USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > The biographical record of Whiteside County, Illinois.. > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
While in New Jersey, Mr. O'Neil was married, September 5, 1867, to Miss Wini- fred Finner, and to them have been born five children: Margaret, wife of William Drew, of Sterling; William is a contractor on the canal; Henry is in the employ of his brother, T. L., of Prophetstown; Frank, who helps carry on the home farm; and T. L., a business man of Prophetstown.
Politically Mr. O'Neil is a supporter of
395
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
the Republican party and its principles, and his fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have elected hin to several lo- cal offices, the duties of which he has most capably discharged. He has been drainage commissioner of the township; collector two years; township trustee; a member of the school board; and clerk of the district.
JOHN E. MOSIER, one of the gallant defenders of the Union during the Civil war, and a prominent retired farmer of Rock Falls, residing at No. 611 Avenue A, was born in Cayuga county, New York, February 28, 1848. His grandfather, Elias Mosier, was a soldier of the war of 1812. He was a native of New Jersey and a pio- neer of Cayuga county, New York, where he cleared and improved a farm. John Mosier, the father of our subject, was born in New Jersey, in 1816, but was reared in Cayuga county, New York, where he mar- ried Miss Carolina Ransier, who was born in that county, April 26, 1829, a daughter of Peter Ransier, also one of the first set- tlers of the county. Her paternal grand- father, George Ransier, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He bought six hun- dred acres of government land in Cayuga county, which he subsequently gave to his six children, four sons and two daughters. His son, Peter Ransier, was a native of Onondaga county, New York, and in early life married Miss Elthea Bordman. They made their home in Cayuga county, where he died in 1854. After his marriage the father of our subject continued to engage in farming in that county until 1866, when he came to Illinois and took up his residence in Erie, Whiteside county, where he lived re- tired for some years. Later he made his
home with a daughter in Middleport, New York, where he died October 30, 1898, at the ripe old age of eighty-two years. His remains were brought back to this county by our subject and interred in Leon cemetery, Prophetstown township. The wife and mother is still living and finds a pleasant home with our subject in Rock Falls.
Mr. Mosier, of this review, passed his boyhood and youth in Cayuga county, New York, where he was living at the opening of the Civil war. In January, 1864, although only sixteen years of age, he joined the boys in blue of Company C, One Hundred and Eleventh New York Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, and with that com- mand he participated in the battle of the Wilderness and was in active service until the surrender of General Lee, April 9, 1865. He received two flesh wounds but was never seriously injured. He participated in the grand review in Washington, D. C., at the close of the war, and was honorably dis- charged in that city, June 10, 1865.
Two days later Mr. Mosier reached home. In January, 1866, at the age of eighteen years, he came to Whiteside county, Illinois, where he at first worked as a farm hand, but the following year he purchased forty acres of unimproved land in Prophetstown township, which he at once commenced to break and improve. Sub- sequently he bought an adjoining forty-acre tract, and still later sixty acres more, mak- ing a good farm of one hundred and forty acres, which he placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with substantial buildings. He continued the operation of his land until 1893, when he rented the farm and moved to Rock Falls. Here he owns a good home and is now living a retired life.
396
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
He owns some valuable property in New York, having, in 1898, purchased a fine apple orchard of eighteen acres in Royalton, Niagara county.
In Prophetstown, Mr. Mosier was mar- ried, February 23, 1870, to Miss Fannie E. Andrews, a native of that town, and to them were born three children, namely: Mamie, who is well educated and is now successfully engaged in teaching school; Erving J., who is married and engaged in farming; and Nellie, who has also been well educated.
The Republican party has always found in Mr. Mosier a stanch supporter of its principles, since he cast his first presidential vote for General U. S. Grant, in 1872, but he has never sought political honors. He is a stanch friend of education and our pub- lic school system, has ever used his in- fluence to secure good schools and teachers, and for several years efficiently served as a member of the school board and clerk of the district. He is an honored member of the Grand Army post of Sterling, and is widely and favorably known throughout the county. His mother is a faithful member of the Christian church of Rock Falls.
