Quincy Township (part 54 of 74)

In 1890 the State Street Bank was organized by Herman Heidbreder, W. H. Govei-t, William H. Collins, Charles Becker, and Martin Heiderich. Henry Sprick was made its first teller. During the subsecjuent years it became possible for Mr. Sprick to obtain a substantial interest in the bank, and at the same time he gained valuable experience which made it possible for him to become cashier at the death of Mr. Herman Heidbreder. At present Mr. W. H. Covert is the only surviving member of the group of men who organized the bank and Henry C. Sprick is the only active member of the original staff. During the time that Mr. Sprick has acted as cashier of the State Street Bank the same has shown a very marked degree of progress in its internal organization as well as in its financial growth. The bank now occupies a commodious three-story building at 801 State Street which imposing structure stands as a monument to those sturdy active characters who organized it and furthers its development.

Beside the time and effort which he has given to his business Mr. Sprick has been a director of the Quincy Stove Company for many years. He is one of the Board of Water Works Commissioners of the City of Quincy and has been active in all public and church enterprises for the betterment of the community. In his political affiliation ]\Ir. Sprick is allied with the republican party and his religious faith is that of a Lutheran.

On August 14, 1890, Henry C. Sprick became united in marriage with Miss Clara I\I. Heidbreder, eldest daughter of Herman and Anna J. Heidbreder. Their union resiilted in a home which has proven to be one of extreme happiness and comfort, being blessed by a son and daughter. The son, Harvey H. Sprick, gi-aduated from the University of Michigan in 1916 and is now in the bank with his father, while the daughter, Helen, is at present a student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

H. C. Sterling though a resident of Quincy only about ten years is very well known in business circles, and business men of all classes make daily use of his office as secretary of the Credit Association. He has also established and built up a general commercial and credit agency.

Mr. Sterling was born in Nebraska, July 12, 1868, and later moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he was reared and educated. His parents, E. H. and Emily (Clark) Sterling, are natives of New York State, but more than fifty years ago established their home at Springfield, where they still reside.

H. C. Sterling for several years was agent for packing companies and meat dealers and at one time was a citj' salesman for the Armour Packing Company. He was later in the real estate business. From 1914 to the spring of 1916 he served as deputy sheriff of Adams County. On leaving that office he moved into the Illinois State Bank Building at the time it was completed and took up his duties as secretary of the Quincy Credit Association. He also furnishes a general credit service to outside business interests. He has charge of the local office of the Elaborated Roofing Company, and since January, 1918, his office has been on the ground floor of the building at 216 Sixth Avenue, North. He is also serving his third consecutive appointment as a notary public.

Mr. Sterling married for his first wife Anna Shreve, who died leaving three children. Gertrude E. is the wife of R. F. Ingersoll, of Quincy. Lena E. is the wife of C. C. Beck, also of Quincy. Harry C. is a student in the Quincy High School. Mr. Sterling married at Quincy for his present wife, Anna Fox, who was reared and educated in this city.

Benjamin L. Willhoit represents some of the old American stock of Adams County, especially those families which came in early days out of Kentucky and made some of the first clearings in the woods of this county, ilr. Willhoit has a fine farm in section 7 of Columbus Township, on rural route No. 4 out of Camp Point. He owns 315 acres in the home place and ninety-five acres adjoining. This gives a large property, and it has been thriftily managed, and has the Isest of farm buildings and other equipment. It has been his home for thirty yeai-s and most of his children grew up in that place.

The farm was originally bought by his father, Daniel Willhoit, from the George Smith heirs. Daniel Willhoit was a renter on the farm before he was its owner.

Mr. W^illhoit's grandfather, William Willhoit, better known among the old timers as Uncle Billy W^illhoit, was a native of Kentucky, where he married Delilah Curry, also a Kentucky girl. In pioneer days they came up over the new roads from Kentuckj^ to Adams County, Illinois, and bought a tract of wild and new land in section 7 of Columbus Township. Their first home there was a log cabin. William Willhoit and wife reared their children in that environment. They were settlers here as early as 1836 or 1837. William Willhoit finally sold his farm and retired to Coatsburg, where he died when past seventyfive years of age. He was known as the Daniel Boone of his part of the county, having killed hundreds of deer, wild turkey and even bear. His most remarkable and widely celebrated exploit was killing four turkeys at one shot.

