Quincy Township (part 44 of 74)

Born, reared and married in Germany, Bernard Stroot came with his wife and children to America in 1867, locating in Quincy, Illinois. Working a few years, he added considerably to his previous savings, and subsequently lived retired until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Helen Bendixen, was born in Germany and died in Quincy. They reared four children, as follows: Bernard, deceased; John H., of Quincy; Mary, a Sister in Notre Dame Convent; and August C.

But seven years of age when brought to Quincy by his parents, August C. Stroot was educated in the city, attending the parochial schools and Saint Francis College. Beginning life as clerk in a dry good;? establishment, he continued thus employed until eighteen years old, when he found similar employment in the hardware store of H. and J. H. Tenk. Faithful in the performance of his duties, he won the confidence and regard of his employer, and when the business was incorporated as the Tenk Hardware Company Mr. Stroot was made secretary, and continued thus officially identified with the firm for sixteen years, at the end of which time he was forced, on account of ill health, to resigii the position. Subsequently ojiening a hardware store at the corner of Eleventh Street and Broadway, he managed it successfully for a few years. His constantly increasing business then demanding more commodious quarters, Mr. Stroot bought the large brick building at the eoi-ner of Broadway and Twelfth Street, and having erected a warehouse in the rear has continued his operations with characteristic enterprise and success. His new residence, a fine brick house of modern construction at 433 North 20th Street has just been completed and is a fine example of architectural beauty and utility.

On June 6, 1887, Mr. Stroot married Anna Kathmann, a most attractive and estimable woman. She died December 21, 1891, leaving one child, Alphons C. Stroot, now engaged in business with his father. On October 11, 1893, Mr. Stroot again married, taking for his second wife Matilda Ridder. Of this union seven children have been born, namely: Rosalia, wife of Carl A. Kollmeyer, of Quincy ; Helen ; Edgar, with his father ; Loretta ; Edith ; August and Carline. Mr. and Mrs. Stroot are members of Saint Francis Church. Politically Mr. Stroot is identified with the democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to the "Western Catholic Union.

Joseph G. Eifp. A prominent business man of Quincy, Joseph G. Eiff is especially well known as a contractor and builder. He has always been a hard and indefatigable worker in anything he has undertaken and has earned and deserves the confidence and esteem of his neighbors, associates and co-workers.

Born in Quincy September 1, 1858, he was educated in the public schools, acquiring when young a practical knowledge fitting him for a business life. At the age of about seventeen he began learning the trade of plasterer and was an apprentice for about four years. After that he worked as a journeyman and about 1880 began contracting for pla.stering work. Most of his business was in this line until about 1906, when he added paving and sewer building, and gradually as experience has dictated he has built up a large and complete organization for contract work in these lines. He has put down some of the important paving and sewer construction in several parts of the city. In 1908 he took his son Edward J. into partnei-ship, and in 1918 they added to their other lines a wholesale and retail yard at 1013 Broadway, where they handle all kinds of building material. In the early '80s Mr. Eiff became a stockholder and organizer of the Quincy Sand Company, and has held stock in that well known corporation ever since. In 1900 he was one of the organizers of the

Mr. Eiff married Miss Mary Vogel. She was born in Melrose Township of this county. They had two children, Edward J. and Emily, the latter the wife of William Strauss of Quincy.

Edward J. Eiff was educated in the parochial schools, in Quinc.y College and in the Gem City Business College. At the age of seventeen he entered the office of the Quincy Grocery Company and was employed by that firm about seven years. He left there to go to Chicago, and spent a year as auditor in the general offices of the National Association of Traveling Salesmen. After resigning that work he returned to Quincy and formed the partnership with his father under the name of Joseph Eiff and Son, as above noted. Edward now looks after the larger part of the contract work and outside work of the firm. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

William A. Schwindeler. The habit of industry early acquired no doubt has had much to do with the subsequent success in life of many rather notable business men, and in this light, necessity of work in youth may be called rather a blessing than a hardship. For an interesting example one may go no further than Quincy, finding in one of her prominent citizens a typical case in proof, William A. Schwindeler, president of the Illinois Association of lee Cream Manufacturers. His whole business life has been one of continuous industry and he became a wage earner almost in childhood.

AVilliam A. Schwindeler was born in this city Febi'uary 2, 1883. His parents, Henry and Louisa (Meyer) Schwindeler, were also born at Quincy, where the mother yet resides and where the father died in 1886. He was a shoemaker by trade, a hardworking man all his life and one who was universally respected. Of his family of six children William A. was the fifth in order of birth, the others being : Mamie, who is the wife of George L. Timmerwilke, of Quincy ; Anna, who is deceased ; John, who is in business at Kansas City, Missouri ; and Fred and Henry, both deceased.

For many years every boy fortunate enough to be a resident of Quincy, has had exceptional educational advantages in her public schools, and the parents of William A. Schwindeler provided for his attendance although they also encouraged him in his endeavors to provide for his own support. He was only eleven years old when he joined the newsboy colony and few complaints were ever received because of non-delivery of papers from patrons on his route, and what he earned thereby he supplemented by working on Saturdays for a local grocery house. He was found thoroughly reliable and when thirteen j'ears old was accepted as a regular grocery clerk and continued to work in that capacity for three years. From the grocery trade he went with the Reliance Tea Company, and through this connection, when only seventeen years old, received a flattering offer from a grocery house in New York City and went there to accept it.

Mr. Schwindeler did not remain long in New York but returned to the Reliance Tea Company and subsequentl.v went on the road for the grocery house of Durand, Kasper & Company of Chicago, which firm he successfully represented for three and a half years over a wide territory. In 1906 he embarked in the grocer^' business for himself on Fourth Street and Payson Avenue, and then began the manufacture of ice cream, two and a half years later moving to No. 119 North Sixth Street, going into the ice cream business extensively and exclusively. Ever since he has continued the manufacture of this delicacy and has through his enterprise and good judgment built up an enormous business which has required great expansion of facilities. He still carries on his retail business at the above address, but on May 1, 1917, took possession of his wholesale quarters, a new factory of pressed brick con.struetion, two stories high, situated at No. 1009 Maine Street. This is one of the finest plants of its kind in the country and is equipped with every kind of special machinery known to the trade and his product, of superior quality, is known and in demand all over the state. As an indication of his prominence in the ice cream business and as proof of the confidence and esteem felt for him by his associates, it may be mentioned that at Chicago, November 15, 1917, at the meeting held by the ice cream manufacturers of the state, he was elected president of the Illinois body. At the same meeting a committee, including Mr. Schwindeler, was appointed to aid in the Y. M. C. A. drive for funds, in which he subsequently was such an important factor, meeting with ready response in his patriotic appeals.

Mr. Schwindeler was married April 21, 1904, to Miss Bertha Liebermann, who was born at Quincv, and they have one child, Willma, who was born October 12, 1906.

In addition to his large manufacturing business Mr. Schwindeler has other interests. In association with Heman Nelson he is interested in the Star and Belasco I\Iotion Picture theatei's at Quincy. In his political affiliation he is a republican but he has never had any desire for public office, his business, home and fraternal interests filling up a full measure of activity and usefulness. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner, and is secretary of the Quincy Rotary Club.

Thomas J. Frazier. In the words of appreciation spoken by some who know him best, Thomas J. Frazier is just naturally a good farmer, a good business man and a good all around citizen. The American farmer has been accused of much inefficiency, and no doubt .justly, but Mr. Frazier is an example of the very opposite. There is no slackness or looseness about his farm, and whatever he does he does well.

The Frazier country home and farm is in Ursa Township, nine miles north of Quincy. It consists of 240 acres, formerly known as the Michael Daugherty Farm. Michael Daugherty came to this county in 1850, acquired nearly 500 acres of land, and built the house now occupied by the Frazier familj' in 1860. Mr. Frazier acquired this farm in 1903, and for the past fifteen years has been steadily increasing its improvements and facilities. In 1904 he erected what has been called by competent judges one of the finest and most complete barns in the county. It is 44 by 80 feet, with a full height basement and with 20-foot posts. The foundation wall is of stone and other walls of concrete, and aside from the permanence of its construction the barn is characterized by an arrangement of facilities seldom equalled. The hay loft has a capacity for 120 tons, and there are also five storage places for grain. Much of the flooring and other woodwork is of hard wood, some of it of hard maple. Mr. Frazier has done much construction work with cement. He uses cement wherever possible and most of liis fences are wire stretched on solid cement posts. The crops that gi'ow on his generous fields are all fed at home to cattle and hogs, and he is one of the leading men in Adams County in the raising, feeding and shipping of livestock.

Mr. Frazier is of pioneer stock, and his father, Lemuel G. Frazier, was one of the first inhabitants of Ursa Township. Lemuel G. Frazier was born at Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky, February 18, 1811. His parents were George and Lucretia (Blackburn) Frazier. Lemuel G. Frazier arrived in Adams County April 13, 1827. He located in the southern part of Ursa Township, and later bought a farm in section 29 just north of the place where his son Thomas resides. Here Lemuel G. Frazier passed away October 5, 1880. He was a man of prominence in the coiinty, owned a large farm, served at one time as county coroner and in other capacities, was a democrat in politics and a member of the Christian Church. He married twice, his first wife being Mary Jane Roberts, of Ohio, who became the motlier of three children. On August 19, 1853, Lemuel G. Frazier married Eva "SI. Ahalt, who was born in

Frederick County, Maryland, September 10, 1829. She was a daughter of Isaac and Margaret (Remsberg) Ahalt. To this second marriage were born nine children, live sons and four daughters, one of whom was Thomas J.

