Knox County, Illinois - The whole text, 1912 (part 54 of 56)

,.. J. W. Jones spent his early life attending the common schools and later received tuition in the old schoolhouse in the winter, apd devoted his summers to farm work. After his marriage he removed to his present farm, which he purchased at that time and where he has since been engaged in general farming and stock-raising. But he has not confined his attention wholly to agricultural pursuits. Business ability and progressiveness have led him into mercantile pursuits and he has become a stockholder in the Galva elevator of the Farmers Grange Company and he is also a stockholder in the La Fayette Fair Association and in the Farmers Bank of Galva. ^ . -V '-

On February ii, 1896, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Susie Mabel Shreck. who was born February i, 1874, and who is a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Fickling) Shreck. The father was an agriculturist of Henry county until his recent retirement and the mother's death occurred January 19, 1911. Mrs. Jones attended the Geneseo schools, after which she taught school until her marriage. Jesse Shreck was born November 9, 1840, in Vinton county, Ohio, where he farmed until he came to Illinois at the age of fourteen years with his parents, Paul and Bethema (Moss) Shreck, and located in Henry county, where they again took up agricultural pursuits. Mrs. Mary (Fickling) Shreck was born on the 28th of November, 1850, in Peoria county, and was a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Draper) Fickling. Mr. Fickling's birth occurred on the 6th of February, 1812, and he died at the age of ninety years, while Mrs. Fickling was born near Cincinnati on the i8th of December, 1824, her death occurring on the I9th of January, 1906. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Shreck four are living, of whom Mrs. Jones is the eldest, the others being: Clara Gertrude, who was born in 1875 and is the wife of Arthur Baltimore, an agriculturist of La Fayette, by whom she has two children ; Frank Jesse, who is married to Jennie Sellon, by whom he has three children; and Harry, who was born January 27, 1891, and is residing at home. To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Jones were born three children: Harry, on May 3, 1897 ; and Arthur and Hazel, both of whom died in infancy.

In politics Mr. Jones gives his support to the republican party and he has been a member of the school board for the past seven years. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church of Galva. Lynn township owes much of its development and of its progressive business spirit to the activities of Mr. Jones.

Among the many thrifty sons of Denmark who have been factors in the agricultural development of Knox county, must be numbered Martin Thisted, of. Chestnut township. He was born in Jerslev, on the 2Oth of May, 1854, and is a son of Geert Sorenson and Inga Christina (Peterdater) Thisted. The parents who were farming people spent their entire lives in Denmark. Unto them were bom six children, as follows: Soren Peter, who is living in Denmark; Martin, our subject; Anna T., the wife of Jasper Jones, of Orange township; Martina and Caroline, both of whom are living in Denmark ; and one, who died in infancy.

Martin Thisted

J. W. Jones spent his early life attending the common schools and later received tuition in the old schoolhouse in the winter, and devoted his summers to farm work. After his marriage he removed to his present farm, which he purchased at that time and where he has since been engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Ikit he has not confined his attention wholly to agricultural pursuits. ] business ability and jirogressiveness have led him into mercantile pursuits and he has become a stockholder in the Galva elevator of the Farmers Grange Com])any and he is also a stockholder in the La Fayette Fair Association and in the Farmers Hank of Galva. '. . I

On I''el)ruary ii, i8<X». ^Ir. Jones was married to Miss Susie Mabel Shreck. who was born I-'ebruary i, 1874. and who is a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Fickling) Shreck. The father was an agriculturist of Henry county until his recent retirement and the mother's death occurred January 19, 1911. Mrs. Jones attended the Geneseo schools, after which she taught school until her marriage. Jesse Shreck was born Xovember 9, 1840. in X'inton county, Ohio, where he farmed until he came to Illinois at the age of fourteen years with his parents, Paul and Bethema ( Moss ) Shreck, and located in Henry county, where they again took up agricultural pursuits. Mrs. Mary (I-'ickling) Shreck was born on the 28th of Xovember, 1850, in Peoria county, and was a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Draper) Fickling. Mr. Fickling's birth occurred on the 6th of February, 1812, and he died at the age of ninety years, while Mrs. Fickling was born near Cincinnati on the i8th of December, 1824, her death occurring on the I9th of January, 1906. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Shreck four are living, of whom Mrs. Jones is the eldest, the others being: Clara Gertrude, who was born in 1875 and is the wife of Arthur P.altimore, an agriculturist of La Fayette, by whom she has two children ; Frank Jesse, who is married to Jennie Sellon, by whom he has three children; and Harry, who was born January 27, 1891, and is residing at home. To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Jones were born three children: Harry, on May j^, 1897: and Arthur and Hazel, both of whom died in infancy.

In politics Mr. Jones gives his support to the republican party and he has been a meml)er of the school board for the past seven years. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church of Galva. Lynn township owes much of its development and of its progressive business spirit to the activities of Mr. Jones.

Among the many thrifty sons of Denmark who have been factors in the agricultural development of Knox county, must be numbered Martin Thisted, of. Chestnut township. Me was l)orn in Jerslev, on the 2Oth of May. 1854, and is a son of Cieert Sorenson and Inga Christina ( Peterdater ) Thisted. The parents nho were farming jjeople spent their entire lives in Denmark. Unto them were born six children, as follows : Soren Peter, who is living in Denmark ; Martin, our subject: Anna T., the wife of Jasper Jones, of Orange township: Martina and Caroline, both of whom are living in Denmark : and one, who died in infancy.

in the acquirement of his education, at the same time assisting his father in the . ; work of their little farm. By the time he had attained the age of twenty-seven : ^ he realized that if he were ever to attain the position to which he aspired, it v .; - would be necessary for him to go to a new land of greater opportunities, and he took passage for the United States. He landed at Castle Garden, May 20, i88i, ?': after being one month en route, having spent a week in England. Upon his ar- - . '--,,: rival thirteen dollars constituted all his resources and he immediately made his - C. ; way inland, in order to find employment in agricultural lines. He located in Benton county, Indiana, where he resided for ten years, subsequently coming to Knox county, where he invested his capital in a farm on sections 8 and 9, Chest- .; nut township. This has ever since been his home and he has extended his hold- -> ings and now owns two hundred and six acres in this place. Energetic and -' capable, Mr. Thisted has so intelligently directed his efforts that he has met with v a most gratifying degree of success. His homestead is well cultivated and here in connection with his agricultural pursuits he engages in breeding and raising ;-.' Polled Angus cattle, and he also buys and sells horses, making his shipments to the . - . St. Louis market. Regarding real estate as the most desirable safe and conservative investment, Mr. Thisted has acquired property as his means permitted and in ; : addition to his fine homestead now owns seven acres of land adjoining Galesburg, ; :, and a fine residence and property on the comer of Berrien and Day streets, \'^ . Galesburg. He also has a store building and a house and three lots in East Galesburg, the rentals from this property affording him a very good monthly dividend. /.

In 1878, while still a resident of his native land, Mr. Thisted was united in ; ' marriage to Miss Johanna Mary Peterdater, and unto them have been born five - . children, as follows : Caroline, the wife of Oscar Freeze, of Rock Island, Illinois ; Anna, who married Fred Sharp, also of Rock Island ; Maria, who is unmarried, a resident of Galesburg; Rena, who married Roy Grabell, of Maquon; and Ida, the wife of James Stout, of Hermon.

Mr. and Mrs. Thisted are faithful church attendants. Politically he is a republican and meets the requirements of good citizenship. Success has attended his efforts as the result of unremitting energy, business sagacity and thrift. ; .

Peter F. Lawson, managing editor of the Evening Mail of Galesburg, was born in Bermuda in the British West Indies, September 8, 1875. His father, Thomas Lawson, was a native of Scotland and a son of Thomas Lawson, Sr., who was also born in the land of hills and heather. The latter was a weaver by trade, following that business throughout his entire life. Both he and his wife lived to old age and reared a large family including Thomas Lawson, Jr., who spent his youth in his native land but when a young man crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He followed general merchandising in Grafton, Nova Scotia, afterward residing for a time in Philadelphia and in Baltimore. He still makes his home in Nova Scotia and he and his wif^ are faithful members of the Reformed Presbyterian church there. He wedded Agnes Fearn who was also bom in Scotland, as were her parents, Alexander and Mary (Urquhart) Fearn. Her father was a ship builder on the Clyde river and both he and his wife had long traveled life's journey when they were called to their final rest. They were parents of four children, Alexander, John, Christina and Agnes. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lawson there were also born four children, as follows : Thomas, of Ottawa, Canada; Peter F.. of Galesburg; David A., a resident of Chicago; ana Christina, living in Grafton, Nova Scotia.