Daniel Willhoit was born on the old farm in Columbus To\raship March 28, 1841. Daniel had several sisters. Amanda married John Smith and she now lives in Oklahoma, and her two daughters died after marriage. Another sister, Nancy, died after her marriage to John Urtle, who is now living in ^Missouri. Mr. and ]\Irs. Urtle had eight children, all still living.

Daniel Willhoit grew up in Columbus TowTiship at the old homestead, and married in Liberty Township Jane Lierle. She was born in this county in 1843. daughter of Zach and Mary (Wilks) Lierle. The Lierle family were well known in the pioneer annals of Adams County, especially as early settlers in Columbus Township. Zach Lierle 's first wife died in the prime of life, leaving three children. He then married a Jliss Turnej-, and finally moved out to Daviess County, Missouri, and died there in advanced years.

Benjamin L. Willhoit is the only child of his parents still living. His brother W^illiam died when a small child. Benjamin Willhoit was born on his grandfather's old farm December 1, 1865. He came to the farm where he now lives when twelve years old and thus had his training as a farmer on the land which he still cultivates. His father died here December 15, 1912, and since then Mr. \Yillhoit has been proprietor of the farm.

In Columbus Township December 25, 1888, he married Miss Luella DeMoss. She was born in that township December 31, 1865, and was reared and educated in the township. Her parents were David and Mary E. (Horner) DeMoss, her father born in Columbus Towniship October 12, 1840, and her mother in Ohio January 29, 1841. Mary Horner was brought to Adams County by her parents when she was a small child. Mrs. Willhoit 's parents were married March 6, 1862. Her father was a very capable farmer and business man, and owned about 1,000 acres of land in Columbus Township. He died at the old home, and his widow is now living near Clayton with her daughter, ]\[rs. Lillie Sparks, wife of Henry Sparks. Mrs. Henry Sparks has a son, Orrin. Mrs. Willhoit had another sister. Flora, who died at the age of twenty-six, and was the first wife of Henry Sparks. She left a daughter. Ethyl, now the wife of Albert Beckman. Mr. and Mrs. Willhoit had the following children : Harry L., who was educated in the district and high schools, lived on a farm west of Columbus Village and died January 1, 1919, his wife dying four days previously. He married Ida Thompson, of Gilmer Towaiship, and they had a daughter, Mildred Thompson, aged five years. L. Pearl, bom on the home farm, is the wife of Harry Thomas, and has a son, Donald Willhoit, born in 1913. Hazel F. WiUhoit graduated from the Maplewood High School of Camp Point in 1912, attended the Quiney ilusical College, has taught music, and is now the wife of B. Frank Thomas. Goldie was educated in the home schools, and is now specializing in poultry raising at the home farm. The family are all identified with the Christian Church. Mr. Willhoit is a democrat. His son Harry was a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodges at Columbus. j\Ir. Willhoit's father, Daniel, was one of the earliest Odd Fellows in this part of the county. Daniel Willhoit also served as supervisor of Columbus Township a number of years, and many times was called upon to assess the property of the township.

Silas Enlow. The Enlow family, well known and represented by several members in Adams Count}', was founded here by Thomas Enlow, who came from the vicinity of Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Adams County in 1833 and was one of the first settlers southwest of Liberty Village. He spent the rest of his life there, and his old farm is now owned by Mr. Byer. In 1814 Thomas Enlow married in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He died at the age of eighty and his widow passed away at the age of eighty-one. Among the children of this pioneer couple were : Ruth Titus, who died in Colorado ; Mrs. Rebecca Leach, who died at Kearney, Missouri ; Mi-s. Hulda Wittemeyer, who died at Adams, Illinois; Mrs. Eliza Leach, who died at Liberty; Phoebe, who died immarried in California ; Perry Enlow, of Quincj- ; Mrs. Nancy McBride, of Reed, Mis-souri ; Mrs. Nellie Westcott, of Colusa, California, now deceased; Luke, who spent most of his life in Hancock County, Illinois, but died in Nebraska; Silas; and Washington, who died in Liberty Township at the age of seventj'-four.

