school near their home.
Mr. Oberg gives his political support to the men and measures of the Republican party, and has been called upon to fill local offices. He is now serving as highway com- missioner and school trustee, and is justly regarded as one of the leading citizens of his community.
HUGH A. CALHOUN.
This gentleman, who is one of the most prosperous and successful agriculturists of Galva township, has made his home in Henry county since 1865. A native of Illi nois, he was born in Stark county. Febru ary 20. 1861. his parents being Andrew and Mary (Galbraith ) Calhoun, both non de- ceased. The father was born in the north of Ireland in 1824. and when twenty-four years of age came to the United States
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
spending about nine years in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. In 1856 he became a resi- dent of Stark county, Illinois, where he lived until 1865, where he came to Henry county and rented a farm until the spring of 1866, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of what is now the old home farm, to which he added until at the time of his death he owned four hundred acres. and carried on an extensive business as a farmer and stock raiser. He continued in active business until to the time of his death in: 1887, and two years previous made a trip to the land of his birth. After his death his widow and Fred Calhoun carried on the farm until her death, January 30, 1807.
Hugh A. Calhoun is the sixth in order of birth in a family of ten children who reached years of maturity, while one died in infancy. The others are Mary, wife of Daniel M. Towner, of Chicago; Margaret. wife of T. W. Patterson, station agent at Granger, Illinois: Andrew G., a resident of Galva township. this county: Prudence, wife of Harry Resseguie, of Galva town- ship: Rebecca, wife of James A. Ayres, of Kansas: Susan, wife of Thomas H. Johnson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; William W., assistant cashier of the Kewanee Union National Bank : Henry C., an attorney of Chicago; and Fred C., who lives on the old home farm. All of the family have received good com- mon-school educations, while some are grad- uates of the Galva schools, and have taught in different schools.
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