Peter F. Lawson spent his youthful days at his father's home in Canada until he reached the age of sixteen years, and acquired his education in the common schools of Nova Scotia. He then went to sea, following the life of a sailor for a year or more, but realizing the further need and value of education he resumed his studies as a student in Dalhousie University at Halifax. Later he again went to sea and acted as correspondent for a number of Canada papers and periodicals. At length he crossed the border into the United States, establishing his home in Chicago in 1905. For over two years he was associated with the R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company and on the 1st of June, 1909, came to Galesburg, accepting the position of managing editor of the Evening Mail. In the meantime his literary ability had been developed in his business connections as well as the executive force necessary in his present position. During the two years of his association with the Mail he has labored continuously and effectively toward raising the standard of the paper which is today one of the popular journals published in central Illinois, having a wide circulation and therefore becoming an excellent advertising medium.

On the 4th of September, 1908, Mr. Lawson was married to Mrs. Maude Tryon, who was born in Nilwood, Illinois. She was the widow of Frank A. Tryon and a daughter of Dr. H. T. and Etta (-Metcalf ) Jones, who were likewise natives of this state. Her parents are now living in Alton, Illinois, and their family numbers two children, the elder being a son, Fred W. Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have become the parents of a daughter, Agnes. During the period of their residence in Galesburg they have won many warm friends and their home is attractive by reason of its cordial hospitality. Mr. Lawson belongs to Glace Bay Lodge, at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and in politics is a republican whose interesting discussions of the questions and issues of the day through the columns of the Mail show his thorough understanding of the topics that are now engaging public attention. .- ; /-^r . V "- v v'

Frank Oscar Gustafson is living retired in Altona. His birth occurred on the 6th of January, 1855, in Sandstad, Ydre Harrar, Linkoping Lan, Ostergotland, Sweden, his parents being Gustav and Maria (Israelson) Johnson. The father's birth occurred in 1812 in Sweden and throughout his life he engaged in farming Mrs. Johnson was a daughter of Ian and Eva Israelson and was born in 1822. They both passed away in 1877, Mrs. Johnson having died very suddenly on Sunday while going home from church on account of a violent seizure. Mr. Johnson's death occurred a few weeks later and both were laid to rest in the same cemetery. They were the parents of a large family, three of whom survive : Gus-

After attending the common schools in his native land, Frank Oscar Gustaf son ; began at the age of fifteen years to work on his father's farm and until his em- . igration on the 2ist of April, 1875, was engaged in farming and railroading. He : made the trip to America in company with his sister, who later died in Monroe, Nebraska, coming directly to Altona, where he arrived on the i ith of May. On the same day he hired out to Andrew Main and the next year was in the employ of William Main for one season. Upon his arrival in America he had almost no ^ financial resources and because of his inadequate knowledge of the language and of the customs of the country, was forced to accept any work that offered. In - ^ the fall he engaged in husking corn and cutting broom corn and for fourteen summers was engaged in tiling. During the intervening winters he worked in the .- Clifford coal mine, in Walnut Grove township, and for five years was employed in Culbertson's meat market and for an equal length of time was employed by ; S. M. Whiting. ;

On the 1 7th of March, 1902, he left Illinois and removed to Clark county, .. South Dakota, where he took up farming on his own account. Having always , saved his money carefully he was now able to purchase one hundred and sixty . acres of land and subsequently acquired an additional quarter section, and had ; five hundred acres in crops under cultivation, all of which gave good yields. -;- While there Mr. Gustafson served as juror in the United States court of the - Black hill division. He was elected to the school board and served as chairman ^ . until 1910. In 1906 he was a central committee man from his division and also was appointed judge of election of his district in that year; in 1908 he received the appointment of superintendent of election for his precinct. In that year he /- sold one of his farms dividing the proceeds between his sons, and returned to , ' Altona, where he now lives retired. Prior to his departure for the west he was : elected repeatedly constable of Walnut township and served as such for eight ; years, or until 1889. .^

Mr. Gustafson has been twice married, his first union occurring on the 4th ;. of August, 1884, to Miss Emma Carolina Nelson. She was a daughter of Swan and Bangda Nelson, and was born January 3, 1858, in Galesburg, Illinois. Her parents were among the pioneers of Knox county and she was one of ten chil- - dren. Her death occurred September 15, 1892, in Altona. To Mr. and Mrs. . Gustafson three children were born: Anthony Leonard, who is a teacher in ': Brown's Business College of Peoria; Arthur Paul, who is residing in Clark -.- county. South Dakota, where he is engaged in farming ; and Edward Cline, who is married and is engaged in cultivating his father's farm in Clark county. South v - Dakota. Mr. Gustafson's second union was to Miss Sigrid Swanson, whose birth occurred October 8, 1854, in Christianstad, Sweden and who is a daughter of . Swan and Eva (Anderson) Olson. Her mother died when she was but three ,. years of age and she was reared by her father and his parents. In 1882 she V left her native land for America and settled first in Geneseo, Illinois, but later . came to Altona. Mr. Gustafson is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church ;. and also of the Modern Woodmen of America of Altona. In America Mr. Gus- '. tafson found the opportunity he sought in the freedom and appreciation of the growing country. Born in a foreign land and proud of his native land and sturdy - ancestry, he is patriotic and sincere in his devotion to the land of his adoption. His career is actively identified with the history of the development of the middle and far west, and as a result of incessant labor and application he now lives in retirement at Altona in most comfortable circumstances. He arrived there years ago practically penniless but is now numbered as one of the honored and respected citizens.

Chauncey S. Colton

Chauncey Sill Colton, a son of Justin and Abigail Colton, was bom on the 2ist of September, 1800, in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He was the first merchant of Galesburg and erected a store on land which is now the northwest corner of the public square. From 1836 until his death in 1885, he was a conspicuous figure in the public life of Galesburg, where he was well and favorably known. He was interested in all of the institutions which were established to promote the public welfare and he was regarded as one of the best friends of Knox College. At the time of his death Newton Bateman, then president of Knox College, wrote the following letter to his family:

"The sad news of the death of Mr. Colton pains me deeply. Knox College had no truer friend. He was an honest, upright, just and good man. He was my personal friend. He gave me a kind welcome when I first came to Galesburg and was my friend, ever generous and true, from that day till he died. My respect for him and confidence in his unswerving integrity increased with every year of my acquaintance with him. I honored and loved him in his life and I mourn for him now that he is gone. I shall never see my venerable friend again in this world. God's, will be done. The college he loved so long and well will now be dearer to me than ever, if possible, and my life shall be consecrated anew to its interests while I have strength to think and plan and work for its prosperity.

For nearly a score of years C. S. Colton developed his business, constantly enlarging its scope, until it assumed large proportions. He built and operated a large packing establishment - the first one in that large section of Illinois. He packed and shipped the first pork, beef, corn and wheat from that part of the country. Hundreds of farmers' wagons annually hauled this freight to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, down which he shipped it to New Orleans, and thence to New York and Liverpool for sale. Mr. Colton annually bought large quantities of sugar, molasses and other heavy goods cheaply, of first hands, in New Orleans, and shipped it at "high water" to Oquavvka, to be hauled to Galesburg, enabling him to sell these products cheaper than his competitors in other towns, and thereby increased his trade and built up Galesburg as a trading center. .....

Finally, Mr. Colton appreciated that the mode of transportation to water, by "horse power," was too slow and cumbersome. He therefore decided that a railroad was needed so he went to the legislature and secured a charter for the Central Military Tract Railroad, to run from Galesburg to Chicago.

At this time Mr. Colton fortunately made the acquaintance of James F. - ', Joy, the leading spirit of the Michigan Central Railway, then just completed to Chicago. Mr. Joy contracted with Mr. Colton to secure the cooperation of his company in the building of this first branch road from Chicago to the interior of Illinois. The Boston directors demanded a considerable local subscription to the stock. The time limit was expiring, when, at James F. Joy's urgent appeal, Mr. Colton and another gentleman subscribed for the balance of the stock, which they carried five years without any dividends. Then the Boston people had to carry out their contract. The railroad was completed to Galesburg in 1854. About this time a road was built from Peoria to Oquawka. : The company got into financial troubles. General A. C. Harding, of Monmouth, the leading spirit in this road, proposed to his friend, C. S. Colton, to get his company to take over the P. & O. Railroad. Mr. Colton went to Boston and got his directors together and laid the offer before them, and finally induced them to buy this cross-country railroad. Later on, the Quincy people undertook to build the Northern Cross Railroad, and had about fifty miles built when their money gave out. Mr. Colton was an intimate friend of the president of the Northern Cross Company. The two men had an interview, and finally Mr. Colton proposed that if the Northern Cross people would build to Galesburg, he would try to induce his Boston directors to back them with the money. Mr. Colton's arguments again prevailed with his directorate. The result of these three enterprises was a completed line connecting Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Then the joint owners dropped their original titles and named their system the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway.

The village of Galesburg became the local center of this railway system, and later on was developed by this railway into the important city it is today.

In 1868 the Mississippi was bridged, both at Burlington and Quincy. Over these bridges the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy spread eventually to the Missouri river, and later on to the mountains beyond. It was at the suggestion . of Mr. Colton that his company purchased the Rockford, Rock Island and St. Louis Railway, and also the skeleton of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, which was completed and extended indefinitely.

