USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > The biographical record of Whiteside County, Illinois.. > Part 38
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Mrs. Hunter's first wife died in 1877 leaving three children: Alta May, who is now the father's housekeeper; William, who carries on the home farin; and Grace, who is keeping house for her brother. For his second wife, Mr. Hunter married Mrs. Mary Macomber, who was born in New York, but was principally reared in Boston,
Massachusetts, until fourteen years of age, when she came to this state with her uncle as her parents had died. She was the mother of four children by her first marriage: Waldo, Elizabeth, Frederick and Gertrude, and they reside in Chicago, Illinois. She died October 31, 1897, leaving one son, Guy, who is attending the Tampico schools.
Since voting for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, Mr. Hunter has been a stanch sup- porter of the Republican party and its prin- ciples, but has never cared for official honors, though he most creditably served as school director in his district for some years. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Tampico, and is held in high regard by all who know him. For the success that he has achieved in life he de- serves great credit, for it is due entirely to his industry, perseverance and good man- agement as he started out in life for himself in limited circumstances.
REUBEN M. THOMPSON, a retired farmer and honored citizen of Mor- rison, Illinois, was born in Salem township, Meigs county, Ohio, December 27, 1825, a son of Reuben and Phelinda (Kent) Thomp- son. The paternal grandfather also bore the name of Reuben Thompson. He was a private in a Vermont regiment in the Revo- lutionary war and by trade was a shoe- maker, which occupation he followed in connection with farming. He removed from Verinont to Steuben county, New York, during the boyhood of our subject's father, and there made his home for many years. Later he spent four years with his son in Ohio, after which he returned to New York, where his death occurred.
Reuben Thompson, father of our sub-
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ject, was born in the Green Mountain state. After completing his education, he worked at farming until the war of 1812, when he entered the army. After the war he re- moved to Meigs county, Ohio, and there he made his home for many years. He be- came quite well-to-do, owning about four hundred acres of land in that county. In 1839 he came to Illinois, accompanied by his sons, Reuben M. and Elisha K., travel- ing overland w with a four-horse team to Whiteside county, and stopping at Jacobs- town, Mount Pleasant township, a small place, where his brother, Harvey Thomp- son, operated a sawmill and gristmill owned by Jonathan Haines. Leaving his sons here, he and his brother went to Iowa and located near what is now Mechanicsville. During the following winter they joined him and took up a claim there. In 1841 they returned to this county, where our sub- ject operated the Charles Clark farm on the shares for one season, receiving one-fourth of the produce. On the father's return to Whiteside county from Iowa, he bought a claim of William L. Clark and then went back to Ohio, where the remainder of his family were still living. Bringing them to this state, he lived upon his first claim for a few years, and then removed to another in Fenton township, a half mile from the first, upon which he made his home until his death in the spring of 1850. At that time he had between four and five hundred acres of land in this county. His first wife died in 1827. Of the five children born to them, four reached manhood, namely: Elisha K., Samuel A., Reuben M. and James I. For his second wife he married Mrs. Hettie (McMillen) Robinson, widow of Fain Robinson, who died leaving three chil- dren. By the second union there were nine
children, three sons and six daughters. The mother of these died at the home of her youngest daughter, Mrs. Helen Pace, at Lorhville, Iowa, July 2, 1883.
Our subject grew to manhood in this county, receiving but a limited education. He attended school for three months in Erie, his teacher being Horace B. Cole, but the greater part of his knowledge has been acquired by reading and observation. He remained with his father until twenty-one years of age, and then worked for Eli Upton for two years, at one hundred and fifty dol- lars per year. At the time of his marriage, in 1849, he owned fifteen acres of land to which he gradually added as his financial resources permitted until he had over two thousand acres of improved and highly cul- tivated land in Fenton township, and though he has since given some of this to his sons, he still owns seventeen hundred acres in one body. He gave the greater part of his attention to stock raising and feeding, and usually shipped from six to eight car loads a year to the city markets. He was also interested in dairying, and for that purpose kept about forty cows, and the butter manu- factured by him he sold in St. Louis at the highest market price. In 1888 he retired from active business and moved to Lyndon, this county, where he lived for five years, and then returned to the old homestead, residing with his son-in-law and daughter until the spring of 1899, since which time he has made his home in Morrison.