Thomas J. Frazier was born in Adams County June 25, 1857. His early education was supplied by the public schools of Ursa Township, and when starting out for himself he did farming as a renter. While he aclinowledges some assistance from his father and others, Mr. Frazier has in fact been dependent upon his own energies and forcefulness for the success he has won. A man of his ability would proliably succeed in farming no matter what the conditions or obstacles he had to contend with. Nearly all his farming has been done in Adams County, though in 1897 he bought 260 acres of land in Lewis County, Missouri, but never lived upon that property, which he sold in 1901. Mr. Frazier is a stockholder and director in the Mid-West Insurance Company of Quincy. He is a democratic voter, but his only office has been that of school director. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 114, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Marcelline, and his family are members of the Christian Church at Ursa.

June 15, 1881, Mr. Frazier married Miss Belle Woodruff, who was born February 3, 1859, daughter of Freeman and Frances (Harrison) Woodruff", of Ursa Township. Mr. and Mrs. Frazier have an interesting family of three children : !Mabel E., who was born December 10, 1882, was educated in the local schools and is now the wife of Ira Powell, a farmer at Carthage, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have a son, Paul. Ida il., the second daughter, born August 27, 1885, completed her education in the high school at Quincy and is the wife of Albert Wissman. of Ellington Township. They have a son, Glenn. The youngest of the family is G rover L. Frazier, born December 16, 1890. He is associated with his father as a partner in the farm, and Grover L. has also recently .just bought forty acres adjoining his father's place. This son married Jennie Daughcrty, and their four children are Kennett, Merle, Melvin and Thomas G.

Alfred Kurz. As manager of the business of one of the larger and more important mercantile firms of Quincy, Alfred Kurz displays unquestioned ability, sagacity and sound judgment, having built up a far-reaching and profitable trade not only as a bookseller but as a dealer in plate glass and window glass. A son of Joseph Kurz, he was born in Mauch Chunk, PennsvlvEinia, October 29, 1861.

Joseph Kurz was born, bred and educated in Germany. Immigrating to the United States about 1856, he settled first in Pennsylvania. In 1867, accompanied by his family, he came to Quincy. Illinois, and for a while followed his trade of a butcher. Subsequently opening a boarding house, he managed it until his death, which occurred April 24, 1884. He married Walburga Weisenhorii, who was born in Germany, and is now a resident of Quincy. They were the parents of three children, as follows: Joseph, deceased; Alfred; and William, of Quincy.

Acquiring his elementary education in the parochial schools, Alfred Kurz completed a course of study in the Gem City Business College, after which he embarked on a mercantile career, beginning as clerk in a store. In 1880 he entered the employ of Mr. Oenning, a dealer in books, window glass and plate glass. Intei-ested in his work and eminently faithful to the duties of his position, Mr. Kurz gradually worked his waj' ujnvard, and in 1908 was made manager of the entire business of tlie firm, which under his supervision has already assumed large proportions and is each year growing in extent and value.

Mr. Kurz married, June 4, 1889, Elizabeth R. IMast, a most estimable woman. Mr. and Mrs. Kurz have no children. In his political relations Mr. Kurz is a democrat. Religiously he is a member of Saint Boniface Catholic Church.

Charles W. Miller is identified with an old farm and an old family of Ursa Township, and is a son of the late William E. Miller, whose tremendous energy and great usefulness in the county are still widely appreciated. The Miller farm one-half mile west of Marcelline it is no exaggeration to speak of as one of the best in the township. The Millers as a family have been people of means, of influence, and of distinctive leadership in community affairs.

The late William E. Miller was born in Ursa Township June 7, 1835, a son of Bradshaw and Rebecca (Keith) Miller, Bradshaw Miller was a native of Virginia and his wife of Kentucky, and they came to Adams County in 1833, settling in Ursa Township, where Bradshaw acquired large tracts of land.

William E. Miller was educated in the Ursa Township schools and when a young man acquired the fine farm now owned by his son Charles. This land has been in the family possession for over eighty years. William E. Miller spent all his life on that farm until the death of his wife in 1911, and he passed away in honored remembrance July 4. 1917, at the age of eighty-two. On August 5, 1862, he enlistetl in Company B of the Seventy-Eighth Illinois Infantry, and though wounded kept his place in the ranks until practically the end of the war. After the war he resumed farming and planned and executed many of the improvements which are now found on the 190 acres comprising his estate. He was a democrat in polities and for a number of years &\\ed the office of school director, though he was not a seeker for public honors. For thirty-eight years he was a well known hog buyer and his neighbors and friends refer to him frequently as "Hog Bill Miller" and also "Big Bill Miller," and he was in fact big in body as well as iii mind and heart and deserved all the hosts of friends who still live to pay his memorj' tribute. William E. Miller was the youngest of eight children. His father, Bradshaw Miller, had moved to Morgan County, Illinois, in 1827 and died in Adams County in 1857. Mrs. Bradshaw Miller died in 1864.

January 7, 1858, William E. Miller married Miss Sarah Ann Anderson, who was born near Powersville in Breckenridge county, Kentucky', October 21, 1838. Her parents were Capt. John C. and Nancy Anderson. Captain Anderson was commander of Company B, of the Seventy-Eighth Illinois Infantry during the Civil war, William Miller being a private in that company. William E. ililler and wife had ten children, those now living being as follows: U. K. IMiller, of Quincy ; Charles AV. ; John B., of Los Angeles ; Bert, of Laidlow, Oregon; Fred, of Macomb, Illinois; Mrs. Dollie Loughlin, of Tillamook, Oregon ; and Dora Worley, of Macomb, Illinois.

Charles W. Miller was born on his father 's farm, and has always lived there and is a worthy successor of his father as a stock raiser. He handles a large bunch of hogs every year and gives his active supervision to 190 acres. His farm is well improved, the house having been built in 1887 and the barn in 1880 by his father.

March 2, 1892, Charles W. Miller married Alta Agard, daughter of W. I. and Jennie (Wade) Agard. Mrs. Miller was born July 21, 1872. They have a family of children named as follows : Clyde E., who now operates the old Agard home ; Hazel D., wife of Luther Sauble, of Lima Town.ship ; and Ray, Olive, Alva, Wade and Dean, who are all still in the family circle.

Elisha James Vinson. On the farm in section 7 of Lima Township where he was born eighty j^ears ago, and in the house that was erected by his father when he was two years old, Elisha James Vinson is now passing the declining years of life and enjoying that retrospect which is one of the delights of old age, comprising years of substantial industry, productive effort, the rearing of family and the worthy fulfillment of obligations which beget community esteem.

Mr. Vinson was born September 30, 1838, a ison of Isaac D. and Kjttie (Orr) Vinson. His father was bom in Giles County Tennessee, May 26, 180-4, and his mother in Bourbon County, Kentucky, October 8, 1807. They married in Kentucky. Kittie Orr was the daughter of William Orr, who figures prominently as one of the earliest settlers of Lima Township. He came to this county in 1829, and put in a crop that season. The Orrs and the Vinsons had adjoining farms and "William Orr laid out the town of Lima and the Vinson farm also covered part of the village site. Isaac Vinson was identified with the community from 1830 until his death on June 9, 1847, while his widow survived him until November 9, 1862. Isaac Vinson at one time operated the pioneer carding mill at Lima. The old home in which Elisha James Vinson now lives was built by his father in the fall of 1840. Isaac D. Vinson and wife had a family of six sons and two daughters. The sons were: William Daniel, who died in Oklahoma at the age of seventy years; Grayson Thomas, who was born in 1834, was one of the successful farmers and influential citizens of Lima township, and died at his home there at the age of eightj^-one ; Elisha James, the third son ; Jesse Albert, whose death occurred recently, as noted on other pages of this history ; Isaac ilorldonis, who lives in Sullivan County, Missouri ; Eliab Smith Vinson, who is also a resident of Sullivan County. The two daughters were Elizabeth, widow of Frank Stoker, and at the age of ninetythree still living at Yuba City, California, and Nancy, who died in Chariton County, Missouri, the wife of Benjamin Pollard.

Elisha J. Vinson was educated in the public schools of Lima and with the exception of five years has spent all his life on the old homestead farm. He has been owne'- of the land comprising that farm for about iifty years, having bought the interests of the other heirs and having also added fifty acres. In earlier days he was an extensive wheat grower, having a large part of his farm of 175 acres in that crop. In later years he has turned the management of his farm over to his sons.

On January 2, 1861, at the age of twenty-two, ]Mr. Vinson married Miss Aehsah Ormsby, who was a neighbor girl and had come to Adams County at the age of twelve years from Indiana, where she was born. Her parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Cherry) Ormsby. Her father died soon after coming to Adams County, and her mother reached old age. Mrs. Vinson was born December 22. 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Vinson had eleven children, but only three are now living. The oldest is Isaac Morldonis, a widely known citizen and farmer of Lima Township, who married Alice Jacobs and their four children are Bertha, John, Corinne and Vernie. Isaac M. Vinson was born ]March 26, 1864. The second child, Milly, born November 15, 1866, is the wife of William Fletcher, of Lima, and their four children are Beatrice, James, Bertha and Mabel. Bertha died December 14, 1918, when twenty years of age. The youngest of the family is Smith Vinson, who married Mary Lewis and has one child, Fred. The Vinson home is a quarter of a mile east of Lima, but is included in the village corporation.

