USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > The biographical record of Whiteside County, Illinois.. > Part 17
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Mr. and Mrs. Hoover have seven chil- dren: Bertha, now the wife of William Thompson, of Ustick; George, who mar- , ried Neva Baber and lives in Fulton; Fred, a manufacturer of Kansas City; Nellie, wife of John H. Fox, of Sterling; William, who died at the age of twenty-four years and six months; Frank, who lives on the home farm; May, wife of Dr. Clenden- ing, of Fulton. The parents are both earnest and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and while a member of the congregation at Cotton- wood, Mr. Hoover served as class leader, steward and superintendent of the Sunday- school for a number of years. His political
support is always given the Republican party, and for twenty-seven years he was clerk of Ustick township, his service being interrupted only by the four years spent in Sterling while educating his sons. He built a good residence in that city, but afterward sold the place. In the spring of 1898 he removed to Morrison and erected his present fine home on West Grove street, where he expects to spend his re- maining years in ease and quiet. The suc- cess that he has achieved in life is well de- served, his prosperity being due entirely to his own unaided efforts, good management and industry.
JOHN SCHWAB, a member of the firm of Schwab Brothers, general merchants at Fulton, Illinois, and foreman for the Joyce Lumber Company, is one of the substantial and prominent business men of the city, and an important factor in promoting its advancement and prosperity. He was born December 25, 1857, at Williamsburg, New York, a son of Gottlieb Schwab.
Gottlieb Schwab was born June 22, 1822, in Wirtemburg, Germany, where he worked as a wine manufacturer during his early manhood. He there married Hen- rietta Munz, and the following year sailed for America, arriving at Williamsburg, New York, about two months prior to the birth of their eldest child. Two years later he moved to Illinois, and settled in Fulton, where he was afterwards known by the name of John, his own name being hard to speak. Securing work on the Northwest- ern railway, he continued thus occupied until retiring from active labor, a few years before his death, which occurred at his home July 9, 1898. His widow survives
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him. They reared nine children, as fol- The store in which he has an interest was lows: John, the special subject of this founded in 1892 by Simon Feet and Fred- eric Schwab, the latter being the junior partner. The following year John Schwab became a partner in the concern, and in 1895 John McCrea was admitted to the firm, and the name was changed to MeCrea, Schwab & Co., under which business was continued two years, when Louis Schwab purchased Mr. MeCrea's interest and be- came manager of the business, which has since been conducted under its present firm name. sketch; Frederick, belonging to the firm of Schwab Brothers, and also head filer in the large saw mill; Frank, employed in the shingle manufacturing department of the saw mill; Christina, wife of James Carrier, of Fulton; George, formerly road master for the Northwestern Railway Company, is now a brakeman on their road; Henry, in business in Fulton; Emma, wife of Albert L. Draper, who is engaged in the literary and publishing business in Fulton; David, gang-saw filer in the saw mill; and Louis, one of the partners in the store and man- ager of the business.
John Schwab received his early educa- tion in the district schools of Fulton, where he grew to man's estate, attending as he had opportunity. At the age of eight years he began to partly earn his own living by working in the clay pipe factory, an indus- try that he pursued five years. Then after farming awhile, doing boy's work for a neighbor, he was employed in the Fulton pottery a few years. Giving up his position there he secured employment as a regular hand in the saw mill and was later made an assistant in the filing department. There he proved himself so skillful a mechanic that he was promoted at the end of two years to gang-saw filer, and subsequently was raised to the position of foreman of the filing room. llere his genius and mechanical ability gave him such prestige that he was asked, in 1887, to become foreman of the mill, a position of responsibility that he still holds. This mill is the most impor- tant industrial plant of the town, when running on full time giving employment to one hundred and forty men, and producing twenty million feet of lumber per annumn.
In politics Mr. Schwab was actively identified with the Democrats until the sil- ver issue, when he joined the Republican forces. He has been influential in public affairs, having represented his ward as alder- man twelve years in succession, and having served as mayor two years, from 1897 until 1899. He is now a trustee and the vice- president of the Fulton Cemetery Associa- tion.
On June 22, 1880, Mr. Schwab married, at Princeton, Iowa, Miss Lillie P. Stichter, who was born in Troy, New York, a daugh- ter of John Stichter, who removed to Iowa with his family when Mrs. Schwab was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Schwab have one child, a daughter, Grossing Schwab.
