USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The biographical record of Livingston County, Illinois > Part 32
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In politics Mr. Hertlein was a Democrat
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until 1896, since which time he has voted independently of party lines. For two termis he served as treasurer of the village. and was elected village trustee, but after serving six months he resigned. He also served as a member of the school board for several terms, and while no the board he succeeded in having consolidated districts No. 6 and 7. and also secured the erection of a fine school building, which is an honor to the place. The first class to be grad- uated from the school was in June, 1900, and his daughter Mary was one of the grad- nates.
Mr. llertlein was reared in the Evan- gelical Lutheran church and has ever been an earnest advocate of its doctrines and its polity. Since 1883 he has served as an elder in the church, and until recently he Was treasurer of the church in Colhumm. When he came to the church as its pastor there was a debt of thirteen hundred dol- lars on the building and he made it his first duty to clear that, which he did in a short time by securing subscriptions from its members and friends. Ile later as- sisted in the erection of the parson- age, and since the death of its last minister he has had the financial man- agement of it, and has placed it in good financial condition. He has always taken an active interest in the Sunday-school work, and is at present superintendent of the school and also serves as teacher. Active in whatever he undertakes, he has met with uniform success in all things, and to such as he the general welfare of a com- munity depends. All esteem him as a true Christian, a successful business man and a good citizen, one having at heart the best welfare of the community in which he lives.
J. E. BANGS.
Joseph Edward Bangs, a well known educator of this state. and the subject of this sketch, was born in Bureau county, Illinois, and is the seventh in a family of eight children, five of whom are now living. His parents were Samuel L. Bangs and Margaret ( Howard ) Bangs.
The father was a native of Massachu- setts, where his ancestors had resided since 1624. They were originally from England. Our subject's paternal grandfather served in the Revolutionary war and Professor Bangs is therefore a veritable "Son of the Revolu- tion." In the '50s Samuel L. Bangs came to Illinois and settled in Bureau county, but later moved to La Salle county, which was his home for nearly forty years. He died in 1898 at the ripe age of ninety years, having seen Illinois transformed from a wil- derness to a garden. His wife, who is still living, was born in England. She belongs to the well-known Howard family and is a direct descendant from the Duke of Nor- folk. She possesses an unusually bright in- tellect and now. at the age of eighty-one, is an interesting and lovable character.
Mr. Bangs is essentially a self-made man. Ilis boyhood was spent on the farm in La Salle county, where he early learned self sacrifice and endurance through the disci- pline of hard work. At seven years of age he was put to driving a team, at nine he drove a four-horse reaper, at fourteen he was making a "hand." regularly, binding be- hind a McCormick harvester. From earli- est boyhood he was a great reader and ever anxious to secure an education, but. for many years, necessity compelled him to be content with the schooling which the three months winter school afforded. By studying at
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night and by improving odd moments, how- ever, he was able to keep up with his more fortunate companions, who could attend school the year around. From the age of sixteen he earned his own spending money. paid for his clothes and books, and later made his own way through school.
On leaving college, he immediately began to teach, and after several years of successful experience. he took the rigid four days' ex- amination for a state license. This he suc- cessfully passed and received the state's seal upon his ability as an instructor in the form of a state certificate, good for life.
In the same year he took charge of the schools of Washburn, Illinois, where he es- tablished a course of study, doubled the en- rollment of the high school, drawing in pu- pils from outside the district until one-half of the high school was composed of tuition pupils, who brought into the district enough money to pay a good teacher's salary. ile was especially successful in holding the boys in school and in sending his graduates to college. Here he graduated a class com- posed entirely of boys, nearly all of whom later entered college. His school became the inspiration of the schools of the county. while the results of the influences for higher education which he set at work among the people, can scarcely be estimated.
After four years at Washburn, Mr. Bangs was called to a wider field of action at Fairbury, where he remained eight years, as superintendent and principal of the city schools, and a similar result is found. Dur- ing his administration, while the city in- creased but a few per cent. in population, the average daily attendance of the high school increased over one hundred and fifty per cent. A large increase was also found in the amount of tuition received. At the
close of his work his patrons declared, "He left the schools on a practical and firm basis. second to none in the state."