On the 25th of December, 1849, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage with Miss Matilda S. Dodge, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of John and Lydia (Smith) Dodge, farming people of Mt. Pleasant township, Whiteside county. By this union ten chil- dren were born, namely: Esther Phelinda,
,
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wife of Lewis Ewing, of Lyndon, Illinois; John L., who is represented elsewhere in this volume; James Amassa, who died at the age of seven years; Albert L , whose sketch also appears in this volume; Clara, who first married Fitz Hubbart, and alter his death wedded M. I. Fadden, now of Mt. Pleasant township; Frank E., who died at the age of five years; Vora, wife of Frank Hodge, who resides on the old homestead in Fenton township; Leona, wife of John Potter, city marshal of Morrison; Matt Ray, who married Mattie Duncan and hves in Mt. Pleasant township; and H. Clay, who mar- ried Amelia Webster, and is now attending lectures at Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago. The mother of these children died April 20, 1878, and on August 30, 1882, Mr. Thompson was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Amanda White, also a native of Meigs county, Ohio, widow of H. P. White, and daughter of William and Nancy (Butler) McMillen. She died July 27, 1893.
In his political views, Mr. Thompson is a free silver Democrat, and in early life he took quite an active and prominent part in local political affairs. He served as col- lector of his township the first two years after its organization, and has also filled the offices of assessor and supervisor. He held the latter position during the trying days of the Civil war and secured all the men needed from the township for military service.
B ENJAMIN REED, who after a long and well spent life, is now living re- tired in Sterling, Illinois, was born in Frank- lin county, Pennsylvania, September 11, 1822, a son of Michael and Mary (Keyser)
Reed, also natives of that state. The father, who was quite a prosperous and suc- cessful farmer, never came west, but died in Pennsylvania, in 1852. His wife had passed away a few days previous, both dying of cholera during the epidemic of that year. Of the thirteen children born to them, two died in infancy, the others being Isaac, Hannah, John, Rebecca, William, Susan, Michael, Reuben, Benjamin, Elizabeth and Franklin. Those still living are Michael, a resident of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, widow of Dr. Jacob Benedict and also a resident of Chambersburg; and Ben- jamin, our subject.
Benjamin Reed is indebted to the public schools of his native county for his educa- tional privileges. In early life he learned the cabinet maker's trade with John Bush, and worked at the same for thirteen years. Before leaving Pennsylvania, he was mar- ried, February 23, 1842, to Miss Harriet Clark, who was born in Franklin county, December 6, 1822, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Grub) Clark, life-long resi- dents of Pennsylvania, where the father followed the occupation of farming. In their family were ten children: Margaret. William, Maria, Catherine, Isabella, Harriet, Angeline, Athlinda, Samuel and Adam. Four of the number are still living, namely: Mrs. Angeline Valentine, of Carroll coun- ty, Maryland; Mrs. Athlinda Minters, of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania ; Adam, a resident of Maryland; and Mrs. Reed. The father of these children died in 1840, the mother in 1847.
For twelve years after his marriage, Mr. Reed continued to reside in Pennsylvania, working at his trade, but in the spring of 1854 started for Illinois. He traveled by railroad to Freeport, this state, and from
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there by stage to Sterling. On his arrival he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of wild prairie land in Hopkins township, and commenced immediately to erect build- ings thereon and to otherwise improve his place. At that time there were few settlers between Freeport and Sterling and most of the land was still in its primitive condition. Later Mr. Reed purchased fourteen acres of timber land. He continued to successfully engage in general farming and stock raising until 1884, when he removed to Emerson and four years later to Sterling, where he now lives retired from active labor, enjoying a well-earned rest.