Chauncey S. Colton, by his constant study and work in the interests of these great railroad enterprises, lived to see less than a hundred miles of railway develop and extend four thousand miles in a quarter of a century, while he was the only western director in the company. He had initiated every extension of the system from its incipiency. Today, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway has ten thousand miles of track spanning a dozen states.

The directors of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, at their August meeting in Boston, added their tribute to the memory of the late

"The board of directors of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company has learned with sincere regret of the death of Mr. Chauncey S. Colton, who took a prominent part in the organization of the company, and served as a director from that time until 1876. To the earnest efforts of Mr. Colton in the early days of the company is largely due the successful inauguration of the enterprise, and this board desires to place on record the fact of its appreciation of Mr. Colton and his valuable services to the company.

To place a specific value upon the labors of the Hon. Francis Colton is impossible and yet there is no individual that has not been at least indirectly benefited by his life work. Moreover, in the consular service of the nation his course reflected credit and honor upon the country he represented. Capable of solving important and intricate problems, he at all times has been actuated by a patriotic devotion to his native land and his work in behalf thereof has ever been of a practical and resultant character that furthered American interests and promoted the high standing of this country among Europeans.

While Mr. Colton made Galesburg his home during the greater part of the time spent in this country he was born in Monson, Maine, May 22, 1834, his parents being Chauncey Sill and Emily (Hamilton) Colton, who removed with their family from New England to Galesburg in 1836. The progenitor of the Colton family in the new world was Quartermaster George Colton, an officer of the English army and descended from an old family of England. "Quartermaster George," as he was known during his life and since, was the first settler of Long Meadow, now a suburb of Springfield, Massachusetts, where he took up his abode in 1640, since which time the family has regarded that place as the ancestral home. Its cemetery is filled with monuments to different members and collateral descendants of the Colton family. Almost without exception the members of the family have held to the faith of the Congregational church.

When Chauncey S. Colton brought his family to Galesburg in 1836, Francis Colton, the youngest child, was only two years of age. The journey from New England to Illinois was an arduous undertaking with four small children and a mother who was in delicate health. It required six weeks to travel by water and stage. The only railroad in the United States at that time was a short line extending from Boston half way to New York, over which they traveled.

Francis Colton was educated in the Galesburg schools, in Knox Academy and Knox College. He was graduated from the college in 1855 when twentyone years of age. In June, three days after his graduation, he entered business life in connection with his father and brother John, under the firm name of C. S. Colton & Sons. On the nth of May, 1864, Mr. Colton became director and vice president of the First National Bank and later was appointed United States collector of internal revenue. From each experience and activity of life he learned the lesson therein contained and stored up his knowledge for future use. He has never faltered in the accomplishment of any purpose or task to which he seriously set himself and his entire career has therefore been characterized by progress and by successful achievement.

On the 26th of June, 1857, occurred the marriage of Francis Colton and Miss Frances A. Garey, who died March 21, 1869, in Paris, France. There were two sons of that marriage but the elder, Albion Garey, who was born Februay 15, 1859, died August lO, 1860. The younger son, George Radcliffe, bom April lo, 1865, is now governor of Porto Rico. It was in 1875 that Francis Colton was again married, his second union being with Annie C. Snively, of New York. Their children were: Emily Marian, the wife of Captain Davis of the navy; Julia Carina, deceased; and Annie Marguerite. 'V - . vvv

During the Civil war Francis Colton spent two years in settling up the widely scattered business affairs of his firm and was then called to public service, being in June, 1866, appointed as United States consul to Venice, Italy, to succeed William Dean Howells, the well known author, who returned to America to assume the editorship of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. On the 24th of August, 1866, Mr. Colton's resignation as director of the First National Bank of Galesburg was received and accepted and his father, C. S. Colton, was at once elected to fill the vacancy both as director and vice president of the bank. This change was rendered necessary because of the absence of Francis Colton occasioned by his consular service in Venice. While in that city on the Adriatic he v/as the correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing concerning the "Unification of Italy." This was an important historic period for in the first year - of his residence in Venice came the "Battle Summer" - ^the great conflict between Germany and Austria which, together with other great transformations in Furopean history, also resulted in the freedom of Venice from Austrian domination and the uniting of it to Italy. During Mr. Colton's residence abroad he opened a chapel at his consulate for American and Fnglish travelers, presided over by. a Scotch Presbyterian preacher. It became the nucleus for a Protestant mis- '..'.: sion among the Venetians. Finally they purchased a Venetian palace through -/ the liberal subscriptions of chapel attendants and other generous people in England and the United States. This palace was used for church and school purposes under the charge of the old Waldensian Protestant church of Savoy. King Victor Emmanuel issued a royal decree putting this palace property in the legal possession of the Waldensian church which is the oldest church in Europe. This royal decree is considered to have been the entering wedge which resulted in a statute allowing all Protestant churches to own property in Itah '.

In 1869 Francis Colton returned to America just as the first Pacific railroad was completed, spanning the continent. He was appointed general passenger agent with headquarters in Omaha. The first year in office Mr. Colton attended a railway convention in Chicago in which all of the railroads of the country were represented. He introduced a measure for through tickets and reduced rates. The railroad people at first were strongly opposed to the scheme but Mr. Colton carried his motion on the last day of the session, after a week's contest.

This was the beginning of reduced through passenger tickets, a system which has grown and expanded continuously since. As a result the passenger traffic of the Pacific roads was doubled and the earnings of the other lines were largely increased. In 1871 Mr. Colton was appointed general foreign agent of the Union and Central Pacific Railways and was sent to Japan and China to turn the tea trade to San Francisco, the result of which was a greatly increased freight business for both roads and connecting lines. Fast tea trains from San Francisco to Chicago and New York could successfully compete with the all-water lines by way of the Suez canal to London and New York. Mr. Colton traveled through India and finally completed the circuit of the globe. He arranged with all the steamer and railway lines for a "round-the-world" ticket. This was the first of the long distance passenger tickets ever put on sale which led in time to the present extensive sale of tourist tickets to every part of the globe. When in this country or abroad he was constantly studying situations, figuring out possibilities and making preparations to meet any emergency or condition that might arise. He reasoned out logically from cause to effect and his solution of intricate and involved problems was a most accurate one. While still working in the interests of the railway companies he established a general agency in London for booking passengers to China, Australia and India by way of America, which largely increased the business of the Pacific railways and all connecting lines. During the stay in London he negotiated with all of the Atlantic steamer lines to unite with American railways in diverting the regular passenger traffic by way of the Suez canal to our new route to the Orient by way of New York and San Francisco. Each steamer company joined in instructions to their hundreds of agents all over Europe to advertise this new route by way of America, which furnished travelers with a temperate line of travel, thus avoiding the old hot route by way of the Red sea. To further emphasize this new departure in Oriental traffic Mr. Colton wrote and published a book, illustrated with pictures of American sleeping and dining cars and other attractive features of "Our New Way Around the World." This was circulated from the London office of the Pacific railways and the new venture proved a success.

Mr. Colton purchased many thousands of acres of railway lands in Nebraska during this period and the investment proved a profitable one. Today these same lands in their present owners' hands are worth millions, which shows what the railway systems have done for the development and growth of the far west. In 1872 he became president of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Galesburg and the first year in which he had executive control and administrative direction he doubled the capital and the deposits of the bank. Its business steadily grew during the twelve years of his management and made him a prominent factor in the financial circles of his home city, second only to the prominence and importance of his labors in public connections. Mr. Colton was again called to public office when in 1876 he was appointed by the governor of Illinois as a commissioner to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. At the opening of the fair, he stood with the other commissioners by the side of Dom Pedro, empergr of Brazil, and General Ulysses S. Grant, president of the United States, when the latter touched the button in the presence of tens of thousands of enthusiastic people and set in motion all of the machinery of that remarkable exposition, celebrating the one hundredth birthday of the American Republic. In 1884 Mr. Colton retired from active business and removed to Washington, D, C., where he now resides at 1635 Connecticut avenue. For a quarter of a century he has been a member of the Metropolitan Club, whose membership includes the president and his cabinet, all of the foreign legations and the principal army and navy officers. Mr. Colton was fifty years of age at the time of his retirement and almost thirty years of leisure in which to enjoy those activities and interests which are most pleasurable to him have been accorded him. His life has indeed been a serviceable one to the world's work, his labors being of far-reaching value and of both national and international importance.

George W. Jones, the well known auctioneer, who owns and opyerates a farm in Lynn township and is one of the heaviest stock-raisers and shippers in the northern part of the county, was born on the I7th of Aug^jst, 1872, on the old home farm called the Lynnwood stock farm, upon which the old log house stands which was built by J. Heiter, the pioneer. George W. Jones is a son of Walter N, and Addie E. (James) Jones. The father was born in Wayne county, Ohio, but after his removal to Illinois settled permanently with his wife and two children at Galva. As a boy he learned and followed the art of photography, but here he engaged in the restaurant business. Soon, however, after starting this establishment it was destroyed by fire and he removed with his family to Lynn township on to his farm, but the last few years of his life were spent in Galva and in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he died on the 9th of September, 1908, at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Jones is still living and is seventy years of age. Mr. Jones was one of the most prominent farmers in the northern part of Knox county.