In 1894 Fairbury reluctantly yieldled Mr. Bangs to Pontiac, where the building of a township high school had opened a larger field for the exercise of his executive ability. Here his practical methods, his capacity for details and his organizing talent brought the school very soon into a creditable and con- spicuous place among the educational insti- tutions of Illinois. Every year has shown a marked increase in the power and popu- larity of the school,in the amount of the tui- tion received from foreign students and in the enrollment of boys. In 1900 there were en- rolled one hundred and fourteen boys and one hundred and four girls, and a class com- posed of thirteen boys and six girls was grad- uated, while over twelve hundred and fifty dollars tuition was collected outside of the thirty-six miles of free territory. During the six years of Mr. Bangs' administration he has collected and paid into the township treasury between five and six thousand dollars of tuition money. If the same average increase continues, it can be expected that the high school building will be paid for by outside tuition in a little over a-score of years. The best test of any school is found in what its product accom- plishes after leaving school. Judged by this test, the township high school stands in the front rank. Its graduates are making a good record. In six years fifty graduates have become teachers and as many more of its undergraduates. A large number have gone to college and an unusually large number are succeeding in business.
By conscientious effort. the grade of the school has been steadily raised until the in- stitution is now recognized by our leading
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colleges and universities and has a place upon their lists of accredited schools. It is doubtful if any township high school in the state has made a better record in the first six years of its existence than the Pontiac high school under the direction of Mr. Bangs. He has ever been found faithfully discharg- ing his duties in the least pretentious posi- tions as in the most important ones and his efforts have invariably benefited the school permanently. It has been well said that "few men naturally possess the executive ability and talent for organization that we find in Mr. Bangs." This is amply proven by the fact that he has built up every school with which he has been connected.
In addition to his work as principal and superintendent, during the past sixteen years, Mr. Bangs has spent from three to twelve weeks of his summer vacations, each year. as an institute instructor or conductor. so that his name is a familiar one in many counties of the state, and he has justly achieved the reputation of being a strong in- stitute worker. In one county he has been engaged twelve consecutive years.
Few men count more friends among their fellow workers than does Mr. Bangs. for teachers recognize in him an earnest, sincere, loyal, helpful co-laborer-one who is working for the best in education every- where. This was markedly shown by the resolution of endorsement for state superin- tendency given him by the Teachers' .Isso- ciation of Livingston county, in 1898. This resolution was seconded by teachers of every political party and unanimously adopted with cordial enthusiasm. Mr. Bangs is an ardent Republican, and ever has been, but he never lets party come before principle and where he is known he commands the respect of all parties.
He was for several years president of the Livingston County Teachers' Association ; has served in an active manner on various committees in the state associations; was vice-president of the Northern Illinois Teachers' Association in 1896, and is now- 1900-one of the vice-presidents of the Illi- nois State Teachers' Association.
In 1898 Mr. Bangs was urged by his friends to become a candidate for nomina- tion for state superintendent of public in- struction. Being engaged in teaching. he made no canvass, but the race he made was declared by old politicians to have been most creditable. Starting with but twenty-seven pledged votes, by the time the first ballot was taken he had three hundred and sixty-tive recorded for him. A prominent paper in speaking of the convention, said: "No can- didate ever overcame odds more rapidly or made friends faster than did Mr. Bangs. His headquarters were always crowded. Had he started on equal terms with the suc- cessful candidate there is little doubt but that he would have been nominated."
Mr. Bangs is deeply interested in all the great moral, social and economic questions of the day and is ever ready to help in any good cause. He has been a teacher in Sab- bath school nearly all his mature life, was for some seven years superintendent of one, and is a regular attendant on divine service. He is a stockholder and director in the Pon- tiac Summer Chautauqua and has interests in other public enterprises.