To Mr. and Mrs. Reed were born ten children, as follows: (1) Ellen, born Octo- ber 27, 1843, is the wife of James McDowell, who is now operating our subject's farm in Hopkins township, and they have five chil- dren, Mabel, Edna, Nellie, Mary and Jos- ephine. (2) Emma, born June 1, 1845, is the wife of Joseph Bedner, a grocer of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they have five children, Eva, Gertrude, Catherine, Alice and Anna. (3) Frank, born May 7, 1847, died at the age of six years and six months. (4) George, born January 25, 1849, died at the age of nine years and six months. (5) Kate, born April 13, 1853, is the wife of Joseph Lock- hart, who is extensively engaged in the cat- tle business in Kansas and there owns seven thousand acres of land in one body, besides a number of good farms elsewhere. (6) John, born May 21, 1855, is engaged in farming in Jordan township, this county. He married Emma Carolus and they have three children, Alice, Ada and Clara. (7) Reuben, born August 23, 1858, is a carpen- ter of Sterling. He married Barbara Kerr, and they have five children, Ethel, Laura, Harriet, Ralph and Glenn. (8) Frank, born
January 20, 1861, is living with his parents in Sterling. (9) Clara, twin sister of Frank, married Frank Taylor, a tinner and cornice maker of Sterling, and they have two chil- dren, Benjamin and Helen. (10) Edna, born September 18, 1864, is at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Reed are members of St. John's Lutheran church, of Sterling, and are highly respected and esteemed by all who know them. Since casting his first presidential vote for James K. Polk he has been a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, and while living on his farm he filled the office of school director for nine years in a most efficient and satisfactory manner.
JOEL M. BALDWIN, a well-known res- J ident of Tampico who is now living a retired life, is a veteran of the Civil war and bears an honorable record for brave service in the cause of freedom and union, and in the paths of peace he has also won an envi- able reputation through the sterling qualities which go to the making of a good citizen.
Mr. Baldwin was born in the town of Middlesex, Washington county, Vermont, May 5, 1834, and is a son of Jacob and Elivira C. (Estabrook) Baldwin, also na- tives of the Green Mountain state, where the mother died in 1841. The father after- ward married again. In 1858 he removed to Bureau county, Illinois, where he pur- chased a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits in connection with work at his trade of carpentering. Throughout his active business life he continued to follow the latter occupation, but is now living re- tired in Plano, Illinois, a hale and hearty old man of ninety-three years.
On leaving his native state, at the age of
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fifteen years, Joel M. Baldwin went to enty-two dollars per month from the gov- ernment. Massachusetts where he worked in woolen and cotton factories until 1858, when he During his residence in Massachusetts, Mr. Baldwin was married, in the fall of 1853, to Miss Orpha Jane Bigelow, who was born, reared and educated in that state, a daughter of Foster Bigelow. She died in Tampico, in February, 1895. Four chil- dren were born to them, namely: Mary Jane, at home; William J., a business man of Watertown, New York; Frank H., who owns a farm in this county, but now resides in California, where he is engaged in fruit growing; and Lizzie, wife of Jesse Fairing- ton, of Tampico, by whom she has a little son, Arthur Wayne, now two years old. Mr. Baldwin was again married, in Prince- 1896, his second union being with Miss Ellen Jones, who was born in Kentucky but was reared in Illinois. IIer father, Sim- eon Jones, spent his last days in Kentucky. joined his father in Bureau county, Illinois, and turned his attention to agricultural pur- suits, it being his first experience in farming. He continued to follow that occupation until after the outbreak of the Civil war. In the fall of 1861 he joined Company B, Sixty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was a member of the First Battalion, known as Yates Sharp Shooters. He was made musician of the regiment, and with the Army of the Cumberland took part in the battles of New Madrid, Missouri; Island No. 10; Fort Pillow; Shiloh; Farmington; the en- gagements around Corinth, and the battle of Inka. In the last named engagement . ton, Bureau county, Illinois, in November, Mr. Baldwin was seriously injured by a shell striking his hips and back, causing paralysis of the limbs and body, from which he has never recovered. He lay in the hospital until honorably discharged in the fall of 1862, when he was honorably discharged and returned to his home in Bureau county. He was brave and fearless in time of battle, was always found in the front rank, and up to the battle of luka lost no time from sick- ness or other causes.
For two years after his discharge, Mr. Baldwin remained in Bureau county, and then went to Jefferson county, New York, where he made his home for twenty-seven years, while holding the responsible posi- tion of superintendent in a woolen factory. In the fall of 1885 he returned to Illinois and this time located in Whiteside county, where he bought a farm for his son. After living upon that place for seven years he purchased residence property in the village of Tampico, where he has since made his home. He now receives a pension of sev-
Mr. Baldwin cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and has since been a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He served as asses- sor in Bureau county prior to the Civil war, but has never cared for the honors or emol- uments of public office. Fraternally he is a member of Tampico post, G. A. R. He uses neither liquor or tobacco, and in many respects his life is well worthy of emulation, and he has the esteem and respect of all who know him.
