USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The biographical record of Livingston County, Illinois > Part 9
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To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born seven children, namely: Isabel and Martha, twins, the former of whom died at the age of seven years, the latter now the wife of James Street, of Hamilton county, lowa ; Mitchell, who is married and engaged in
farming in Minnesota : John, who is married and assists in the operation of his father's farms: Dora, wife of Oliver Henderocker, of Hamilton county, lowa: Isabel, wife of James Jacobson, a farmer of South Dakota, and Theodore, who died at the age of three years.
Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864. Mr. John- son has been an ardent Republican in politics, and has given his support to every enter- prise which he believed would prove of pub- lic benefit. He served one year as road com- missioner and was a member of the school board three years, but has never sought official honors. Religiously, both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church and are highly respected and esteemed by all who know them.
GEORGE SKINNER.
The deserved reward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement from business in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. To-day, after a useful and beneficial career. Mr. Skinner is quietly living at his beautiful home in Pontiac, surrounded by the comfort that earnest labor has brought him.
Mr. Skinner was born in Troy, Ohio, December 5. 1822, a son of Joseph M. and Lydia ( Stillwell) Skinner. His paternal grandfather was George Skinner, a Revolu- tionary sollier, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1761, and there was married, September 23, 1789. to Susanna Freeman, who was born in April, 1759. At an early day they floated down the Ohio river to Cincinnati, and located
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on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Milford, Ohio, one mile from Camp Dennison, which place is still in possession of the family. There the grandfather died in 1853. his wife in 1849.
Joseph M. Skinner, father of our sub- ject, was born in Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania. January 25, 1795. and accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, where he grew to manhood, remaining at home until he attained his majority. On the 27th of September. 1820. he married Lydia Still- well, who was born in New Jersey, January 24. 1792. As a young man he built many mills in the unbroken forests of Ohio. On leaving the parental roof, he went to Troy. that state. and entered a general mercantile store, later becoming a leading merchant and prominent business man of that section. He engaged in pork packing through the winter months and also shipped produce quite ex- tensively down the Miami, Ohio and Mis- sissippi rivers to New Orleans. At that time it required three months to go to New York. buy goods and convey them to his store. as the trip had to be made with horses. Value of money was unstable and postage on a letter amounted to twenty-five cents. Mr. Skinner owned the first freight boat at Troy, which proved of great benefit to the township, and he was extensively engaged in the freighting business for some years. Later he owned and conducted a branch store at Covington, Ohio, and when the canal was completed engaged in the commission and shipping business, owning and running boats on the canal, while he left his partner in charge of the store at Troy. General llar- rison was present at the opening of the canal. and our subject well remembers that import- ant occasion. The father had served in the war of t812 under that general, was a strong
Whig and anti-slavery man, but never an office seeker. For many years he was an elder in the Presbyterian church and also a Mason, but during the Morgan trouble, he was forced, by public opinion of the church, to withdraw from the order. He died Sep- tember 12, 1869, and his wife passed away December 19. 1860.
Our subject was educated in a subscrip- tion school at Troy, and during his youth assisted in his father's store. Later he com- menced to learn the tanner's trade at Cov- ington, Ohio, where he remained one year. Later, Mr. McCorkle, the leading tanner of Troy, dying, he took charge of the business, his father being administrator of the estate. In 1851 he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was engaged in the ice business, being the first man to bring northern ice into that city. This he shipped down the Ohio river. He was living there during the great American, or "Knownothing" mob, of 1856, but that summer he was forced to give up his business on account of failing health, and came to Livingston county, Illinois. He purchased two hundred and ten acres of land in Odell township, near the station of Cayuga, and in the spring of 1857 brought his family to their new home. They often traveled ten or fifteen miles without seeing a single habitation of any sort, and wolves were still quite numerous in this region. Mr. Skinner's land was still in its primitive condition when he located thereon, but he soon broke and tiled it, and erected good and substantial buildings, making it one of the most desirable farms of its size in the county. Though he still owns the place, he has made his home in Pontiac for the past twelve years, and has a fine brick residence here, which is supplied with many comforts and luxuries. In connection with general
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farming he always engaged in stock raising, and while living in the country served as school director, but would never accept po- litical positions.