EDWARD WYATT, engineer for the Joyce Lumber Company, at Fulton, Illinois, is well qualified for the responsible position he holds by reason of knowledge and experience. He was born February 26, 1832, in Leamington, Warwick county, England, a son of William and Elizabeth (Sweet) Wyatt.
At the age of fourteen years Mr. Wyatt began the battle of life on his own account
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by entering the factory and machine shops of George Nelson, of Warwick, as an ap- prentice. After serving six years and one Inonth in that capacity, he secured a posi- tion in a much larger foundry and factory, where for two years he was one of the five hundred employees. Returning then to his former employer he remained with him un- til the summer of 1855, when he embarked for America, whither he arrived July 17, and was first greeted with the news of the fall of Sebastopol. Going directly to De- troit, Michigan, Mr. Wyatt began work in Pitt's sawmill, in the machinery department. The following September he came to Lyons, Iowa, and until February, 1856, was em- ployed in the sawmill of John Pickering, whom he left to enter the machine shops of Graham & Company, where, the next Au- gust, he was unfortunate enough to meet with such a serious injury as to cause the loss of his right hand in the planer. The ensuing six years Mr. Wyatt had charge of the engine in the sash factory of M. A. Desbrow, of Lyons. On April 6, 1865, he assumed the duties of his present position as engineer in the sawmill at Fulton, and during the thirty-five years that have inter- vened has been faithful to his employers, ever as mindful of their interests as of his own. In 1892 he took a trip to California, and in the fall of that year was sick for three months, but with these exceptions he has seldom been absent from his post.
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Mr. Wyatt has been prominently identi- fied with many of the foremost industries of this part of the county, and has usually been fortunate in his ventures, although he lost $5,000 through one investment. He is a director and stockholder of the Lyons Sash & Door Factory; he is also one of the com- mittee of the Lyons Cemetery Association;
and was one of the promoters, and a direct- or, of the Fulton Electric Light and Power Company, of which he is still a stock- owner.
Fraternally Mr. Wyatt has been an Odd Fellow for nearly forty years, and is past noble grand of the Manchester lodge, of England; he is likewise a member of Lyons encampment of which he has been C. P. and H. P .; formerly he was a Knight of Maccabees; and he was one of the first mem- bers of Forrest camp, No. 2, M. W. . A., in which he filled all offices. Though not con- nected with any religious organization by membership, he inclines towards the Church of England, but attends and contributes towards the support of churches of all de- nominations.
Mr. Wyatt is a man of spotless integrity, and those who best know him respect him for his business qualities and faithfulness, and honor himfor his manliness and strength of character.
C HARLES C. KNIGHT, a retired farmer living on section 36, Fulton township, is numbered among the pioneers of 1840, who made Whiteside county their home, and have here labored to build up a sub- stantial and thriving county. He was born near Belfast, Maine, at the mouth of the Penobscot river, and is the son of George W. and Lydia Abigail (Duncan) Knight, both of whom were also natives of Maine, and where the latter died during the early childhood of our subject. The father was a seafaring man, engaged in the coasting trade and in fishing. He also owned a small farm which he cultivated with the aid of his sons. The family is of English origin, the grandfather of our subject being one of
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C. C. KNIGHT.
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four brothers who came from England dur- ing the eighteenth century. George W. Knight was reared by General Ulmer, of Revolutionary fame. He was a man of re- tiring disposition, never aspiring to public position, or endeavoring to attract public attention. In 1833 he removed from his old home in Maine to Licking county, Ohio, about twenty-seven miles east of Columbus, and three years later settled in Schuyler county, Illinois, being a pioneer in that lo- cality, where his last days were spent. He was married three times, his first wife dying in Maine, his second one in Ohio, and the third in Schuyler county, Illinois.
The subject of this sketch came west with his father, and was with him in Ohio and Schuyler county, Illinois. While liv- ing in the latter county he was apprenticed by his father to learn the saddlery trade, but his master being a very dissolute man he did not long remain in his employ. He is one of twelve children, three of whom are yet living. William, who went to Cali- fornia in 1850, is a retired farmer, now re- siding in the city of Clinton, lowa. He run the first steam ferry between Fulton and Lyons, Iowa, and was well known on both sides of the river. Charles C. is the sub- ject of this sketch. John, who also went to California in 1850 and there remained some years, now makes his home in Clinton, lowa.