W TARREN F. POWERS. Among the representative business men of the county none are more deserving of repre- sentation in this volume than Warren F. Powers, who for many years has been con- nected with the agricultural interests of the community, and who has, through his well- directed efforts, gained a handsome compe- tence that numbers him among the substan- tial citizens of his township. His keen dis- crimination, unflagging industry and reso- lute purpose are numbered among his
salient characteristics, and thus he has won that prosperity which is the merited reward of honest effort.
Mr. Powers was born in Palmyra town- ship, Lee county, Illinois, in September, 1851, his parents being Abijah and Amanda (Sprout) Powers, who were natives of Mass- achusetts, the former born in 1814, the latter in 1819. The father was educated in the common schools of his native state, and in 1837 came to the west, but after two years returned to the Bay state, and on the Sth of September, 1839, married Miss Sprout. He then brought his bride to Illi- nois, locating in Palmyra township, Lee county, where he later secured a claim of government land, for which he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre. From time to time he added to his property until he had two hundred and eighty-one acres in the home farm, and a timber tract of twenty-five acres near by. During the first years of his residence here he carried on general farming and later dealt extensively in thor- oughbred Durham cattle, doing more to im- prove the grade of stock raised in this sec- tion of the state than any other man of his time. He was also a prominent factor in public affairs, and exerted a strong in- fluence in the public life of the community in the side of progress and improvement. He filled all the township offices, and in 1876 was elected to the state legislature, where he served one term and then de- clined a renomination. He was a promi- nent member of the assembly during that session, served on several important com- mittees and was a warm frlend of R. R. Hitt. He was also a leading member of the Old Settlers' Association and his upright and useful life won him many friends in all classes of society. He continued to
399
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
supervise the management of his farm until his death, which occurred in July, 1891, his remains being interred in Prairieville ceme- tery. His widow still survives him and is now living on the old homestead with her son, Austin. They became early and in- fluential members of the Congregational church, Mr. Powers contributing liberally to all the charitable and other work of the church. He contributed more than one- third of the amount necessary for the erec- tion of the house of worship, and at his death bequeathed one thousand dollars to the church, the interest of which is used in the church property. He left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name and his example is well worthy of emulation.
Mr. and Mrs. Powers were the parents of six children: Alfred A., the eldest, died at the age of six years. Alvira A. is the wife of Captain Charles Eckles, of Marshalltown, Iowa, a native of England who came to the United States with his parents during his childhood, and at the breaking out of the Civil war enlisted in 1861, as a member of Company D, Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, in which he served until the cessation of hostilities. He now has three sons and a daughter. Nellie C .. the third child of Abi- jah Powers, died in September, 1889. She was the wife of Anson Thummell and left a husband and five children to mourn her loss. Mary A. is the wife of James C. Nickerson, and has two sons and a daugh- ter. Warren F. is the next of the family. Austin resides on the home farm with his mother. He married Miss Adella Tollman, of lowa, and they have three children. All the members of this family were born in Palmyra township, Lee county.
Warren Powers was cducated in the
common schools of Lee county and spent one year each as a student in Mount Vernon, Iowa and in Evanstown, Illinois. He re- mained on the home farm with his parents until he had attained his majority and in December, 1872, wedded Miss Mary E. Miller, also a native of Lee county. The lady is a daughter of Henry and Frederica Miller, and her ancestors, natives of Ger- many, came to the United States in 1837. Her parents had two sons and seven daugh- ters, she being the second in order of birth. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Powers, namely: Eva M., wife of Charles Le Fevre, of Sterling township; Willard D., bookkeeper for Mr. John Peck, a coal dealer of Sterling; Frank W., who is engaged in bookkeeping for a coal company in Clark City, Illinois; Earl A., who died in infancy ; Lottie A .; Nellie A. and Morris A., at home.
In the spring of 1873 Mr. Powers took up his abode in Jordan township, White- side county and for nine years resided a mile west of his pleasant home, to which he came in 1882, remaining here continuously since. He has three hundred and twenty acres on section 36, Jordan township, the greater part of which is under a high state of cultivation. All of the buildings and other substantial improvements on the place stand as monuments to his thrift and enter- prise, and indicate his progressive spirit. He has been generally successful in his farming operations and has dealt quite largely in hogs and cattle, fattening them for the market. For the past two years he has rented his farm and now has fifty cows on the place in charge of a tenant. He thus furnishes milk to the Anglo-Swiss condensed milk factory, in Dixon, and from this derives a good in-
400
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
come. His life has always been a busy and active one, and has brought him a high degree of prosperity.