In the fall of 1862 Mr. Skinner returned to his old home in Troy, Ohio, where he re- mained two years. As a young man he had been a member of the La Fayette Blues of that place, an infantry company that drilled all over the state, and in May, 1864. he joined the Home Guards as a member of Company K, One Hundred and Forty-sev- enth Ohio Infantry. They first went to Camp Dennison, Ohio, and from there to Fort Morrisy, Washington, D. C., where they were stationed at the attack of General Ewell, the last attempt of the rebels to cap- ture the capital. Mr. Skinner remained there until the close of his term of eunlist- ment and was mustered out at Camp Denni- son.
On the 12th of April, 1849, Mr. Skin- ner was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- eth Shafer, who was born November 15. 1829, a daughter of Eckert and Rachel ( Smith ) Shafer. Her father was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, December 29. 1804. a son of George and Barbara Shafer, and was reared in Earl township, Lancaster county, between that city and Philadelphia. His father was of German descent and a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Skinner's mother was born at New Holland, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1809, a daughter of Edward Smith. After following farming in his native state for ser- eral years Eckert Shafer left there in the spring of 1847, accompanied by his wife and six children, and moved to Troy, Ohio, by way of the canal and Ohio river. He bought a farm two miles from Troy, where his wife died March 7, 1854. Later he came
to Livingston county, Illinois, and purchased land in Esmen township, to the improvemtn and cultivation of which he devoted his en- ergies until after his children were all mar- ried. He then made his home with his ekdl- est child, Mrs. Skinner, dying there Decem- ber 13, 1882.
Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have a family of nine children, namely : Loretta, wife of John J. Pfau, of Odell; Clara L., wife of Joseph French, of Indiana, by whom she has one daughter, Edna May; Elias Freeman, now a resident of Missouri ; Rachel L., who mar- ried James Jones, of Streator, Illinois, and they have three children; Martha L., who married J. W. Adams, traveling passenger agent for the Vanderbilt lines, and a resi- dent of San Francisco, and they have four children, Nona L., Nina L., George J. and Ilarry V .; Eckert, also a resident of Cali- fornia ; Joseph Morris, who married Minnie Streator, has one child, Irma, and operates the home farm near Cayuga; Luella and Emma L., at home.
Both our subject and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian church. Ile assisted in organizing the church at Cayuga, and was one of the leading contributors to the erection of the house of worship there. Ile also served as elder of the church at Louisville, Kentucky, and has filled that of- fice ever since in different societies with which he has been connected. He was most of the time superintendent of the Sunday school during his residence at Cayuga, and has never missed in his attendance at Sun- day school or church since coming to Pon- tiac. His life has been exemplary in all re- spects, and it is safe to say that no man in his community is held in higher regard or is more deserving the respect and esteem of his fellow men than George Skinner. He has
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been an active worker for the Republican party and its principles, but has never been an aspirant for office.
JOHN KULL
It is astonishing to witness the success of men who have emigrated to America without capital and from a position of com- parative obscurity have worked their way up- ward to a position of prominence. The read- iness with which they adapt themselves to circumstances and take advantage of op- portunities offered brings to them success and wins them a place among the leading business men of the community in which they reside. No better illustration of this can be found than in the life of John Kull. the well known proprietor of the Pontiac Steam Mill and manager of a meal and feed store on the Alton Railroad and Water street. Pontiac, of which place he has been a resident since October 11. 1894.
Mr. Kull was born in Niederlenz, Canton Argan, northeastern Switzerland, October 5. 1834. a son of John Kull, a baker by trade. who spent his entire life there. Our subject attended school there, but the times being hard he commenced work at the early age of nine years with the hope of being of some as- sistance to his parents. He entered the spin- ning room of a cotton factory, where he worked from six in the morning until nine at night, with only an hour each day for dinner, and received only the equivalent to one dollar per month in our money. When all tired out with the day's work he had to walk a distance of three miles to his home before getting his supper. In the winter he put in six hours of school work each day
thuring the six years spent in the cotton fac- tory. At the end of that time he began serv- ing a three-years apprenticeship to the mil- ler's trade with his uncle, and while thus employed received only his board and clothes in compensation for his labor, but he thor- oughly learned the business and at the age of eighteen had a good trade, having passed the examination and received his papers.