John T. Inghr.\m. Within the past quarter of a century it is doubtful if the services of any lawyer of Adams County have more frequently been called into public responsibilities and duties than those of John T. Inghram. Mr. Inghram is well entitled by abilities and experience to his place of leadership in the Adams County bar.

He was born at Quincy July 11, 1870, a son of John T. and Mary (Rockwell^ Inghram, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. John T. Inghram, Sr., came to Quincy about 1867, was a resident of the city thirty years, and at the time of his death in 1898 was one of the city mail carriers. His widow is now living at Los Angeles, California. There were seven children: John T. ; Grace, wife of Roy A. Morehead, of Los Angeles; James S., of St. Louis, Missouri; Jessie H., of Los Angeles; Ira S., of Long Beach, Cali-

John T. Inghram is the only member of the family to retain a residence in Adams County. As a boy he attended the local pnblic schools of Quincj', graduated from high school in 1889, and from that entered the University of ilichigan Law Department, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1891. Returning to Quinoy he at once opened an office and has been practicing law steadily ever since. While handling a large private clientage he served as assistant states attorney from 1900 to 1904, spent four years as a member of the Cit.y School Board, and since 1906 has been special attorney for Adams County. From 1915 to 1917 he was also corporation counsel of Quincy, and is now member of the Water Works Commission of the City of Quincj-. A high degi'ee of public spirit and a warm interest in evei\ything affecting the welfare of Quincy has pervaded every technical duty he has performed in the interests of the community, ilr. Inghrani is a democrat in politics and is now chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Adams County.

February 16, 1898, he married Miss Lillian C. Brown, a native of Quincy and daughter of John H. and Sarah (Norris) Brown. Her father has for many years been a grocery merchant at Quincj-. Mr. and ]Mrs. Inghram have one child, John T., born August 15, 1901, and now a student in Dartmouth College. Mr. Inghram has attained the thirty-third and supreme honorary degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Joseph Dickhut. A career that meant much to Adams Count.y was that of the late Joseph Dickhut, who was one of a large family of that name identified with agriculture and home making in Adams County from pioneer days. Mr. Joseph Dickhut developed a good farm that is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Dickhut, two miles east of Fowler in Gilmer Township.

Joseph Dickhut was born at Quincy January 7, 1858, a son of Adolph and Augusta Dickhut. The father, John Andrew Adolph Dickhut, was born at Muelhausen, Thueringen, Germany, October 13, 1823, and died February 22, 1899. In his twentieth year he came with his parents to America, arriving at Quincy November 24, 1843. They located in the southern part of Adams County, and on July 25, 1847, Adolph Dickhut married Margaret Maus. She died June 6, 1856. On March 5, 1857, he married Augusta ]\Ieuselwitz. Her death occurred September 29, 1885. In March, 1859. Adolph Dickhut and wife located on a farm in Gilmer Township a mile and a half east of Fowler, and that was the scene of his earnest efforts at home making for many years. He was a republican and was active in the ilethodist Episcopal Church and helped found the Jersey Street Church of that denomination in Quincy, now known as the Yates and Kentucky Street Church. Still later he was identitied with the Fowler Methodist Episcopal Church. Adolph Dickhut acquired 240 acres. He started with verylittle and had to practically reconstruct all the buildings on the land and redeem nuich of it from the wilderness. At first he and his family drove to church in an old dilapidated farm wagon. By his first marriage he was the father of the following cliildren : John A., born January 20, 1850; Catherine, who is the only surviving member and is the widow of William Beutel, of Camp Point; Frank, who died at the age of sixty-five on his farm a mile east of Fowler; Matilda, who died at the age of twenty years, the wife of Andrew Howden, son of Captain Ilowdcu of Quitman, Missouri. Adolph Dickhut by his second wife had the following children : Joseph ; Louise S., who married Isaac S. Woollen and lives at Meadsville, Missouri; Amelia, wife of William Reutzel, of Martinsburg, Missouri; Arthur, who died February 8, 1911, married Hannah Stachel; Clara is the wife of William E. O'Neal at Fowler; Alice died at Bloomington, Illinois, the wife of Samuel L. Petrie ; Andrew L., who is connected with the Knittcl Show Case Company at Quincy and married Ella B.

Long; Clarence A., a farmer in Camp Point Township, married Cora J. Becket; Hnldah Gertrude, who is a registered nurse at the Mayo brothers hospital in Rochester, ]\Iinnesota.

Joseph Diekhut when one year old was brought by his parents to the farm where he grew up and where his widow still resides. He grew to manhood on that place and at the age of twenty-three, on January 1, 1881, married Jliss Ella S. Woollen, of Ellington Township, daughter of James A. "Woollen.

James Anthony Woollen, father of Mrs. Diekhut, was born in Doi'chester County, ^Maryland, November 13, 1821. His mother, Eugenia Whiteley was of Quaker ancestry and religion. She died in 1826. In 1828 James A. Woollen's father married Amelia Lane. In the same fall, in company with three brothersin-law, Isaac and Daniel Whiteley and William Berry, he moved to Wayne County, Indiana, but three years later entered eighty acres, six miles south of Newca.stle in Henry County that state. He was identified with the pioneer epoch there, and reared his family in a log cabin. James A. Woollen recalled one incident of his boyhood, the remarkable display of falling stars on November 13, 1833. In October, 1842, James A. Woollen started west by way of Indianapolis, Tei-re Haute, and Beardstown to Burlington, Iowa. He had only $2 and had to borrow $1 to pay his hotel bill of 75 cents. Through some mistake on the part of a hotel clerk he missed the boat down the river to Quincy and walked all the way to Keokuk without passing a single house. That night he spent with a young Mormon couple, paying 15 cents for his lodging. From there he worked his passage on a boat to Quiney, and at the end of the vo3'age the mate handed him 75 cents. In the meantime his brother Isaac had bought an island, six miles below Quiney, and was operating a wood supply station for the steamboats. James A. Woollen joined his brother, whose home was at Bloomfield, ten miles northeast of Quiney. While there he met his future wife, and he soon went to farming with F. W. Borgoethaus. In the fall of 184-1 he visited his parents back in Indiana, driving a buggv' to and from that state. On September 7, 1845, he married at Columbus Susie Borgoethaus. He then worked her father's farm and in 1852 his prosperity enabled him to buy for the convenience and comfort of his family a double seated carriage, for W'hich he paid $255, regarded at that time as almost as gi-eat an extravagance as a !J!5,000 automobile would be today. In 1892 he bought a farm near Laclede, Missouri, and lived there until his death. Mrs. Diekhut 's mother died March 22, 1909.

Mrs. Diekhut was born in Ellington Township January 12, 1861, and was just twent.v years of age when she married. At their marriage they bought eight.y acres of the old Diekhut homestead, and afterwards aecpiired from his brother Clarence the old home of 160 acres, thus giving them 280 acres. In 1899 he built the good home that now adorns the place, doing his own carpenter work. In 1908 he had also given a contract for the construction of the substantial barn that is now part of the farm equipment. Mr. Diekhut served as a road commissioner, but was never a seeker for public honor and frequently refused the urgings of his fellow citizens to become a candidate for office. He was a trustee and steward of the Saloma ]\Iethodist Episcopal Church.

Joseph Diekhut died April 28, 1918. His death came suddenly, though he had had warnings for some months and frequently expressed his opinion that he would not live beyond sixty. He died at the home of his daughter in Quiney, and had kept busy with some useful employment practically to the last.

Mr. and ilrs. Joseph Diekhut had the following children : ]Mabel Edna, at home : Alvin James, who now has the active management of the home farm ; Inez II.. wife of J. AV. White, a postoffice employe at Quiney ; Elmer Adolph, a farmer in T'amp Point Township who married Alma Hyer; Alta Amelia, who completed her education in the ilacomb Normal School and for four years has. taught in Adams County.

John Thomas Wyatt. One of the conspicuous instances of individual entei*- prise in acquiring a farm and providing for those dependent upon him is that afforded by Johu T. Wyatt of Honey Creek Township, whose productive and valuable farm is a mile east of Mendon.

Mr. Wyatt was born in Mendon Township a half mile south of the village of that name December 25, 1863, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cherry) Wyatt. His father was born in Northamptonshire, England, and about 1855 came to the United States. He and his wife married in England and they came at once to Quincy. Her father, William Cherry, had previously located in Mendon Township. Thomas Wyatt came here without means, worked at day's labor for a time, later had a farm of his own three miles north of Mendon, and finally retired to that village where he died when about seventy years of age. His wife died iu 1898, aged sixty-five. They had a familj' of five childi-en : Annie, who died when thirteen years old ; William, who lived in ]\Iendon ; Sarah, who is unmarried and lives with her brother William; George W., a dentist at Guthrie, Oklahoma ; and John T.

John Thomas Wyatt grew up in a home of fair comforts, had such education as the local schools provided, but otherwise had to start life dependent entirely upon his own resources. He is one of the old time farm hands, that class of hien who labored from suu to sun, much of the time without the help of any modern implements to lighten the burden of agriculture, and his wages ranged from .$18 to $20 a month with board and washing. That was the service he rendered between the ages of twenty and twenty-four. For all that he managed to save $100 every year. In 1894 Mr. Wyatt and his brother William became partners in the purchase of 120 acres of land in Honey Creek Township. The contract price was $7,000. J. T. Wyatt had about $800 in cash and a horse, while his brother had $1,500. For the balance they went in debt and continued seven years as partners. John T. Wyatt then bought out his brother, and again incurred a debt of $6,000. That sum he has since paid off, and he has also kept the farm up to a high standard of improvement and cultivation. In earlier years he made progi'ess very slowly, but was in a situation to reap the best advantages of the present era of high prices in the agi'icultural industry. Some years ago Mr. Wyatt sold his hogs at 2i/o cents a pound, wheat at 45 cents a bushel, oats at 15 cents a bushel and corn at 17 cents a bushel. Having labored under the disadvantages of the older oi'der, none will gainsay the fact that he is thoroughly deserving of all the prosperity that may come to him in the times in which he is now living.

