USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > The biographical record of Whiteside County, Illinois.. > Part 22
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
member of the Blue lodge and chapter of Prophetstown, and Illinois Society Sons of the American Revolution. His wife is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
E EDMUND JACKSON, supreme secretary of the benevolent order of Mystic Workers of the World, Fulton, Illinois, in which capacity he has shown his ability as an organizer and executive officer, was born May 3, 1853, in Greenbush, Rensselaer county, New York, and is the son of Ed- mund and Ann (Adams) Jackson, the foriner a native of Staffordshire, England, born Au- gust 26, 1820, and the latter of Hereford- shire, England, born August 28, 1823. They were married in England, August 22, 1841, and there five of their children were born, and while that country had to them many attractions, they felt that across the broad Atlantic in this free country of ours, the opportunity was far greater for advance- ment than in their old home. Believing that it was their duty to give their children the best opportunities available, they de- termined on emigrating, and accordingly, in March, 1851, the husband and father came first, and selecting a temporary home in Greenbush, New York, sent for the family which arrived in August of the same year.
After residing' in New York state for some two years, and learning of the great prairies of Illinois, where land could then be purchased for a nominal sum, in Octo- ber, 1853, the family came to Illinois, and located in Kankakee county, where the fa- ther and mother are yet living. On his ar- rival, Edmund Jackson, Sr., secured a tract of land near Manteno, Kankakee
county, where he engaged in farining and stock raising until 1890, since which time he has lived a retired life in the village of Manteno. In his farming operations he met with the success that usually follows the industrious and enterprising man, and is now enabled to live in ease and comfort upon the proceeds of his former life of toil. In politics he is a Republican, and in re- ligion is identified with the Episcopal church. In his family were nine children, four hav- ing been born in America. The following is the record: Joseph, a farmer residing near Wolcott, Indiana; Thomas, who is en- gaged in the grain and stock business in Wol- cott, Indiana; Stephen, deceased; David, a traveling salesman making his home in Oakland, California; Lucy M., residing with her parents in Manteno, Illinois; Edmund, our subject; William W., residing on the old homestead in Kankakee county, Illinois; Andrew, deceased; and George, a merchant of Manteno, Illinois.
The subject of this sketch was but a few months old when he was brought by his parents to this state. On the hotne farm in Kankakee county his boyhood and youth were spent. In the public schools of Manteno, he secured a good com- mon-school education, and at the age of eighteen years engaged in teaching, a pro- fession that he successfully followed for five years in Illinois, Indiana and Kansas. His first business venture was in Searsboro, Iowa, where he engaged in the mercantile trade for two and a half years. He then moved his stock to What Cheer, Iowa, and continued in the same line of business until the fall of 1881, when he sold out, and for the next nine years was in the real estate and insurance business at What Cheer. He was then elected president of the First Na-
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tional Bank at that place, occupying that position for three and a half years. Dis- posing of his stock in the bank, in March, 1894, he came to Fulton, Illinois, where he again engaged in the real estate and in- surance business. In the spring of 1895 he became interested with Dr. Clendennen in the organization of the Mystic Workers of the World, since which time he has given much of his time to that organization, a full account of which is found in this work.
Since attaining his majority, Mr. Jackson has always taken an active interest in poli- tics, and has always given his support to the men and measures of the Republican party. By his party associates he has been honored with various local offices, the duties of which he has discharged in a satisfactory manner. He has served as justice of the peace in the different places in which he has resided, and in that position he has always acted in such an impartial manner as to win the praise even of contesting parties. While residing in What Cheer, Iowa, he served as a member of the school board and mayor of the city in all about twelve years. In 1896 he was elected police magistrate of Fulton, a position he yet fills to the entire satisfaction of the people of the city. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic order, and while residing in Iowa served as grand treasurer of the grand lodge of the order. He now holds membership with Fulton lodge, No. 1, M. W. W .; Forest camp, No. 2, M. W. A .; Fulton City lodge, No. 189, A. F. & A. M. ; Fulton chapter, No. 108, R. A. M .; Holy Cross commandery, No. 10, K. T., lowa; also a member of Kaaba Temple, Nobles Mystic Shrine; Abou Ben Adhem lodge, No. 148, I. O. O. F .. of which he is past grand; Knights of the Globe, M. B. A .;
AV. P. Merton chapter, No. 356. O. E. S. ; Sylvia lodge, No. 112. K. P., of Iowa; and and is past grand treasurer, grand lodge of Iowa, A. F. & A. M., and is supreme sec- retary of the Mystic Workers of the World. In each of these organizations he has taken an active part, and is one of the best known fraternity men of the state. While other orders have required much of his attention, it is to the Mystic Workers of the World that he has given the greatest attention, and to the interest taken by him, with the execu- tive ability shown, the great success of the order is due.