Silas Enlow was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1820, and was thirteen years of age when brought to Adams County. In 1848 he married Nancy Jane Sutherland, of Washington County, Pennsylvania. They had been childhood friends, and he went back to Pennsylvania to claim her as his bride. She was born at Claysville in Washington County in 1829. Silas Enlow developed a good farm of 160 acres near the old homestead in Liberty Township and lived there to accumulate a generous prosperity. He died in 1904 and his wife passed away alwut 1913. He was a democrat. Silas Enlow had a family of five children. His son George W. Enlow graduated from the St. Louis ^Medical College and practiced at Liberty until his death in 1899. at the age of forty-eiffht. Doctor Enlow married Catherine Lierle. who survived him. Doctor and Mi-s. Enlow had the following children : Dr. Aubrey Enlow, who graduated from the same school as his father and practiced at Liberty for a time, but is now at Kansas City. Missouri; Shaw of Kansas City; and Riley of Wyoming. Marion Enlow. of Los Angeles, and Lee Enlow. of Liberty, are the two other sons of Silas Enlow.

The two daughters of Silas Enlow are Cle and Sarah E.. the latter the widow of Shaw Buttz. Shaw Buttz was born in Liberty July 31, 1854, and at the age of twenty-one married Sarah E. Enlow. who was then eighteen years old. Mr. Buttz died March 6, 1916. Most of his life was spent on the old :Meacham homestead at the edge of Liberty, where Mrs. Shaw Buttz and her sister Cle Enlow still live. Mrs. Buttz having lost her only child in infancy took into her home Dottie, her niece, at the age of six years, and reared her. This niece is now Mrs. Atchley, of Los Angeles. California, and is the mother of two daughters, Nora and Evelyn. Mrs. Buttz reared another sir! from the age of six years. Delia May Moore, now a woman grown and still with IMrs. Buttz and ili.ss Enlow. Miss Cle Enlow was a teacher in Adams Couutv for a few years. She has given much of her time generously and self sacrificingly to the care of other people. She looked after her mother, and was devoted to her father, who in old age had lost his sight and hearing. Her mother needed her constant care for ten or fifteen years. Miss Cle Enlow also looked after her father's sister, Eliza Enlow Leach, during her old age. Mr. Shaw Buttz built the present brick home in which his widow and Miss Enlow reside. It is the center of a fine farm of 109 acres, adjoining the Village of Liberty on the north.

Gilbert Vance Stewart. One of the valuable and productive farnir* in Payson To\viiship is the Golden Rule Farm a half mile south of Plainville, with Gilbert Vance Stewart proprietor. The farm has many other interests aside from its value and productiveness. It has been the home of a family of sturdy citizenship, characterized by keen progressiveness and mental ability for a great many years. The present proprietor was born on that fann October 3, 1854. He is a son of Gilbert and Catherine (Merrill) Stewart.

Gilbert Stewart, Sr., was born in County Down, Ireland, April 20, 1815, fifth in a family of five sons and one daughter of John and Isabel (Vance) Stewart. John Stewart died in the old country. Gilbert Stewart when ten years of age came to America in company with a brother, sister and mother and the family .settled in Maine and lived there about twelve years, then came on west and located in Adams County. Gilbert Stewaii; reached this county in 1837, when he was twenty-two years of age. His brother William, above referred to, was one of the early day nursery men of the county, having the first nursery in the county outside of Quincy, his place of business being just north of Payson. He did much to furnish the original stock and stimulate fruit growing all over the county. William Stewart died of typhoid when about fifty-five years of age, December 13, 1857. Alexander Stewart, another brother of Gilbert, moved to Chariton County, Missouri, just north of Salisbury. Still another brother, John, died in Maine. A sister, Isabel, married Jasper Whitcomb, and died October 30, 1899. Mrs. Isabel (Vance) Stewart who came to America with her children died while with her son Gilbert in February, 1856, aged seventy-four years. Her body was the first interment in the Stewart Cemetery, for which Gilbert Stewart, Sr., donated half an acre of ground. The Stewart Cemetery is now incorporated, having been so since 1916 with one acre added.