Wishing to see more of the country Mr. Kull traveled over Switzerland and Ger- many, working in mills in all of the import- ant cities of those countries. He also spent some time in France and learned to handle and put together the French burrs, this be- ing an important part of his trade. By working in so many different mills he gained a varied knowledge of the methods in use and became an expert miller. Returning to Basal, Switzerland, one of the largest cities of his native land. he served as head miller in its largest mill for three years to the en- tire satisfaction of the owners.
In April, 1867. Mr. Kull came to the United States, landing in New York after a fifteen-days voyage in a steamer with an excellent knowledge of a good trade, but unable to speak a word of English. Coming directly to Highland, Illinois, he served as miller there for a time, and then went to Pocahontas, Illinois, where he was similarly employed for three years. He then removed to Greenville. Boone county, Illinois, and took charge of a mill for J. E. Walls, an English gentleman, who wanted a first- class, practical miller. All of the employees of the mill being Americans but himself. he learned the English language more readily than had ever before been necessary, and this has since been of great advantage to him. From Greenville he went to Litch- field, Illinois, and other places throughout
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this state, and also various places in eastern, object he believes will prove of public bene- southwestern and northwestern Missouri. fit. He was one of the men who felt the need of a bridge at Vermillion street. He got up the petition and secured a subscrip tion of nine hundred dollars from citizens and also a good one from the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company. With such a backing the council passed the ordinance and appropriated twenty-five hundred dollars to the enterprise, while the board of supervisors gave one thousand dollars. So Mr. Kull was realley the founder of the bridge, which is a great improvement to the western part of the city. Its need was long felt, but it required an active and energetic man like Mr. Kull to carry the enterprise through successfully. Subsequently he had charge of some of the best mills in Kansas. On the ist of Octo- ber. 1894, he came to Pontiac, Illinois, to take charge of the Pontiac Steam Mill for F. E. Wuerpel & Company, of St. Louis, and in March, 1897, purchased the mill, which he has since successfully conducted on his own account, having built up a good busi- ness. Hle has the leading custom trade of the city, receiving the patronage of all the extensive farmers of this section of the coun- ty who have grain to grind. He is also gen- eral agent for the Jersey Lily flour, made by Jennison Brothers & Company, of Janesville. Minnesota, and has built up a fine whole- sale and retail trade, as the four is of a su- perior quality and gives excellent satisfac- tion. As a wholesale dealer he sells in car- WILHELM BISCHOFF. load lots. In the spring of 1900 he equipped his mill with electric motors and now very successfully uses electricty for his motive power. He was the first miller in this part of the county to adopt it and this shows the characteristic enterprise of the man. While by nature conservative. he is yet ready to adopt new ideas in his business and keep in the front.
On the 18th of June. 1867. in Pocahon- tas, Illinois, Mr. Kull married Miss Karo- line Bornhauser, who was born in Wein- felden, Canton Thurgan, Switzerland, and who came to this country on the same ves- sel with him, joining her father, Jacob Bornhanser, a cabinetmaker by trade. who crossed the Atlantic in 1866. By this union has been born one daughter. Carrie. Mr. Kull and his wife are both earnest members of the Presbyterian church and he is a Democrat in politics. lle is enterprising and progressive and gives his support to any
Wilhelm Bischoff, an industrions and en- terprising agriculturist residing on section 14, Avoca township. Livingston county, is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Towanda township. McLean county, Feb- ruary 5. 1862. His parents. Ludwig and Mary ( Allendorff ) Bischoff, were both na- tives of Germany and came to America when young, about 1850. Their marriage was celebrated in Bloomington, Illinois, and in the vicinity of Towanda, McLean county, they began their domestic life upon a farm which Mr. Bischoff had rented. They re- mained residents of that county until coming to Livingston county in 1870, when they located on the farm now occupied by our subject. The father purchased the property and at once began to clear away the timber and break the land, having previously erected a small house suitable for a home for the family. He died in 1803, having survived
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his wife several years, her death occurring in 1894. Both were consistent members of the Lutheran church, and he was a Repub- lican in politics and an ardent worker for the party. In their family were five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters, but two died in childhood. Wilhelm, our subject, is the oldest of those who reached maturity ; Matilda is now the wife of Richard Mor- ton. who lives south of Fairbury; and .Al- vena married F. Burley, of Pleasant Ridge township, and died in 1889.