In politics Mr. Powers is a Republican, and socially he is connected with the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Globe, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. and Mrs. Powers belong to the Congregational church in Prairieville, of which four of their children are also members, and of which he is serving as trustee. He is also a prominent worker in the Sabbath-school, and does all in his power to promulgate the principles of Christianity whereby men are made better and life becomes happier and holier.
C HARLES P. GARWICK is the junior member of the firm of Ackerman & Garwick, well-known merchants and bank- ers of Coleta, Whiteside county, Illinois. He is a wide-awake, energetic business man -a true type of western progress and en- terprise-and in his undertakings has stead- ily prospered until he is now one of the. substantial citizens of his section.
Mr. Garwick was born on the 11th of December, 1853, in Butler county, Pennsyl- vania, and is a son of Jacob and Lena (Wolff) Garwick, natives of Alsace, Ger- many, who on coming to the new world lo- cated in Butler county, Pennsylvania, where they spent four years. The following year was passed in Cook county, Illinois, and at the end of that time they took up their residence in Carroll county, this state. In his native land the father had followed the miller's trade, but during his residence in Pennsylvania took up the occupation of farming, and in 1856 purchased eighty acres of uncultivated land in Carroll county, Illi-
nois, to which he subsequently added a one- hundred-and-sixty-acre tract, making a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in Fair Haven township. Upon that place he con- tinued to make his home until called from this life in 1878, at the age of sixty-six years. He was quite a progressive and suc- cessful farmer, and was highly respected by all who knew him. His wife died in 1884, at the age of seventy-four years.
To this worthy couple were born eight children, of whom six reached years of ma- turity, namely: (1) Jacob, a resident of Clyde township, Whiteside county, married Sarah Zook, and died at the age of sixty- two years, leaving five children. (2) Henry, also a resident of Clyde township, is mar- ried and has six children. (3) George was a member of the Thirty-fourth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry during the Civil war, and was killed in a skirmish. He was unmarried. (4) Frederick, formerly of Clyde township, but now a retired citizen of Chadwick, Car- roll county, married Macky Deitz, and has four children. (5) Louis, also a retired farmer of Chadwick, who was formerly a resident of Fair Haven township, Carroll county, married first Louisa Smith, who died leaving one child, and for his second wife he married Bertha Gragorious, by whom he has two children, and Charles P. is the youngest.
Our subject grew to manhood upon the home farm and acquired his literary educa- tion in the district schools of Fair Haven township. He remained with his father until he was married, December 17, 1877, to Miss Barbara Ackerman, a sketch of whose family is given in connection with that of C. E. Ackerman on another page of this volume. By this union three children have been born: Jacob, who resides with
401
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
his parents in Coleta; Lizzie, who is attend- ing the high school of Milledgeville; and Lettie, who is also attending school at that place.
After his marriage, Mr. Garwick took charge of one hundred and twenty acres of the home farm, to which he subsequently added eighty acres, making a fine farm of two hundred acres on section 25, Fair Haven township, Carroll county, which he successfully operated until January, 1895, when he rented the farm and moved to Coleta, purchasing a half interest in the general mercantile business of C. E. Acker- man at that place. They also do a good banking business under the firm name of Ackerman & Garwick, and in both under- takings have been eminently successful. They are sagacious, far-sighted business men of known reliability, and have the confidence and respect of their many patrons.
Fraternally Mr. Garwick is a member of Lafayette camp, No. 76, M. W. A., of which he is one of the three directors, and also belongs to Coleta garrison, No. 160, K. of G. He is a member of the Lutheran church, but as there is no church of that denomination in Coleta, he now attends the Methodist Episcopal church. His political support is given the Republican party, and while living on the farm he most efficiently served as school director for nine years.