After finishing school George W. Jones remained at home and farmed on the home place and on his brother's farm, while his parents were in Galva. After continuing in this occupation for eleven years he was married and moved to Galva, but still retained the ownership of his farm. He attended the Trenton (Mo.) Auctioneering School and received the training which has helped to make him one of the most successful auctioneers in these parts. In addition to this Mr. Jones is also extensively engaged in feeding and shipping cattle and hogs, and is one of the largest taxpayers in the northern part of the county. -During the past three years he has sold over ten thousand dollars worth of hogs besides grain and other farm products. By careful management and unabating energy he has built up a large stock-raising and shipping business and has become one of the best known stockmen in this section. In addition to these various enterprises in Illinois he is also interested in business undertakings in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Mr. Jones was married to Miss Lucy M. Cree, a daughter of Simeon R. and Eva L. Lowe Cree. She was born on the I2th of April, 1873, in Lynn township, and her mother is living in Toulon, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Jones four children have been born : Walter, who is ten years of age ; Clarence, who is eight ; and Evalyn and Ivan, who are five and three years respectively.

His extensive undertakings have prevented Mr. Jones from any active participation in political affairs and he has never desired nor sought public office. Yet he finds time to consider it his duty as citizen to carefully weigh the qualifications of measures and candidates, and uses his vote and infiuence in behalf of the interest of the commonwealth. He holds membership in the Methodist church of Galva and is also a member of the Woodmen of America. He has shown industry and perseverance and has step by step made his way in the world until he is now numbered among Knox county's substantial and very successful men and one of its most highly valued citizens.

The name of Benjamin Franklin Shadley at once indicates the regard of his ancestors for those men who have been foremost in molding the destiny and shaping the policy of America. He was born in Shelby county, Indiana, June 3, 1867, and comes of German lineage, his grandfather, William Shadley, having been a native of Germany and an early settler of Licking county, Ohio. He removed westward to Illinois in pioneer times and died in Clark county of milk sickness - a disease prevalent in an early day. Both he and his wife were well advanced in years when called to their final rest. They had reared a large family including Nathaniel Shadley, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, in which state he was partially reared although spending a portion of his youth in Indiana. Having reached man's estate he wedded Emily Fouty, a native of Shelby county, Indiana, and a daughter of William Fouty, who was born in Pennsylvania and was of German descent. Mr. Fouty was a farmer and stock-raiser and was thus associated with the business interests of Shelby county where both he and his wife died in old age. They, too, had a large family including Mrs. Emily Shadley, who is still living and now makes her home with her daughter, Nancy, in Fairland, Indiana. Her husband, the father of our subject, passed away in Shelby county at the venerable age of eighty-three years. He had been a worthy and respected citizen there and for many years had capably filled the office of surveyor. His life conformed to the teachings of the Methodist church of which he was long an active member and to which his widow still belongs. They had a family of seven sons and three daughters : Ephraim, of Los Angeles, Cali- . -. fornia ; John, a resident of Fairland, Indiana ; Nancy, who married J. W. Fausler, also of Fairland ; Isaac, who died at the age of twenty-three years ; Fanny, the wife of A. C. JeflFries, of London, Indiana ; Benjamin F., of this revi«'w ; Tilson, of Greenwood, Indiana ; Francis, living in Galesburg ; Charles, of Indianapolis, Indiana ; and Jennie, who passed away at the age of five years.

Benjamin Franklin Shadley was reared in the county of his nativity, spending his youthful days on the home farm where he early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. The summer seasons were devoted to the task of tilling the soil and winter months to the acquirement of an education in the district schools. He was twenty-one years of age when he left Indiana for Illinois, becoming a resident of Canton in 1888. There he worked in the plow shops for a year and a half, after which he removed to Gales- .

burg and became a brakeman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, June 23, 1889. For about twelve years he followed railroading and for five years of that period he was depot master and also ran trains occasionally as a conductor. On the expiration of that period he was appointed chief of police under .Mayor Shumway's first administration and continued in the office for about sixteen months. He was then appointed by Governor Yates on the state board of arbitration, representing organized labor, and was chairman of that board for about seven years. In June, 1911, he received the appointment to his ..- present position as parole commissioner for Pontiac, Illinois. !

On the 22d of December, 1890, Mr. Shadley was married to Miss Alice Prichard, who was born in Lewiston, Illinois, a daughter of John E. and Laura . : - Murphy Prichard, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. Her '-- father died in Galesburg, October 24, 1902, at the age of fifty-six years, but her ' ; mother is still living. Mr. Prichard had served as a soldier in the Civil war, doing duty with Company G, One Hundred and Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, : Mrs. Shadley was their only child and by her marriage has become the mother . . of two children, Harold M. and Hazel Marie. ;

Mr. Shadley is well known in fraternal and club circles. He has attained high rank in Masonry and in the order has a wide acquaintance, belonging to Alpha Lodge, No. 155, A. F. & A. M. ; Galesburg Chapter, R. A. M. ; Galesburg . Council, R. & S. M. ; Galesburg Commandery, No. 8, K. T. ; and Mohammed r. Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His name is likewise found on the - . membership roll of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Elks lodges and the Modern Woodmen of America. He belongs also to the Brotherhood of Rail- : road Trainmen, No. 24, the Fraternal Reserve Life Association, of which he is a supreme director, and to the Galesburg Club. His political prominence as a leading member of the republican party and his membership relations with many fraternal and social organizations have made him very widely known and his -, v personal characteristics have gained him warm friends wherever he has gone. _ .'-

Peter F. Brown has long been a prominent and leading factor in financial circles in Knox county, having for almost a quarter of a century served as president of the Galesburg National Bank. His birth occurred in Mercer county, Illinois, in the year 1851, his parents being Harrison and Martha Brown. They were both natives of Kentucky and came to Illinois in 1834.

Peter F. Brown supplemented his preliminary education by a course of study in Lombard College of Galesburg. Illinois. He made his initial venture in the business world as a clothing merchant of Galesburg but subsequently became identified with financial interests as the teller and cashier of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank at that place. In 1889 he was chosen president of the Galesburg National Bank and in that important capacity has since guided the interests of the institution in such a manner as to insure its continued growth and success.

On the 24th of June, 1875, in Galesburg, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Clara Maud Tenney, a daughter of Hammond Marshall and Lorette (Low- ther) Tenney. They became the parents of three children, as follows : Maurice Tenney, who wedded Mary E. Johnson ; Mildred, who gave her hand in marriage to Edward E. Pearce ; and Curtis Harvey Brown. In politics Mr. Brown is a republican, loyally supporting the men and measures of that party. He is a charter member of the Galesburg Club and was three times honored by election to the presidency of that organization. Such in brief is the life history of Peter F. ' Brown, who is known as a dependable man in any relation and in any emergency. His right conception of things and his habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities are notable assets in his career. His frankness and cordiality of address have gained him many friends, while his genuine personal worth has won for him well merited confidence and trust.

' , Albert James Perry was born in Alden, Erie county, New York, December lO, 1841. Since 1889. he has been engaged in business in Galesburg, Illinois, as ': a mortgage broker - his efforts, however, extending to various lines of business which have constituted forces in public progress and improvement as well as in individual advancement.

His father. Colonel James Perry, was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, .' September 19, 1796. He was the son of Isaac Perry, who enlisted as a soldier in -' the Revolutionary war. After a short time, he was detailed as an army nurse in the city of Boston. After his death, his widow, Mrs. Mary Tiffany Perry, was granted the usual pension. Isaac Perry died in 1843 or 1844 when about eighty- ? six years of age, and his wife passed away in 1857 at the same age. Both are ,' buried at LeRoy, New York. Their son. Colonel James Perry, was well educated : for his time and acted as superintendent of schools. He was also lieutenant col- . onel of the New York militia in Erie county. In the community where he lived, - he figured prominently in various connections. He was a pension and bounty land attorney and likewise attended to all kinds of business for his neighbors that re- ; quired a knowledge of legal forms and procedure. His death occurred at Alden, , New York, November 29, 1860. His wife, Mrs. Sophronia Perry, was born in western New York, May 22, 1804, and died October 30, 1880. She was descended ' from the grim old Quaker, Stephen Hopkins. Hopkins was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, in 1707 and died in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1785. He was ' a colonial governor of Rhode Island and one of the signers of the Declaration of f. Independence. His daughter, Lydia Hopkins, the great-grandmother of Mrs. - Sophronia Perry, married Colonel Daniel Tillinghast, and the ancestry of the Tillinghast family includes Richard Warren, who came to America in the May- - flower. Mrs. Sophronia (Pengra) Perry was a woman of liberal education and , ^ a successful school teacher. In other lines, too, she displayed marked capability, notably in the rearing of her large family of four sons and six daughters, ; namely, M. Antoinette, Edgar H., Mortimer, Mary A., James B., Amanda M., Adaline J., Albert J., Adelia R., and Ellen Louise. Of these, James died in infancy and all are now deceased with the exception of Mrs. Antoinette Dodge, . Albert J. Perry and Mrs. Adelia R. Taylor. : - . y. .; ther) Tenney. They became the parents of three children, as follows: Maurice Tenney, \vho wedded Mary E. Johnson ; Mildred, who gave her hand in marriage to Edward E. Pcarce ; and Curtis Harvey Brown. In politics Mr. Brown is a republican, loyally sujiporting the men and measures of that party. He is a charter member of the Galesburg Club and was three times honored by election to the presidency of that organization. Such in brief is the life history of Peter F. Brown, who is known as a dependable man in any relation and in any emergency. His right conception of things and his habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities are notable assets in his career. His frankness and cordiality of address have gained him many friends, while his genuine i)ersonal worth has won for him well merited confidence and trust.

