Rock Island County, Illinois - The whole text, 1908 (part 14 of 16)

Mr. Titterington is a descendant of one of the oldest and most honored families of the county. His father, James Titterington, senior, was born in 1809, in Yorkshire, England, and came to America with his parents when a lad of twelve years. The grandfather, Thomas Titterington, settled first in Ross County, Ohio, but after a few years removed to Rock Island Coimty (in 1838) to make his home with his children, John, James, Moses and Charles, all now deceased. Before leaving Ohio the father of our subject was married to Mi.ss Lena Beall, daughter of William Beall. l^pon coming to Illinois he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Buffalo Prairie Township and devoted the remainder of his life to its cultivation and improvement. He died on the old homestead in 1876. His wife passed away in 1893.

James, the son, was born May 30. 1843, and was one of a family of six children, the others being: Mrs. David Bopes, now dead some years; Jane, widow of the late Robert S. Montgomery, and now of Rock Island; Mary E., who died at the age of fourteen years; William T., who died July 2, 1907, and Thomas, who passed away in infancy. James, when he reached manhooil, settled upon the old home farm and eventually became its owner, buying out the other heirs. He added to the original two hundred acres till he had fo>u- hundred and forty acres of as fine soil for agricultural jnu-poses as is to be found.

As may be imagined from his material ])ros- ]3erity, Mr. Titterington was industrious and enterprising. He was, in fact, one of the most progressive farmers of the community, and attained a high standing in the esteem of his fellow men besides. Stock feeding was his specialty, and he also dealt in live stock with success. He retired from the farm and became a resident of Rock Island in 1907.

Mr. Titterington cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and has since steadily supported the nominees of the Republican party. Locally he was accorded a considerable degree of political leadership and was honored by his party in various ways. He served four terms as member of the board of supervisors, and was highway commissioner for a number of years. Besides he often served as delegate to county and district conventions. Unlike many who leave the farm, Mr. Titterington did not delay his removal to the city till broken in health. ' He is still in full mental and i)hysical vigor and the same qualities that won him high regard as a resident of Edgington are still tlaily making him new and firm friends.

David W. Matthews

DA\'I1) W. .MATTHEWS, supervisor of Black Hawk Township, president of the Black Hawk Good Roads Association, and farmer and stock raiser, is a native of Illinois, having been born in Mercer County March 22, 1854. His parents were Dr. James S. and Mary J. (Willson) Matthews, both natives of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch- Irish descent. Mr. Matthews was born January 1, 1825, and his wife August 18, 1829. They were united in nuirriage in their native state and in the fall of 1853 removed to Mercer County, Illinois, and settled at Preemption. There Dr. Matthews took up the practice of medicine, which he had followed before coming west. In 1863 the family removed to the Citv of Rock Island and two years later settled en a farm two miles southwest of Milan. There the doctor continued to practice medicine till his death, December 3, 1893. The widow still survives. To Dr. and Mrs. Matthews were born four children: Willson, Clarence (deceased), David W., and Wilhelmina (deceased).

The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm and agriculture has been his chief occupation. He received his education in the public schools of Rock Island and Milan. At the age of nineteen he began teaching school and followed that vocation continuously for thirteen years. Then he settled on the farm on which he .has continuously made his home since.

Mr. Matthews, until 1888, was a Republican in politics, but at that time became a Democrat and has since affiliated with the latter party. In 1897 he was elected clerk of Black Hawk Townshij), and in 1898 he was chosen collector. In 1904 he was elected supervisor of Black Hawk Township, and was re-elected two 3'ears later. In 1904 and 1906 he was the choice of his party for congress in the Fourteenth district. In each case he reduced a normal Republican majority, the second time by sixtj^-five per cent.

]Mr. Matthews is an energetic and public spirited man with a character above reproach. He has always taken an active interest in all movements for the betterment of the community. His activit}- in the good roads movement led to his being sent as delegate from the county to the State Good Roads convention at Springfield in 1904, from which place he was also sent as state delegate to the nternational Good Roads convention at St. Louis in the same j'ear.

Mr. Matthews was marrieil at Milan September 13, 1877, to Miss Mary M. Bradley. The latter was born in Milan September .5, 1855. the daughter of Xathaniel I), and Elizabeth (Dickson) Bradley. Mr. and Mrs. .Matthews became the parents of three children: Elizabeth (deceased), C. Stanley and

Jessie D.. both at home. .Mr. Matthews is a gentleman in every sense and deservedly popular with all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. He is a member of the Mystic ^^'orkers of the World and Court of Honor. He and his wife are leading members of the Milan Presbyterian Church.

HOLDING in high estimate the duties and responsibilities which his position involved, and more than ordinarily successful as a medical practitioner surgeon. Dr. Henry H. Chase is well remembered in Rock Island, the city in which he spent the later vears of his life. He was an American of the highest type, and of pm-est blood, as well. His lineage on both sides is traceable for man}' generations back on American soil. His mother is a direct descendant of John Howland of Mayflower fame. His father was a relative of the late Chief Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court.

Henry How-land Chase was born October 7. 1858, in Ambo}', Lee County, Illinois, and died May 22, 1906. at Rock Island. His father was Albion Pierce Chase, himself a physician, and his mother, Deborah Gushing (Howland) Chase. The father was a native of Maine and the mother of JIassachusetts. The couple came west and located at Amboy. Illinois, in 1856, living there till the husband's death May 27, 1879. The father graduated in the School of .\la]iaplion. and after coming west took up the practice of Homeopathy, and has practiced in both schools after that.

Our subject received his general education in the public schools of Amboy, at a school for boys at Waltham, Massachusetts, and the State Normal at Bloomington, Illinois. His professional training was received at the Chicago Homeopathic College, from which he graduated in 1881.

Then he removed to Diihith. Minnesota, and remained seven years, hecomin^ a member of the state medical examining boanl of Minnesota. In 1S97 he purchased the practice of Dr. C. B. Kinyon, who left Rock Island to accept a chair in the I'niversity of Michistan at Ann Arbor at Rock Island and took up his residence in that city, where he remained till his death. A few months before his demise he formed a partnershi|i with Dr. K. Bradford.

Dr. Chase was an attendant of the Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Republican. He was active in fraternal work, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, ilodern Woodmen, National Union, Modern Brotherhood of America, Woodmen of the World and Independent Order of Foresters. His surviving family consists of his wife and two children, the latter being .John Albion, liorn August 30, 1888, and Katherine Trusdell. born May 22, 1892. The wife's maiden name was Adelaide Eugenia Trusdell, and she was married to the doctor December 5, 1882, at Dixon, Illinois. Her home jtrior to the marriage was at Xewark, New Jersey, she being the daughter of John Givean and Catherine (Decker) Trusdell. The father was a leading Democrat and served as judge and state senator. He died July 14, 1903. his wife having passed away in March, 1858,

His father was chief surgeon of the Northern division of the Illinois Central Railroad from the time of his residence in Amboy until his death.

AMONG those prominent in business, social and club life in the City of Rock Island, is Charles McHugh, a man who through persistent industry and commercial acumen has wrought for himself a successful career.

Syracuse, New York; his father was a native of Inniskillin, Ireland, but removed to this country, where the subject of this sketch was boi-n September 3, 1863, at Syracuse, New York. Four years later his parents came west and located at Tiskilwa, in this State, where his mother is still living. Here their son received a common school education.

-Mr. McHugh remained in Tiskilwa until 1881, when he came to Rock Island. Seeking employment, he obtained a position as bellboy at the Harper House, the hotel of which he is today manager and associate proprietor, liut which was then owned and managed by the late Benjamin Harper. As a bell-boy Mr. McHugh received the princely salary of ten dollars a month, but with a firm determination to deserve and to attain a higher position he paid diligent attention to his duties. This determination upon his part was rewarded by a promotion to a position as clerk in the hotel, which position he held until 1894 when he, together with J. E. Montrose, piu'chased the management of the hotel from the Harper estate. This required an investment on their part of .$3.5,000.

The investment was a financial success, and in 1898, desiring to enlarge the scope of their business, these gentlemen took over the National House, of Peoria. Illinois, the leading hotel of that city, at an expense of 840,000. Again in 1903 they assumed control of the Rock Island House, expending $22,000 in the remodeling and improvement of this hotel.

Success and prosperity attended each successive expansion of their business, and in 1906 they leased the Hotel ^Montrose at Cedar Rapids, Iowa - the furnishing of this hotel costing over $45,000 - and in turn this hotel was brought up to that standard of excellence that has characterized each of the other hostelries, and is considered by hotel experts the leading hotel west of Chicago.

From 1895 until 1900 Mr. McHufih was lessee of the Black Hawk's Watch Tower, and it was during this time that the present spacious and popular Watch Tower Inn was built, and made the pojudar resort of the three cities.

But Mr. McHugh's busine.ss talents are not wholly confined to the control and management of hotels. He owns a large ranch near Aberdeen. South Dakota, and a six hundred and forty-acre farm near Olney, Illinois, and to these he gives some share of his personal attention. He is also one of the directors of the Peoples National Bank of Rock Island.

Whatever pertains to the progress and advancement of the City of Rock Island finds a hearty supporter and sincere cooperator in Mr. McHugh. During the year 1904 he was president of the Rock Island Club, an institution devoted to the fostering of the commercial interests of the city. In politics Mr. McHugh is a Democrat, and takes an active part in the counci's of his party.

On September 1. ISSS. he was married to Mary Elizabeth ('rul)augh, daughter of John and Sarah A. Crubaugh of Rock Island, and to the couple one daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, has been born.

Mr. McHugh owns a beautiful nu'al home on Aiken Street in South Rock Island, and here he and his family spend the summer months, interspersed with numerous cruises npim the Mississippi River and its triluitaries upon his house boat. "The Ramliler.'" and steamer, the " Mary Mc."