Wilhelm Bischoff came with the family to Livingston county and upon the home farm he grew to manhood, his education be- ing acquired in the district schools of Avoca township. He early became familiar with the duties which fall to the lot of the agri- culturist and has never left the homestead, but carried on farming successfully with his father until the latter's death, since which time he has had entire charge of the place. consisting of one hundred and twenty acres of good land, nearly forty of which are covered with timber. while the remainder is under a high state of cultivation. He has added. by purchase, an eighty-acre tract, giving him a farm of two hundred acres. He is a thrifty and energetic farmer, and by these means has made a success of his labors. Hle raises hogs for the Chicago market and in all his undertakings has steadily pros- pered.
In 1800 Mr. Bischoff was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Funk, who was born August 22, 1800. in Morton, Illinois, and daughter of John and Christian Funk. Her parents, dying when she was an infant. left her in care of relatives, with whom she made her home until reaching woman- hood. She has a sister. Mrs. Christina Lu- cas, who resides in Stonington, Illinois. Mr.
and Mrs. Bischoff have four children : Clar- ence 1 ... Ethel Mae, Lester E. and Irving F .. all attending the district school with ex- ception of the youngest. The parents are active members and liberal supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Bis- choff is also a member of the Modern Wood- men Camp of Fairbury and the Court of Honor, in which later his wife is a member. Hle has always been a stanch supporter of the Republican party, but would never accept office or hold any public position, preferring that they should be given to men whom he considers more worthy of them. He is, however, public spirited and progressive and gives his support to those measures which he believes will prove of public benefit.
JAMES A. CALDWELL.
Prominent among the enterprising, ener- getic and progressive business men of Ponti- ac, Illinois, is the subject of this sketch. who is now devoting his time and attention to the real estate, insurance and abstract busi- ness. Ile was born in Charleston. West Virginia. March 22, 1831, a son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Adams) Caklwell.
Joseph Caldwell, the progenitor of the family in the United States, emigrated with his family from Derry, Ireland, mn 1769, and settled in Sherman's Valley. Perry county, Pennsylvania. He was of Scotch descent. About ITSo he moved farther west, locating on Sewickley creek. Pennsylvania. He had five children, of whom Joseph, the eldest, was the great- grandfather of our subject. The grandia- ther was James Caldwell, who was born in Ireland. February 21, 1759. and was about
J. A. CALDWELL.
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ten years of age when brought to America. He married Sarah Byram, who was born I. ebruary 13. 1763, and was the eldest child of Edward Byram. At an early day her father moved with his family to the neigh- borhood of Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, and on the 7th of AApril, 1779, dur- ing the Revolutionary war, he and one daughter were captured by the Indians and taken to Canada, where they remained in captivity for a year. The child was allowed to ride with the Indians on horseback a part of the way, but Mr. Byram was com- pelled to walk. In 1780 they were taken to Montreal and later to Quebec, being in prison a+ both places, and finally, in the spring of 1781. were transferred by boat with other English prisoners through Lake Cham- plain and Lake George, then down the Hud- son river and on to Morristown, New Jersey, -their old home.
The Byram family is traced back to Nicholas Byram, son of a gentleman of prominence in Kent county, England. He was born in 1610, and as a boy was sent in charge of an agent to a remote school, but the agent took his gold and placed the boy on board a ship to the West Indies, where he was sold to pay his passage. Se- creted in his clothes was some gold given him by his mother and with this he came to Massachusetts Bay in 1633 or 1634. Hc settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Ed- ward Byram, previously mentioned, was descended from John and Priscilla Alden in the fifth generation. For a more extended history of this family see the book entitled "Abby Byram and her Father, the Indian Captives," published at Ottumwa, lowa, in 1898.