THOMAS J. WORMAN, an honored and highly respected citizen of Rock Falls, whose home is on East Third street, was born in Hampshire county, West Virginia, October 5, 1827, and is of German extrac- tion, the Worman family being founded in America by two brothers, natives of Ger-
many, who were among the first to settle in Maryland.
W. W. Worman, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Towson, Maryland, October 15. 1802, and there spent his boyhood and youth. When a young man he went to West Virginia, where he married Miss Nancy C. Cundiff, who was of Welsh an- cestry. Her father, John Cundiff, was born at Fauquier Court House, Virginia, and was the son of an Englishman and a pioneer of the Old Dominion, who was a cavalryman during the Revolutionary war and took part in the battle of Brandywine. The father of our subject became a promi- nent contractor and builder of Hampshire county, West Virginia, and erected the court house and several public buildings in Romney. About 1838 he moved to Knox county, Ohio, where he successfully carried on business for some years along the same line, but after the death of his wife he re- turned to Maryland and remained there for several years. He finally joined our sub- ject in this county and here died April 24, 1883, his remains being first interred in Rock Falls cemetery.
In Ohio, Thomas J. Worman grew to manhood, and he attended the common and select schools of that state. During his youth he learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade with his father, serving a three years' apprenticeship. When a young man he came to Illinois, in 1849, and first located in La Salle, making the journey from Chi- cago to that place by way of the canal on the Red Bird line of boats. In La Salle he worked at the carpenter's and joiner's trade for about two years.
While there Mr. Worman was married, December 16, 1852, to Miss Sarah P. Brown, who was born near Buffalo, Erie
402
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
county, New York. Her parents, Joshua and Elizabeth (Keyser) Brown, were both natives of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and were married in a Quaker meeting house in that city, as they were members of the So- ciety of Friends. From their native state they removed to Erie county, New York, where Mr. Brown was engaged in business as a merchant tailor for some years, but in 1835 they came to LaSalle county, Illinois, and took up their residence in Troy Grove, where he took up land engaged in the midst of the wilderness opened up a farm. He died there in 1842, but his wife survived him many years and spent her last days with Mrs. Worman in Rock Falls, where she died in 1881, at the age of eighty-two years, being laid to rest in Sterling ceme- tery. She was the mother of thirteen chil- dren.
Mr. and Mrs. Worman began their do- mestic life in La Salle, where they made their home while he was employed as a civil engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad, between Dixon and Bloomington, for three years. Later they removed to Mendota, where as a contractor and builder he erect- ed a number of public building and private residence, including the Blackstone school. During the Civil war, he enlisted at Mendo- ta, in August, 1861, as a private in Com- pany E, Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was in active service until dis- charged for disability in 1862, taking part in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, and several skirmishes, and following General Price through that state and Missouri. After being discharged he returned to his home in Mendota, but later joined the Fif- teenth Kentucky Cavalry, and remained with that regiment until 1863, when he was again mustered out and returned home.
Subsequently he was a member of the Thir - ty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Logan's old regiment, and he was in active service with that command until the close of the war, when he was again honorably discharged. He continued to engage in business as a contractor and builder in Mendota until after the great fire in Chica- go, in 1871, when he went to that city and for three years aided in its reconstruction. In 1876 he became a resident of Rock Falls, where he bought a lot and erected his pres- ent residence. Here he engaged in con- tracting and building for a time and also worked in the shops of the Keystone Manu- facturing Company at intervals until 1897, when on account of failing health he re- tired altogether from active labor.
To Mr. and Mrs. Worman were born ten children, namely: Thomas A., a busi- ness man of Rock Falls, residing at home; William S., who is married and engaged in business in Chicago; Edgar B., who is now at home; Kate E., wife of L. L. Emmons, Jr., editor of the Morrison Record; Fanny L., wife of O. J. Thompson, a stock dealer of Des Arc, Arkansas; Fred C., who is con- nected with the mail service and resides in Butte, Montana; Charles G., a stenographer in the office of the superintendent of the Northwestern Railroad at Boone, Iowa; Henry K., who died unmarried, June 16, 1888; William D., who died in childhood, and Charles, who died in infancy.