Albert James Perry was born in Alden, Erie county, New York, December lO, 1841. Since 1889. he has been engaged in business in Galesburg, Illinois, as a mortgage broker - his efforts, however, extending to various lines of business which nave constituted forces in public progress and improvement as well as in individual advancement.

His father. Colonel James Perry, was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, September 19, 1/96. He was the son of Isaac Perry, who enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. After a short time, he was detailed as an army nurse in the city of Boston. After his death, his widow, Mrs. Mary Tiffany Perry, was granted the usual pension. Isaac Perry died in 1843 or 1844 when about eightysix years of age, and his wife passed away in 1857 at the same age. Both are buried at LeRoy. Xew York. Their son. Colonel James Perry, was well educated for his time and acted as superintendent of schools. He was also lieutenant colonel of the Xew York militia in Erie county. In the community where he lived, he figured i)rominently in various connections. He was a pension and bounty land attorney and likewise attended to all kinds of business for his neighbors that re- (|uired a knowledge of legal forms and procedure. His death occurred at Alden, Xew ^'ork, November 29, 1860. His wife. Mrs. Sophronia Perry, was born in western New York, May 22, 1804, and died October 30. 1880. She was descended from the grim old Quaker. Stephen Hopkins. Hojikins was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, in 1707 and died in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1785. He was a colonial governor of Rhode Island and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His daughter, Lydia Hopkins, the great-grandmother of Mrs. Sophronia Perry, married Colonel Daniel Tillinghast, and the ancestry of the Tillinghast family includes Richard Warren, who came to .America in the >Tayflower. Mrs. Sophronia ( Pengra) Perry was a woman of liberal education and a successful school teacher. In other lines, too, she displayed marked capability, notably in the rearing of her large family of four sons and six daughters, namely, M. Antoinette, Edgar H., Mortimer, Mary A., James B., Amanda M., Adaline J.. Albert J., Adelia R., and Ellen Louise. Of these, James died in infancy and all are now deceased with the exception of Mrs. Antoinette Dodge, Albert J. Perry and Mrs. Adelia R. Taylor.

After attending the common schools and the Alden (N. Y.) Academy, the subject of this sketch was admitted in 1860 to the sophomore class of the Rochester University at Rochester, New York. He was without financial resources, and owing to this and the out-break of the Civil war and the death of his father, he did not find it possible to pursue his university course. Moreover, his mother needed his assistance in the support of herself and her invalid daughter. Mr. Perry entered business life as a telegraph operator and railroad station agent in i86i, remaining in the employ of the New York & Erie Railroad in that capacity until 1865. In the latter year he came to Galesburg as bookkeeper in the building department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, in which position he continued until 1873. He afterward engaged in teaching for two terms, and then entered the office of the clerk of the circuit court and recorder of Knox county in July, 1873, '" ^ .clerical capacity. The following year he was appointed deputy, which office he held until December, 1882. In this year he was elected county clerk of Knox county and held the office most acceptably for eight years, making a period of seventeen years in the service of the county. He began reading law while in the circuit clerk's office under the tutorage of Honorable E. P. Williams, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar, but he has never engaged in practice other than to use his knowledge of the law in the conduct of his private business. In 1889 he began conducting a mortgage brokerage business and also acted as administrator and guardian of numerous estates. He has also been treasurer of the Mechanics' Homestead & Loan Association and has been connected with banking interests in various capacities. He was president of the Second National Bank of Galesburg from January, 1891, until February 24, 1904. In the latter year he became a director of the First National Bank of Galesburg. Activities of a public nature, relative to educational interests and benevolent projects have divided his time with his business affairs. He has been treasurer of Knox College since 1891 and was at one time president of the board of trustees of the Galesburg Hospital Association. He has also been a director of the public library from 1896 and for three years was its president.

On the 9th of December, 1866, at Savona, New York, Mr. Perry was married to Miss Albina Hughes, a daughter of Dr. Hiram and Lurissa (Boone) Hughes. Her father was a self-made man and in early life followed the millwright's trade, but afterward became a successful physician. His wife, a representative of the family to which Daniel Boone belonged, was a loving wife and mother, whose life was quietly devoted to her own home.

In politics, Mr. Perry has always been a republican and twice represented the fifth ward in Galesburg on the board of aldermen. He has belonged to Alpha Lodge, No. 155, F. & A. M. since 1866, and was its secretary for eleven years and senior warden for one year. He also holds membership in Vesper Lodge, No. 584, I. O. O. F. He belongs likewise to the Galesburg Club and to the Sequanota Club which has a resort on Pine Lake near Charlevoix, Michigan. Mr. Perry's activities have largely touched public interests and have constituted a feature in the general progress and improvement of Galesburg. He is extremely modest and unassuming "in relating the saga of his own doings." However, the specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave a perpetual record, es- tablishing his position by the consensus of public opinion. Judged in this light, Mr. Perry deserves the recognition that should come to those who unselfishly and effectively labor for the best interests of the community with which they are identified.

-Miss Albina Hughes was born in Savona, Steuben county, New York, July 3 1 st,' 1 84 1. She was the daughter of Doctor Hiram Hughes and Lurissa Boone Hughes. She continued to reside in her native village until her marriage to Mr. Perry. The early life of Mrs. Perry was spent studying and teaching. She attended the common schools of her native village and had the privilege also of attending the Sonora Academy, where she enjoyed an advanced course of study. For a time she was also the preceptress of this institution. She was a successful teacher when but sixteen years of age. From earliest youth she revealed a clear, perceptive mind and she made rapid progress in all her studies. It was characteristic of her that while following one course of reading she would memorize another course read in her presence by pupils of a higher grade. This alertness of mind has characterized Mrs. Perry throughout her entire life. As a teacher she was marked by exceptional skill as a disciplinarian. While possessed of a lively and humorous nature, her students were somewhat awed by her presence and the promptest obedience always followed the expression of her requests. In some respects her pupils scarcely discovered the kind and sympathetic nature so thinly veiled by her outward manner, and yet all dearly loved her.

Thus as student and teacher and as daughter in the home she grew to maturity. Her marriage to Mr. Perry occurred on December pth, 1866. Mr. Perry had preceded her to Galesburg by about a year and a half, but in January, 1867, they came to our city and here for forty-five years they have remained, sharing in all the higher life of our community, and gathering about them a very large circle of loved and loving friends. In this fellowship they have received and contributed unceasing pleasure.

Throughout her life Mrs. Perry has not been physically strong. Even at the time of her marriage she showed signs of failing health. It is therefore a great tribute to her that she attained the good age of seventy and one-half years. This was due almost entirely to her methodical life, her innate knowledge of hygiene, and her constant recognition of and her obedience to the laws of right living. These careful habits became characteristic of her in all departments of her life. Order and economy became the law of her household. Under the stress of a limited income she planned that there should always be at least a small surplus. Realizing that age might bring its own problems of finance, she did her part toward making an annual increase to this small surplus. Her conscience took on much of the same formal and judicial character and her moral and social nature was dominated by it. Indeed, one might quote that somewhat austere verse of Pope in order to describe her in this direction: ',-- - -;-.. . -

But while submitting all her life to order, Mrs. Perry so directed her affairs .-. as to leave time for the reading of the choicest literature in history and fiction, ' '-. and for acquiring those treasures of the mind which became so characteristic of her. She was a charter member of the Clio Club of this city and for two years its president. That she contributed very much to the success and to the pleasure of the club, all its members lovingly testify. In all matters her judgment was excellent, and it was always at the service of her husband, whether ' upon matters of the domestic arrangement or in the larger affairs of life. >;.

Michael J. Daugherty, a prominent and successful attorney of Galesburg, has there practiced his profession continuously for the past third of a century. He is also a leading factor in the public life of his community, serving as a member of the forty-third and forty-fourth Illinois general assemblies. His birth occurred in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, on the i8th of March, 1850, his parents being Thomas and Isabella (Campbell) Daugherty. The father came to Illinois "by water," that is he made the trip by steamboat down the Ohio from Pittsburg to Cairo, thence up the Mississippi to Alton, and from that point up the Illinois river to Liverpool, which was then a flourishing river town but is now extinct. He thence drove overland to St. Augustine and settled on a farm.