On the 21st of March, 1877, Mr. Jack- son was united in marriage with Miss Emma G. Bennett, of Eureka, Kansas, who was born near Xenia, Ohio, the daughter of Ralph and Rebecca (Hamilton) Bennett. They have one daughter, Una G., who is still living with her parents.
While a resident of Whiteside county a comparatively short time, Mr. Jackson has become thoroughly identified with its in- terests, and is well known as an enterpris- ing and reliable business man, one who always keeps abreast with the times. All who know him hold him in the highest esteem.
THE MYSTIC WORKERS OF THE - WORLD. This fraternal benefit order was originally formed in 1891 and the preliminary steps taken for its incorpora- tion under the laws of lowa by citizens of that state, but after the first papers had been executed and filed, the temporary or- ganization was abandoned and the forma- tion of the order in Illinois was undertaken. Fulton lodge, No. I, was organized at Fulton, Whiteside county, Illinois, during the year 1892, being the first lodge of the order.
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Very little progress was made from this time until 1895, no more being done than to preserve the organization of the first lodge and attempts to organize some others which either failed or seceded to other orders.
Early in 1895 Edmund Jackson was ap- pointed supreme secretary, who at once began to make a thorough investigation into the affairs of the order, which had become deeply involved, having an indebtedness of many times its available .assets. During the year its affairs were adjusted so far as possible and arrangements made to open up work in earnest for the lodge season follow- ing. During November, the supreme sec- retary employed deputies to work up the membership, paying them wages himself and started them out. The first one en- gaged was supreme vice-master, R. S. Cowan, who, on November 4th, went to Morrison and among the first he solicited and the first one he secured, was Geo. W. Howe, county clerk and since elected supreme master. With the able assistance of Mr. Howe, a lodge was soon organized and all connected with the order were much encouraged. Mr. Cowan then went to Sterling, where he organized a second lodge and from these he and the others em- ployed, soon secured numbers of members until application was made to the state in- surance department for a charter which was granted and the order legally incorporat- ed on February 24, 1896. The real date of the founding of the order being in No- vember 1895, at which time and in February, 1896, the whole plans of the original order were so changed that nothing of value was left of it but its name.
The work thereafter progressed with . rapidity, the order closing the year 1896 with 1, 210 benefit members and thirty-eight
lodges .. At the close of 1897 there were 2,545 benefit members and eighty-one lodges. At the close of 1898 there were 5.260 benefit members in one hundred and thirty-seven lodges, and at the close of September, 1899, almost ten thousand mem- bers in over two hundred lodges. As an- other indication of its rapid growth, the account for postage and express for the month of March, 1896, the first month after the charter was granted, was but four dol- lars, while for 1899 the monthly average was over fifty dollars for the same purposes.
The order issues benefit certificates for the amounts of $500, $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000, payable at death to the beneficiaries of the insured, being the families and dependent relatives. Certificates are issued to applicants between the ages of eighteen and fifty-one, either male or female, each having the same privileges.
In addition to life protection for the benefit of the heirs of the insured, the order pays benefits during life to those of its members who meet with misfortunes. Bene- fits are paid in proportion to the amount of the certificate carried and for disabilities as follows:
Amount of certificate payable at death, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3.000; cash if arm or leg be broken, $50, $100, $200, $300; cash for loss of hand or foot, $125, $250, $500, $750; cash for loss of both hands, both feet or both eyes, $250, $500, $1,000, $1, 500; cash each six months for total disa- bility until the certificate is paid in full, $25, $50, $100, $150. Any balance of the face value of the certificate not paid during life is paid to the beneficiaries at death. It has paid in death and disability benefits to October 1, 1899, $65. 853. 13, of which $65, - 503. 13 was for forty-seven death benefits
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and $5.350 was for thirty-five accidents and disability claims, thus bringing comfort and protection to forty-seven homes and relief to thirty-five disabled members in its short existence up to date.