Coming to Rock Island a poor boy without friends or influence here to aid him, he has forged his way to the front and in a few brief years has become one of the substantial and influential men of the city. Foresight and industry have been the keys that have unlocked for him the door of success.

Nicholai Juhl

Ox I-', of Rock Island's best known and most busily employed building con" tractors is Xicholai Juhl. the subject of this sketch. In the large and continuous btiilding growth which Rock Island has tmdergone during the past few years, he has taken a conspicuous part, some of the largest and handsomest edifices that have been erected being his creation.

He was born ^March 3. 1853. in the province of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany, his parents being Peter and Jlartha (Peterson) Juhl. Neither of Mr. Juhl's parents ever came to the United States, and both are now deceased.

Mr. Juhl's early education was obtained in the common schools of his native land, and later in evening schools in this country, to which he emigrated in 1873. being then twenty years of age. Upon landing in New York he looked about for an opportunity to establish himself in some useful employment, but soon came to the conclusion that a young man's chances were much better further west, and consequently he came to Rock Island, which city has since been his home.

Here he learned the carpentering and brick laying trades, and found plenty of employment, especially in the former trade. For sixteen years after coming to Rock Island he worked for one man. believing in and acting upon the old proverb that a rolling stone gathers no moss.

In 1890 Mr. Juhl began business on his own account as a contractor and builder, since which time he has made a specialty of building churches, of which he has erected about forty in different ])arts of the country.

On January 14. 1877. .Mr. Juhl was joined in marriage to ^liss Christina Lalfs, a young lady who was a native of the same town as Mr. Juhl, and who came to this country in 1875. To them five children have been born, they being Mary C, wife of Philip Scherer, of Rock Island; Herman C. now foreman in his father's establishment; Amelia C. C, wife of John Cleman, of Rocl< Island; Nicholai M., employed by his father, and Otto, who is now attending the Rock Island High iSehool.

In religious faith Mr. Juhl is a Lutheran, and for thirteen years he has been a trustee of the German I'.nianuel Lutheran Cluu-cli of Rock Island. In politics he has always lieen a Republican, but while a strong adherent to his party he has always striven to vote for the man he considered best qualified to fill the office and to serve the peojjle. He ha.s never sought party office for himself, being too actively engaged in business pursuits to accept party favors.

IMr. Juhl is in every respect a self-made man. Coming to this country without money, he has, by frugality and industry, accumulated a modest fortune. He is a man of boundless energy and business foresight. The high grade and cnuility of his work is a monument to his skill and integrity as a contractor. He is one of Rock Island's best citizens, one of the stable, prosperous men that go to compose a stable and prosperous city.

George T. Wilson

NOT alone to the men of (.laring initiative in the fields of manufacture and merchandising does Rock Island County owe its greatness in the world of commerce, but also to the mechanics whose unsurpassed skill and industry have contributed, in larger measure than we always realize, to our world-wide reputation for all that is best in our manifold lines of product. In the front ranks of these skilled artisans is Mr. George T. Wilson, the well known carriage iron worker, foreman of the blacksmithing department of the V^elie Carriage Company. Mr. Wilson was l)orn under Her Brittanic ^Majesty's Flag, in the Province of Quebec, in October, 1839. Fiftythree years later, namely. 1892. he, with his wife, Marv E. and their two sons, Edgar H.,

As foreman of the iron department of the D. M. iSechler Carriage Company, he continued for tlie period of seven years, when, his health declining, he resigned that charge and engaged in partnership with his elder son. Edgar H., in the grocery business, which the latter was co'nductng at the time, on Thiril Avenue, Moline. His health failed to improve and he was obliged to retire from til is business also.

"Time heals all wounds" and often restores broken health, as happily was the case with Mr. Wilson, so that in October, 1902, he was able to once more take up his regidar business, this time as foreman of the blacksmithing department of the Velie Carriage Company, where he is now engaged.

Mr. Wilson has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from the days of his young manhood. He is a member of Doric Lodge, No. 319, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and is regarded by judges as one of the best carriage iron workers in the state, and that means one of the best in the world.

Charles J. Larkin

THE City of Rock Island has several contractors and builders whose operations are upon a very extensive scale, and whose work is known, not only in the immediate vicinity of their home city, but throughout the entire western part of the United States, where they have been engaged to erect large public buildings, manufacturing plants, railway depots and other edifices requiring the expenditure of thousands of dollars, .\niong the men so engaged is Charles J. Larkin.

Mr. Larkin was born September 13, 1852, in Schenectady, New York, and lived in that city until he was four years of age, when his jxirents, Michael and Mary (Smith) Larkin, came with'tlieir family to Rock rslaiul. Mr. Larkin's parents were natives of Ireland, the father heinp; from Galway and the mother from Athboy, County Meath. After coming to Rock Island, Mr. Larkin's parents made that city their home until their death, the father passing away in 1S93 at the advanced age of seventy-five, and the mother six months later at the age of seventy-four. Mr. Larkin, senior, was a blacksmith, anil during his lifetime he was of great assistance to his son in the contract work, in which he was actively engaged.

Charles J. Larkin attended and graduated from the public schools of Rock Island, and after laying aside his school books he learned the stone cutter's trade, beginning his work as an independent contractor when only twenty years of age. It would be impossible in this lirief sketch to enumerate the many large and imposing structures that have been erected liy Mr. Larkin. It was he who built Rock Island County's handsome Court House, and also the magnificent home of the Modern Woodmen of America in Rock Island. The eighty tho\isand dollar ]iost office at Daven" port is another ind)lic building that he was called upon to erect, while as a builder of magnificent churches Mr. l.ai'kin can point with pride to the Catholic Cathedral at Des- Moines, Iowa, for it was he who erected that great house of worship.

On October 20, 1873, Mr. Larkin married Miss Annie T. Ford, a daughter of William and Ann (Broderick) F'ord, of Sheflield, Illinois. Eight children, four daughters antl four sons, have been born to them, they being the Misses May, Katherine, .Annie and Hattie, and Leo, Harry, Charles J. and W'illard, all of the children making their home with their parents. Mr. Larkin's elder sons are engaged with him in his contracting operations. His daughters are cidtivated and talente<l young ladies who have received man\- advantages, l)oth in the schools of Rock Island and elscwiiere. Miss Katherine Larkin is a reader

In politics Mr. Larkin has always been a Republican, and he has represented his home ward as Alderman for several terms during past years. He is always ready to contribute willingly and liberally either of his time or his money to his party's cause, and although not an office seeker himself, he gives his support to those in his party whom he considers best qualified to fill the offices to which they aspire.

His home is at No. 556 Elm Street, and here Mr. Larkin spenfls most of his leisure hours, as he is a man of domestic tastes, and finds much of his happiness in this life in the companionshi]j of his family. He is a man of pleasing personality, kind-hearted, genial and always to be fouiul in the forefront of any movement calculated to advance the welfare of his city. In religious conviction Mr. L;u'kin is a Catholic. He has many friends throughout Rock Island who speak highly of his high integrity and sterling worth.

Henry B. Hubbard

THERE is no happier hour in the life of the conscientious and circumsjiect biogra])her than one which affords him the occasion f<ir picturing in words the record of a virile, useful, energetic and honorable person. There is always a fascinating something about such a person, whether old or young, which forcibly ap]jeals to the pen, and brings forth latent thought and effort which are too often ])ermittel ti Ije dormantlethargic, as it were.

The mere conviction of a man's astuteness and sterling worth is all sufficient to ins])ire one with a desire to write endless pages of e\il)gies concerning hi:n: l)ut alas! the write-; never did nor never will live who can fittiu'ily portray the virtues, services and p-it-i)tisai of an u])right, thrifty and substantial citizen.

And so, in our simple way, with the advance knowledge that our language is wholly inadequate to suitably elucidate the many redeeming traits of our friend, but with tlie realization that our efforts will be appreciated in the same felecitous spirit in which it is imparted, we summon the temerity to place before the reader Mr. Henry B. Hubbard, as he is, and has always been.

Mr. Hubbard is a product of the Buckeye State. He was born at New Mat a moras, Ohio, September 30, 1S63, being a son of \V., A, and Anna Hubljard. His father was a native of Ohio, his mother, who before her marriage was Miss Anna (loldsmith, was also an Ohioan by birth.

In 1868, when Mr. Hubbard was five years of age, his ]iarents migrated westward, arriving in Edgington Township, near Taylor Ridge. Henry B. Hultbard is an exemplary specimen of what an enterprising and ]iractical man may accomplish. Up-to-date, well educated, of uniisual business acumen and logical on all matters pertaining to his office and the people who have twice elected him, he does not hesitate to again go before his constituents and request approval of his acts and methods, and neither is he timorous in his solicitation of )iul)lie sanction for his conduct of their affairs.

He was married in the year of 18SS, his wife being Miss Etta Genuuill, of Shannon, Illinois. They have been blessed with three children, Clifford, I^ois and Marian.

Mr. Huhb.nnl is an active and earnest worker in the Mystic Shriners, Kaaba Temple of Davenport, and he is a member of long standing in the Modern Woodmen of America. He also is nuniljered amf)ng the Fraternal Tribunes :md numerous other societies whicii are well and |io])ularly kmiwn. He first attracted general public notice in the year of 1898, when he was elected County Clerk of Rock Island ('(uinty l)y a pluarality of abiiut 1,S(I() votes o\-('r his (ip])onent. Foui' years later he was chosen his own successor, and was elected again in 1906, and the people iiave been given no reason upon which to base a complaint against his official standardship since the hour he assumed the duties wliich fell to his lot.