Gilbert Stewart, Sr., had a very limited education, but was a man of superior intelligence and read and obsen'ed so as to make up largely for early deficiencies. On May 6, 1851, he married Catherine Merrill. She was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, January 31, 1830, daughter of Nathaniel and Lucinda (Bassett) Merrill. She died December 14, 1896, aged sixty-six years. Soon after her birth her parents moved to Pennsylvania, lived there seven years, and then came to Adams County. The Merrills and Stewarts were neighbors in Payson Township. Catherine Merrill's mother died in Hancock County, Illinois, March 8, 1859, aged fifty-six years, and her father died at the age of seventy-eight, October 17, 1874, and with him the name Merrill ceased to exist in Adams County except in the female line. Catherine Merrill's sLster Julia married into the Hibbard family. Her brother, Nathaniel B. Merrill, was killed in battle at Memphis, Tennessee, September 16, 1863.

Gilbert Stewart, Sr., died August 4, 1890, at the age of seventy-five. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and his wife was a Methodist. On the old farm he had built a stone house in 1850, clo.se to the west side of the farm near a spring. He set out one of the early orchards and his place Avas famous for its fruit in those days. In 1874 he built the house that still stands on the farm, and in 1876 erected the substantial barn and after that various other out buildings. His business life was .spent on the farm. From 1837 to 1840 he had owned land in partnership with his brothers, and came to what is now the Golden Rule Farm in 1840. The family of Gilbert Stewart and wife consists of the following children : Emily F., who died September 7, 1895, at the age of forty-three, wife of David Hulsizer, who has since died in New Jersey; Gilbert Vance, second of the family ; Charles W., a resident of Palmyra, Missouri; Russell B., of Anthony, Kansas; Roscoe E., who bought half of the old homestead farm, improved it, and died there July 18, 1910 ; George M., who for seventeen years was a merchant at Plainville and is now living retired in that village; and Arthur M., who died November 13, 1918, aged fifty-two.

Gilbert V. Stewart has in his home one of those rare antiquities that some people often pay large sums of money to secure. It is a Grandfather's clock, brought by the family from Ireland, and known to have been in the family possession for at least 118 years. It is a splendid specimen of skilled cabinet workmanship. Its walnut case is hand carA'ed and stands seven feet high. Just before he died Gilbert Stewart, Sr., willed this clock to his sou Gilbert V. For a quarter of a century it was silent, but for forty years it has kept time with an accuracy hardly surpassed by modern timekeepers. It is a living link between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries, and five generations of the Stewart family have regulated their daily lives by its voice.

Gilbei*t V. Stewart grew up in Adams Comity, attended the local schools, and for five years of his early manhood lived on his uncle William's farm near Payson Village. In 1884 he went to Anthony, Kansas, and in company with his brother Russell had some experience in farming in that state. In 1891, after his father's death, he returned to the old home and bought sixty-five acres, including the house and homestead and also the Gilbert Stewart Cemetery. He has cleared out fully twenty acres from heavy timber and devotes the Golden Rule Farm to the staple crops and the raising of cattle, hogs, mules and horses. Mr. Stewart is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

December 1, 1878, he married Miss Susie Delaplain, a cousin of C. E. Delaplain of Quincy, and daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Horn) Delaplain. Mrs. Stewart was born in Hampshire County, West Virginia, November 3, 1848. In 1871 she came to Adams County with her uncle, Levi Delaplain, and her parents came on two years later, locating in Payson Township. About 1882 the Isaac Delaplain family moved to Kansas, where they spent ten years, after which they returned to Plainville and her father died there in March, 1892. The mother afterward lived with her daughter, and died at the home of a daughter in Benton, Arkansas, November 27, 1894. ilr. and Mrs. Delaplain were married March 23, 1841.

Columbus F. Stewart, oldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert V. Stewart, was torn December 5, 1879, and resides at Frankfort, Illinois. He is employed by the Interurban Railway. He married Vesta Wagj', and their five children are Stanley Vancil, Edna E.. Paul A., Ruth S. and Lewis F. Lurah B. Stewart, born March 5, 1881, married Oscar E. Stewart, son of Albert and Maggie Stewart. He was born February 14, 1877, and was educated in the Quincy High School and Business College. He lived in Missouri four years and then returned to Illinois, and died from typhoid at Quincy four months later, February 20, 1910, at the age of thirty-three, and when life held out its best promises to him. He left his widow with three children, who now live with Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, his parents. These three grandchildren are Ralph Allen, a freshman in high school, Gilbert Vance, Jr., aged twelve, and Esther Mary, aged nine.

Valentine J. Kiem, resident of Melrose Township for a long period of years, has had a career that challenges admiration and respect. It has the solid basis of industry and is crowned by a success of his own achieving, won by the strictest regard to honest principles and integrity of character.