Politically, Mr. Worman was first a Democrat, but in 1856 joined the Republic- an party, and in 1868 was a delegate to the Prohibition party in Chicago, and has since affiliated with the last named party. At local elections, however, he votes for the best men, regardless of party lines. For some years he was a member of the board
403
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
of education. Fraternally, he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being an Ancient Odd Fellow, and to the lat- ter two of his sons also belong. His wife is an earnest member of the Congregational church of Rock Falls, and they stand high in the community where they have so long made their home. Those who know them best are numbered among their warmest friends, and no citizens of Rock Falls are more honored or esteemed.
B ENJAMIN F. LATHE. One of the leading citizens of Morrison is Benja- min F. Lathe, who, after an extremely act- ive and useful life, has retired to enjoy the fruits of his toil. He has passed through the hardships of frontier existence, and has met with many reverses, yet has bravely surmounted the difficulties in his pathway, winning a position of affluence and influence in the community.
His father, Reuel Lathe, a native of Charlton, Massachusetts, born in 1803, was a farmer. For a wife, the latter chose Sally Robbins, a native of the same town, born in 1800, and at the time of their mar- riage making her home with her grandfather. In 1845 the Lathe family removed from their late home in Steuben county, New York, to Lyndon township, Whiteside coun- ty, Illinois. John, the second son of Reuel Lathe, had come to these prairies the year be- fore and had pre-empted land, which he pur- chased when the land office was established. The father continued to improve his farm un- til shortly before his death, which event took place in 1861. His widow remained on the old homestead with her son Benjamin until she passed to the silent land, in 1876. The
father was a Republican, and in religion was a Universalist.
Benjamin F. Lathe, whose birth oc- curred June 15, 1830, in Steuben county, New York, is one of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. Moses, who came to Illinois in 1848, died in this county. He had five children, all but one of whom sur- vive, and one of his sons, Charles, lives on Lathe island, near Erie, Illinois. John, the second son of Reuel Lathe, died at his home in Lyndon township, and of his two sons one is deceased, and Hosea B. is a resi- dent of Galesburg. Jabez, who was mar- ried but had no children, lives near Erie with his nephew and is the owner of some farm land near Lyndon. Sarah E., with her husband, Milo Chapin, lives in Proph- etstown, and their only surviving child, Samuel, is a resident of Portland township. Phoebe A., who never married, died in 1861, when about twenty-seven years of age. Vio- letta A., deceased, wife of J. E. Sands, had four children of whom three survive-Fred, Mrs. Ella Marcy, of Lyndon township, and Frank E., of Morrison. Lasira D., widow of James Knox, of Mount Pleasant town- ship, has three children: James Reuel, of Monrovia, California; Edgar P., of Union Grove township; and Fred M., of Mount Pleasant township.
When he was a lad of fifteen years B. F. Lathe came to Whiteside county, and until he was twenty-six years of age he remained on the parental homestead, engaged in agri- culture. After his marriage the young man arranged to purchase his father's farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and in time he had placed it under high cultivation, mak- ing valuable improvements, and eventually increasing the boundaries of his place until it now comprises two hundred and forty
404
THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
acres, all situated in Lyndon township. He has raised stock and grain, and has met with success in his various undertakings. In 1892 he rented the farm and retired, and for a year lived in Morrison. He then joined his son and purchased two hundred and twenty eight acres of the Thomas farm, and there dwelt for four years. In 1897 he be- came the owner of a new house on East Main street, Morrison, paying two thousand dollars for the property, which he improved and is now making his home.
In 1860 Mr. Lathe suffered greatly by the Comanche tornado, which devastated his homestead, wrecking his house, barns and orchard, everything being a total loss. He himself was injured seriously, and to- day carries scars on the head and face as mementoes of the long weeks when death fought for his life and almost won the vic- tory. Upon recovering he bravely set about making a new start, for it was necessary for him to plant a new orchard and build a new house and barns and buy new implements for the cultivation of his farm. In 1897 he fell from a high wagon and sustained an in- jury to his hip which will make him lame during the remainder of his career. For sixteen years he was a school director in Lyndon township, and in political faith he has been a stalwart Republican. Relig- iously he is an adherent of the Universalist church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.