Mr, Hubbard has l)een a hard worker all his life, and consequently has learned that labor is the only true nobility, whether one's efforts is confined to manual or official labor, or to the control of vast industries. A child of our free institutions, he is naturally of a comi)anionable and jileasing disposition - a hap])y facu ty, and a priceless asset to any man. He is one who sees things clearly, and acts with a celerity that is amazing when the question of equity is at stake. He has a comprehensive mind, a di-oU sense of humor that is pleasing to hear, and is with all a man of rank and file, a sincere believer in the doctrines expressed by Al)raham Lincoln, is a patriot of the first water, and represents a true type of American manhood and sturdiness.

In the councils of his party, and in the minds of his adherents. Mr. Hubbard commands a position equal to that of any one. In the eye of the public', his re-election hespeaks the trust imposed in him.

Since his incunibence the office of the County Clerk has undergone many changes which are of material benefit to taxpayers and tiie ])ul)lic generally. Old systems have been simplified, red tape has become a nonentity, and practical methods of business in the interest of speed and convenience have superceded ancient and out-of-date routine.

Herbert B, Hayden

HERBERT B. HAYDEN, Superintendent of City Schools of Rock Island, is a native of Massachusetts. He was educated in the graded and high schools of his native state, and at Wesleyan University. SiiH'e 1SS3 he has been engaged in public school work, either as hijih scliool ])rinci]ial or superintendent of city schools, and has been in cluirge of the schools of Rock Island since August, 1900.

Charles J. Searle

AN ATTOl^XEV whose marked ability has been repeatedly' recognized not only in Rock Island County, by whose Bar Association he has. at the time this sketch is written, recenth- been honored by the election as its president, but throughout the State of Illinois, is Charles J. Searle. of Rock Island. A biographical sketch of a man so well and widely known, seems almost superfluous, for there are but few in Rock Island County, and indeed in this section of Illini)i.s. who do not en,ioy a personal accjuaintance with the gentleman himself. And were these sketches written and published merely for the perusal of the present generation many of them would be indeed unnecessary, but the compilation of a work of this kind is undertaken with the thought that it will be an enduring memorial to those th records of whose lives are herein inscribed, and while to the living it may recount no fact that was before to them imknown yet to jioster ty it will possess an ever increasing value as the conscientiovis gleaning of facts in the lives of men who have long since been gathered unto their fathers.

Charles J. Searle w-as born at Fort Smith, Arkansas. May 16. 1S65. his parents being Colonel Klhanan J. (recently deceased) and Cassie H. (Pierce) Searle. Six children were born to this c()U])le. but only two are living, Charles J. and Blanche Searle, both of Rock Island. .Mr. Sear! 's |iarents made their home in Fort Smith for about three years after liis birth, and then removed to Arkadelphia in the .same state, and from there to Little Hock. Our subject attended the jMiblic sciiools and later, when his ])arents came north, he attended the high scluiol at I'ana, in this state. Finishing his high school course. Mr Searle went to Marshall County, Kansas, and here he improved a farm, later teaching school for a term. He attended the Campbell Normal I'niversity at Holton, Kansas, for one year, showing such diligence and application as a student that he carried off the class honors. The young man was obliged to depend upon his own resources, and in order to acquire an education it was necessary that he should earn the money with which to pay for his tuition and defray his expenses while attending school. At the end of his year at the Normal University, he found it necessary to again assume the role of ])edagogue in order to accumulate -enough funds to continue his education, so he again taught another term of school, this time in Brown County. Kansas. Then, having decide 1 to study law, Mr. Searle entered the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, and here for two years he pursued a law course. In this school also he showed marked ability and took the highest honors of his class, both during his junior and senior years. After graduating, Mr. Searle cast about for a location in which to practice his newly acquired profession. The result of this quest was that he finally decided u])on Rock Island, and in that city he opened an office August 12. 1889. He soon learneil by experience that the accjuiring of a clientele was not a sjieedy process, and in common with nearly all young lawyers he. in the course of that evolution which every attorney must undergo, successfully passed through the "starvation stage." While wa ting for clients, he devoted his time assiduous'y to study and reading along ])rofessional !ines, this supplementing the legal training he had received while at Iowa City. But lis ability was so nuirked. especially as an advocate, that it made such an impression, not (inly ujjon the general pulilic. but u])on his fellow members of the bar as well, that lie sjieedily got into practice, and in 1892 was elected States .\ttornev o' Rock Island

County, upon the Republican ticket. He was a vigorous and successful prosecutor, and at the expiration of his four years term he was re-elected and served another term in that office. During his administration he secvu-ed a large number of convictions, and in the fulfillment of that office gave general satisfaction to the people. In 1S9S he was appointed by Governor Tanner as trustee of the Western Illinois State Normal School, which was then about to be located and built, the board of trustees having the selection of the site, it was decided to locate the new institution at Macomli. Mr. Searle was chosen as president of the board and devoted much time to the duties involved in the sui)ervision of the erection of an institution of such magnitude: after the institution was conijileted and fully and successfully started, he resigned. In 190-i he was appointed l)y Richard Yates, junior, then Governor of Illinois, as a member of the Court of Claims, this office carrying with it the rank and title of Judge. It is the duty of this Court, consisting of three Judges and sitting at Springfie'd, to conside - and adjudicate all disjiuted claims arising against the State of Illinois, and its many institutions. This office Mr. Searle still holds. Roth the latter offices were conferred on Mr. Searle entirely without solicitation on his jxirt.

On A])ril 7, 1898, ^Ir. Searle married Miss ^lary Pryce, the daughter of Mr. and ^Irs. John J. Pryce, of Coal \'alley, this County. Miss Pryce at the time of her marriage living in Racine, Wisconsin, where she was engaged as a teacher in the ]iiiblic schools of that city. To them have l)een born three children, two boys and a girl.

Political y Mr. Searle has always been a Republican and has been, and is, a political power, not merely in Rock Island County, l)ut his ])restige has been generally recognized throughout Illinois, and especially this part of the State. He has twice been presented to the Congressional Districts embracing Rock

Island County, by Rock Island County as its candidate for Congress. He has labored diligent y and efficiently for the success of his ]iarty at the polls; and as a jjowerful speaker upon |)olitical and economic subjects he is constantly in demand. He is in thorough sympathy with the spirit of determination for corporate regulation that is sweeping over the country, and indeed has been a pioneer in that cause and for years past has, both in political s]ieeches and in private conversation, portrayed the dangers that threatened the welfare and prosperity of the American citizen through the inirestrained formation of vast monopolies. His Republicanism is of the type of that of Roosevelt, LaFollettc and Cummins, and is opposed to that of Aldrich and Elk ns.

A vigorous and virile man, an astute and discerning attorney and a gifted orator, ]\Ir. Searle embodies in his ])ersonality those (pialit es that connnand the respect, the ap])roval and the regard of humanity. He is a man imusually independent in thought and speech, without the slightest vestige of self-conceit, easy of approach and of broad sympathy: truly a "man of the jieople."

In 1899 Mr. Searle entered into jiartnership with C. B. Marshall, forming the legal firm of Searle & Marshall. The partnesrhip was an advantageous one for both gentlemen, bringing into conjimction the brilliant powers as an advocate possessed by Mr. Searle and the more tranquil and studious nature of Mr. .Marshall. The firm has jirospered and is today one of the eading law firms in Rock Island County.

But little remains to be said in conclusion. The life, the character, and the political ])rinc pies of Charles J. Searle have been laithfu y delineated. The reader can udge for h'mself what numner of man he is. He has obtained and retained the confidence of his fellow men, and not merely their confidence but their warm regard as well; a man whose thoughts, whose acts and whose so thoronsi'hly ujion the ])ubUr with which he deals as in the case of the editor of a country newspajier. While he does not reach the thousands that the editor of a metro])oIitan daily does, he offsets this disadvantage through the close personal relations he sustains with his patrons and thereby his position in the community is rendered the more ditiicult of the two to maintain. While the head of the news gathering department of a big paper may strike right and left with but small chance of offending any considerable ])ortion of his clientele, the scribe of the country weekly must exercise care and tact, for his financial success requires the support of at least half of the people of his territory. Therefore the trenchant pen is not his to wield. He must attain his ends by other means.

A successful country editor is Guy Y. Pettit of the Reynolds Press - a man who has the rare gift of being able to give expression to his own ideas of right and wrong and still retain the personal friendship of practically every individual who reads his news]3aper.

Mr. Pettit was born .July 17. 1868, seven miles south of Geneseo, on a farm in Henry County. Illinois. He is a son of Charles E. and Ellen M. Pettit, and dates his ancestry on American soil well back into the seventeenth century. His paternal grandjxirents were Pennsylvanians and his maternal grandparents New Yorkers. His father was a private in Company E. Eighth Illinois ^'olunteer Infantry, and was private secretary to General U. S. Grant at Cairo in 1862. His mother was educated at Lombard University. Galesburg.

at Northwestern Normal at Geneseo. After pursuing a scientific and literary course there for three years he turned his attention to pedagogy. He began teaching school at the age of seventeen, and so well did lie do his work that when he had barely attained his nuvjoritj- he was called upon to act as principal of the schools at Hampton, Rock Island County. Here he taught two years, going, in August. 1889, to Reynolds, to accept the principalship of the schools there. At the end of three years he accepted a similar position at Brimfield, Peoria County, where he remained two years.

In January, 1897, Mr. Pettit purchased the Reynolds Press, taking personal charge July 1 following, and conducting it successfully up to the present time.

Mr. Pettit has found time to take an interest in village affairs, having for three years filled the oflfioe of village clerk, and subsequently served two terms as president of the board of trustees, retiring in 1895. Politically he has always been a Republican.