Mr. Wyatt has the reputation of a very public spirited citizen, has served as school director fourteen years and is still on the board as clerk of the district. He is a republican and a deacon in the Mendon Congregational Church. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

October 28, 1894, Mr. Wyatt married Miss Eunice Hoskins, of Mendon Township. Mrs. Wyatt from the age of nine was reared in the home of R. B. Starr. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Clara (Spencer) Hoskins. She was nine years of age when her mother died, leaving four children : Charles Hoskins, of LaGrange, Missouri; John, who died in Missouri at the age of fifty; Drusilla, Mrs. Ed Nelson, of Houston Township, this county; and Eunice. Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have two sons and one daughter, Thomas R., Willis G. and Pearl Elizabeth. They are all at home and Thomas is a student in high school.

William H. Hobby. The name of William H. Hobby serves to recall the experience and deeds of a gallant soldier and old timer of Adams County, whose children and other relatives are still found here, all constituting one of the notable family groups of the county.

William H. Hobby was born in New York City May 6, 1830, and came to Adams County in 1850. He was only two years old when his father died of the cholera. His mother afterwards married Captain John Oliver, and the Oliver family came to Adams County and located in Mendon Township. Captain Oliver died at the age of seventy-four years, five months, fourteen days, and Mrs. Oliver passed away October 15, 1884, aged seventy-five years, six months.

When William H. Hobby was twelve years old he ran away to sea, became a cabin boy and for eight years had all the varied experiences and hardships of the sailor when such a life had much more of the romance and adventure than now belong to the seafaring vocation. In 1845 he made a whaling voyage through the northern seas and also went through many of the southern seas, visiting the ports of South America and Cuba. During the Civil war he .joined the Federal Navj- and was in the service about eight months. He was on Commodore D. D. Porter's flagship the Blackhawk, and participated in the Mississippi River campaign at Vicksburg and Arkansas Post.

After the war he returned to Adams County and settled on his farm in Honej- Creek Town.ship, in section 3. He continued to be identified with this locality until his death October 6, 1903. William H. Hobby married JIartha Odear, who was born in Tennessee April 9, 1837, and died May 15, 1910. Their son Oliver died September 19, 1887, aged twenty-nine years, two months and seven days. Two daughters died young, Susan at the age of twenty-two and Ellen at eighteen. Nancy died November 13, 1918, in St. Louis, Missouri, as Mrs. John H. Shepherd. Hattie is now Mrs. William S. McArthur.

William H. Hobby served as justice of the peace, constable and school director in Honey Creek Township, and was affiliated with the Masonic Order.

Hattie Hobby was married August 12, 1888, to William S. McArthur. Mr. McArthur was born in Hancock County, Illinois, May 13, 1869, and after his marriage he farmed at Lima until the death of Mr. Hobby, when he and his wife took the old homestead farm. Mr. McArthur was a very capable man as a farmer and was always interested in community affairs. He served as a school director. He died July 21, 1913. Since his death ]\Irs. McArthur has retained the old Hobby homestead, and has rebuilt and remodeled the old home. She has shown the capacity of a real business woman in handling the affairs of the farm and she is also owner of considerable property in the village of Mendon.

I\Irs. McArthur has five living children. Her son Rex died at the age of eighteen, while her oldest child, Mae, died January 12, 1918, at the age of twenty-nine, wife of William McKay. The living children are: Elf a, Mrs. James Littleton, of Loraine, this county ; Dora, at home ; Mack R., who is a locomotive fireman with headquarters at Galesburg, and by his marriage to Grace Rathbun has one son. Mack, Jr.; Goldie and Bessie, both at home, the latter attending school.

Herman Hokamp began making barrels when only sixteen years of age, and has been in the cooperage business continuously at Quincy all his active life. There is no family name that has been longer identified with the cooperage industry than that of Hokamp. His father was at one time regarded the oldest cooper in the city, and that too, had been his lifelong occupation. It was one of the hea\'iest disappointments he ever had to bear when he gave up active work at his trade at the insistence of his son Herman, who felt that his father at the age of seventy-five had well earned a period of rest and leisure. During his retirement the father was supplied with every comfort, partly by his own savings and also b.y the devotion of his son.

It is such families as these that supply a service that cannot be dispensed with in the world of affairs, and their contributions to human welfare cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.

Casper Hokamp was born in Germany, married there, and learned the trade of cooper. He came to America seeking better opportunities in the new world, and after getting located at Quincy his wife came on, bringing their children. One of these children died at sea and was buried from the ship. Casper Hokamp and wife lived happily together for a great many years, and both were nearlj^ eighty-five when they died. They were people of the finest qualities of heart and mind, exceedingly industrious, always paying their way, and exemplified the good old fashioned qualities of Christianity. They were active members of St. Jaeobi Lutheran Church. No more kindly people ever lived, and they were friends of everyone. Casper Hokamp voted as a republican. Among their children besides Herman is William Hokamp, a resident of Quincy, who has a family of three sons and two daughters. The sisters are Mary and ilinuie Hokamp and are still unmarried.

Herman Hokamp was the third of his father's children, and was born in Quincy August 19, 1860. He learned his trade under his father and was associated with him until about twenty-five j'ears of age. At the age of sixteen he made the first barrel made at the old Menke lime kiln, and later made the first barrels for W. D. Meyers. He was also employed by the 0. Lambert cooperage firm. Another associate at different times was Mr. Stilley. When Mr. Stilley died Casper and Herman Hokamp continued the work of the shop for some years, and then Herman and Charles Ertel took over the Stilley business. Four years later this plant was burned, this disaster befalling them on August 19, 1885, when Herman Hokamp was twenty-five years old. Through the kindness of friends and a small insurance they rebuilt the plant, and continued it together for some years. Thej- also established as a side line a grocery store at the corner of Wasliington and Ninth streets, and three years later Mr. Hokamp bought out his partner, Blr. Ertel. Later he took in as partner Mr. John Gainer and they bought the Bartel plant at 908-910 Madison Street. This is where the business is located at the present time, and they have a thoroughly modern cooperage plant on a lot 80 by 220 feet. Formerly there were a number of cooperage firms in Quincy, but now practically all that line of Imsiness is transacted through Mr. Hokamp 's enterprise. Mr. Hokamp also conducted a grocery business at 927 State Street until Jul.y, 1918, when he sold out. The cooperage business now has an output of 300 barrels per day, and tliey employ about ten expert workmen. The chief output is apple barrels and poultry containers, and there is a steady demand for all they can make in the states of Missouri and Illinois.

Mr. Herman Hokamp married at Quincy Miss Minnie Golm, who was born and reared and educated here. Her parents came from Germany and died in this city in advanced years. Mr. and Mrs. Hokamp have an interesting family of children. Esther A. is a graduate of Knox College at Galesburg and is now one of the instructors in the Quincy High School. Dorothy is a graduate of the Quincy High School and Gem City Business College and is now attending Knox College. Delia, who graduated from the Quincy High School with the class of 1919, and Herman J., aged fourteen, a student in the grammar school, are the younger members of the household. The family attend the Washington Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Joseph W. Nicholson. In the changing developments of six or seven decades in Ursa Township one of the families that have contributed mo.st to these improvements are the Nicholsons. The Nicholson home from a time almost beyond memory of the oldest inhabitant has been in section 20 of Ursa Township, nine and a half miles northeast of QTiincy.

It was on that farm that Joseph W. Nicholson was born December 6, 1849, nearly seventy years ago. At one time there was a blacksmith shop on the land operated by his grandfather, William Nicholson, whom Joseph W. Nicholson remembers as an old man. The parents of Joseph W. Nicholson were John and Hester (Orr) Nicholson. His father was born at Falmouth, Kentucky', August 27, 1811, and was brought by his parents to Adams County. At that time Quincy contaijied only a few buildings. John Nicholson was iong a prosperous farmer in section 20 of Ursa Township, and died there March 3, 1890, at the age of seventy-nine. His wife, Hester R., was born in Indiana December 27,

1823, and died June 16, 1884. Their descendants, both children and grandchildren, are still living in Adams County. Theresa, their oldest child, born in 1847, is the widow of Francis Roan, and is living at Qufncy with a daughter. The second in age is Joseph W. John, born in 1851, married Seralda Nicholson, and is now a resident of Mendon, having no children living. Saville, born in 1853, died in infancy. Susan, born in 1855, married Napoleon Orr and she died in 1894. Lafayette, born in 1857, married Emerine Long, a resident of Quincy. Olive B., born in 1859, is the widow of Henry Morris, who died in 1917. George, born in 1861, lives in Quincy and lias been twice married. Kate, born in 1864, was the wife of ^Yilliam Jlitchell and died in 1892. Hester E., born in 1866, married William Darnell, of Quincy.

Joseph \Y. Nicholson has been the member of the familj- who has practically always kept his interests at the old homestead. His farm consists of 160 acres, all of which his father once owned. For a number of years it was one of the principal centers of fruit production in Adams County. At one time there was a pear orchard of twenty-five acres, and altogether more than 100 acres were planted in fruit. The fruit business was highly profitable in its day, and Mr. Nicholson ranked as one of the foremost horticulturists of Western Illinois. Within recent years the orchards have been destroyed, their vitality and usefulness having been exhausted, and now practically all the land is devoted to general farming, ilr. Nicholson has lived in three houses, two of which were destroyed by fire, and his present good country home was erected in 1888. His barn was built in 1870.