While still in the employ of the saddler at Rushville, Illinois, our subject acted as substitute carrier of the mail between Springfield and Rushville, making two trips, each trip occupying three days. He was then but twelve years old and the journey of fifty miles was to him a long one. Rid- ing a pony, he carried the mail in what was called saddle-bags. Leaving the employ of
the saddler, he went into the country and made his home with a cousin for a short time and then secured employment with John Ewing, a farmer of Schuyler county, at six dollars per month. His employer being well pleased with his services tried to persuade him to remain with him until he was twenty-one years oldl. About this time, however, his brother William, who, in 1838, had settled in Whiteside county, came through on his way home from the south and prevailed on him to accompany him to Whiteside county. This was in 1840, and he was now fourteen years old but well developed physically and capable of enduring a good deal of hard work. Soon after his arrival, his brother William secured four yoke of oxen and the two went into Mt. Pleasant township and broke a half section of land belonging to John Steaks, and which now comprises the east- ern part of the city of Morrison. While usually employed on farms, for the next few years our subject worked at odd jobs, and as he was given opportunity attended school, securing a common-school educa- tion. The first school he attended in Whiteside county was one held in the home of Amos Short, who employed Armenia Ingham, who was but sixteen years old, to teach his children, some five or six in num- ber. Miss Ingham's younger sister, Nancy, and our subject, together with the children of Mr. Short, comprised the entire school, which was held upstairs in a log house. Nancy later became the wife of Joshua Hollingshead, while Miss Armenia married Reuben Patrick. She now resides in Chi- cago.
In 1846 Mr. Knight pre-empted his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres and commenced its improvement. He broke
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fifteen acres of land the first season and sowed it to wheat which in due time he harvested, and with two yoke of oxen hauled one load of the grain to Chicago, the round trip requiring eleven days and during the trip he slept under the wagon. The wheat brought sixty-six cents per bushel. Other improvements were made on the land dur- ing the same season, and several more acres were broken. A home without a wife was not to be thought of, and on the ioth of November, 1847, Mr. Knight was united in marriage with Miss Julia Hollingshead, a native of Canada, and daughter of John and Elizabeth (Rush) Hollingshead, who came from Canada in 1839, and located in what is now Clyde township, but later moved to Ustick township, where two of the brothers of Mrs. Knight, Daniel and Joshua Hollingshead, yet reside.
The first home of Mr. and Mrs. Knight was a small frame building, 14 x 18 feet, which he bought from a young man who was going to abandon his claim. The house was moved on sleds a distance of two miles, the neighbors turning out with several yoke of oxen to assist in moving it. The three winters succeeding his marriage, Mr. Knight spent in the northern pineries, his wife re- maining at home and managing the farm. The fall prior to his marriage he spent on the lower Mississippi and Ohio rivers as fireman and deck hand, during which time he gained experience in river craft. In the spring of 1850 he had quite an experience in rafting on the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. He had gone up early in August, 1849, and having been away from home, wife and baby for about eight months was anxious to get back. A raft of hewed logs and shaved shingles had been constructed on the Lemonwell, a tributary of the Wisconsin
river, which emptied into it about ten miles above the dells, and when completed, in company with some others engaged in like business with him started on the journey. While on the Wisconsin river they could only run the raft in daylight, but when the the Mississippi river was reached the raft was left to drift in the channel. On the last day's run they passed Savanna in day- light. Soon afterwards the wind began to blow and they were required to lie up for a time. About sundown they started out again, and darkness coming on, Mr. Knight took his position on the bow to guide the raft and prevent its running into an island. They were in much fear that in rounding the point at the head of Cat Tail slough, which they reached about two o'clock in the morn- ing, the current would send them across to the other side of the river. But by swing- ing abruptly and using every energy the danger was passed and they landed at the dock of the present lumber yard. Mr. Knight could only tell his location, how- ever, by the hill reflected against the sky. After landing he started for the home of Joshua Hollingshead where his wife and child were staying. The low ground of Cat Tail was covered with water for some eighty rods and the companion of Mr. Knight was in some doubt about venturing through it. Knowing well every foot of the ground, and knowing that in no place could it be more than breast deep, Mr. Knight told his com- panion to keep his eye ou him and to follow. They soon passed over the dangerous ground and reached the home of Mr. Hollingshead about daylight.