The principal fraternal societies claimhim as an active member. lle belongs to the Woodmen, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias. the various orders of Masonry and has passed through the "chairs" and been pre- siding officer in the majority of them. He is past commander of St. Paul commandery,
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Knights Templar, a member of the grand commandery of Illinois and of the Past commanders' Association of Chicago. Ile was active in working up the uniform rank, K. P., in the county and was successively elected first lieutenant, then captain of divis- ion No. 63, and later, in 1893. he was unani- mously elected lieutenant colonel of the Third Regiment, Uniform Rank, K. P .. which is composed of companies located at Joliet, Seneca, Lemont, Ottawa. Kankakee. Mazon, Streator. Pontiac, Peoria, Fairbury. In 1897 he was re-elected to this office and has been for nearly eight years a field officer of the Illinois brigade. In each of these po- sitions he has served his brethren well and faithfully, and they, in turn, have shown their appreciation on various occasions, by testimonials of esteem and confidence.
Mr. Bangs is a member of the Marquette Club and also of the Hamilton Club, both of Chicago, and takes an active part in ad- vancing their interests. Without exception. those who know Mr. Bangs best have always said, "He is the right man in the right place." and if his friends were to name his leading characteristics they would say, "Executive ability, industry, kindness, honesty and strict integrity." Some one has said of him. "Having successfully fought his own way through the difficulties which beset the poor boy's path, he is eminently fitted to sympa- thize with others similarly situated and to guide them to a like profitable course of action." As Mr. Bangs is yet in the prime of life we may expect still greater service in the years to come.
Mr. Bangs was married August 1. 1894. to Margaret R. Maloney, daughter of Dr. N. V. and Anna (Krater) Maloney, of Washburn, Woodford county, Ilino's, of which her father was one of the pioneers
and prominent physicians. Both parents are now dead. the father dying in 1892 and the mother in 1898. Mrs. Bangs is a graduate of Monticello Seminary and was valedic- torian of her class. She was a remarkably successful teacher, her work being in the grammar school at Washburn, as superin- tendent of schools at Rutland, La Salle coun- ty, for seven years, as principal of the Fair- bury high school, with Mr. Bangs as superin- tendent, and also in the Pontiac township high school.
Mrs. Bangs was also a successful insti- tute instructor, and was at one time the Re- publican candidate for county superintendent of schools in Woodford county. Her popu- larity as a teacher was great and many a boy and girl marks a mile stone in true progress from the time they came under her influence. Some one has said, "She thinks of every one else first, herself last, or not at all." She is a member of the Presby- terian church. a teacher in the Sabbath school, an officer in the county Sunday school organization, secretary of the .Isso- ciated Charities and an active sympathizer with the unfortunate everywhere. She is a woman of excellent literary attainments, is a ready writer, an able critic, has occasion- ally contributed to leading periodicals and has assisted in the preparation of several text-books.
JOSEPH BROWN.
Joseph Brown, a prominent farmer, who owns and operates one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land on section 19. Pleas- ant Ridge township. Livingston county, 11- linois, was born in Camillus, Onondago
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1
county, New York. September 7. 1840. His father, John Brown, was born in Edin- burg. Scotland, January 2, 1810, and when twenty years of age crossed the broad At- lantic and settled in Onondago county, New York, where he worked on a farm for a time. There he married Rebecca Conklin, a native of Fulton county, New York, and they continued to make their home in Onondago county until 1856, when they came to Peoria. Illinois, where the father engaged in farming until the spring of 1868. On our sub- ject purchasing a tract of wild prairie land in Eppards Point township, Liv- ingston county, he came with him and made his home there with our subject in Pleasant Ridge township until his death, which occurred November 27. 1897. The mother, who was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. died in 1852.
ticipated in the grand review at Washing- ton, being mustered out July 2, 1865.
Returning to Peoria, he worked in the coal mines there for two years, and then purchased a farm of eighty acres in Ep- pards Point township. Livingston county, upon which he made all of the improve- ments, but in 1883 he traded that property for his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Pleasant Ridge township. which at that time was only partially im- proved. He has since thoroughly tiled the place, using from twenty-five to thirty thou- sand tiles, has planted an orchard and erected a good residence and barn, so that he now has one of the most desirable farms of its size in the township. Every foot of space is now available for cultivation. Besides this valuable farm Mr. Brown owns another one hundred and sixty-acre tract in Ford county, all of which has been acquired through his own well-directed and ener- getic efforts since 1865.