After his marriage James Caldwell, our subject's grandfather, became a farmer of 6
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his life, dying there July 11, 1847. His wife passed away prior to 1833. Hle was a zealous Christian, strong and positive in his belief, and served as eller of the Se- wickley Presbyterian church for some years. Most of his sons adhered to that faith and the father of our subject was educated for the Presbyterian ministry. He was born ir Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1786, and was a student at the college in Cannonsburg, that state,-the oklest college west of the mountains. In early manhood lv removed to Charleston, West Virginia, where he embarked in merchandising, and became one of the most prominent and suc- cessful business men of the place. Ile mar- ried Miss Mary Ann Adams, who was teach- ing school in Tennessee at that time. She was a native of Weston, Massachusetts, and a granddaughter of Alpheus Bigelow, who as a Revolutionary soldier participated in the battle of Concord. On both sides she was descended from old New England families. She was born in 1811 and died in 1890, hav- ing long survived her husband, who died at Charleston in 1848. Of their eight children who reached years of maturity our subject is the oldest.
James A. Caldwell was about eighteen years of age at the time of his father's death ; he received a good academic education in his native city and began his business career as clerk in a drug store at Charleston, West Virginia, where he continued to make his home until 1865, covering the period of the Civil war. There he engaged in business for himself for a time. He first married, in 1860, Miss Jennie Harvey, of Springfield, Ohio, a daughter of Captain John Harvey, but she died in 1873, leaving two children, one of whom. Jennie, is still living.
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In July, 1805. Mr. Caldwell came to Pontiac. Illinois, and embarked in the drug business on West Madison street in part- nership with John A. Fellows, under the firm name of Fellows & Caldwell. They continued in business together for some years and were finally succeeded by the firm of Callwell & McGregor, who for twenty- five years carried on a most successful busi- ness, theirs being by far the oklest drug store - business firm in the city. To their stuck of drugs and books they later added jewelry and built up a good trade in that line. They Built the black on the northeast corner of Mill and Madison streets, then the finest business block in the city, and also bought the opposite corner, and after selling the front part improved the remainder of the property. In 1895 the partnership was dis- solved and Mr. Caldwell retired from the drug trade. For about eighteen months he conducted a grocery store, and since dis- posing of that has successfully engaged in the insurance and real estate business, hand- ling property for others as well as himself. After the dissolution of the firm of Fellows & Caklwell he bought lots 4 and 5 at the corner of Madison and Plum streets, which he subdivided into three business lots and sold to different parties. About 1880. in partnership with Mr. McGregor, he bought twenty feet front on the corner where the Sterry block now stands and sold it after- ward to C. W. Sterry. At the time of pur- chase it was covered with a two-story busi- pess house. Mr. Caldwell still owns six resi dences in the city and has a nice home at the corner of Mill and Grove streets.
In September, 1874. Mr. Caldwell was again married. his second union being with Mrs. Lovina Hill, of l'ontiac a daughter of 6. E. Tiblets, who came here in ISob ir a
Maine, which was the birthplace of Mrs. Caldwell. They are active members of the I'resbyterian church, in which our subject is now serving as eller. He has been a member of the official board many years and was superintendent of the Sunday school si me time. He always supported the Dem- ocratie party until the campaign of 1896, but could not endorse the principles advo- cated by the Chicago platform. He has made an untarnished record and unspotted reputa- tion as a business man. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to truth. honor and right, justly valuing his own self-respect as infinitely more preferable than wealth, fame and position. His success has been the result of honest. persistent effort ir the line of honorable and manly dealing.
GEORGE W. WOMELDORFF.
George W. Womellorff. one of the high- ly respected citizens and successful farmers of Eppards Point township, residing on sec- tion 33. is a native of Hlinois, born near Tremont. Tazewell county. February 22, 1846. His father. Daniel Womeldorff, was born in Gallia county, Ohio, in 1804. and there married Miss Harriet N. Kerr, a na- tive of the same county and a daughter of Major John M. Kerr, an officer of the war of 1812. After his marriage Mr. Womel- dorff followed farming in Ohio until 1844. when he came to Illinois and settled in Taze- well county. For about four years he was engaged in flat-boating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and then turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits, having pur- chased a claim in Tazewell county. Upon that place he died in 1852. Subsequently
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