In 1852 the land around Fulton was surveyed, and Mr. Knight found that only the north half of his quarter-section was government land, while the south half was
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county land. The former he secured by the payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and for the latter he paid between three and four dollars. The wal- nut trees which are now on his place he planted in 1848, some fifty-one years ago. This was before the Fulton and Morrison road was located and there was great diffi- culty in getting around and across Cat Tail slough. A contract was let to different par- ties for digging ditches on either side of the road, the ditches to be six feet wide and two and a half feet deep. The soil was very sticky, and the parties who took the contract gave it up soon after commencing the work. Mr. Knight was anxious to have the road constructed and took the entire contract, not another man being willing to engage in it. He commenced the work in the fall of 1846 and spent the entire sum- mer on the work, receiving one dollar per rod. He dug some three hundred rods of ditch through the worst kind of swampy, waxy land. When he completed his con- tract he found there was no money in the county treasury with which to pay him, and the only way in which he could secure it was by taking warrants with which his neighbors could pay their tax the next year, paying him the gold for them. This incident illustrates the shifts necessary to do business in pioneer times.
Mr. Knight tells of the first ferry at Fulton, as it was related to him by Mr. Fellows before the latter's death. The active persons in the construction of the boat were Mr. Jenks, Mr. Jenkins, Henry Fellows and another man. The oak for the gunwale was from the hill near Fulton, and the two-inch plank for the bottom of the boat was sawed in a little up-and-down saw mill on Rock creek, northeast of Mor-
rison, some twenty-five or thirty miles dis- tant. The boat as built was about twenty- five feet long and ten feet wide, the planks being nailed on the bottom. This left the boat upside down, but it was turned over and launched. Filling it with rock, it was pushed out into the channel of the river, a rope having been attached to each end. In pushing it out the rock moved to one side and the boat overturned. After righting it the boat was completed and made ready for use. It was propelled by oars by two men, with one man to steer. They would row up near the shore for half a mile, then start diagonally across, taking advantage of the current. The boat was owned and operat- ed for some years by Augustus Phelps, who, with Mr. Cheeney, was the proprietor of the only store in Fulton for some years.
This boat was purchased by William Knight in 1849, and operated by him until 1850, when he rented it and went to Cali- fornia. On his return, two years later, he again engaged in ferrying, using horse power. In about 1854 he went down to the Ohio river and purchased a steam ferry boat, the first one used in this locality. This he operated for some time. It was named the Sarah, for his wife.
When Mr. Knight located on his present farm a portion of it was swamp land and covered with muskrat houses. It was a good place for water fowl and their eggs were plentiful. On one occasion, while he was working near the house, he saw a flock of geese directly over his head. Stepping into the house, he took his gun and from the door fired into the flock, bringing down his goose, which fell inside the doorway, he being compelled to step aside to keep from being hit. Deer was also very plentiful, and an old hunter, Wooster Y. Ives, with
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whom Mr. Knight was intimate, estimated that he had killed eight hundred deer in Whiteside and Carroll counties.
Mr. Knight has ever been of a retiring disposition, refusing all political honors, preferring to give his time to his own private affairs. In early life he was a Whig, while he was, in sentiment, always an abolitionist. From the time of the organization of the Republican party up to within a few years he gave allegiance to that party. Being a strong temperance man, for the last ten years he has given his ballot and influence to the Prohibition party. He is not a mem- ber of any church, but is a believer in the Christian religion as promulgated by its founder.
To Charles C. and Elizabeth Knight five children were born, two of whom died in infancy. John Henry, born February 2, 1851, died March 25, 1853. Mary Adelia, born June 24, 1857, died March 2, 1863. Elizabeth, born January 9, 1849, married Gabriel Heckerman, who, dying, she later married Charles Flanders, and they now reside in Clinton, Iowa. John E. is now the owner of the old homestead, and is en- gaged in farming and stock raising. Miriam Amanda is now the wife of Rev. James Willis, a farmer of York county, Nebraska. The mother of these children, who was born May 15, 1829, in Canada, died Sep- tember 26, 1883.