The greater part of the early education of our subject was obtained in the schools On the 24th of October, 1865. Mr. Brown married Miss Emily 1. Archdale, of Peoria. Her parents, William and Sarah ( Lacey ) Archdale, who were born, reared and married in Yorkshire, England, came to the United States in 1837, being among the pioneers of Peoria. The father died there August 15, 1870. the mother Novem- ber 1, 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown were born eight children, namely: William 1 .. , born December 6, 1866, is a resident of Ford county, and has filled the office of school director. Alice M., born October 29. 1869, is ow the wife of Edison Howe, of Windom, Minnesota, and they have three children: Joseph, born February 16, 1894: Francis, born June 22. 1898: and Harry, born December 7. 1899. Charles R., born of New York, though for a short time he attended school in Peoria. In early life he worked by the month as a farm hand for six years. On the 2d of August. 1862. he joined the boys in blue as a member of Company H. One Hundred and Twenty- second New York Volunteer Infantry, and went first to Washington, D. C. He par- ticipated in the battles of Antietam. the Wilderness. Spottsylvania. Cold Harbor, Gettysburg. Mine Run, and the engage- ments in the Shenandoah valley, being with Sheridan at Winchester, Strasburg and Fisher's Hill. They then joined Grant's army at Deep Bottom. and from that time until the close of the war were near the Potomac. Mr. Brown was in the front line of battle when Lee surrendered and par- November 24, 1872, lives in Ford county.
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lle married Nellie Day and has two chil- dren : Emily P., born November 5. 1897 : and ora, born September 20, 1899. Jo- seph, born March 26, 1878, is living at home and serving as school director. Edwin. born February 6, 1881, and Florence, born May 19. 1883. are both at home.
Mr. Brown is a member of Fairbury Post. No. 75. G. A. R., and attends and supports the Methodist Episcopal church. In his political views he is a Republican, and has filled the offices of road commissioner and school director. serving in the latter position ten or fifteen years and always tak- ing a deep and commendable interest in edu- cational affairs. In all the relations of life he has been found true to every trust reposed in him, and has manifested his loyalty and patriotism in days of peace as well as in time of war.
CONRAD TRECKER.
Among the representative business men of Livingston county none are more de- serving of representation in this volume than Conrad Trecker, the well-known tile manufacturer of Odell, who, through his own well-directed efforts, has gained a comfortable competence that numbers him among the substantial men of his commu- nity. He was born in Prussia, Germany, October 2, 1850, a son of Theodore and Elizabeth ( Franken) Trecker, natives of the same place where the father followed the carpenter's trade, which he had learned when a young man. in 1852 he brought his family to America and first located in Peru, Illinois, where he lived four years, later making his home in Mendota, and following
his trade in each place. In 1868 he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Union township. Livingston county, which he developed from raw land into a good farm and which he successfully oper- ated until his death, dying in 1886, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a self-made man, having no capital when he came to this country. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious views both he and his wife were Catholics. She died in 1897. at the age of sixty-nine years, and the property in Union township was then divided among the children. The family consisted of the following named : William, a shoemaker of Cabrey, Illinois, died in 1884 : Conrad is next in order of birth; Peter, a farmer, died in Union township in 1881; Joseph is engaged in farming in that township, and owns a half interest in the tile works of which our subject has charge: Katrina is the wife of Charles Sieberg, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Elizabeth is the wife of John Cheslie, of the same city: Ellen died at the home of her sister in Kankakee, in 1887: Christina is the wife of Peter Kettwich, of Peru, Illi- nois; and Theodore is the owner of a ma- chine shop in Milwaukee, having learned the trade when young.