Patriotic and fraternal societies have engaged much of Mr. Pettit's attention. He is a past captain in the Sons of A'eterans, past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias, has been consul of the Reynolds Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America for eight years, holds membership in the Order of the Eastern Star and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is affiliated with the various branches of the Masonic order.

Mr. Pettit was united in marriage Jime 19, 1S91). with Miss Jennie Repine, of Galesburg, Illinois, formerly of Pennsylvania. They have two sons, Royce Edgar, born May 5, 1895, and Clyde Earl, born April 19. 1902.

Dr.. Louis Ostrom

DR. LOUIS OSTROM. A. B. M. 1).. was liorn in Helsingland. Sweden, May 1, 1 874, and came to .\merica when six years old. His father is a pipe-organ builder.

Historic Rock Is L A N D Co U N T Y.

known among hundreds of churches all over the country. Young Ostrom attended public schools, and as soon as he was able to work, was at one time or another employed during vacations in nearly all the shops of Moline. After becoming a student of Augustana College, he worked during the different vacations as section hand on the street car line, printer in a joti office, and pressman to the Moline Daily Dispatch, etc. While a student, he also studied music under Dr. Gusta\- Stolpe; was director of the band, orchestra, and mandolin clubs, cornetist, and later claeionetist with the Sixth Regiment Band. Illinois National Guard, of Moline, and Strasser's Second Regiment Band of Davenport, Iowa. He also took active part in all college atheletics, being a member of both base ball and oot ball teams. He graduated from Augustana College in 1895, in the English classical course, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the summer before graduation he was assistant organist to Dr. Stolpe in the Moline Lutheran Church, and after graduation was at Moore's Prairie, Minnesota, as organist and music teacher. While there he received a call from Augustana College to become professor of wind and stringed instruments in the Conservatory of Music, but declined because of intended medical study. He studied medicine at the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, where he earned his way through l)y playing with orchestras and in churches, caring for a doctor's office for his room rent, and earning his board by serving as waiter at a restaurant until the end of his course. After leaving Iowa City, he was employed by the State Hospital at Independence, Iowa, but wishing to continue his medical st utiles, he resigned and went to St. Louis to the Missoiu'i Medical College and Policlinic. During his medical studies he paid most jjarticidar attention to the eye and ear, but after his course at St. Louis, located in 1S99 at Leonard ville.

While there, he received a call from the Kansas Medical College at Topeka, Kansas, to the Chair of Chemistry, and as director of the Chemical laboratories, a position he held for one year, but as this interfereti with private practice, he resigned and located in Rock Island. Illinois, as a specialist, devoting all his professional attention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In the spring term of 1903 he was acting professor of Botany at Augustana College, during the al)sence of Professor J. A. Udden, and later w-as professor in anatomy, physiology, histology and the ]:)re-medical department. While doing post graduate work at New York, was professor of Natural History at Upsala College, Kenilworth, New Jersey. Dr. Ostrom is adjunct to St. Anthony's Hospital and e.xaminer for more than a dozen insurance companies. Since his graduation in medicine, he has taken post graduate courses with some of the most noted specialists in America.

In 1899 Dr. Ostrom was married to Miss Sophia Huh, formerly secretary to the business manager of Augustana College. They have one child, Meredith.

Mrs. Mary Fay Hawes

MRS. MAPvY FAY HAWES, wife of Major Charles W. Hawes, and a member of the board of supreme managers of the Hoyal Neighbors of .\mer ca, is an admirable type of the purposeful woman of the day. She proves in her own person that the American woman may exert a powerful influence in t'.ie enlargement of woman's sphere without loss to any of the attributes of true womanhood.

children, all living at this date. She graduated from high school in May. 1<S(S3, and spent the following two years in the Northern Illinois College at Fulton.

In 1887 Mrs. Hawes, then Miss Fay, engaged in a clerical capacity with the Modern Woodmen of America, the head offices of which were at that time located at Fulton. She continued with the Society for several years, a valued attache of the head office, and thus met Major Hawes, who was elected head clerk of the Society in 1890. Her marriage to Major Hawes on December 25,

1894, marked her retirement from the Woodmen Society's employ; but shortly thereafter, having been actively identified with the Royal Neighbors of America, the ladies auxiliary of the Modern Woodmen o America, she was chosen as one of its board of supreme managers. She has been re-elected at each succeed'ng national convention since January,

Mrs. Hawes, in American fraternal circles, is widely known; indeed, is one of that circle of able women who have pioneered the woman's fraternal movement to its present commanding place. She is a pleasing speaker, a thorough student of the system she serves officially, and of its ife msurance features, and is in great demand as a lecturer.

Mrs. Hawes is an earnest memlier of the Broadway Presbyterian Church of Rock Island, and very active in its Sunday School work. Her ideal home ^ife with husband and' son. John Marcus Hawes, her work in the chiu'ch and as an official of the Royal Neighbors of America, the leading fraternal beneficiary association for women, demonstrates her character and capacity, and as well the fact that, while womanly and true to the mission of the sex, the American woman may, with honor, engage in activities outside the home circle, but making for the protection of the home.

William H. Bean

RAl'lDl.V the ranks of those who took active [lart in the Civil War are thinning. One after another the gray haired veterans are going to join their comrades in a land where bloodshed and sufTering are unknown. Few of the defenders of the flag in the sixties are now left who are able to hold their own in the keen struggle of pre.sent day commercial life. Physical infirmities, have with few exceptions long since compelled the great majority of the survivors to drop out of the race. Yet here and there are exceptions. Now and then a stiu'dy old warrior is found whose eye is as bright and whose step s as firm as that of the younger generation and who yet finds keen enjoyment in a struggle in which he is pitted against the sons and the grandsons of his comrades of other days.

Such a man is William H. Bean, the pioneer merchant of Rock Island. Though whitened by sixty-five winters he continues in active charge of the grocery store he established thirty-two years ago. He has not fallen behind in the rapid march of American progress.

yir. Bean was born at St. Louis. Missouri, February 10, 1842, the son of J. L. and l\Iarilla (Smith) Bean. His father was a native of Palmyra, New York, being born January S, 1814, and died March 28, 1890, in Rock Island. His mother was born in Parkman, Ohio, May 24, 1818, and died May 1, 1898, in Rock Island. The parents were married September 24, 1838. at Parkman, Ohio, and came to Rock Island for permanent residence when their son was two months of age. Mr. Bean, the elder, was a contractor and builder and followed this vocation for a number of j-ears. Then he engaged in the manufacture of wagons. He was a memlier of the City Council in the early daj^s. When Ben Har])er was mayor, and served the City of Rock Island in several capacities. He was the father (while in the council) of the first street opened in the City - Ninth Street, rmining north and south. In the early sixties he hauled freiglit by oxteams to Pike's Peak. From 1S7() till his death he lived a retired life. Three children, other than the subject o'' this sketch, were born to the couple: Louis H. M. Bean, born October Id, 1S;3<), and died January 15, 1S61, at Black Hawk Mills. Pike's Peak, Colorado; John Liberty Bean, junior, born October 21. 1843, and now living at LaPlata, Missouri, and Marilla Jane Bean, born January 26. 1846, and now the wife of W. L. Minchen, living at Seattle, Washington.

Oiu' subject attended the pul)lic schools and the Rock Lsland liigh school. He left the latter to become salesman in a general store in 1860. Then came the call to arms, and August 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and served till July 12, 1865, when he was mustered out and returned to Rock Island. He then reuinied his place in the store and renuiined there two years. Later he spent three years on a farm, and in 1S75 he opened the grocery store he now owns at 1201 Third Avenue.

Novemljer 25, 1880, Mr. Bean was united in marr'age with Mrs. Sarah A. Cameron, a native of Scotland, but for sixteen years prior to her union with Mr. Bean a resident of Rock Island. Their wedded life has lieen childless.

Mr. Bean has always been a Repidilican, but has not actively engaged in politics. He has not been a seeker after the spectacn ar but has kept the even tenor of his way He has been content with the ordinary rewards of a quiet and ^cU orilered life and thus it is that we find him today one of the few of his generation who are still able to continue the routine of daily Inisiness.

Frank B. Hawes

FRANK B. HAWKS, son of David Hawes and brother of Major Charles W. Hawes, was born in the City_ of Rock Island on November 14, 1844. (See biographies David

Hawes and Major Charles W. Hawes). Since April 13, 1891, the subject of this sketch has been prominently connected with the head offices of the Modern Woodmen of America. For years he was the society's statistician, hut of late years he has discharged the responsible duties of chief of the final accounting department. He has supervision over the most imi_)ortant set of accounts maintainetl by the Motlern Woodmen Society - the financial. It is naturally to be inferred that Mr. Hawes possesses superior ability as an accountant and nuithematician.

Prior to the establishment of his connection with the ^lodern Woodmen Society, Mr. Hawes was for twenty-one years the cashier of the E. P. Reynolds & Company railroad contracting firm. During the period 1860- 1890, inclusive, this firm built thousands of miles of western railroad, and Mr. Hawes as cashier, handled millions of dollars without the loss of a single cent.

In 1875 Mr. Hawes was united in wedlock to Miss Elizabeth A Rector, of Walworth, W'sconsin. One son, David R , a graduate of the Illinois School of Dentistry, University of Illinois, is the friiit of this union. Mr. Hawes is recognized as one of Rock Island's most ]irogressive citizens. He is active in his support of all policies and measures making for the bet erment of Rock Island and the country at large. In national politics, he has always Ijeen an ardent and influential supporter o" Republican jirinci]) es. With his family, he resides in a, well-appointed homo at 718 Seventeenth Street.