Michael J. Daugherty acquired his early education in the common schools of St. Augustine. In 1862, when a boy of eleven years, he became an active factor in the work of the farm. It was hard to find men who wanted employment at farm labor in those days as the war of the Rebellion was then raging and as the boy could not guide the plow and hold the team at the same time, his younger brother rode one of the horses and drove the other while Michael J. Daugherty handled the plow. In 1865 he entered St. Vincent's College at Wheeling, West Virginia, from which institution he was graduated on the i8th of June, 1869. He then returned to the west for fifteen months, after which he left home to make his own way in the world. He was identified with general agricultural pursuits for a period, and also followed the profession of teaching for a time an<f likewise engaged in the drug business. In 1876 he began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1878, whereupon he opened an office at Avon, Illinois, where he remained until 1879, when he came to Galesburg, entering into a partnership relation with F. A. Willoughby. He has remained a legal practitioner of this city to the present time, enjoying an extensive and gratifying clientage. >;

On the 1 8th of May, 1882, Mr. Daugherty was united in marriage to Miss Jennie E. Brown, a daughter of James E. Brown and a granddaughter of George W. Brown. Unto them has been born one son, Edwin M., who wedded Miss -Mabel Dunbar of Riverside, California. Mr. Daugherty is a valued member of the Galesburg Business Men's Qub and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church and a member of the board of Hope Abbey. His has been an active and useful life, crowned with success and enriched by the kindly regard of many friends who recognize and appreciate his worth.

Mr. Daugherty has been an active member of the democratic party. He was nominated in 1884 for secretary of state on that ticket, Carter H. Harri.<;on, Sr., then running for governor. The ticket made the best showing of any democratic ticket in the state up to that time since the war. Mr. Daugherty, in 1885, was appointed postmaster on the i8th day of April and continued until May i, 1889. In 1892 and 1896 he took an active part in the campaigns, speaking throughout this and other states. He was (elected a member of the forty-third general assembly of Illinois as minority representative for this district. He was again elected without opposition for the forty-fourth general assembly. He was strongly urged to accept the third term without opposition, but refused to permit his name again to go upon the ticket, desiring to return to the active practice of law. While in the legislature he introduced the first direct primary law doing away with conventions, and although there were but fifty-one democrats to support his bill and it took seventy-seven to pass it through the house, enough republicans rallied to his assistance to give his bill seventy-six votes, or only one vote short of enough to pass it. Mr. Daugherty has always taken an active part in public affairs and has used every endeavor in his power to assist the making of improvements in the public service. He took an advanced stand on questions of municipal regulation of public utilities and has steadfastly and persistently urged the necessity of the government controlling and directing all corporations using the public property for private purposes, such as running street cars and other franchises on the public highways. Mr. Daugherty, while on the committee of hard roads in the legislature, took a bold stand for the improvement of the public highways, insisting that the public alone should have the dominant right to the use of public highways and that when a franchise was given to any person or private corporation upon the highways, that they should take a subservient right therein and that they should be regulated by public officers. As far back as igoo Mr. Daugherty took the position in public affairs that the aggressiveness of those owning public utilities would control the community and the laws, unless the laws were made to curb their ambition to do this, and he has insisted that the great corporations would sooner or later become masters of the situation and grasp the reigns of government, or at least enough power to give them control in directing the trend of law making.

Mr. Daugherty has always sought for advancement, progress and improvement. He has taken an advanced stand on questions of municipal ownership and as showing his ability as a writer as well as his logical reasoning and his advanced position concerning one of the vital questions of the day, we quote an address which he delivered before the good roads committee, as follows :

The pride of the English people for centuries was "The King's Highway." It was the subject of bard, poet and patriot. On its course distinctions of rank melted away and the beggar stood equal to the nobleman - the chariot of the King turned out for the peasant's cart.

The meat of this was the satisfaction that a people find in sacred precincts of a place, where the artificial barriers that "hedge about" classes, are broken down and the people who generally feel, without admitting it, that they are underlings -

The highways are constructed for the general good, not for special accommodation. Their office is to facilitate travel and commerce. For that reason they should be free from private interference and jealously guarded by the laws for untrammeled public use.

This is the recognized law from the very earliest ages of national roads, and it is only of late years an imperium in imperio has obtained where the word quasi was added to private corporations to give them advantages of public power - ^the power to condemn land for their use. Elarly governments found it necessary to

. establish neutral grounds where the citizen or subject should with equal right pass over or enjoy it in common. The Greeks, Romans and other ancient countries establish baths, parks and highways that were open to all alike. The rights of commerce, not the rights of commercial corporations, and military movements had the dominant right on such roads. Bandits and robbers exercised dominion over these ancient ways, sometimes with the acquiescence of the government just

The most wonderful of these highways that history records is what is known as the "Appian Way." This great thoroughfare was constructed over three hun-

- dred and fifty miles of country, considered theretofore impassable. Appius Claudius, knowing the delays of coast commerce from the east, that had to be carried hundreds of miles around the Italian peninsula, conceived the idea of cutting a road through the miasmatic marshes, from Rome to the Adriatic Sea. This shortened the travel from Rome to the east about one-third what it had been.

The work was begun three hundred and twelve years B. C., and not completed until thirty years B. C. But it made Rome the mistress of the world in commerce and in war. We have no data informing us of any attempt by any syndicate to obtain a charter to the Appian Way.

The American idea of having the government build roads for private individuals, as the Pacific railways were built, had not occurred to the grand old heathen Appius or his fellow politicians. This wonderful road gave Rome all the advantage over her neighbors in the movements of troops and enabled her citizens to outstrip their competitors, and yet it has always been free from monopoly. In every age the streams, harbors, parks, streets and highways have been conceded to be public property and free from private control. The government in its sovereign capacity demanded the right to condemn private property for public use under the right of eminent domain. None but a sovereign of people has that right and it is class legislation to concede it.

When the application of steam power to motor engines was discovered ambitious men laid the foundation. of the present system of private ownership of public highways. Within a century and a quarter the nations have abdicated the greatest power they possess to private individuals and have made laws carrying out the abdication.

Along with this change of ownership of public utilities has been started a school of instruction teaching people that public ownership is a phantasmagoria, a dream of diseased minds.

The Roman, Appius, found his nation struggling with other maritime powers to win trade. Such a project was unheard of before, but he saw and succeeded. It is quite different with modern civilized governments. Special privileges and special laws have placed in the hands of private individuals the most dangerous weapons to do with as they please. Consolidation and combination, with the wealth of the country, their influence in every city and hamlet, their army of employees and a subsidized press - what reform affecting them can obtain when they have thoroughly organized. Then we can easily understand that the "King's Highway" has been surrendered to trunk lines, interurban lines, street car lines and electric and gas companies, monopolizing every right that they want.

Marco Polo laid the foundation of another great commercial thoroughfare that brought the Indies and East in commercial relations with Germany, France and other European nations. This was by way of Greece up the Danube and down the Rhine. It is singular how modern methods assert themselves. The Roman government, not Christian, protected the travelers on the Appian Way. It was built and maintained as a national highway. The Danube route, however, running through Christian countries, fell under the detestable yoke of "The Robbers of the Rhine Valley," who laid tribute on all who passed that way. Caravans of merchants were plundered and robbed and finally settled down by paying a "tribute, a tariff to the robbers who ran infant industries," amid the crags of the German hills. Those who coasted through the Mediterranean ocean and around the Atlantic coast of Europe were assessed by similar robbers, who infested Tenneriffe. Our word tariff comes from the tribute the merchantmen paid these robbers. The United States in the early part of the last century, following the example of foreign nations, began the construction of military roads throughout the United States principally westward. The great "Washington Pike," built from Washington, D. C., to Columbus, Ohio, was the greatest and about the last. Fulton and others discovered the force and steam and how to apply it to motive power. Here the modern methods stepped in. The construction of railways sprung into existence and the legislatures ceased to make national roads and assigned to individuals the almost exclusive right to construct them.

The right of eminent domain is a sovereign prerogative. None but a sovereign should wield that authority. By a fiction of law the courts give this right to individuals and the constitutional inhibition against a legislative body legislating away its sovereign power has been violated and acquiesced in until it is a fixture. Now we know that the roads, bridges, waterways and harbors were the exclusive property of the people, until steam railways came into vogue. We have steamboats on our rivers, but no one ever thinks of permitting them to appropriate our water ways. Steam and electricity have almost monopolized the travel and movements of commerce. Private individuals have succeeded, not only in monopolizing these highways, but have gone into our cities and have bound them under a net work of street car lines. They have subsidized the press, and controlled legislation, courts, and executive officers until the average American citizen shouts, "Anarchist," "Socialist," or other appellations at any one who dares to challenge the right of these monopolists to own our streets and use them for their own good.