Mr. Nicholson has not neglected the public welfare and has responded to those calls made upon his services by the community. For several years he was school trustee, is a democrat in politics, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church of Ursa.

August 26, 1880, Mr. Nicholson married Miss Idealia King. Mrs. Nicholson is member of an old and prominent Adams County family. She was born October 2, 1863, a daughter of William L. and Eliza (Gallamore) King. The career of her father deserves special mention here. William L. King was born in Pulaski Count.y, Kentucky, April 11, 1811, and arrived in Quincy in March, 1830. He was then nineteen years of age, and had nothing but his health and willingness to work as capital. For twenty-three years he was a resident of Quincy, and for the first seven years of that time he worked out at monthly wages. It was the strictest economy and splendid native intelligence that enabled him to get an independent start. He built a small flour mill, which he conducted for a time, and is credited with having made the first barrel of flo\ir that ever passed inspection in the county. He also built and operated several distilleries in the county. The last twenty-five years of his life were spent as a farmer in section 19 of Ursa Township. He there expended much money as well as time and patience in developing a beautiful estate. He had 240 acres of land and also owned much property in Quincy, and was rated as one of the county's wealthy citizens. He died November 14. 1879. His old farm is now known as the Henry Cram farm, a mile and a half south of Ursa, and most of its improvements were erected during the time of Mr. King. I\Ir. King also about 1872 built the King Block at Hampshire and Fifth streets in Quincy, a property that is now owned by Mrs. Nicholson. William King married for his first wife Miss Salina Edgerton. of Connecticut. She was the mother of four children. For his second wife ifr. King married in March, 1846, Eliza Gallamore, who became the mother of eleven children, only two of whom reached maturity, Idealia and William. William King died April 6, 1918. Mrs. Nicholson's mother was born in North Carolina Februarv 14, 1820, and died February 15, 1879.

Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson became the parents of five children. LTna Opal, born August 27, 1881, was married October 15, 1903, to Vernon Inman, and they now live in Portland, Oregon, and have three children. Je.ssie E., born August

13, 1883, was married November 12, 1902, to Elmer Daugherty, who for the past eight years has been the active manager of the Nicholson farm. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty have four children. Fern V., Russell E., Helen Idealia and Eva Ruth. Fay King Nicholson, born August 5, 1895, is the wife of Mr. Harold Grimes, an Ursa Township farmer, and has one child, Leroy. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson lost two of their children young.

Mr. Nicholson's grandfather, it should be recalled, was a volunteer soldier in the Blackliawk Indian war and also served in the campaign against the Mormons at Nauvoo in 1846.

George D. Roth. Coming to Quincy in 1890, from that time forward George D. Roth made himself known in an ever increasing circle of friends and associates as a man of great business energy, of complete integrity, and his success in life was only a due reward for all that he had achieved therein and the service he had rendered.

Mr. Roth was born in Warsaw, Illinois, March 9, 1870, and died at his home 401 South 12th Street in Quincy October 27, 1918, at the age of forty-eight. His parents were Henry P. and Maria (Luedde) Roth, both natives of Illinois and of German ancestrj-. They were married in Warsaw, Illinois, and his father was a grocery merchant there for some years, dying in 1876, at the age of thirty-six. He had served as a soldier in the Union army, was a republican, and he and his wife are both members of the Lutheran Church. His widow survived him and passed away in 1902, when about sixty years of age. They had four children. One, Frank, died in infancy. Two are still living. Ella is the wife of Frank E. Cook, of Warsaw, Illinois. Harry W. is employed in the government arsenal at St. Louis. He married Margaret Schwabe of St. Louis.

George D. Roth grew up in Warsaw, attended the gi-ammar and high schools there, and came to Quincy in 1890 to enroll as a student in the Gem City Business College. After his course of training there he found employment as bill clerk with the J. B. Sehott Saddlery Company. Later he was bookkeeper for Risto and Fick on the west side of the Square, and later for the Quine.y Showcase Works. All that was valuable experience, but the real opening of his business career came when he entered the service of the Wabash Coal Company. For a number of years he was iu that company's office and during that time acquired such a comprehensive knowledge of the business that upon the death of Will C. Fick he became a member of the firm Fick Coal Company, associated with John Fick. He was secretary and treasurer and office manager and much of the success of that firm was due to his apparently infallible knowledge of the coal business, and his characteristic industry and faithfulness in handling the company's afi'airs. For nearly six years after he first became aware of his serious condition of health he protracted his life and usefulness by careful living, but none the less his death was regarded as a distinct loss to the business and citizenship of Quincy.

He was well known fraternally, being affiliated with Lambert . Lodge No. 659, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Quincy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Quincy Commandery, Knights Templar, Quincy Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and the M.ystic Shrine at East St. Louis. He was a faithful member and a trustee of the Kentucky Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a republican.

For nearly twenty years Mr. Roth made his home at Quincy with Rudolph Wilms. During that time a relationship developed between the two men which was unsurpassed in affection and friendship by the closer ties of blood and kinship. June 29, 1910, Mr. Roth married Miss Clara Sprick, of Fontanelle, Ncl)raska. Tliey had first met and become acquainted in Quincy. Clara Catherine Sprick was born at Fontanelle, Nebraska, February 23, 1882, received part of her schooling in her native county, also attended school iu Kansas, and was well educated. She is a woman of distinctive culture and refine- ment, and she and her two children are still living at the Roth home on South Twelfth Street. IMrs. Roth is a daughter of Henry and Sophia (Wilkenniug) Spric'k. Both were natives of Germany but were married in Quincy in 1858. Henry Spriek was one of the first pioneer settlers of Nebraska, going there in 1855, about the time Nebraska was first proposed for settlement as a result of the discussion in Congress over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Henry Spriek became a man of afi'airs in Nebraska, served as a representative and state senator, and was a republican elector in the Blaine campaign of 1884. More details concerning the Spriek family history will be found on other pages of this publication under the name Henry C. Spriek, the well known banker of Quincy. ilrs. Roth's two children are: George Alan, born December 4, 1911, now in the second grade of the Webster school ; and Margaret Helen, born December 29, 1914.

Edward B. Moller is one of Quincy 's younger business men, is a lively and enterprising citizen, and is well known in the city both for his own achievements and for the prestige associated with the family name.

He was born here August 28, 1883, a son of the late Henry H. ]\Ioller, elsewhere referred to in this publication. Edward Moller attended the parochial schools, the St. Francis College, and the Gem City Business College, after which he began his active business experience, and since Jul}- 15, 1901, has been a member of the firm.

November 22, 1905, he married Augusta C. Sehmitt. They had three children : Florence A., born April 18, 1909, and died September 24* 1909 ; Mary Lucile, born December 3, 1912 ; and Edward B. Jr., born May 4, 1917, and died June 24, 1917. Mr. Moller is independent in politics and he and his family are members of the Catholic Church.

John F. Dickerman. Several generations of the Dickerman family have played their part and played it well in Mendon Township. The founder of the family here was Ira R. Dickerman, who was born in New Haven, Connecticut, August 7, 1814. On August 17, 1838, he married Miss Laura Smith, who was born at Chardou, Geauga County, Ohio, May 28, 1819, the oldest of twelve children. Ira Dickerman and wife arrived at Mendon November 5, 1839, and traversed the entire distance from Ohio by overland conveyance. Both possessed the real pioneer spirit (hard working and industrious, and in course of time had their homestead of 140 acres highly cultivated, with an orchard of fruit and capable of producing a good living. Their home was in section 1 of the township, a mile and a half north of Mendon, and Ira Dickerman and wife spent their last days in the Village of Mendon, where they died. They had three sons, and at their death they were survived by seven grandchildren and seven great-gi*andchildren. Their three sons were named DeLanie, DeWitt and Franklin. DeLanie Dickerman served as a Union soldier in Company D of the One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Illinois Infantry. He was also a teacher, and later engaged in the hardware and general merchandise business at Mendon with C. B. Garrett. Out of his prosperity he bought a section of land in Chariton County, Missouri, and was one of a rather numerous colony from this section of Illinois that settled in that county, and the Town of ]Mendon, Jli-ssouri, was named because of the place of origin of so many of the first settlers there.

DeLanie Dickerman usually spent a part of each year for twenty years on his Missouri farm. He served as justice of the peace, notary public, and was entrusted with the settlement of manj- estates. At the time of his death he was president of the Village of Mendon. For twenty-five years he was active in Sunday school work and for nearly fifty years sang in the choir of the Congregational Church. In 1864 he married Estella Van Valkenlnirg, who died in 1918. Franklin Dickerman married Julia Smith, and was a farmer north of Mendon, but finally retired in the Village of ]\Iendon and for many years was a well

DeWitt Difkerman was born May 1, 1841, on a farm two miles northwest of Mendon and on December 24, 1863, married ^Margaret L. McCormiek, a daughter of John McCormiek. She was born at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and was sixteen yeai-s of age when her family came to Adams County. i\Irs. DeWitt Dickerman is still living, at the age of seventy-live, and occiipies the old home in Mendon. In 1864 DeWitt Dickerman moved to a farm of sixty acres, and made such good use of his opportunities that he eventually owned 305 acres. In 1905 he retired from the farm into Mendon, and died there June 21, 1913. He served as a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was active in the Lodge and Chapter of Masons and the Eastern Star. He was a republican in politics, as were his father and brothers. His children were : Laura E., wife of Fred Ralph, of IMendon, Missouri ; John F. ; Nellie May, wife of C. A. Nutt, a farmer (of Mendon Township ; Joel M., who lives in Mendon and is a mail carrier on rural route No. 3 out of Mendon.