Charles Titterinoton

FOR si.\ty-seven years Charles Titterington lived on the farm in Edgington Townshi]) that he entered from the Oovernment. His children grew to manhood aiul womanhood, married, grandchildren came and attained maturity, and still this doughty ])ioneer was tilling the soil of the old home jihu-o iniido dear to liiin liy decades of association. He came to Rock Island ("oiuity in 1S35, and at once selected and ]nn-cha.soil from the Ciovernment the fertile acres that were his al>iiling |)lace for so long a period.

Charles Titterington was born in the parish of Worley, West Yorkshiie, England. 22, 1814. His father. Thomas Titterington, came to America three months after the birth of Charles, and he died February 26. 1857. The mother died in England a short time afte- his birth. .At the time of his death, July 13, 1902, the subject of this sketch was the last svu'vivor of a family of six sons, the others being: John, born September 4, 1795, and died in 1855; Thomas, born July 22, 1806, and died September 7, 1823; James, born November 2, 1807, and died June 5, 1876; Moses, born September 28, 1810, and died February 24, 1890, and Eli, born April 20, 1812, and died September 20, 1825.

When Charles was scarcely beyond the age of infancy the family removed to Ross County, Ohio. There he attended the public schools and from there, on attaining his majority, he came to Rock Island County, and settled on the farm in Edgington Township. December 20, 1838, he married Sophia Eberhart, daughter of Charles Eberhart. the wife passing away September 11, 1898. Of the eight children born to the coujjle all save the youngest survive, the family being as follows. Thomas, born October 29. 1839; Charles, born August 2, 1841; Anna Eliza (Benjamine), l)orn July 14. 1843; .Maria Elzabeth (Lloyd), born March 26. 1846; Milton, born March 24, 1848; Frederick, born September 1, 1852; David, born June 7, 1855, and Emma Louisa (Kretsinger), born August 23, 1860.

Mr. Titterington was an active .Methodist. being long connected with the Zion Church of Edgington, built in 1854, and demolished in 1906. He was a staunch Republican from the time of organization of that party. He held various township offices, including that of supervisor from Edgington.

Fred Titterington

FEW men are sufficiently versatile to successfully pursue two separate and entirely different vocations during their lives. Rare, indeed, is the farmer that becomes a dividend earning manufacturer, especially after he has attained middle age, and become a man of substance through his own efforts in tilling the soil. Such, however, has been the achievement of Fred Titterington, formerly a farmer in the vicinity of Edgington postoffice and now secretary and general manager of the Argillo works at Carbon Cliff.

Mr. Titterington is another native of Rock Island Coimty, having been born at Edgington September 1, 1852. He was the son of Charles and Sophia Titterington, pioneers of the community. His early education was that of the average farmer boy, save that he had the additional advantage of a course at Knox Academy at Galesburg, Illinois. L'ntil he was nineteen years of age he worked on his father's farm and then he set out for himself, and for a number of years tilled the soil on the present site of the village of Reynolds. Later he farmed in Buffalo Prairie Township and eventually piu'chased a tract of land in Edgington Township, which was his home till 1899.

Always a more or less active Republican, he was rewarded by his party by election to the offices of treasurer of Rock Island County in 1894. serving one term of four years, during which time the present Court House was erected. Upon retiring from this service of the county he disposed of his farm interests and became connected w'ith the Argillo Works, manufacturing clay products, and was chosen secretary and manager. Under his direction the company has prospered, the l)lant has been expanded and the business put on a liasis that insures continued success.

O. Frederick Andicrson

townsliip offices as well as that of supervisor from J^uffalo Prairie. He became a member of the Edgington Presbyterian Cluircli at the age of fifteen, and npon removing to Rock Island in 1899. to take up manufacturing, united with the J-iroadway Presbyterian Church. He .served as an elder in both churches, ilr. Titterington is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of the Globe.

Sejitember 1, 1S74, the subject of this sketch was married, his bride being Harriet Edgington, daughter of John and Susan Edgington, of Buffalo Prairie. She passed away September 1, 1887, leaving three children: Susan E., Minnie G., and Fore.st H. Mr. Titterington later married Rose Powers, daughter of Z. D. and Elizabeth Powers, a native of Edgington. Two children, Beryl and Adria, were the issue of the second union. iS 5» 5i astoimding growth Rock Island has undergone during the past few years, and of the man}' new buildings, especially residences, that have been erected during that time. All, or nearly all, of the contracts that have been let for these have been placed with the city's home contractors, one of the most prominent of whom is H. W. C. Tappendorf.

He was born July 4, 1862, at Provence, Holstein, German}^, the home of his parents, John T. and Hannah Tappendorf. He attended the public schools of his native town during his boyhood, and upon the completion of his school days he took up anil mastered the carpenter's trade in that thorough and systematic manner for which Germans are renowned.

In 1886 he came to America and located in Davenport, Iowa, where for two years he crked at his trade as a journeyman carpenter. In 1888 he came to Rock Island, and here he continued to work as a journeyman in the employ of others until 1S96, when by his industry and frugality he had accumulated sufficient money to start as an independent contractor in a small way. In this he was successful, the growth of his busine.ss being steady and continuous vuitil it has reached its present proportions.

Although a general contractor, Mr. Tappendorf has specialized along the line of church building, and has been called upon to erect some of the largest church edifices in the country. He now does a business averaging about $100, OUO a year, a splendid record for a man who started in life with the sole assets of a determined spirit and a willingness to work, showing, as it does, that these are the reall_v essential elements in a successful career.

Mr. Tappendorf was married November 8, 1892, to Jliss Freda Smith, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Smith, of Davenport. Their marriage has been blessed with four children, Harry W., Mathew, Walter and Helen, all of whom are at home.

In politics Mr. Tappendorf was formerly a Democrat. Now, however, he owns no party allegiance, but gives his support and his vote to whichever candidate or whichever measure he believes to be best. He is a member of Rock Island Lodge, No. 18, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In this Ijrief l)iographical sketch are told the essential facts in the career of H. W. C. Tappendorf. the story of a life which woven into the warp and woof of our citizenship makes its texttu-e firmer, stronger and brighter.

ONE of Moline's progressive and popular citizens, who, by his own unaided efforts and individual worth, has gone forward step by step until he now holds the ])osition of cashier in one of that Citj^'s

He was horn in Trehoriia, Sweden. .July 1. 1866. the home of his parents, Alfred Anderson and Ama Greta (Johansdotter) Anderson, the former of whom died January 25, 1881, and the latter is still livinj^. October 27, 1868, Mr. Anderson, with his parents, came to America, and coming West, located in Moline. Here their son attended the public schools, and after completing the grammar department left the Moline schools to attend the Davenport Business College, from which he graduated. He began his business career at the early age of seventeen, when he accepted a position as collection clerk in the Moline National Bank. Conscientious and faithful in his duties, his rise was rapid, until today he is cashier of the Moline Trust and Savings Bank, being elected to that position in .July, 1900, having formerly filled the position as teller of that bank.

On December 16, 1891, lie married Jliss Sena Nielsen, a Moline young lady. Her father, Peter Nielsen, was a native of Denmark, and her mother Nellie Nielsen, of Sweden. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen are living, and make their home in Moline. To Mr. Anderson and his wife one son, P^rederick Nielsen Anderson, was born December 4, 190,3.

In politics Mr. Anderson is a staunch Re])ublican, and three times he has been honored by his party by being elected City Treasurer of Moline. Klach time he received large majorities, and the strength of the vote he polled is a striking indication of the confidence his fellow citizens rejiosed in him. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Moline Public Library continuously since ,Iune 22, 189.5, and in 1904 was elected jjresident of that body, a position that he now holds.

director and vice-president. He is a prominent Mason, and has been master of Doric Lodge. No. .319. of Moline. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows and Red Men. He was one of the founders of the Rock Island County Historical Society, and has been its treasurer since its inception. He is a public spirited citizen that his city can be proud of.

Miss Myrtle E. Dade

B^' her work as beneficiary recorder of the Royal Neighbors of America, the woman's auxiliary to the Modern Woodmen of America, the largest fraternal insurance society in the world. Miss Myrtle E. Dade has shown herself a woman of rare business and executive ability. A quality no less rare, she has demonstrated her ability to efficiently supervise a considerable body of women without friction and in a manner which has accomplished wonderful results. So systematically has the work in her offices been handled that other similar societies have paid her the compliment of adopting many of the devices which she originated and first jiut in use in the beneficiary department of the Royal Neighbors, the headquarters of which is at Rock Island.

Miss Dade was born in Fulton, Whiteside Coimty. Illinois, which was the early home of the \\'oodmen Society. She was the daughter of Rufus E. Dade and Elizabeth R. Dade, and was one of a family of four children. Her father was a shoe dealer at Fulton and one of the leading citizens of the place. He enlisted in the Civil War in the Fifth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Company F, September 10, 1861, and served till October 27, 1864. He partici])ated with Grant's command in some of the hardest battles of the war, being wounded at the Wilderness. June 6. 1866, he re-enlisted in the Forty-third A'eteran Reserve Corps and performed duty two years as an artificer with the rank of noncommissioned officer, being stationed at Fort Mackinac. Mr. Dade was married in 1871 to I'llizalietli R. WcliI). He served as mayor of Fulton and held other offices of trust.

Miss Dade was educated in the Fulton public schools, graduating from the high school in 1S99. Prior to that she had com- ]ileted a course in stenography at the Northern Illinois College. She early took uj) drawing as a pasttime, and being gifted with a taste for art and unusual natural abilitj', she was successful to a marked degree. Her accomplishments were further l)roadened during a year spent at a musical .at-ademy for girls at Chicago, which she attended while in quest of health after she hail taken up the work of her life with the Jlodern Wootlmen.