He is of the third generation of the Kiem family in Adams County. His grandfather, Justinus Kiem, came to America from Saxony, Germany, in 1847, and soon afterwards located on a farm in Melrose Township. The family still

Valentine J. Kiem was born June 26, 1858, third in the family of four children born to Valentine and Anna Marie (Ulrich) Kiem. His father was born in 1828, and lived in Adams County as a practical fanner from the age of twenty until his death in 1885. Further reference to the Kiem family will be found on other pages of this publication.

Valentine J. Kiem was reared and educated in his native township, and for many j'ears has been noted as one of the leading fruit growers of the township. He specializes in the tree crops of apples, peaches and pears, and has a fine estate of forty acres, mostly in fruit.

June 21, 1899, Mr. Kiem married Catherine M. VoUmer. Of their two children only one is now living, Irma Mildred, who was well educated in the common schools and also in the country high school, and received instrumental musical instruction. She lives at home with her parents, and is a member of the Lutheran Memorial Church at Quincy and of the Ked Cross Society.

Mrs. Kiem was born in Adams County June 16, 1869, daughter of George "W. and Anna Mary (Balzer) Vollmer. Her parents had five children, all living but one : George W., who is a farmer at Salt Fork, Oklahoma, and has three sons, Elmer Ellis, Harry Dick and Scott E. ; Daniel Edward, who is janitor for Carthage College at Carthage, Illinois, and is married but has no children ; Mrs. Kiem ; and Dora Louise, wife of Frank Stockseck.

George W. Vollmer, father of Mrs. Kiem, was born in Germany and came to America as a young man. He was a harness maker and saddler by trade and followed those lines in Liberty and Quincy. He was a republican voter. Both he and his wife were members of the Liitheran Church at Liberty. His wife was only thirteen years old when she came to the United States, and is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Kiem.

Mrs. Kiem was educated in the common schools, and was well qualified by training and by natural aptitude for the work of professional nurse. She took her training for that profession in Blessing Hospital in Quincy.

Mrs. Kiem's first husband was William E. Bartholomew. She had two children bj' that union, one of whom is still living, Helen Lucile, wife of Howard F. Petrie, a commercial salesman living at Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. Petrie is a graduate of the Quincy High School. William E. Bartholomew died in September, 1896, after he and his wife had been married only three years. He had completed a liberal education in the Lutheran College at Springfield, Ohio.

Mr. Kiem married for his first wife, March 29, 1882, Miss Marv Ann Erke. Three children were born to their union, all of whom are living. Alice Anna is a nurse and modiste in Los Angeles, California. She was educated in the public schools, and is a member of the Lutheran Church at Los Angeles. Jessie C, the second daughter, is the wife of Eldon Kidson, a salesman in a departmental store at Louisiana, Missouri. Mrs. Kidson was educated in the public schools. They have a daughter, Beulali. They are members of the Pentecostal Church of Louisiana. Louise, the third daughter of Mr. Kiem by his first wife, was educated in the common schools and is now the wife of Earl Abel, a farmer at Burton, Illinois. They have a son, Russell Earl.

;Mr. Kiem is a republican in politics. His first presidential vote went to Jame.s A. Garfield and he has always supported his party loyally and has served as a delegate to various county conventions. For two terms he was township clerk, for three years was road commissioner, and for twelve terms was a school trustee. His fellow citizens have appreciated his ability and judgment in promoting every matter of local benefit. He and his wife are active members of the Quincy Memorial Church of the Lutheran faith.

Their homestead is known as the Orchard Grove Farm, located 1% miles from the city limits of Quincy. In the fall of 1917 Mr. and Mrs. Kiem and daughter Irma took a vacation and visited friends and relatives at Wichita, Kansas, and in Oklahoma, and while there Mr. Kiem was a close observer of many phases of the great oil industiy of the Mid-Continent oil fields. Mr. and Mrs. Kiem were also visitors to the World^s Fair at St. Louis in 1&04, and Mrs. Kiem and her. daughter Helen traveled through the East in 1899. They are people who keep up with the advance made in the world's knowledge and affairs and they stand for the good things of life in general.