The order is limited in its jurisdiction. States lying wholly south of the thirty-eighth parallel of north latitude being excluded, as are also all cities of over 200,000 inhab- itants, although no restriction as to travel or residence is placed on members. It is thus confined to the healthiest parts of the country. Persons who are engaged in haz- ardous occupations are excluded, which also tends to protect the order and reduce its death rate to the minimum, which has been kept down to a very low one, the greatest for any year being 3. 25 per thousand lives at risk,
The rates of benefit assessments are graded according to the age of the member at the time of joining and the amount of protection taken and remains the same through life. They are based on the Ameri- can table of expectancy, and are at the fol- lowing rates per thousand, the greater or lesser amounts of certificates being at pro- portionate rates:
Over 18 years of age and under 20 years. .35
20
=
24 .40
..
24
11
.45
=
28
32 .55
= 32
36 .65
10) .75
40
4 €
40
12 .80
=
42
=
14
41 .85
44
..
46 .90
46
48 .95
51 1.00
None but those of good moral character and who can pass a rigid physical examina- tion are admitted, special inducements be- ing offered to the young and middle-aged.
The expenses of the order are provided for by quarterly dues of fifty cents per quar-
ter, paid by each member for that purpose, and also from the profits on supplies sold to lodges which are sold at a small advance over the cost. Local lodges receive the initiation fees of new members for their support, and also provide such quarterly dues as are needed.
The order has lodges in the following places in Whiteside county: Fulton, Ustick, Morrison, Sterling, Tampico, Prophetstown, Lyndon, Rock Falls, Round Grove, Emer- son, Erie, Gardenplain, Fenton, Coleta, Penrose, Malvern, Montinorency, Hume, Deer Grove and Albany, being in every town in the county.
It is a fundamental rule of the order that the insurance department of some state in which it is working shall be invited an- nually to examine the books of the supreme secretary and supreme banker. The depart- inents of Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri have each made these examinations, and have each reported the affairs of the order to be in excellent condition. This fact is further proven to be true, for although it has been doing business for over forty-four months it has called but twenty assess- ments, which is a less number called than by a similar order before in the same time in its history.
The supreme offices are located at Ful- ton, where all the business of the order is transacted.
There are employed in the office of the supreme secretary, in addition to that of- ficer, Miss Lena V. Snyder, daughter of Dr. W. C. Snyder, one of the oldest resi- dents of the county, and Miss Sarah E. Worthington, daughter of Herman Worth- ington, also an old resident of the county, both of these ladies having been born in the county,
56
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
The principal emblems of the order are the square, plane, balances and globes, the use of which as emblems of the order are fully explained in the ceremonies of initia- tion given in the ritual.
The supreme master, George W. Howe, by virtue of his office, has general super- vision over the whole order; R. S. Cowan, supreme vice-master, conducts field work, while Edmund Jackson, the supreme secre- tary, has charge of all clerical work of the order, and superintends the employment of deputies.
The officers of the order are as follows: George W. Howe, supreme master, Mor- rison, Illinois; R. S. Cowan, supreme vice- master, Fulton, Illinois; Edmund Jackson, supreme secretary, Fulton, Illinois; Al. F. Schoch, supreme banker, Ottawa, Illinois; Dr. G. W. Clendenen, supreme medical examiner, Fulton, Illinois; B. F. Lichten- berger, supreme attorney, Savanna, Illinois; Mrs. Clara C. Babcock, supreme conduct- ress, Thomson, Illinois; Mrs. Sarah M. Smith, supreme sentinel, Erie, Illinois; F. WVm. Kuebker, supreme picket, Ivanhoe, Illinois. Board of Directors: A. N. Ab- bott, Union Grove, Illinois; H. C. Blanch- ard, Mendota, Illinois; E. E. Fitch, Galva, Illinois; W. A. Cunningham, Anamosa, Iowa; H. H. Harris, Macomb, Illinois; Fred Zick, Polo, Illinois. Seven of the su- preme officers being located in the county, it will be seen that it is essentially a White- side county product of which the county may well be proud.