Miss Dade became connected with the Woodmen at Fulton in the Summer of 1S90, being permanently employed in Novend)cr of that year by A. F. Morrison, then head clerk. She was retained by Major C. W. Hawes. who was elected head clerk at the succeeding head camp. \'ajious minor positions were held in the head office, exjierience being gained in all lines of the work. Shortly after returning from a year's absence, deemed necessary on account of tem])oraril\' im])aired health, Miss Dade, in .\pril. 1S95, was asked to assist Mrs. Mary Fay Hawes, who was then beneficiary recorder of the Royal Neighbors of America. At the end of two months the duties of the office fell entirely upon her shoulders. Late in the Summer of 1905 she was a]>pointed beneficiary recorder, which office she has held ever since, being reappointed after each supreme camp by the beneficiary committee.

At the head camp, held at Peoria, Illinois, in May, 190S, the social and benefici.nry dejiartments were consolidated, tiie head- (piarters Ijeing located at Rock Island. Miss Dade was elected supreme recorder.

At the time the subject of this sketch took charge of the ilepartment, fraternal insurance, especially for women, was just emerging from iufanc\-, and crudeness characterized the system of conducting the business. It remained fen- Miss Dade to introduce order and system, and this she did in a maiuicr that attracteil nniclt attention in the fraternal world. One of her triumphs was the introduction of the card system of membershi]) record. This was done in 1899, and has been the means of saving the society great e.xpense. The society now has a beneficiary membership of 128,t)()(), which is carefully taken care of l)y a force of thirty competent young ladies, and the office has the reputation of doing business promptly. The work has been rendered the more difficult because of the fact that office room is limited and great economy must be e.xercised in the dis- ]iosition of the records, office force and furniture. The whole soid of the l)eneficiary recorder has, however, been in her work, and she has spared neither time nor |)ains in her efforts to attain perfection.

Miss Dade became a resident of Rock Island in 1N97, when the headquarters of the Modern Woodmen and the Royal Neighbors was removed to that city from Fulton. She united with the Presliyterian Church at Fulton and became a memlier of the Broadway Presbyterian Church in Rock Island.

Virgil Marion Blandino

VIRGIL MARION BLANDINC was b,,rn Decendjer S, 1827, at Grenell .Mills (now Aldenville), Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and died March 3, 1907. His father, Reba Blanding, was one of the original proprietors of Grenell Mills, but spent his later years on his farm nearby. His mother was Beulah Ann Grenell. Both i)ranches of the family were of Hugunot stock; the known line of descent on the father's side nmning from \\'illiani Blanding. who emigrated to America and settled in lioston in 1640, where he soon after became "selectman."

Marshall, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War, the last named beinj; a member of Arnold's expedition against Quebec and one of the first inside the enemies works. He was wounded, made a prisoner and exchanged, and afterwards fought under General Wayne at Stony Point, continuing on active duty until the close of the war, from which he emerged with the honorable record of a brave, faithful and gallant patriot. The maternal great grandfather. Michael Grenell, was participant in the battle of Saratoga, and in that engagement distinguished himself bj^ his courage and devotion.

Mr. Blanding received a thorough common school education, and after courses in several academies entered Biicknell University at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, the leading Baptist collegiate institution of the State, from which he graduated in 1852 as valedictorian of his class, with degree of Bachelor of Arts. Three }-ears later he received from his Alma Mater the degree of Master of Arts.

After graduation he started to read law, but shortly after was made cashier of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, which ]3osition he resigned because of failing health, and came West, arriving in Rock Island July 4. 1856. He resumed the study of law \uider Judge Ira 0. Wilkinson, and in 1858 was admitted to jiractice. He was apjjointed City Attorney of Rock Island about this time and served several terms; was also elected in 1858 County Superintendent of Schools. He was twice a candidate for County Judge on the Democratic ticket ; though defeated, his vote cut down the regular Republican majority six or eight hundred votes each time, thereby demonstrating his ])ersonal strength and standing.

In 1862 Mr. IManding went to St. Louis and entered into law partnershiji with M. L. Gray. While he was here he enlisted in the militia of the State of Missouri and was honorably discharged on accovmt of sickness; re-enlisted in Comijany A, St. Louis National Guards.

In connection with this it is interesting to observe that nearly every member of the Company, both officers and privates, was a member of the bar.

After the close of the Civil War .Mr. Mlanding returned to Rock Island to practice law, until 1868, when he engaged in bridge and railway construction, which business he continued to follow to the end of his active business career.

In politics Mr. Blanding was a Democrat. He was elected Mayor of Rock Island in 1888 and his record as an accomplished parliamentarian and impartial presiding officerhas never been excelled in the history of the City.

Mr. Blanding was closely identified with Masonry since 1855, at which time he was made a Master Mason at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He has been Worshipful Master of Trio Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; High Priest of Barrett Chapter. Xo. 18, Royal Arch Masons; and when Everts Commandery, Xo. IS. Knights Templar was organized at Rock Island, he was honored with the highest position in the gift of its members, serving as Eminent Commander; was also District Deputy Grand Master imder Grand Master DeWitt C. Cregier of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois; was also Grand Orator of Illinois Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, for the year 1901.

Mr. Blanding was married in 1863 to Anna McXeil, who was born in Wheeling. West Mrginia. They have two children, Lowrie C. and ilarion J. Blanding.

Hon. George W. Vinton

IT IS a pleasure for the writer to take up the career of men who, through long years of residence in Rock Island County, have by their upright lives and splendid deeds won for themselves the enduring respect and regard of their fellow citizens. In this class the Honorable George W. Vinton stands prominent.

He was Inirn at .Middlehury, \'ermont, December 5. 1S34. His father was John A. Mnton. wlio served as a drummer boy duriii"' the Win- of 1812. After the close of that war the father received from the United States Government a tract of land for his services. The elder Mnton was a good father, and gave his son sjilendid advantages for that early day. At the age of fifteen years George W. V nton graduated from the Randolph Academy in his native State. Here he was a class-mate of the late Judge Austin Adams, a former Judge of the Iowa Supreme Court.

After his graduation from the Academy he was engaged in teaching for six terms. Tiring, however, of the life of a pedagogue, in 1855 he went west, settling in what was then the Territory of Minnesota Here he learned the carpenter's trade. In the fall of the same year he came to Moline, where he took the contract to build the Riverside Academy. Afterward he entered the employ of his uncle. John Deere, and remained with the firm until 1885. The scope of his em|)!oyment necessitated liis travelling from ocean to ocean establishing agencies to absorb the output of Mr. Deere's constantly expanding business. For fifteen years he was also a stockholder and director in the firm.

In 1875 Mr. Vinton removed to Hurlington, Iowa, where he erected the Buffingtoii Wheel Company's works. He owned a considerable interest in this industry for some time. In 1887 he returneil to Moline.

In jxilitical conviction Mr. A'inton was for a number of years one of the leading Repuljlicans of Illinois. At one time he was that l)arty's candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. However, when Horace Greeley was a candidate for President of the United States Mr. Vinton gave his support to the Democratic party, and this latter party has been the one of his choice ever since.

Moline. and was also ]iresident of he Scliool Board. In 1892 Mr. Vinton was elected a member of the Illinois State Legislature. He received a majority of more than seven thousand, although the district he represented had always been strongly Republican. While a member of the Legislature he was chairman of the following important committees; Public charities. State institutions, and militia. During the session in which he was one of the representatives from this district, he introduced a bill for the establishment of a hospital for the insane, that would be located west of the Illinois River. This bill passed, and the asylum was located at Watertown in this County. He also introduced a bill a|ipro]iriating one million dollars to the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. By the terms of the bill introduced by Mr. Vinton, nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars of this amount was to be used in the general expense fund, and fifty thousand dollars was for the erection of the Woman's Building. The State Board of Agriculture selected Mr. Vinton as manager of the Illinois Building diu-ing the Exposition. Afterward he was for a long time de]nity collector of interiud revenue for the Peoria District.

Diu'ing his long residence in Rock Island County he has won and merited the regard and esteem of his fellow citizens. As a ])ublic official he was always intrepid in perfornung his duty as he saw it, and his public career was one of unblemished integrity, as w-as his private life.

Dr. Charles Crawford Carter

No VOCATION in life offers opportvmity for greater genunie service to mankind than that of doctor of medicine, and the physician who fully appreciates his responsil)ilitics and conscientiously responds to every call made upon him is a ])ublic benefactor in tlic hisjhest sense of the term. There can be no cpiestion as to the reward that will be his in the after hfe.

Such a man was Charles Crawford Carter, one of the best known and most generally beloved medical practitioners who ever ministered to the ills (if the people of Rock Island County. Purity of mind, lofty ideals, and unselfish devotion to the welfare of others were manifested strikingly throughout the quarter of a century he ))racticed his ]:)rofession in Hock Island and surrounding country, and in return he was esteemed and loved by all with whom he came in contact. Characteristic disregard of his own physical welfare where the needs of others were involved was manifested in the last act of his life, when he contracted septic pneumonia, which quickly claimed him, while ministering to a patient.

Dr. Carter was born in San Francisco December 20, 1852, and died April 2, 1904, after an illness of one week. His parents were Elijah and Ann Maria Whitney Carter, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Massachusetts, and of ])uritan ancestry. The father was among those who braved the terrors of Cape Horn in '49 to seek the golden harvest of the Pacific slope, returning a few years later to make his iiermanent home in Rock Island. He was jiroininently identifie<l with the business life of the young city on the banks of the Mississipjii. He served a term as mayor, was later superintendent of the Rock Island Glass Works, and for a nimiber of years held the ollice of giuiger. His marriage to .\nn Maria Whitncy took place in 1851. He died January 14. 1887, and his wife followed March 14, 1888.