The supreme court of Illinois has decided that a street car company has a dominant right to that portion of the street covered by its lines. The corporations influence the city authorities to grant them franchises to use the streets to lay pipes, mains, and tracks, erect telephone and telegraph poles and string wires and give them authority to compel the public to step aside for them. The fact is that franchises worth thousands of dollars are donated to them and they have enjoyed these privileges so long that they imagine they own the streets. Nay more, they point with pride to their magnanimity in letting the public use the parts of the streets they do not want.

The denizens of our cities have slept on in a dream of fancy until their waking hours have been dominated with the dream illusion. The public has been gradually shunted from its inheritance in public highways and private enterprise has taken and monopolized them. It is deemed treason to talk of municipal ownership and a crime to advocate municipal control of public utilities.

The municipal ownership of railroads would naturally require or demand a revolution in public carriage and commerce. It has passed to that stage where it »s doubtful whether the government could make the transfer without serious inconvenience to the public and an upheaval in the departments.

With the great power of men and money at its disposal, what might be the result of nationalizing the great trunk line system of this country? The time is past when such a project can be attempted with impunity and leave the results to be regulated by succeeding events. It is a serious question and one that but few attempt to solve. The government has assumed control of these by an inter-state commerce law that will best control and care for the welfare of all concerned. It is late - too late to talk of Government Ownership ; that should have been years ago.

The smaller public utilities, however, demand immediate attention. They are growing fast and waxing strong and aggressive. They consist of street and interurban lines, waterworks, gas works and electric plants. A law exists in Illinois prohibiting cities and villages from selling gas or electricity. Many cities have their own plants to light their own streets and yet they cannot sell the surplus even. Why? Because certain influences dominate the political field and forbid it. The people not only acquiesce in this outrage on their rights, but reelect the men who defeated the bill that restored to the people the right to manufacture and use their own electricity and gas as they now furnish water. The people groan and sweat under a load of extortionate prices, bad service and supercilious conduct toward the public, and yet tie themselves year after year by party bonds to the chariot wheels of these corporations. The country cannot flourish without these corporate monopolies ; it cannot do so long if their encroachments continue. It is surprising that a free people in this enlightened age submit to the arrogant manipulation of our laws by corporate greed. The cry of socialism is misleading. It is the sophistry of the demagogue who is paid by the corporations that own him.

The demand for municipal ownership and municipal control is simply a demand to restore to the people the "King's Highway," the streets and roadways. Let the uncrowned, yet despotic princes of commerce turn their chariot wheels aside and not run over or into every poor man's vehicle in the way. Let us return to the principles that have controlled commerce in every age, let the nation, at least, have control of public thoroughfares and protect every man who travels them. Let the republic give us a highway of commerce as free and safe as the "King's Highway." ... . ,

Determination, energy, natural aptitude and a life long devotion to the highest professional ideals are the qualities which have placed James Fulton Percy in a prominent position, not only among the members of the medical fraternity in Illinois but in the nation as well. His whole professional career and his advance have been based upon a mastery of medicine and surgery as a science. These characteristics have placed him in the position that he now occupies, i .. v '

Dr. Percy was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, March 26, 1864. The ancestral history in the paternal line is traced back to France, in the year iioo and the name was written De Percy. In less remote generations the ancestry has become largely Scotch-Irish. The great-grandfather, Francis Percy, was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, but he was connected directly with the house of Percy to which belonged the distinguished Percy, Earl of Northumberland, whose deeds have filled many a page of English history. Another of the greatgrandfathers of Dr. Percy was Stafford Wilson, who was born, lived and died, at Gatside, in County Antrim, where was also the birthplace of his daughter, Isabel, who became the wife of the paternal grandfather of Dr. Percy. His father, James Percy, was born in Soho, Essex county. New Jersey, and wedded Sarah Ann Fulton, a native of New York city and the daughter of James Fulton, who was born in County Downs, Ireland. The last named wedded Mary Rogers, who was a native of County Antrim, having been born within the shadow of Gilhall Castle. Her grandparents were McCormicks. James Fulton, for whom Dr. Percy was named, went out from New York city, where he had made his home, as a contractor under the French in the building of the Panama Canal. He lost his life there from yellow fever - that scourge which brought defeat to the French project. His wife, Mary Fulton, removed with her five children to Oronoco, Minnesota, securing a homestead claim there in pioneer times. She died in the state hospital at Rochester, Minnesota, at an advanced age. Her daughter, Sarah Ann, became the wife of James Percy. He was a contractor,

Dr. Percy attended the public schools of Bloomfield, New Jersey, until fourteen years of age when because of ill health he was sent by his parents to Minnesota with the hope that a change of climate would prove beneficial. While in that state he attended the public schools of Oronoco and of Rochester. It was at the latter place that he met W. J. and C. H. Mayo, who have since become worldrenowned surgeons. The acquaintance formed at that time has ripened into a friendship that has not diminished as the years have passed. After this period spent in the public schools of Minnesota, during which time he regained his health, Dr. Percy went to New York city where he pursued a four years' course in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. This was at a time when the law required but two years in a medical school in order to obtain a license to practice. It is believed that Dr. Percy was the first medical student in this country who took a four years consecutive graded course. He was graduated in 1886 and was honored with the presidency of his class. At the time of his graduation he was offered by Dr. Joseph D. Bryant of New York city, the family physician of President Cleveland, the position of surgeon to the Rhode Island Hospital at Providence, Rhode Island. After seriously considering the offer for some weeks Dr. Percy declined on the ground that he had not sufficient experience either with the world of life or the medical world in order to be fully qualified - to accept so responsible a position.

Following his graduation in New York Dr. Percy went to Minnesota and located for practice in Mazeppa where he remained for two years. His practice grew rapidly and reached extensive proportions ; realizing that he could practice with a measure of success and that if he was ever to change his residence it should be done early in his professional career, he resolved to come to Galesburg. While living in the north he had formed the acquaintance of the Rev. J. W. Bradshaw, pastor of the "Brick" Congregational church of Galesburg. On the occasion of his single meeting with the Rev. Mr. Bradshaw the latter incidentally mentioned his home city as a desirable place of residence. When he had decided to make a change in his place of residence Dr. Percy remembered the praise given this city by Mr. Bradshaw and visited Galesburg only to be told by the minister that he could not hope for any success here because the field was overcrowded and he "would starve to death" if he located here. Dr. Percy, however, saw an opportunity that the good minister could not see and subsequent events have amply vindicated his judgment. It has been a characteristic of the Doctor that he does his own thinking and bases his conduct on his own judgment. Indeed, his position as a representative of the profession is further indicated in the fact that he has been honored with the presidency of ' the Illinois State Medical Society. His success gradually grew and he has today probably the finest physician's office in the world under one management. X'iewed from a practical and artistic standpoint it certainly approaches perfection. It contains twenty-two rooms and in connection therewith but in a separate build- - . ing he has probably the finest private laboratory in the state. Dr. Percy has : done much post-graduate work in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. He spent six months in the state hospital at Braunschweig, Germany, under the - months with the equally famous surgeon, Professor Dr. Kraske, in Freiburg, Baden. While in that place Dr. Percy also studied pathology under Professor Zeigler, one of the world famous teachers of that subject. He obtained his first experience in abdominal surgery in the Chicago Veterinary College under Professor Fred Byron Robinson. He did this with the idea of not subjecting the human being to his inexperience when valuable experience could so easily be gained on the lower animals. He has continually advanced in skill and efficiency in the practice of both medicine and surgery and the eminent position which '' he now occupies has been well won. He is a valued member of various medical and scientific societies. He was president of the Military Tract Medical Society in 1892, became a member of the Chicago Gynecological Society in 1904 and was president of the Illinois State Medical Society in 1907. He is also a member of the Western Surgical Association. He called the first meeting out of which grew the Galesburg Hospital, now an institution of eighty-five beds. A meeting was held February 9, 1891, and the hospital was formally opened on the 5th of July, 1893. He is serving as the Illinois representative of the National Legislative Council of the American Medical Association for 1912-13. He had held the chair of surgery and surgical clinics in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1898, and it was there that he learned the futility of a medical school trying to teach medicine as a science and paying professors and the running expenses of the school from the fees of the students. At the end of the college year, therefore, he resigned. He afterward served as a member and in 1911 was made chairman of the committee on medical education in the Illinois State Medical Society. While chairman of this committee he read a paper at Aurora at the Illinois meeting of this society which set forth the deplorably low grade of all but three of the many medical schools of Chicago. This report accomplished for medical education in Illinois what the Flexner report did in exposing the almost uniformly low grade of medical school methods in the entire country. He stands at all times for high ideals which find practical fulfillment in the service rendered by the profession to the public. Dr. Percy has written many articles on surgery which have attracted wide attention and have contributed to the advancement of the profession along that line. He has been a member of the council of the Illinois State Medical Society for eighteen years and he was secretary of the section on the practice of medicine of that society in 1894. He limits his practice to general surgery.