W ATSON C. HOLBROOK needs no special introduction to the readers of this volume, but the work would be incom- plete without the record of his life. No
man in the county has been more prominent identified with its growth and development in the last quarter of a century, and for twenty-one years he has most capably and satisfactory served as county surveyor. He now makes his home at No. 1102 Eighth avenue, Sterling.
Mr. Holbrook is a native of the county, born in Genesee township, February 20, 1848, and traces his ancestry back to Thomas Holbrook, who was in the cattle business near Weymouth and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1640. In his family were four sons and from them all of the Hol- brooks in Massachusetts were descended. In the early part of the seventeenth century there was one of the family who was a pro- fessor of mathematics iu Harvard College. The genealogy of this family can be traced back in England through eleven centuries.
The founder of the family in Whiteside county was Henry Holbrook, the grandfa- ther of our subject, who was a soldier of the war of 1812. He came to the county in 1838 and located a land warrant in Genesee township, where he died in 1842. Only two of his children came to this county: Henry H., and Elzina, wife of Ivory Col- cord, the first school teacher of Genesee township.
Henry H. Holbrook, the father of our subject, was born in Cornish, New Hamp- shire, May 24, 1815, and came to this county with his father in 1838. Although he learned the shoemaker's trade and worked at the same at times, he followed farming throughout the greater part of his life. During his entire residence in White- side county he lived upon the land which he purchased from the government. In Steu- ben county, New York, he was married, April 11, 1833, to Miss Caroline Ross, who
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was born in Florida, Orange county, New York, March 5, 1815, and was one of a family of four children. She belonged to the old Whitney family, of New York, which can be traced back to the time when Queen Anne made an attempt to settle the new world. Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook made the journey to this county overland in 1838, arriving here in November of that year. Upon their farm in Genesee township they made their home until called to their final rest, the father dying January 28, 1896, the mother August 13, 1890.
To this worthy couple were born ten children, the three eldest born in Cameron. Steuben county, New York, the others in Genesee township, this county. They were as follows: (1) Jane, born January 5, 1834, is the wife of S. A. Heath, a farmer living near Audubon, Iowa, and they have two adopted children. (2) Abigail, born No- vember 7, 1835, married Martin Thayer, by whom she had ten children, five now living, David, Esther J., Minnie, Milton and Ran- som, all residents of Wisconsin. After the death of her first husband she married Oli- ver Brown, a pensioner of the Civil war and a resident of Richland county, Wisconsin. (3) John H., born May 28, 1837, was a member of an Iowa regiment all through the Civil war and is now living on a farm near Catlin, Washington. He married Elizabeth Joseph, and of their eleven children, eight are living, Eii, Frank H., Henry H., John H., James, Jesse and Elias. (4) Silas, born Etta, April 25, 1839, is said to be the second white child born in Genesee township. He was married, July 1, 1863, to Mary E. Harris, by whom he had two children, one now living, Jennie M., wife of George E. Jones, of Waverly, lowa. Silas joined a Wisconsin regiment during the Rebellion 11
and after serving for a time was discharged for disability, but he never recovered and died August 30, 1866. His wife is also de- ceased. (5) Sarah M., born April 26, 1841, married John Mc Williams, of Vernon coun- ty, Wisconsin, and died there January 26, 1880, leaving one child, Henry S., now a stationary engineer and farmer of that coun- ty. (6) Watson C., our subject, is the next in order of birth. (7) Eliza, born January 3, 1850, is the wife of Joseph Erwin, a farmer of Garwin, Iowa, and of their ten children, eight are living, Augustus W., a medical student; Harry; Mattie; George; Chester; James; Eva and Duffy. (S) Mary E., born August 28, 1853, is the wife of William E. Brown, of Genesee township, and they have three children: Addie, wife of Kasper Smith, of Sterling; Jesse and Harry. (9) Isaac H., born March 31, 1855. lives in Coleta, and is highway commission- er for Genesee township. He married Al- mira Lenhart and has six children, Burt, Charles, Bertha, and an infant and two de- ceased. ( 10) Addie, born December 20, 1859, is the wife of Henry Yakely, a farmer of Viola, Richland county, Wisconsin.