For his second wife Mr. Knight in 1888 married Mrs. Nancy Walkup, nee Randall, widow of John Walkup, and a native of Ohio. By her first husband, she was the the mother of three sons and one daughter, who yet make their home in Union Grove township, which was the home of their par- ents. By her union with Mr. Knight one son was born, Charles C., Jr., who was
born September 22, 1889, and who died died September 12, 1897.
Almost forty- nine years after Mr. Knight left his native state, and when he had be- come a prosperous man and owed no man a cent, he concluded to return to the scenes of his childhood, visiting relatives and friends. Putting one hundred dollars in his pocket, he started back on the proposed visit, and it is needless to say that he had a good time. For the past ten years he has lived a retired life, having sold his farm to his son, John E., but retaining a life lease in the home. He is one of the oldest and most respected of the citizens of Whiteside county, which has now been his home since April 8, 1840, alinost sixty years. Au al- most unbroken wilderness on his arrival here, he has lived to see the county become one of the best in all the state, with a happy and prosperous people. He has contributed his full share to the development of the country and the building up of a Christian civilization. The old house in which he moved with his young bride is still standing, but changed with time. Time has also left its impress on his features, but his heart is yet young, and he takes the greatest interest in the affairs of the day.
M RS. SUSANNA R. DAVIS, widow of Gabriel Davis, is one of the honored pioneers of Sterling, and none of our citi- zens are better entitled to a place in the annals of Whiteside county. Both she and her husband have been noted for their public spirit and for the genuine interest which they ever have displayed in every- thing pertaining to the progress and improve- ment of Sterling and vicinity.
Gabriel Davis was born in 1803, in
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Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, his parents being Archibald and Julia A. (Ander- son) Davis, who were of Welsh descent. The early years of Gabriel Davis were quietly passed in the Keystone state, and for a score of years subsequent to his mar- riage he was actively engaged in merchan- dising in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Integrity and upright methods were pur- sued by him at all times, and prosperity crowned his efforts to obtain a competence. In 1856, he removed to Sterling, with his family, and continued to dwell here until called to his heavenly mansion. Soon after his arrival here, be purchased four hundred acres of fine farm land, which he leased to responsible parties, and derived a good in- come from this source alone. In order to afford his children good educational advan- tages he located in the town, with whose interests he was actively identified until he was laid low with a stroke of paralysis. Few citizens of Sterling were better known or more genuinely esteemed, and when, in 1880, he was summoned to his reward, the public deeply deplored his loss, realizing that not soon would his place in the community be adequately filled.
Though he was sincere and faithful in all of his relations in life, it was in the domestic circle that his virtues shown forth undimmed brightness. Sixty-four years ago, on the 3rd of November, 1835, a marriage ceremony, performed by Bishop White, of the Episcopal church, in Philadelphia, united the destinies of Gabriel Davis and Susanna Diller. She is a daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Weaver) Diller, natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and had been several generations of their respective families. Mrs. Davis, who was born in , Lancaster county, in July, 1815, was the
second in order of birth of her parents' six children. Her elder brother, Weaver, and next younger brother, Isaac R., have passed to the silent land, as also has her sister Ma- ria, who was the wife of R. F. Ruth. Ro- land W. is a pioneer in the drug business at Springfield, Illinois, and Anna E., the youngest of the family, is the wife of the well known banker, Augustus Ayres, of Jacksonville, Illinois. After the death of Jonathan Diller his widow became the wife of Morgan L. Reese, and the mother of two daughters, Sarah and Fanny, both of whom survive.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Davis seven children were born, William W., of Sterling, is married and has two children, John and Susanna. He is a writer of con- siderable ability, and is employed as a cor- respondent by several newspapers and jour- nals of note. Julia B., widow of Levi A. Diller, has three children, Horace E., Susan D. and Anna E. Susan D. married George H. Durling and has four sons: Har- old, Charles, Paul and George H., Jr. An- na E. Diller resides with Mrs. Davis. Gabriel Hervey Davis is unmarried and lives with his venerable mother, cheering her de- clining years. Isaac N., the next son, died when twenty years old, just at the time when a most promising future lay before him. E. Diller, a dry-goods merchant of Sterling, is married and has three daughters, Maude, Helen and Grace. Henry L., un- married, is still living at the old homestead with his mother. Charles A., a hardware merchant of this city, married Mrs. Rebecca Mack, and like his elder brothers, is ranked among the enterprising, progressive citizens of the place.
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