After receiving a comon school and academic training at Hock Island the son, in 1873, went to Pawtucket, Hhode Island, where he began the study lA medicine undei- Dr. James Orne Whitney, a ])hysician who stood high in his profession. In the year 1876 Dr. Carter graduated with high honors from Bellevue Medical College, of New York. Ten years later he took a post-graduate course in the metropolis. At the time of his demise he had practiceil twenty-eight years in Rock Island. At first he was associated with the late Dr. Calvin Truesdale. Then, for a time, he practiced alone. Eventuallj' he formed a business alliance with Dr. C. Bernhardi and Dr. G. G. Craig, Sr., which held until his death.

Dr. Carter was a member of the American Medical Association of ^lilitary Surgeons of the United States, Illinois State Medical Society, Illinois Association of Military Surgeons, Illinois and Iowa Central District Medical Society, and of the Rock Island County Medical Society, being vice-pre.sident of the last named at the time of his death.

He had many times served as delegate to the State and National bodies to which he belonged. He had for twenty years been surgeon for the Illinois National Guard, attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, with rankeil as A.ssistant Surgeon General of Illinois. He was also a member of the medical and surgical staff of St. -Anthony's hospital.

Aside from his profession Dr. Carter was a faithful member of Trinity Episcoj^al Church, serving at one time as vestryman ; he was elected to membership in the board of education; was a charter memlier and ilirector of the Rock Island Club, and was alliliated with a number of frateriuil organizations.

Frank H. Kelly

FRANK 11. KELLY, one of the younger members of the Rock Island County bar, is a luitive and a lifelong resident of the city in which he now practices his profession. He was born in Hock Island, February 8, IS70, the son of P. H. and Ellen Kelly. ' After comijleting u course in the public schools and then attenduig high school, he chose a career liefore the bar and began the study of law in the University of Michigan Law School, from which he graduated in 1891. The following year, February 1, 1S92, he began practicing and lias. been actively engaged ever since.

Mr. Kelly was apixiinted Master in ('hanc7 ery in T'ebruary, 1904, and served one term of two years. In March, 1906, he was a].ipointed assistant State's Attorney, and holds that office at jiresent. he and J. K. Scott, State's Attorney, dividing "the duties of an unusually active administration.

^h-. Kelly's spiritual affiliations are Catholic. Politically he is a Republican and has devoted much time and met with considerable success in furthering the interests of his party. Fraternally, he belongs to the Benevolent anil Protective Order of Elks, Modern Woodmen of America, Coiu't of Honor, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and Mystic Workers. Personally, he is unassuming, of easy address, and popular among all classes to an unusual degree.

June 5, 1S95, Mr. Kelly married Anna A. Slattery, of Davenport, Iowa, and the union has been blessed with two daughters, JIary E., and Anna V., both living.

IT IS seldom that a young physician entering upon the jiractice of his profession achieves instantaneous and striking success. The path that leads to a large and lucrative practice is in nearly every case a weary and a tortuous one. But to all rules there are exceptions. The j'oung physician whose life we are to discuss in this sketch. Doctor Carl O. Bernhardi, although one of the younger of Rock Island County's physicians, has, nevertheless, in the few brief years that he has practiced his calling, attained an eminence that places him well in the van as a prominent and successfid member of the medical iirofession.

He was born January 3, ISSO, his parents being Dr. Carl and Mrs. Zoe Julia Bernhardi. A sketcli of the life of Dr. C'arl liernhardi ap])ears upon another page of this volume. Dr. Carl O. Bernhardi's early education was obtained in the Rock Island Cerman School, the Rock Island Public School and the High School. After graduating from this latter institution he entered the University of Illinois, where he pursued a specially selected course adapted as a preliminary to the medical course which he intended to follow later. Upon the completion of his course in the University of Illinois he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago in 1898, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1902. After his graduation he servetl as house physician for two years in the Presbyterian Hospital at Chicago. This e.xperience was a most valuable one, enabling the young physician to observe many and varied medical and surgical cases, as well as to come in contact with some of the most skilled and prominent physicians and surgeons in the United States, and to note their methods of diagnosis and treatment in difficult and baffling cases.

In 1904 Dr. Bernhardi entered the medical field at Rock Island, where his father had been in practice for many years. As has been said, his success here was instantaneous and complete. Being naturally endowed with a genial nature and agreeable manners he made hosts of friends and the extent of his practice rapidly increased. He is the attending ])hysician for the Old Ladies' Home, recently established here.

In politics Dr. Bernhardi follows in the steps of his father, and gives his allegiance to the platform and principles of the Republican party. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of .\merica and the Rock Island Lodge of Elks, Illinois State Medical Society, Rock Island County Medical Society and the Iowa and Illinois District Medical Society. He is a learned and skillf\d jiliysician. and a young

ONE of Rock Island's long established jihysicians who has achieved an eiivi" al)le reputation in liis profession, and who is held in high ]iersonal regard by all who know him. is Doctor Carl Bernhardi.

He was born [September 10, 1843, in the City of Koenigsberg, P]ast Prussia, Germany. Here he spent his boyhood, receiving his preliminary education in the schools and colleges of his native city, and finally entered the medical department of the Univer.sity of Koenigsberg in 1863. He continued his medical course in this university imtil the .Autumn of 1860, when he went to the I'niversity of Berlin. From this latter institution he graduated one year later, August 15, 1867.

Previous to his graduation Doctor Bernhardi served as a volu teer surgeon during the war Ijetween Prussis and Austria in 1866. He was ])resent at the battles of Nathod and Skalitz, which occurred Juue 27 and 28 of that year, and also the battle of Koenigraetz, which occurred July 3. He was discharged at the close of the war which terminated September 3, 1866. He remaind in Germany until March. 1869, when he came to the United Stats, going immediately to old friends at St. J^ouis. While there he learned that there was an ojjening for a German physician at Rock Island anil conseque tly decided to locate here. He arrived in Rock Island on April 22, 1869, and has ever since been one of this city's successful physicians and highly respected citizens.

On October 10, 1873, occurred the nuptials of Doctor Bernhardi and Miss Zoe Olshausen. daughter of Dr. .1. .1. Olshausen, of Davenport, Iowa. Doctor Olshausen had formerly practiced medicine in St. Louis, and in that city Miss Olshausen was liorn. To Doctor

Bernhardi and his wife four children have been born: Claire Marie, married October 10, 1898, to Doctor Alfred Schalek. then assistant professor of dermatology at Rush ^ledical College in Chicago. Doctor Schalek is now ]5rofessor of dermatology in the medical department of the I'niversity of Nebraska at Omaha. Doctor and Mrs. Schalek have one daughter. Zoe Carola. about six years of age; Anne Ottilie. married .Jime 3. 1903. to H. Woodworth Clum. of Washington, District of Columl)ia. Mr. Clum has for snme time been engaged in -newspajjer work, and is at ]iresent secretary of the board of trade of Trenton, New Jersey. ^Ir. and Mrs. Clum have two chiklren. Elizabeth Anne, aged three years, and Carl Bernie, aged eight months; Doctor Carl Oscar Bernhardi. a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere in tliis work and Miss Zoe Julie Bernhardi at home.

In politics Doctor Bernhartli has always been a Republican, and is ])rominently identified with that party locally, for altliough the many demands of his professional calling left him but little time to devote to active political work, yet he was always ready to assist his party in any manner that la}- in his power. He was twice appointed a member of the public library board; was elected a member of the board of education for a three years term in the early nineties, and was County Physician for several years.

Doctor Bernhardi is a member of the medical staff of St. Anthony's Hospital in Rock Island, and an honorary member of the stafT of Mercy Hospital at I)aven])ort, Iowa. He has also been a member of the American Medical Association since 1888, and of the Illinois State Medical Society since 1872. He was the first president of the Rock Island County Medical Society, and is a member of the Iowa and Illinois District Medical Society.

For years Doctor Bernhardi was an active member of the Rock Island Turner Society. He is now an honorary memljcr of that organization. He is ex-president of tiie former

German-English School Society, and a charter member of (iermania Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is also a charter member of Cam]3 No. 309, Modern Woodmen of America, and of Home Tribunal, No. 1, Fraternal Tribunes. He is a memlier of the Masonic fraternity, having passed through the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, and is a member of Kaalia Temple of the Order of the Mystic Shrine at Davenport, Iowa. He also belongs to the Benevolent anil Protective Order of Elks.

So widely known is Doctor Bernhardi that it seems indeed unnecessary to even attempt a delineation of the character of the man. The collective opinion of thqse to whom he has ministered in sickness and who know his kind and gentle ways in the sick room, and his untiring efforts to alleviate suffering and to cond^at disease, is the best tribute that can be paid him.