George Wilson Hunsakeb. Probably there is no more widelj- known citizen over Adams County and up and down the Mississippi Valley than George Wilson Hunsaker of Fall Creek TowTiship. Mr. Hunsaker represents a family that was established in that township more than eight}' j'ears ago. His own life has been spent there, not only as a successful farmer and farm manager, but as a citizen who has gained a host of friends by his genial fellowship and interests in hunting and outdoor life. Hundreds of devotees of the rod and gun know Mr. Hunsaker and have delighted in his companionship on many excursions through the woods and fields and in the favorite fishing places.

The Hunsaker family originally had their home in Penn.sylvania. Daniel Hunsaker, Sr., came from that state to Illinois, where he was a pioneer. Daniel Wilson Hunsaker, father of George W., was born in Union County, Illinois, September 25, 1820. When he was at an early age his parents moved to Jefferson County, Missouri, where he attended school, and four years later in 1834, established their home in Adams County. Daniel Wilson Hunsaker grew up in Fall Creek Township, a mile west of Marblehead. On Jul.y 24, 1850, he married ]\Iiss Frances Shurte. They were married at Marion Citv, Missouri. She was born in South Bend, Indiana, October .30, 1828.

At the time of his marriage Daniel W. Hunsaker had no capital, and he first lived in a log house and rented the Hadley farm. ^\Tien his son George was four years of age he moved to Macon City, Missouri, and lived there until 1862. He left Missouri on account of war conditions. In the center of that town was erected a pole with a broom at the top, signifying it was the intention of the community to sweep out all northern people, and as a matter of fact most men of northern sympathies did leave. At Alexandria, Missouri, while on the return to Adams Count.y, his horses while on pasture were stolen. Thus he returned to Adams County and began life again at the bottom of the ladder.

In 1873 he bought his first tract of land, fourteen acres at .$100 an acre and later he purchased more land, going in debt for it. His security in that transaction was A. E. Bebee. The land had no buildings, but he went ahead and made improvements, and after getting it pair for traded for part of the farm now owned by his son George. In that neighborhood extensive deposits of stone were quarried, some of which was used for the courthouse at Quincy, the statehouse at Des Moines, the customhouse at St. Louis and the bridge over the Mississippi River in Louisiana. There were nearly 300 workmen employed in these quarries, and as their presence offered opportunity for trade, Daniel W. Hunsaker started a saloon and was in that line of business about six years. When the stone proved unsuitable for building purposes, not being frost proof, other parties set up lime kilns, and there was established the Marblehead Lime and Cement Company.

The profits from his business enterprise D. W. Hunsaker invested in bottom land, acquiring about 2.50 acres covered with heavy timber. He sold large quantities of wood for use in the lime kilns, a cord bringing !^4. Eventually he had about 160 acres in cultivation.

The present residence on the home farm was built in 1881. D. W. Hunsaker was a democrat but never in public service. He died March 27, 1904, and his wife on April 18, 1906.

George Wilson Hunsaker was the only child of his parents to reach mature years. His boyhood was spent at liome, and as a youth he learned telegi-aphy at the home station of the railroad, and at Quincy he learned that art under

S. E. Mills, the agent at Marblehead. For eight or uine years he was an operator, from 1873 to 1881, and during that time was in the employ of the Burlington, the Hannibal and St. Joe, the Chicago and Alton, the Denver and Kio Grande railways.

December 20, 1881, 'Sir. Hunsaker married Elizabeth Bowers, of Marblehead, daughter of Franklin and Sarah A. Niekerson Bowers. She was born at Marblehead November 24, 1864. Mr. Hunsaker for over thirty-five years has managed the home farm, though his father was nominally its responsible head until his death, ilr. Hunsaker has consented to serve in but one office, that of to^Tiship collector. For the past sixteen years he has been a republican in politics.

His favorite diversion as a hunter and fisherman has been referred to. He is a very companionable sportsman, and has enjoyed the friendship of all the leading hunters of Quincy and other cities. His land was the home of a hunting club that had among its membership manj- well known men of Quincy. Fraternally he is affiliated wnth the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United "Workmen.