Dr. Percy is a member of the University Club of Chicago and has a wide acquaintance among prominent residents of the state. Aside from professional lines he has written largely upon sociological subjects and has made a close study of conditions bearing thereon. His standards of life in every relation are high. He seeks that which contributes to the world's progress as well as to the individual advancement. The wide acquaintance and prominence which he has gained through his professional ability have made him known throughout the country and stand in contradiction to the prediction of Dr. Bryant of New York city who, when Dr. Percy declined to accept the position at Providence, Rhode Island, remarked, "Yes, and this is the last we will ever hear of James Percy."

Dr. Percy was married on June 12, 1888, to Miss Josephine L. Robinson, the only child of Prosper and Katharine Robinson of Mazeppa, Minnesota, the former a merchant of large financial interests in the southern part of that state.

Dr. and Mrs. Percy now have one child, a daughter, Katharine, who was born in Galesburg, September 4, 1891, and is at present occupying the chair of domestic science and household economics in Hedding College at Abingdon.

When Dr. Percy located in Galesburg in February, 1888, there was a strong sentiment in favor of the union of the two Congregational churches which existed within a half block of each other. This sentiment crystalized in the Doctor's Bible class and resulted in the calling of the meeting at his home which was largely attended by members of both churches. The sentiment was strongly in favor of the union but as the "Old First" church had extended a call to the Rev. Dr. Sherrill the final union which occurred subsequently was not consummated at that time. Dr. and Mrs. Percy greatly interested themselves and were the prime movers in the establishment of the East Knox Street Congregational church which was dedicated June 23, 1895. Out of this work grew the establishment of the East Main Street Congregational church. From the foregoing it will be seen that a spirit of broad humanitarinism has actuated Dr. Percy in all of his relations throughout his entire life..- . . ; ., ; '

John Willsie is a locomotive engineer on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and resides at No. 1432 East Knox street, Galesburg. He was bom in this city August 13. 1867, and is a son of Horace and Betsey (Nichols) Willsie, natives of Canada and of New York respectively. The father was a son of John Willsie, also a native of Canada, whose family numbered nine children of whom three are living, Milo, George and Asa. Among those deceased were Charity, Julia and Polly. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Willsie was Alfred Nichols whose wife was Eliza (Felt) Nichols. Both were natives of New York but became early settlers of Galesburg, where Mr. Nichols conducted a hotel on the present site of the Metropolitan block. He lived to old age but his wife died in middle age. Of their children three are now living, namely : Betsey ; Louise, the wife of William Cobb, of Schoolcraf t, Michigan ; and Le Roy Nichols, also of that place. The first named became the wife of Horace Willsie, who resided near Perry's Mills, in Canada until twelve years of age. When a young man he came to the United States and settled in Marion, Iowa, where he engaged in clerking in a store. He then removed to Missouri where he did railroad contracting. In 1853 he came to Galesburg and clerked in a store while subsequently he conducted a livery stable. He also served as city marshal and as sheriff, remaining in public office for fifteen years, and later he carried on a livery business. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in defence of the Union, becoming captain of his company and winning promotion to the rank of colonel. He recruited two or three companies in Galesburg where he was a man of influence and of prominence. He died June 17, 1906, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years, respected and honored by all who knew him. His wife, who was born in 1839.

still survives him. She holds membership in the Methodist church, to which Mr. -' Willsie also belonged and his life was ever honorable and upright in harmony \^ with his professions. They had four sons and one daughter, all of whom were . born in Galesburg, as follows : Wilbur F. ; Horace N. ; Alfred N. ; John ; and '^ Daisy, the wife of Edwin Kulp. -

John Willsie was reared in Galesburg and attended the public schools, his course there being supplemented by five terms of study in Lombard University. He afterward worked at the machinist's trade for four and a half years and then . ; turned his attention to railroading as fireman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. He spent ten years in that way and during the past twelve years has been locomotive engineer, capably filling this position of responsibility. He is most careful in the discharge of all of his duties, realizing that human life depends upon his watchfulness and fidelity, and he has made for himself a most creditable position among the trusted representatives of the road.

Mr. Willsie was married February 2, 1890, to Miss Juniata Stiers, a daughterof James and Martha (Cornell) Stiers. .Mrs. Willsie was born in Woodhull, Illinois, July II, 1870. Her paternal grandfather, Ralph Stiers, was a native of Germany. He married Catharine Foraker and both lived to old age, dying near Cambridge, Ohio. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Willsie was William Cornell who was born in London, England, and wedded Agnes Jeffers. They were early settlers of Ohio, living near Cambridge and Marietta, and Mrs. Cornell died in that state. Her husband afterward established his home upon a farm near Woodhull in Henry county, Illinois, but later returned to Ohio. Their children were Mary, Martha, Harrison, Hannah, Cynthia, James and Joseph.

James Stiers, the father of Mrs. Willsie, was born in Pennsylvania and wedded Martha Cornell, a native of Ohio. They became early residents of Woodhull, Illinois, and afterward removed to Peoria, where Mr. Stiers died July 6, 1909, at the age of eighty-one years. His wife still survives at the age of sixty-eight years. They were the parents of ten children of whom eight are now living, Vibert O., Wallace R., Flora E., Juniata F., Ona L., Fred L., Qay B. and Thurlow S.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Willsie was born but one child, -Majorie N., who is now a student in the Art Institute of Chicago. Both Mr. and Mrs. Willsie are well known in Galesburg. The former is a member of the Odd Fellows society and the latter holds membership in the Presbyterian church. .

During the many years in which Daniel William Sheahan was connected with the agricultural interests of Knox county he was numbered among the progressive and intelligent farmers of this county. . His birth occurred on the I5th of August, 1843, at Saratoga, New York, and he was a son of John and Margaret (Goodwen) Sheahan. The father was 'born in County Kerry, Ireland, on the i9th of February, 1819. He came to this country alone, his wife having been injured while boarding the vessel at Queenstown. He arrived at New York in 1843 and immediately went to Saratoga, where he engaged in farming, his wife i;. arriving seven weeks later. In 1855 Mr. Sheahan removed to Altona, Illinois, with his wife and three children. From that town they walked to the eighty acres -/ of land which he had purchased in Copley township and there they took up farm- , ing. Subsequently they removed to Lynn township and in 1870 began farming on \ the old Heaton farm. After living on that property for many years he retired .1 and removed to Galva, where his death occurred on the 27th of April, 1904. Mrs. . : Sheahan, who was a daughter of Richard and Mazie (Murphy) Goodwen, died - .. at the age of seventy-seven years, on the igth of February, 1897. -,: - Daniel W. Sheahan removed to Altona with his parents when but a child. '. .V After he finished his education in the district schools he was employed as a ;. laborer by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for one summer. Sub- '. sequently he farmed for his father until he enlisted at Oneida, Illinois, in Company I, One Hundred and Second Illinois Infantry, on the 24th of July, 1862. . . He was one of the first to enlist, his captain being the late E. E. Conger, who later was minister to China. Mr. Sheahan won rapid promotion and after serving as first sergeant became first lieutenant. His most important service was under .'.; Sherman on the march to the sea. He was mustered out on the 4th of June, . : 1865. Returning home, he entered Bryant & Stratton Business College in Chi- ; . cago and took a thorough commercial course in that institution. Later he took up agricultural pursuits at Oneida and subsequently at Galva. He remained thus . - engaged until 1873, when he left with his family for Qay Center, Nebraska. In i88i he again returned to Illinois and located upon the property which was his home at the time of his death. During the latter part of his life he gave up his - activities and lived retired, the competence which he had earned earlier in life - affording him the necessities and comforts in his later years. . ' .: Mr. Sheahan was married August 20, 1866, to Miss Sarah Jane Brown, whose birth occurred near Chicago, in Dupage county, on the 22d of December, 1845, ^^^ parents being Mr. and 'Mrs. William Brown. To Mr. and Mrs. Sheahan ten chil- - dren were born. Adelaide, the eldest, is the wife of E. S. Potter, of Galva. John . . P. is residing on the home farm. He married Miss Wilbur and to their union one child, Daniel, has been born. William W. is married to lona Fuller. To : their union two children, Gladys and Anita, have been born. Albert G., who is living in California, is married to Bessie Masterson, and to their union one child, ; Marie, has been bom. Mary E., who is the wife of William F. Sipes, is residing ' in Missouri. Catherine is deceased. James F. makes his home in Galva. ; : Frances A. is a caterer at Galva and local correspondent for the Galesburg Regis- .-. ter. Florence, her twin sister, is deceased. Daniel E., the youngest of the family, is an auctioneer. Mr. Sheahan's death occurred on the 25th of February, 1911. " Throughout his life he had been one of the most active promoters of any measures, undertakings or organizations which were started for civic or social develop- . ; ment and welfare. He was one of the promoters and the secretary of the Grange of Walnut Creek and Knox districts for nine years and was also a director of the Knox County Fire Insurance Company, an office to which one of his sons has fallen heir.