AW/ILLIAM McENIRY, one of the early ^y settlers of the County of Rock Island, was born in Charlevill, County Cork, Ireland, a village near the line of County Limerick, on February 15, 1817, where he received his education and where he was engaged in mercantile business two years prior to his departure for America which was in April 1840, having heard much of the United States from an uncle who at that time lived in Albany, New York, he concluded to pay a visit to his uncle, and in com])an_y with his eldest sister, departed for America, arriving in New York City on a sailing vessel, steam vessels not being in use. He proceeded up the Hudson River on a steamboat to the City of Albany, and while visiting with his uncle he learned much of the country west of the H\idson River along the Erie Canal which had recently been opened to navigagation. He decided to take a trip up the canal to Svracuse, and while there formed the acquaintance of John White, brother of the late Sjiencer White of Moline, who induced him to take charge of the office of a brick factory he was operating. In the Spring of 1841 John White's father and mother were desirous of coming to Peoria, Illinois, to make their home with a flaughter in that city. John White induced him to take the old couple by team from Syracuse to Peoria, driving across the country. After reaching Peoria the old people desired to send a letter to their son, Spencer White, who was in Moline, and he vohmteered to bring the letter to Moline, walking over in two days. He was ambitious to see the Mississipjn River and took advantage of this opportunity to arrive at its banks. When he arrived in Moline Spencer White, having heard of him from his brother John White of Syracuse, induced him to join with him in the manufacturing of brick, which he did, e.xpecting all the time, however, to sooner or later return to his home in Ireland, but the longer he remained in Moline the more he became attached to the country, and finally decided to cast his lot with the early settlers of this community and as a result enlarged tha I)rick business and acquired considerable real estate in Moline, Rock Island and Davenport. After being in Moline five years, the Summer of 1846 he returned to Ireland to pay a visit to his family, and before returning to America, in the Spring of 1847, he was married to Elizabeth Coughlin, and after relating to his brothers the wonderful opportunities there were in this country and the liljerties guaranteed by the Government, three of them and another sister decided to come to America with' him and his bride, arriving in Moline in the Summer of 1847, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel taking the better part of a month to reach New York (steam vessels still not being used to cro.ss the Atlantic), traveling vip the Hudson River to Albany by boat and from Albany to Buffalo by canal, and from Buffalo to Chicago liy Lake vessel, ami by stage from Chicago to Galena, and down the Mississippi River by boat from Galena to Rock Island. He continued in the manufacturing of brick in Moline. and dealing in real estate, till 1853 when he decided to go farming and bought the Gorton farm on the banks of Rock River in Zuma Township, where he was engaged in extensive farming and stock raising up to the time of hi.s death, which occurred on the 18th day of February, 1874. He left surviving him his widow and six children: Mrs. T. T. Dwyer, of St. Louis; M. F. McEniry. of Lenox, Iowa; .John, JLitthew and Mary McEniry, of Moline; and Honorable William McEnirj-, of Rock Island. After his death his wife remained on the farm with the family, giving them all a collegiate education, and when the last of the children decided to leave the farm she removed to Moline in 1893, her former home, where she lived until the time of her death, the 30th of May, 1907.

^Ir. McEnirjr was the first English speaking Roman Catholic to reside in the County of Rock Island, and his wife was the first Roman Catholic lady who resided in ^loline, and the first Mass celebrated in Moline was celebrated in his house by Father Pelemoreus, resident ]H-iest of Davenport. Iowa, in July, 1S47.

On arriving in tliis country he affiliated with the Democratic party, the principles of that party of equal rights for all and special privileges for none appealed to his idea of government, the principles of government he advocated in Ireland and for which the Irish peo]ile had demanded from the English Government for centuries. Although a firm believer in the ])rinciples of his party he was adverse to holding a public ofhce.

He belonged jjarticularly t.T that class of men who were possessed of courage and determination and who built up the Great West and did so much to leave the magnificent heritage which is now enjoyed liy the i)resent generation.

William H. Marshall

THE combination of human attributes which yields success in many fields, though a rare one. is embodied in the subject of this review. The drug business, manufacturing, stock raising, what ever he has turned his hand to, has given a balance on the right side of the ledger, so carefully has he studied and so well has he wrought.

William H. Marshall was born April 23, 1851, in Warren County. Indiana. He was the youngest of eleven children, five of whom are still living. His father was Edward P. Marshall and his mother Ann (Kellam) Mar.shall, both being natives of Pennsylvania, and of Quaker ancestry and belief. The parents in the early forties settled in Indiana, where the father followed farming and stock raising till 1854. when he removed to Vermillion. Illinois, where he died in 1857. His mother having passed awa}' in 1852. our subject was thrown upon his own resources at an unusually earh' age. His education was obtained in the common schools, and at the age of twenty he obtained a place in a drtig store at Rossville. Illinois. Here he remained two years, rapidly mastering the details of the business. Leaving Rossville he located at Shipman. Illinois, and there soon found a friend who made it possible for Mr. Mar.shall to start in business for himself. Success smiled upon him from the beginning, and at the end of five years he sold out and came to Rock Island in search of wider opportunities. This was in April, ISSO. He bought the Harper House Pharmacy, which he conducted twenty-two years, retiring in 1902 to be able to give more attention t:) his other interests. These include holdings in a number of Rock Island manufacturing concerns by which he lias been honorei witli important offices, and tracts of laud in Rock Island County and in Oklahoma.

Historic Roc K Island Cou N T Y.

Denkmann, daughter of Frederick ('. A. and Catherine Denkmann, of Rock Island. Two children have blessed their union, Robert Denknninn JIarslndl and .\nn Catherine Marshall.

Mr. Marshall, while he has never taken an active part in politics, is a subscriber to the doctrines of the Republican jiai't}'. I'raterna'h', he is a Mason.

John W. Parker

AMONG the younger b\isiaess men of Rock Island County few have demonstrated their ability in as many different fields as has .John W. Parker. City bred, and trained originally f(n' commercial pursuits, he has been successful alike in traile, manufacturing, politics and even agricuhure. In addition, he has through his own efforts, secured a liberal education, including a fair knowledge of law, although dependent u])on his own resources since the age of sixteen.

Mr. Parker was born November 1, l.S7(), at Henry , Illinois, the son of Samuel and Anna Parker. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother was born in Ireland of Scotch- Irish ancestry. He attended the grammar and high schools of Chicago before going to work at the age of sixteen as stockkee]ier for the Western Electric Company. He advanced rapidly, becoming timekeeper, paymaster, assistant cashier and ]nu'chasing agent, finally resigning after six years tt) engage in the real estate business. Two years later he took up the study of law in the ofl'ices of William E. Mason, at the same time being employed as teacher in the Chicago public night schools. During Mr. Mason's successful campaign for the I'nited States Senate Mr. Parker was his secretary and active jjolitical lieutenant, acriuiring in this way an intimate acquaintance with the leading men of the State.

and imtil his appointment as assistant Secretary iif the State Board of Charities by Governor Tanner. This ddicc he resigned to acce]it the chief clerkship of the Western Hos])ital for the Insane at Watertown. .^fter four years service there he resigned and became general manager of the Tri-City Pasteurized Milk Company, for wlmm he planned and developed the large dairy farm in Black Hawk Township. In 1905 he ])urchased an interest in the Rock Island Skirt Company, becoming manager of that concern, although continuing as secretary and director of the Milk Company vmtil .January 1, 1907, when his connection with it ceased. Mr. Parker is also actively engaged in local timber operations, owning several tracts of standing timber in the County.

From his father, who s one of the oldest newspaper writers in the State and a life-long Re]nil)lican, Mr. Parker inherited an interest in ]iublic matters which has manifested itself in his active work in jjolitics. This has been more than local, his counsel carrying weight among the State leaders. He has been secretary of the Illinois League of Republican Clubs and later president of that organization, also having been one of the executive committee of the National Re])ul)Iir:in League.

Mr. Parker, during his residence in Rock Island, has l)een active in almost every movement for public good. Several years ago his personal efforts brought the then Secretary of War, Elihu Root, to inspect the Arsenal, resulting in greatly increased appropriations for the small arms plant. Mr. Parker was also one of the committee of fifty which rai.se 1 the $100,000 fact jry fund, and is a direct. ir of that organization. Fraternally, he alfiliates witli the Mas:ins and Modern Woodmen.

William Coyne, Senior

ROCK ISLAND Comity owes much to its Irish sons. The_v have tilled its soil, built up, developed and directed its industries, and are today among its most substantial and energetic citizens. In no ease is the obligation more real than in that of William Coyne, senior, "Uncle Billy," as he is popidarly known. He was one of the earliest comei's to this locality from Erin's Isle, and after more than sixty-two years residence here is still a man of remarkable activity. He has been one of the county's heaviest land holders, and though he has turned the greater portion of his estate over to his children he still directs the cultivation of a small farm and continues to actively look after his other business interests.

William Coyne, seinor, is a native of Ireland, born June 11, 1822, the son of Thomas and Martha (Brown) Coyne. His parents were Irish and the father died in that country when the son was young. The mother late in life came to America and spent her last days among her children, dying in Rock Island about 1887. There were six children: Mariah, Margaret, Matilda. .lane, \A'ilIiam and Robert. .lane died in the mother country, but the others all became citizens of the United States. William is now the sole survivor of the family.

Our subject was reared a farmer and has followed that vocation practically all his life. He received but a limited education, but in later life found time to remedy the defects of his earl}' training and become thorongldy posted, both in relation to liusiness affairs and in a general waj'. He sailed for America in 1845 on the sailing vessel "Liverpool," which "was eighteen weeks traversing the Atlantic. Mr. Coyne reached Rock Island June 11 of that j-ear with just one shilling in his pocket. Being accomjianied by a friend named James McCabe. wiio desired to go to Galena but needed funds, our subject loaned his last shilling, and, ]5enniless, went to work at a brickyard in Moline for thirteen dollars per month, his employer being William Mc- Eniry. At the close of the season Mr. Coyne returned to Rock Island purchased a horse and draj^, with which he earned a livelihood in Rock Island and Davenport for a couple of j-ears. During this time he ha\ded mail from the postoffice to the boats, which were then the principal carriers in this vicinity.

ilr. Coyne next became a farmer, purchasing and settling upon eighty acres of land in Bowling Township. On this old homestead he lived till the Spring of 1901. when he removed to the place on which he now resides in Black Hawk Townshi]), two miles .south of Milan. Beginning as a farmer with small capital, ^Ir. Coyne's energy, progressiveness and economy soon won him substantial rewards. As his fortune grew he invested in real estate, becoming in time one of the most well-to-do citizens of the community. At one time he owned 1,700 acres of land in Rock Island County, besides six hundred and forty acres in South Dakota, two hundred and forty acres in Nebraska and one hundred and sixty acres in Kansas. In late years, however, he has given all his land to his children with the exception of the eight}' acres upon which he now lives.