JOHN COONEY, residing on section 29, J Hahnaman township, is one of the most prosperous and successful farmers of White- side county. Looking back through the vista of the past, we see a friendless boy who came to the new world in search of
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home and fortune; at present we see his ambitious dreams realized, and would the veil of the future be lifted we would doubt- less see an honored old age crowned with the respect and veneration which is accorded a well-spent life.
Mr. Cooney is a native of Ireland, and when a young man of eighteen years he came to the United States, landing in New York, April 1, 1860. He went first to Massachusetts, where he worked by the month on a farm for two summers, and then engaged in steamboating on Long Island Sound for several years, being in one employ the entire time. Coming west in 1868, he settled in Whiteside county, Illinois, and in Hahnaman township bought between three and four hundred acres of wild prairie land. After erecting a shanty there, he commenced to break, fence, ditch and otherwise improve his place. Later he sold that farm, and since then has bought and sold several different farms. About 1884 he purchased the place of two hundred and sixty-two acres where he now re- sides. At that time it was but slightly im- proved, but through his untiring efforts it has been converted into one of the best farms of the township. Besides his place he owns another fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and in the fall of 1899 he purchased two hundred acres elsewhere, a part of which is in Whiteside county and the remainder in Lee county. All are well- improved and valuable farms. In connec- tion with general farming, Mr. Cooney is also engaged in stock raising, and in both occu- pations he has met with marked success.
He has now been a resident of this county for over thirty years and he has wit- nessed much of its growth and development. His life affords an example to the young in
that he commenced life in the new world without money, but having a determination to succeed he industriously applied himself until he has acquired a fine property and comfortable competence. He is well known in his community and is highly respected.
W TILLIAM A. VAN OSDOL. When after years of long and earnest labor in some honorable field of business, a man puts aside all cares to spend his remaining years in the enjoyment of the fruits of for- mer toil, it is certainly a well deserved re- ward of his former industry.
" How blest is he who crowns in shades like these
A youth of labor with an age of ease,"
wrote the poet, and the world everywhere recognizes the justice of a season of rest following an active period of business life. Mr. Van Osdol is now living retired in Mor- rison, and his history is one that shows the accomplishment of well-directed labor.
He was born in Ohio county, Indiana. August 17, 1827, a son of John and Nancy (Gibson) Van Osdol, the former a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, the latter of West Virginia. The maternal grandfather, James Gibson, was a planter of West Virginia, and from that state removed to Dearborn county, Indiana, in 1813, sailing down the Ohio river on a flatboat. He was one of the pioneers of that county, and upon the land which he took up from the govern- ment he spent his remaining days. One of his grandsons now occupies the old home- stead. His nephew, William Gibson, son of Robert Gibson, was a soldier of the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of New
WILLIAM A. VAN OSDOL.
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Orleans. Of his eleven children, Mrs. Van Osdol, mother of our subject, was the fourth in order of birth. Our subject's paternal grandparents were Benjamin and Rebecca (Reece) Van Osdol, natives of Pennsylvania, where the family was founded at an early date in the history of this country. Benja- min Van Osdol and family removed to In- diana in 1820. The grandfather followed carpentering as a life work and died at the age of seventy-five years. In his family were four children who reached years of maturity, namely: John, Nathan, Jane and Polly, all now deceased.
John Van Osdol, father of our subject, was also a carpenter by trade and an excel- lent farmer. After his marriage he pur- chased eighty acres of land of his father-in- law, James Gibson ; moved on the home farm in 1830. Later he added to it a forty- acre tract, making a farm of one hundred and twenty acres of timberland, which he cleared and improved. Upon that place he died in 1870, at the age of sixty-five years, but his wife is still living on the old home- stead in Cass township, Ohio county, In- diana, and although ninety-two years of age she enjoys good health and is in full possession of her mental faculties. Eleven children were born to them, namely: Will- iam, Sarah, Harriet, James, Nathan, Mar- garet, Catherine, Rachel, Rebecca Jane, Clarissa and Nancy. Of these Sarah, Harriet, Margaret and Catherine are now (leceased.