John F. Dickerman was born at the old homestead Januarj- 14, 1870, and practically all his life has been spent on the home farm. In 1902 he took the management of the farm in partnership with his father, and after the latter "s death he inherited 140 acres constituting the original homestead and has since acquired other land to give him a place of 258 acres, sufficient in size and equipped with ample facilities for his biisiness a,s a stockman and general farmer. The old home was built here in 1873, when he was a boy three years old, and the main barn was erected in 1875. He has done much to improve and keep up all the buildings and has added much to the equipment. He handles cattle and hogs, and all the grain and other crops produced on his land are fed on the place.

February 3. 1902, Mr. Dickerman married Sarah Mealiff, who was reared in the same locality of Adams County. She died in 1905, leaving one daughter, Ada. February 21, 1906, Mr. Dickerman married Grace Mealiff, a relative of his first wife and daughter of William Mealiff. To this marriage have been born Arthur and William. Mr. Dickerman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife of the Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Jesse E. Weems. Identified prominently for many years with railroad affairs and i-ailroad building, Jesse E. Weems, one of Quiney's most highly considered citizens, is still active in business here although in another direction, being interested with his two sons in the Quincy Pure Ice and Cold Storage Company, of which he js manager. There are many men in Adams County of Mr. Weems' years who can tell of wonderful changes having been made during their lifetime in this and other sections of the country, but it has not been the privilege of all to so prominently take part in substantial developments and to sustain business relations for so long and continuous a period.

Jesse E. Weems has never followed an agricultural life, but he was born on a farm August 21, 1831, his parents, Jesse E. and Nancy (Otis) Weems, living at that time in Virginia. His grandfather. Rev. ]\Iason Lock Weems. was pastor of the churcli at Mount Vernon of which General Washington was a member. Dr. Weems was a writer of note and a biographer of General Washington, who was also his personal friend.

When Jesse E. Weems was eighteen years old he left the home farm and went to Washington City in order to study civil engineering. Later he was attached to the boundary line commission which located the division line between the United States and ^Mexico and in this work of national importance the young engineer was first tested. In 1853 he came to Illinois and located at Augusta in Hancock County, engaging in railroad work in the construction of what was called the middle division, between Camp Point and ilacomb, of the Northern

Cross Railroad. In 1859 he was the engineer in the building of the Quincy & Palmyra between West Quincy and Palmyra, which was subsequently bouglit by the officials of the Wabash system and became a part of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway.

ilr. Weeras then served Hancock County two years in the office of count}' surveyor, but his railroad building was not yet over, for afterward he was the engineer in charge of the construction of the Illinois & Southern Iowa Railway from Clayton to Keokuk, which was later consolidated with the Wabash. He continued his connection with the railroad affairs until 1893, resigning then and moving to Texas. There he became interested in the manufacture of ice and in 189-t returned to Illinois and since then has been connected with this business at Quiney and has the management of the Pure Ice and Cold Storage Company of Quincy. The original plant, with dimensions of 30x100 feet, was built for cold storage in 1894 but the business has gi'own to such large proportions that the present quarters, a six-story building 11x400 feet in dimensions, are none too large, for the company not only supplies local consumers but ships to other points. It has become one of the most prosperous industries of Quincy.

Jesse E. Weems has been twice married, first to ]\Iiss Louisa Kimball, who at her death left two sons, Milton K., who is president of the Weeras Laundry Company of Quincy and Springfield, and treasurer of the Pure Ice Company, of Quincy; and Frank H., who is president of the Pure Ice Company and secretary and treasurer of the Weems Laundry Company. Mr. Weems was married second to ]\Irs. Brawner, widow of James Brawner. Their comfortable residence stands on Hampshire Street, Quiney. Mr. Weems is a republican in his political views and fraternally was made a Mason in 1854 and has been identified with this organization since early manhood. He is a member of the Congregational Church. No history of this part of Illinois would be complete without extended mention of the men who have been history builders here, and to this class belongs Jesse E. Weems.

Oscar Schmelzle. Opportunities are always open to the thrifty and hard working young man trained to practical farming, and the yeai's inevitably bring independence and prosperity to such a man. A case in point is that of Oscar Schmelzle. who began his career with merelj- the labor of his own hands and the savings from his industry, and is now proprietor of one of the fine farm homes of Gilmer Township. His place is thirteen miles east of Quiney.

Mr. Schmelzle was born in Baden, Germanj-, May 20, 1870. His parents were John and Amelia Schmelzle. His father served as a soldier of the German Empire in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and in 1878 brought his family to the L^nited States, taking a steamship from Havre to Naw York City. The family were eleven or twelve days in crossing the ocean, and from New York they came direct to Quincy, where they had acquaintances. John Schmelzle had been a farmer in Germany, and in order to get a start in the new world he worked at day wages in a lumber yard at Quincy. Five years later he moved to a rented farm in Burton Township ten miles east of Quiney, and later bought 140 acres three-quarters of a mile from Burton Bridge on Mill Creek. In that locality he remained long enough to enjoj^ the friiits of his well directed farm enterprise, constructed new buildings, and otherwise improved the land, and when he sold it he retired to Quincy with, a competency. He is now living among his children. He is a Catholic in religion. In his family were the following children : Oscar ; Gus, of Melrose Township ; Emil, of Quincy : Catherine, wife of William Weelman, of Gilmer Township ; Anna, wife of Lewis Steekeman, now a hotel proprietor at Colfax, California ; and Joseph, who lives near Quiney.

Oscar Schmelzle lived at home until he was past twenty-one and nearly all of his experiences up to that time were farming. As a farm laborer he was in the employ of Sam Hastings three years, for Press Stump two years, and

Samuel Thompson two years. The quality of work he performed for these men gave him a good reputation and this credit was a big asset when he started life as a married man.

February 16, 1898, he married Miss Lena Dietrich, daughter of Nicholas and, Mary Dietrich of Melrose Township. Nicholas Dietrich was born in Germany seventy-five years ago, and at the age of six years accompanied his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Dietrich, about 1849, to America. His parents settled where Nicholas now lives on the State Road, 61/0 miles east of Quincy in Melrose Town.ship. Nicholas Dietrich has always lived in that vicinity and is one of the prosperous farmers there. At the age of twenty-seven he married Mary Zanger, who was then seventeen years of age. Nicholas and Mai'y Dietrich have eight children, four sons and four daughters : Jacob, of Melrose Township ; P^rances, wife of John Ehrhart, of Melrose Township ; Lena, Mrs. Schmelzle ; Carrie, wife of Lawrence Wellman, of Palmyra, Missouri ; William, of Melrose Township ; Catherine, wife of Al Wolf of Melrose : Rome, of Burton Township ; and Alois, who is unmarried and lives on the old farm.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle rented the Booth farm in Gilmer Township for fifteen years. In the meantime they bought their present place of eighty acres, have owned it fourteen years, but moved to it as their permanent home only five years ago. This farm was the old Jacob Murphy place, and Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle bought it at forty dollars an acre. They have since added other land until they now have a complete and well balanced farm of 120 acres, and practically all its improvements have been made by ^Ir. Schmelzle. He has a good house, barns and other buildings, representing an, investment of fully $6,000, and these various facilities have been added not only with a view to working the land to tlie best advantage, but also for the purpose of aifording an attractive and comfortable home. The farm is one of the outstanding features in the landscape, the buildings standing on a fine ridge, and the barn is visible for miles around. Mr. Schmelzle is a si;ccessful general farmer, handling the usual grain crops, and feeding a large drove of Poland China hogs every years. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and he assisted liberally in building the present church. Mr. and Mrs. Schmelzle have three sons and one daughter, all at home, named Raymond, Clarence, Laura and Alvin.

Dudley H. !Myers. Several localities in as many different townships of Adams County learned to appreciate the good citizenship and sterling qualities of the Myers family. The branch of this family represented by Mr. Dudley H. Myers, who is proprietor of one of the best rural homes in Honey Creek Township, 21/0 miles northeast of Mendon, was founded in Adams County by his grandfather, Henry Myers.

Henry Myers was born June 25, 1802, and died in 1869. He married Anna Tinsman, who was born May 31, 1811, and died at the age of eighty-eight. They were married January 3, 1828, and came to Western Illinois about 1851. Other pages of this publication contain a more complete record of the family in its different branches.

Among the sons' of Henry Myers was Cyrus C. Myers, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and came to Adams County at the age of twelve years. When he was twenty-two he married Sarah L. Dudley, who was at that time twenty. They then settled on a farm near Mendon and in 1882 moved into Honey Creek Township and bought the 225 acres now owned and occupied by their son Dudley. Cyrus C. Myers died on this old homestead at the age of fifty-six. His widow is still living, a resident of Mendon. His career M'as a comparatively brief but a successful one, and his prosperity was the result of good farming methods and much enterprise as a stock feeder. He held the township office of supervisor two terms and in politics was a republican, though practically all his brothers were democrats. He was also an active member of the Congregational Church at Mendon. Cyrus C. Myers and wife had eight children, seven of whom survived infancy : Abbie, wife of Samuel Taleott, of Honey Creek Township ; Myrta, who married J. B. Frisbie, of ^Mendon ; Dudley H. ; Fred C, who is a general merchant at Conway Springs, Kansas ; Irving A., a physician practicing at Cottage Grove, Wisconsin ; Homer S., who died at the age of twenty years ; and "Walter M., a mining engineer in British Columbia.