Conrad Trecker received only a limited common-school education, and during his boyhood he worked at farming and at the carpenter's trade with his father. After the latter purchased a farm our subject devoted his entire time and attention to its cultiva- tion until twenty-two years of age, and then commenced operating rented land on his own account. He was married, in 1875. to Miss Nettie Meyer, who was born near Sandwich, Illinois, September 29. 1855. Her parents, Henry and Elizabeth Meyer. natives of Germany, moved to Livingston
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county when she was but a small child. She was the eldest of their eight children, the others being William and Herman, both farmers of Union township, Livingston county ; Albert, of Odell township; Adeline, wife of George Miley, of Odell; Martha, wife of William Bowers, of Odell; Norman, who died at the home of his father in Iowa, in 1898; and Frank, a resident of Sunbury township, Livingston county. The mother is deceased. but the father is still living and makes his home in Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Trecker have been born the following chil- «ren: Theodore, who assists his father in his business ; Elizabeth, who died in infancy ; Katie and Nettie, both at home; Joseph, who died April 30, 1900; Addie, at home; Henry, who died in infancy; Annie, Mary and Conrad William, all at home. The children have had the advantages of a high- school education.
After his marriage Mr. Trecker con- tinned farming and also managed and owned a corn sheller and threshing outfit. He commenced handling machinery at the age of eighteen years, and met with excellent success in that branch of his business, doing more work along that line than any other man in the community. He still owns an interest in an outfit, but does not personally attend to the business. In 1881 he pur- chased eighty acres of land in Union town- ship, which he sokl two years later on his removal to Odell. and bought a half interest in the old brick and tile yard, then operated by horse power. New buildings were erected, steam power put in, as well as pat- ent kilns, and the manufacture of tile was carried on on an extensive scale for five years. During the following two years Mr. Trecker engaged in the hardware and implement business, and at the end of four
years he and his brother Joseph purchased the tile factory, which he now conducts in a most profitable and satisfactory manner, doing a business which has amounted to as much as twenty thousand dollars per year. In the meantime he added to his land posses- sions until he now owns two hundred and eighty acres of land, all under cultivation, and now divides his attention between tile manufacturing and farming. When he started out in life for himself he had no capital, but being a good man- ager, he has met with excellent suc- cess in his labors, and he is today one of the substantial citizens of his com- munity. For the past three years he has given considerable attention to the raising of brown Swiss cattle for dairy and beef purposes, owning some of the first brought to this part of the country. They were pur- chased by him at Roberts, Illinois, being imported stock from Switzerland. Mr. Trecker is a Democrat in politics, but has never found time to accept or hold any office. He and his family are members of the Catholic church of Odell, and he is also connected with the Mutual Aid Insurance Company.
HERMAN E. SIEGERT.
No better illustration of the character- istic energy and enterprise of the typical German-American citizen can be found than that afforded by the career of this gentle- man. the well-known proprietor of the elec- tric light plant of Dwight, Illinois. Com- ing to this country with little capital except his abilities, he has made his way to success through wisely-directed effort and he can
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now look back with satisfaction upon past struggles.
Mr. Siegert was born May 26, 1830, in Neudam, Badenburg, Germany, in which country his parents, Gotlieb and Sophia (Siegert) Siegert, spent their entire lives. His father was a paper manufacturer of Neudam-by-Custrin, where he was born, and he inherited the factory from the grand- father of our subject. He did quite an im- portant business, which he continued up to the time of his death. He died in 1836, at the age of forty-five years, and his wife departed this life in 1861, at the age of about sixty-one. There were two other children in their family, namely: Amelia, who married and died in Germany; and Hannah, who is the wife of Frederick Mil- ler, a printer of that country, near the oldl home.
Herman E. Siegert, the only son, re- mained with his mother until twenty-two years of age. At the age of sixteen he com- menced learning the miller's trade at Quart- shan, where he spent four years, and then worked as a journeyman miller and mill- wright in various places for seven years. In June, 1857, he sailed from Bremen on the AAsia, a sailing vessel, which, after a voyage of seven weeks, landed him in New York. He proceeded at once to Chicago, and from there to Somonauk, Illinois, where he was engaged in erecting a steam gristmill for a Mr. Bliss, and remamed in that town for two years, working at the carpenter's trade. From there he went to Morris, Illi- nois, where he engaged in building a mill and operating it for five years.
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