Watson Curtis Holbrook, of this review, is a graduate of the Rock Island High School, and also of the Wisconsin University, where he pursued both a scientific and civil engineering course. On the completion of his education he returned to Whiteside county, and successfully engaged in teaching school for a few years in this state. In 1878, one year before retiring from the teacher's profession, he was elected county surveyor, and has since most acceptably filled that office. Since he gave up teaching he has devoted almost his entire time and attention to civil engineering. While serving as county surveyor he has spent much time in
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the west, surveying for railroads and locat- ing town site in Dakota, along the different railroads of the northwest. He was in Huron when it was a very small village, and in Aberdeen when it contained but one shanty, and has seen large herds of buffalo east of the Missouri river. He has done surveying in fifteen counties of Illinois, and has been called upon to settle boundary lines and prevent litigation of the matter if possible. He has made designs and sur- veyed for several steel and iron bridges over the Rock river, and for city sewers and farm drainage. In all his undertakings he has been very successful, and his labors have given the utmost satisfaction. At one time he wrote an ordinance on sanitary regula- tions for cities and villages, which he then considered correct, and the same has been adopted verbatim by over thirty cities and villages. When disputes arise over boun- daries his services are always in demand, and through him they are nearly always set- tled amicably.
On the 16th of March, 1886, Mr. Hol- brook married Miss Katie A. Thorp, who was born December 19, 1860, a daughter of Newton and Sarah (Parrish) Thorp, and granddaughter of Watson Parrish. She is the younger in a family of two children, her brother being Henry E., of Marshalltown, Iowa. Our subject and his wife have four children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Ida Belle, October 7, 1887; Glenn Thorp, May 11, 1891; Caroline Blanche, August 22, 1893; and Jennie Louisa, August 25, 1897.
Mr. Holbrook owns fifty-one acres of land in Genesee township, but makes his home in Sterling. Politically he is a Re- publican, and religiously is an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church, of Sterling, of which he is a trustee. Over two hundred years ago some of his ancestors heard the noted Dr. Whit- field preach, who was one of the founders of that denomination. While engaged in school teaching Mr. Holbrook devoted con- siderable time to studying and investigating the mounds found around this county, and he wrote many able articles on prehistoric man and other scientific subjects. He has in his possession a good collection of fossils, minerals and prehistoric implements, which he himself discovered. He also has letters from Darwin and other scientists thanking him for favors and specimens which they re- ceived at his hands. Of late years his in- creasing business has required all of his at- tention, and he has been compelled to give up his investigations along that line. For the past fifteen years he has compiled many private records of the oldest families of Genesee township, and his researches have extended far back, tracing the genealogy of these families through several generations in the old country. He is widely known throughout the northern part of the state, and is highly respected by all with whom he comes in contact.
D AVID W. WARD, M. D., a leading physician of Fulton, who is not only engaged in the practice of medicine in Ful- ton, Illinois, but is also prominently identi- fied with the business interests of the place, was born in the Dominion of Canada, De- cember 5, 1856, and is a son of Thomas Ward and Mary (Mark) Ward, natives of England, the former born at Lythe, near Witbany, Yorkshire, January 29, 1820, the latter in Cumberland Caterlin, near Penrith, in October, 1888. They were married in
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Canada. The father is also a physician and is engaged in practice in Richelieu, Quebec, where he has served as mayor and as alder- man several years. In his family were eleven children, eight of whom reached years of maturity. Our subject has a brother in Montreal, Joseph Ward, who is a prominent business man in that city, of the firm of Joseph Ward & Company.
Dr. Ward, of this review, was reared in Canada, and pursued a classical course at St. John's Academy. At the age of eight- een, he went to St. Albans, Vermont, where he was time-keeper for carpenters for the Vermont Central Railroad for two years. Returning home for a short time he entered the medical department of Magill Universi- ty, where he was a student for one year, and then matriculated at Hahnemann Medi- cal College, Chicago, from which he gradu- ated with the degree of M. D., February 16, 1888. After one year spent in practice in that city, he came to Fulton, in Febrn- ary, 1889, and as the only representative of the Homeopathic school in the place, he has built up an excellent practice. He has given particular attention to the study of diseases of women and children, and makes that his specialty. He holds certificates for practice in both lowa and Illinois, and has many patients in the former state, besides those in and around Fulton. He is medical examiner for the lowa Life Insurance Com- pany, for the accident insurance depart- ment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Fraternal Union of America, and the Federal Life Association of Daven- port, Iowa.
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