Dudley H. Myers was born on his father's old home place in Mendon Township, three miles from his present home. May 31, 1867. When he was fourteen years old his parents came to the land whose cultivation has been the principal object of his energetic labors for a number of years. At the age of twentysix Mr. Myers married Cora J. Noyes, of Mendon, daughter of Chauncey Noyes. Mrs. Myers when a child of three months lost her father, who in the meantime had become a farmer in Kansas. Her widowed mother, Mary J. Fowler Noyes, then returned to ilendon Township, where her daughter grew to womanhood and was married at the age of twenty-four. For the first fifteen years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Myers lived on a farm adjoining their present home, and in 1908 occupied the old Myers homestead. ^Ir. Myers bought this place from his mother, and he also owns his former home, giving him 366 acres, which he operates as a single farm. It is not only one of the larger farms but one of those distinguished by its improvements and the efficient way in which every department is handled. Mr. Myei-s knows the farming game by lifelong experience and has never hesitated to avail himself of modern methods when he was convinced that such methods were an improvement over old ones. He is a thoroughly successful and enthusiastic son of the soil. He is endeavoring to manage his farm resources in a manner to meet the demands made upon them by the Government in its present crisis, and is stanchly allied with the war spirit which is moving American farmers to almost superhuman efforts. Mr. Myers on his homestead has a group of old and substantial buildings, the house having been erected fully forty years ago, and he has kept all of them in a thorough state of repair. As a stockman he breeds Shorthorn and Polled Durham cattle, from fifty to seventy-five head, and also has a large number of big type Poland China hogs. He is not a willing office holder, but for the past ten or twelve years has been accorded the responsibilities of justice of the peace. He is a republican. He is also president of the Farm Bureau of Adams County, and through that is closely co-operating with state and federal organizations. He has also been president of the Mendon Township District High School Board since it was organized and this board is now erecting a model high school building at Mendon. He and his wife and family are members of the Congregational Church.

Mr. and Jlrs. Myers have the following children : Chauncey C, operating one of his father's farms, married Aletha Nutt. and has two children. Vera and Arthur D. Harold N., who is the family representative in the war, being in the radio department of the United States Navy ; Kenneth H. who is a graduate of high school, as are all the four older children, since September, 1918, has been a member of the Student Army Training Corps of Illinois University. ; Marjorie D., wlio is now a student in Oberlin College in Ohio; and Wilfred S., a high school student at Mendon.

Robert Montgomery has been a resident of Quincy since the close of the Civil war. Though eighty-eight years of age, he still seems as young as many men twenty-five years his junior, and his life though identified with many important business affairs has exemplified that simplicity of living and physical sturdiness which promote old age and honor among men.

Mr. Montgomery was born at Philadelphia October 12, 1830, and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In the latter years of the eighteenth century his greatgrandfather, William Montgomery, Sr., brought his family to the United States and landed at Boston, where he died. William IMontgomery, Jr., was liorn in Londonderry, Ireland, and was about six years old when he left the family seat. He was reared in Boston, and married there Elizabeth Mitchell. They then moved to Philadelphia, where she died, her only son, Henry, afterwards going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. William Montgomery, Jr., married for his second wife at Philadelphia Amelia ilosier, a native of that city. She was born January 29, 1778, and died in Philadelphia October 25, 1829. * William Montgomery, Jr., died January 22, 1824, at the age of fifty-six. Both were Scotch Presbj'- terians in religion.

Robert Montgomery, Sr., father of the Quinej- business man, was born at Philadelphia June 17, 1808, and died in that city of pneumonia December 29, 1846. For a number of years he was a teller in the Jlechanics Bank of Philadelphia, and later an exchange broker. In 1830 he married at Philadelphia Miss Sarah Pierce. She was born near that city in May, 1807, of English ancestry, a granddaughter of Samuel Pierce, Sr., and daughter of Samuel Pierce, Jr. Her father was a native of New Jersey and a prominent farmer and owner of a splendid property in that state. Mrs. Sarah Montgomery in 1867 came west to join her son at Quincy and died there in 1879. Her husband was a Presbyterian, while she was a member of the Episcopal Church.

Robert Jlontgomery was the oldest of his father's family. His only living sister is Mrs. Rebecca Wood, who has been a resident of Quincy since 1863, and is the mother of Howard and Ernest Wood, both well known Quincy men.

The early life of Robert Montgomery was spent in Philadelphia, where he completed the course of the public schools. For about five years he worked in a general merchandise store in New Jerse.y. In February, 1852, he came west and located at St. Louis, and six years later moved to Palmyra, Missouri, where for a year or two he was clerk in a drug house. He then located in business at Selliina, Missouri, and in 1862 by appointment from President Lincoln became postmaster of that Missouri city.

It was January 1, 1865, that Mr. Montgomery began his residence at Quiney. With Mr. Ferdinand Flaek he engaged in the drug business. About that time he sold his Missouri property for .$9,000 and soon afterward bought the interest of his partner in Quiney. He had other associates, including Charles Kies. In 1873 he sold his interests in the firm to Aldo Summers, and in September of the same year bought an interest and became a partner with Hiram Rogers. Mr. Rogers died soon afterward and his interests were acquired by Mr. Montgomery December 20, 1881. In 1892 Mr. Montgomery returned to New Jersey, and became administrator for his uncle's extensive property there, devoting a part of his attention to it until 1902. Some years ago his son James was appointed postmaster of Quincy under Cleveland and Mr. Montgomery filled the nfifiee of chief of the money order department six years. Since then he has lived retired at his home at 2303 Maine Street.

At St. Louis Mr. IMontgomery married Elizabeth Wichert, a native of Ohio, but reared in St. Louis. Her father. Dr. James Wichert, was a prominent physician of that city. Mrs. Montgomery died at her coTintry home Thanksgiving Day, 1904, after they had been happily married for forty years. She was the mother of four children : Robert ]\rontgomery, Jr., who died in 1901, left four sons and one daughter. Three of these sons are now in the service of their country, one being an ensign at Annapolis, another a yeoman at the Great Lakes training station, and still another a sergeant quartermaster at San Antonio, Texas. James Montgomery, the second son, who died in March, 1916, married IMiss Emma Cox, who is living in St. Louis, and of her family two sons. Frank and James, are soldiers. Thus Mr. Montgomery has six grandchildren i-epreseliting the family in the present great war. The only living sou of yir. ilontgomery is Dr. Edmund B. IMontgomery, who graduated in 1879 from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, and for many years has successfully practiced medicine at Quincy. Doctor Montgomery married Emma

Cox, aud their son Ilosmer is uow in the medical corps in France. Doctor Montgomery and wife also have three daughters : Amelia, Ella and Elizabeth.

Eobert Montgomery for his present wife married Mrs. Catherine (^Murray) Rogers, widow of William T. Rogers. She was born in Salem, Ohio, and was educated there. Her father, Capt. Gilbert Murray, was an officer in an Ohio regiment in the Civil war and was killed in battle. By her first marriage Mrs. Montgomery had six children. Mr. Montgomery is a Unitarian and for sixteen yeai-s served as treasurer of his church. His wife is a Baptist. In politics he is an independent democrat.

S.UHXIEL Tallcott. One of the oldest and best known families of Honey Creek Township are the Tallcotts, whose homes and worthy activities have Iwen centered there since pioneer days. The permanance and stability of the family is interestingly reiiected in the fact that the house which now furnishes the home to Samuel Tallcott and family is the same one in which he was born May 1, 1857. This farm is two miles east of the Village of Mendon.

His parents were Chester and Harriet (Stringham) Tallcott. Chester Tallcott was born at Glastonbur3', Connecticut, in 1810, and during his youth learned the trades of bricklaying and plastering. He came to Illinois in 1831, and at Jacksonville worked with a brother who was in the contracting business there. In the same year, during a prospecting tour, he bought his first tract of land in Adams County. He was attracted to this section of Illinois largely by the presence of other Connecticut people here. His first purchase of land was on the edge of the prairie in Honey Creek Township. He continued to work at Jacksonville for some months and in 1832 rode a horse back to Connecticut, being accompanied by Richard Starr's father and Henry Fowler. He sold his horse in Connecticut and bought a team, and that team drew the wagon in which he and his young bride rode out to Western Illinois. His wife, whom he married in Connecticut, was Mary Hale. He lived at Jacksonville and followed his trade until 1834, and then settled on his land. With his mechanical skill he constructed a large barn and house on his place. Money was exceedingly scarce in those days, and it is said that he paid out only 50 cents in currency. The large frame house with its brick lining, built more than eighty years ago, is still standing. At that time there was not another house between his place and ]\Iendnn. His first wife died there about three years later. In the meantime her sister, Elizabeth Hale, had come west, and she was the second wife of Chester Talcott. She died during a cholera epidemic and one of her daughters and one son by Mr. Tallcott 's first marriage were stricken with the same disease. The other son, Asa, grew to maturity, served as a Union soldier in the Civil war, spent a number of years in Kansas and at the age of seventy-six retired to Mendon. A daughter, Anna, married Horace Hulburd, and lived in Iowa, where she died.