Our subject was educated in the schools of Ohio county, Indiana, paying seventy-five cents a quarter for his tuition, and he well remembers how he hated to attend school when a little lad. When his school days were over he became interested in huckster- ing, and in that business traveled over a
circuit of forty miles. In 1849 he purchased a general store in Aberdeen, Ohio county, which he conducted until coming west in October, 1854. He traveled by way of Chicago and Rockford, and from the latter place walked to Sterling, looking over the land in search of a suitable location. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Hopkins township, Whiteside county, for which he paid three dollars per acre, and then returned to Indiana. He sold his store in 1855 and in February, 1856, again came to this county in company with his consin, James Kittle, making the journey with a sled and farm horses. On arriving here he un- loaded his movable goods and returned for his family, which then consisted of his wife and one child. His first home was a rude shanty, 12x 16 feet, in which they lived for a number of months, and it was then re- placed by a more commodious and substan- tial residence. In early days the neighbors were so scarce and the country so unsettled that when he was handling the first load of lumber, with which to build a shanty, he un - loaded it about forty rods from his own tract.
On the 19th of November, 1850, Mr. Van Osdol married Miss Rebecca Turner, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Robert Turner, a farmer of Dearborn coun- ty, Indiana. She was the sixth in order of birth in a family of eight children, of whom only one is now living. She died February 5. 1885, and was laid to rest in the Morri- son cemetery. Six children were born of that union, namely: John died at the age of fifteen years; Sarah died at the age of five months; Sylvanus, who is now employed in the postoffice at Helena, Montana, mar- ried Margaret Cole and they have four chil- dren; Ida M. is the wife of C. M. Fleming, a farmer of Dickinson county, Iowa, and
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they have four children; Robert R., also a farmer and stock raiser of Dickinson county, Iowa, married Tillie Hannawalt; and Frank is paying teller in the First National Bank of Morrison.
Mr. Van Osdol was again married No- vember 15, 1886, his second union being with Mrs. Isabella (McArthur) Morrison, widow of John Morrison, of Scotland. She was born in Argleshire, Scotland, February 18, 1850, a daughter of John and Catherine (Campbell) McArthur, both natives of the highlands of Scotland. The father followed the sea for over forty years, was captain of a vessel and was one of the best navigators sailing from Clyde. He is now living re- tired with his wife in Glasgow, Scotland. During the World's Fair, in 1893, they came to America, sailing from the river Clyde, and lived for three years with our subject and wife, and then returned to his native land, as he could not become ac- customed to this country. Of his eight children four are still living: Mrs. Catherine Hayes, of Glasgow, Scotland; Mrs. Joan Holeman, of Eagle Grove, Iowa; Isabella, wife of our subject, and Mrs. Mary Neil, of New South Wales, Australia. After her first marriage Mrs. Van Osdol came with her husband to America and located in Chi- cago before the great fire in October, 1871, had ceased burning. Mr. Morrison was a confectioner and baker by trade, and fol- lowed those occupations both in Scotland and in this country. By her first marriage Mrs. Van Osdol had four children who are still living: Catherine is the wife of Dr. Arthur McGugan, who is a member of the medical staff of the asylum at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has charge of the female de- partment; John married Lydia Kennedy, and is engaged in the butcher business in
Morrison, Illinois; Mary is the wife of W. R. Marsh, a merchant of Manson, Iowa, and Isabella is the wife of Edward McFad- den, a miner of Bisbee, Arizona. By his second marriage Mr. Van Osdol has had two children: Arthur Stuart, who is now at- tending school in Morrison; and Marguerite, who died at the age of five years, five months and twenty-six days, and was buried in the Morrison cemetery.
While residing on his farm Mr. Van Osdol gave particular attention to stock raising and brought the first Poland-China hogs into Whiteside county. He kept from fifty to two hundred sheep upon his place, and also fed cattle and hogs for market, shipping annually two or three carloads of cattle and about the same amount of hogs. For twenty years he was a breeder of short horn cattle, and had the finest herd of the same in his locality. He exhibited his stock at the first fair held in Whiteside county, and up to within a few years ago some of his stock was on exhibition at the fairs in Sterling and Morrison for forty con- secutive years. To his original farm of one hundred and sixty acres he added until he has three hundred and eighty-five acres in Hopkins township under a high state of cul- tivation and well improved. He also has one hundred and sixty acres of land in South Dakota. In 1861 Mr. Van Osdol sold a carload of corn in Chicago for twenty cents per bushel, costing him, however, ten cents per bushel to market it, but kept the remainder of his crop until 1864, when he was able to sell it in the city of Sterling for one dollar and twenty cents per bushel. He still has the receipts of this sale. In November, 1892, he removed to Morrison, and has since lived retired from active labor, enjoying a well-earned rest.
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