In the fall of 1855 Chester Tallcott sold his original farm and came to the location where his son Samuel now resides. This land he had also acquired in the year 1831, and in 1855 he undertook to build and improve the place. For a time he lived in a cabin, but in 1856 erected the substantial brick hoiLse in which Samuel Tallcott was born and where he still lives. The brick for this building was made in a yard two miles south, and most of them were hauled to the building site by Chester Tallcott 's oldest son, Asa. At that time it was one of the largest homes in this part of the county. After 1855 Chester Tallcott lived on this farm, supervised its cultivation, but also employed himself at his trade. He died there in 1871, at the age of sixty-one. For his third wife he married Harriet Stringham, who survived him many years and pa-ssed away January 1, 1901. Her children were: Mary, who married Wesley Clair, and died at the ase of forty; Julia M., who married Amos Scranton and moved to Chariton County, Missouri, where she died : Ella, who is unmarried and lives at the old homestead : William, who spent thirty-five years at ifendon. Vol. n - 7

Samuel Talleott has spent all his life since birth on the farm above described, excepting for six months in 1881-82 when he traveled and sojourned on the Pacific Coast. His energies have been successfully devoted to general farming. He handles high grade Red Polled cattle, Percheron horses and Poland China hogs, and keeps good utility stock and gets most of his profits from cattle and hogs sold from his farm. He is one of the modern and progressive farmers of Adams County who have a silo as part of their farm equipment. Mr. Talleott's father was school director for many years, road commissioner, and an independent republican in politics, and his son Samuel has played almost a similar part, serving on the school board, twice was assessor of the towTiship, and the fact that he was a republican in a democratic township is sufficient testimony to the adequacy and satisfactoriness of his public service. Whenever a candidate he made no special effort to secure his election, and he once refused the nomination for supervisor. The Tallcotts have long been identified with the Congregational Church at J\Iendon.

December, 24, 1885, Mr. Talleott married Miss Abbie Myers, who at the time of her marriage was twenty-two years of age. She is a daughter of Cyrus and Sarah (Dudley) Myers, of a well known family elsewhere referred to in this publication. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Talleott are given brief record as follows : Fred, who was kicked by a horse and died at the age of twenty ; Cora, Mrs. Albert Evans, of ilendon Township ; Julia, Mrs. Edward ^lealiff, of Mendon Township ; Charles, who married Pearl Rowbotham and lives at Mendon in Chariton County, ilissouri ; Chester, at home ; Arthur, who is in the United States Army, assigned to the division of motor mechanics and now in England in the service ; Walter, at home ; Sarah, who died in childhood ; and Elizabeth, at home.

Frederick Rupp. One of the most interesting stories told on other pages of this publication is that which deals with the growth and development of Rupp Brothers & Company, iron and steel merchants. One of the factors in that history was the late Frederick Rupp. He started out poor, as do most iron and junk dealers, driving a horse and small wagon throughout the country and gathering up commodities that in wasteful American fashion are thrown away, and he kept at the business until with his brother and others saw a great plant established, and he was personally rated as one of Qviincy's very successful and prosperous citizens. The history of the business is told elsewhere, but here should be noted some details of his personal career.

Frederick Rupp was born in Hesse Nassau, Germany, October 19, 1848, and died in Quincy August 18, 1917. He came with other members of the family in 1867, by sailing vessel, and from New York came westward to Quincy. Here he entered business with his brother George, and gave it his complete time and energies practically until his death.

The late Mr. Rupp was an esteemed member of St. Francis Catholic Church, and in politics was a democrat. In 1883, at Quincy, he married ]\Iiss Theresa Hoene. Mrs. Rupp, who survives her honored husband and resides at 502 North Twelfth Street, was born at Quincy in June, 1863, and was reared and educated here in the public schools. Her parents were H. Frank and Mary (Laacke) Hoene. Her mother was a native of Quincy, while her father was born in Germany and came as a young man to the United States and was married in Quincy. For a number of years he was connected with the Ricker Bank and later engaged in the mining business, but lost his property in that venture. He spent his last years at Warrior Station, Alabama, and died September 1, 1910, at the age of sixty-seven, and his widow passed away at the same place.

Mr. and Mrs. Rupp had nine children : Rose E., who is a well educated young woman and still at home; Carl 6. and Fred B., both of whose names appear on the Quincy honor roll of soldiers now serving the cause of democracy in France ; Theresa M., who is a member of the Order of St. Francis; Margaret L., wife of Henry Frank Driiffel, who is also a soldier in France, and during his absence his wife lives with her mother and has one son, Eugene H. ; Edith A., William F. (a graduate of the Gem City Business College), Bertha M. and Julius C, all at home. The family are members of St. Francis Catholic Church.

John C. Ye.irgaix is a prominent and successful stock breeder and farmer in Honey Creek Township. His farm, two miles northeast of Fowler, is widely known among stockmen, especially those interested in the highest type of the Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Yeargain is proprietor of one of the largest individual farms in the county, and is member of an old and notable family.

The Yeargains were real pioneers in Gilmer Township, where John Yeargain and wife settled in the fall of 1831. John Yeargain was not only among the tirst to clear away the woods and erect his log cabin home, but from the first carried the torch of religion and saw to it that religious service was not neglected among the pioneers. His house was the place of preaching and the scene of the organization of the First Methodist Church in Gilmer Township. John Yeargain was born in Virginia and in March, 181.5, moved to Jefferson County, Kentucky, near Louisville and later lived in Shelby County, Kentucky, until he came to Adams County. He married Elizabeth Bain. John Yeargain died November 30, 1845, and his wife April 1, 1855. They had four sons, William T., who was born in Kentucky in 1815, Johu P., Milton M., born June 3, 1828, and Edward A. William T. Yeargain came into possession of the old Yeargain homestead in Gilmer Township in 1842 and lived on that farm until his death in his ninety-third year. One of his .sons, William, resides at Camp Point and another, James, in Brown County, Illinois. John P. Yeargain lived and died in Gilmer Township and his son Thomas is a resident of Paloma. The last survivor of these four brothers, and by that token, the oldest resident of Gilmer 't'ownship, was ililton JI.

Edward A. Yeargain, father of John C. Yeargain, married Ruth Pearee, daxighter of David and Elizabeth Pearee. David Pearee was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, I\Iareh 18, 1807. February 27, 1829, he married Elizabeth Stabler, who was born in York County, Pennsylvania, September 15, 1808. The Pearee family moved to Butler Count.y Ohio, in 1835, and in 1848 came to Adams County. David Pearee died here December 16. 1878. Edward A. Yeargain lived for many years on a farm three miles southwest of Columbus in Gilmer To-miship, but spent his last years in Quincy, where he died at the age of sixty-eight. His first wife died aged thirty-six, and for his second wife he married Sarah Norris, who is still living. Edward A. Yeargain acquired a splendid farm of 340 acres in Gilmer Township, and was as successful in his generation as a farmer and stock raiser as his son John C. has been. This old farm has since been sold. He was a republican and his brothers were of the same political faith except William T., who served in the State Legislature as a democrat. Edward A. Yeargain by his first marriage had five children : Mary, wife of C. L. Anderson, of Gilmer Township ; Louisa, Mrs. W. S. Hall ; Edward, who died on the home place when twenty-two years of age ; David P., who for the past twenty years has lived at Long Beach, California : and John C. By his second wife Edward A. Yeargain had six children : Lorenzo, of Quincy, who died in November, 1918; Ruby, ]\Irs. Hirsh, of New York, and four children who are deceased, Catherine dying when twenty-two years of age.

John C. Yeargain was born December 3, 1864, on the old homestead farm in Gilmer Township. In that environment he lived until he was twenty-one, and attended the local schools for his education. After leaving home he spent two years in Hancock County and then with a cash capital of $200 rented the old homestead for three years. He then rented a portion of his present farm, the old Peter G. Horn estate. On February 12, 1890, he married Miss Harriet

Horn, who was born at the old Horn farm December 15, 1864, daughter of Peter G. and Drusilla M. (Stahl) Horn. Peter G. Horn was a prominent citizen of Honey Creek Township, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1825, son of Adam and Mary Horn, and settled in Adams County April 15, 1857. His wife was born in Pennsylvania January 26, 1831. Peter Horn was recognized even forty years ago as one of the ablest and most progressive farmers of Honey Creek.

The Horn farm after being rented by Mr. Yeargain for two years was bought by him. Besides his wife's interest he assumed a heavy debt contracted with the other heirs. It was a large farm of 400 acres, and at the time of his purchase represented almost a maximum of land value in Adams County. It contains some long standing improvements, including the house built by Mr. Horn in 1860, and the barn about 1863.

This is now the Yeargain stock and grain farm. Mr. Yeargain 's Shorthorn cattle comprise a herd of about thirty-five thoroughbreds. For a number of years he has made a practice of selling breeding animals, many of which are shipped to distant states, and he holds both public and private sales. Some of his bulls and heifers have commanded most attractive prices. He is also an extensive breeder and feeder of hogs. Besides making this farm pay for itself Mr. Yeargain has invested his surplus in many other tracts of land, so that his present estate comprises about 800 acres, practically in a body, and so arranged as to be conveniently directed under his individual management. He has two other building sites on the farm, one occupied by a tenant, but he maintains general supervision over the entire domain. Mr. Yeargain is a member of the County Improvement Association, has been a delegate to the Farmers Congi-ess at Rock Island, is a trustee of the United Bi-ethren Church at Fowler, is a supporter of all the war activities, including Red Cross and Young ]\Ien's Christian Association, and while these constitute, together with the management of the farm, the full meed of a citizen's service, he had no inclination for the honors of office and is content to vote as a republican.