Mr. Hunsaker had a family of five children. Malinda Viola married Lawrence M. Poor, a foreman for the Atlas Cement Company at Hannibal, Missouri. Oscar C. enlisted in the armj- as soon as the United States declared war against Germany, his enlistment being made at Chicago, and after a brief training in a North Carolina camp he was sent overseas and has been on the battlefront in the Heavy Artillery ever since. Franklin W. Hunsaker married J. Goodwin, and lives at Marblehead. Emma married Frederick Wittland and died at the birth of her second child, when only nineteen years of age. Her first child was Mildred Catherine, and the second, George Henry, was reared by Mr. and ]\Irs. Hunsaker and is now eleven years of age. The present wife of Frederick Wittland was Sally Hunsaker, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Hunsaker.

William G. Kieji. One of the old and honored families of Adams County is that which bears the name Kiem and which has been represented here for seventy years. Its members have been mainly engaged in agi-ieultural pursuits and have been noted for their honorable and upright dealings and their good citizenship. A worthy representative of the name is found in William G. Kiem, who was born in ilelrose Township and has made that locality the scene of his industrious life as a farmer and stockman. He and his worthy wife have reared their children and have reached a point in their affairs where comfort and pleasure share equally with the demands for labor and productive effort.

Both his grandfather, Justinus, and his father, Valentine Kiem, were natives of Germany and came to Madison County in 1848. Valentine Kiem was born near Gotha in Saxony, Germany, on March 6, 1828, and was nineteen years old when he and his father, Justinus, and other members of the family set sail from Bremen and after a voyage of eight weeks landed at New Orleans. From there they came up the river to Adams County and soon bought eiglity acres in Melrose Towniship, land now occupied and owned by William G. Kiem. Valentine Kiem was an honored resident and practical farmer in Adams County, at one time owned a place of 160 acres of fertile and productive land, and lived here until his death October 31, 1885. He was an independent voter, and he and his wife were members of the Salem German Evangelical Church. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ulrich, was born in Saxony, Germany, October 6, 1833. She died in October, 1898, and both she and her husband now rest in the Green Mount Cemetery. Mary Ulrich was a daughter of Christopher Ulrich, who after coming to Adams County joined a party of gold seekers and went to California during the days of '49. crossing the plains, and that was the la.st ever seen or heard of him by his people. The report that came back was that he had been murdered. Valentine and Mary Kiem had five children, three sons and two daughters. The four now living are: Christian, who was educated in the German and English languages and is a retired farmer living in Quincy. He is a democrat and is married and has eight children. Mary, the second of the family, is the wife of Lambert G. Frederick, of Melrose Township. Valentine J. is one of the leading citizens of Melrose Township. The fourth and youngest is William G.

William K. Kiem was born in Melrose Township on the land that he now occupies March 9, 1864. He attended the common schools and now for over thirty years has applied himself with diligence and successful ability to the business of farming. On November 20, 1890, he married IMiss Minnie F. Erke. They are the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters. Of the three now living the oldest is Edna M., who went from the common schools to the Illinois Western Normal at Macomb, and is one of the talented public school teachers of Illinois. During the past three years she has been identified with the Jefferson Junior High School, and altogether has spent seven years in the profession. She is also prominent in social and war activities, is president of the local committee of the National Council of Defense, is a member of the Eed Cross, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. She accompanied her parents when the family made an interesting trip to the San Francisco Exposition in 1915. Ruth L., the second child, a member of the class of 1918 in the Quincy High School, is the wife of Russell D. Herleman and she is now teaching. She is a pianist, a graduate in music from St. Mary's Academy, is affiliated with the Melrose Chapel Church and is also a participant in Red Cross activities. The only son, Edgar C. E., a graduate of the class of 1918 in the Quincy High School, is now attending college at Champaign. He was in the enlistment for the war.

Mrs. Kiem was born October 6, 1866, daughter of William and Louisa (Fleiskamp) Erke. She has one living brother, William, a resident of Melrose Town.ship living on the old Ei-ke Homestead. He is a republican and a member of the Salem German Evangelical Church.

]\Irs. Kiem's father was born in Germanj' and came to the L^nited States with very little capital. He began at the bottom of the ladder, afterwards bought eighty acres in Melrose Township and was one of the well situated farmers of that locality. He died January 4, 1899, and his wife passed away in 1873, when Mrs. Kiem was only seven years old. They were members of the Salem German Evangelical Church, and were laid to rest in Mount Carmel Cemetery.

Mrs. Kiem was educated in the German and English schools and grew up in her native county. She has been a splendid wife and mother to her family, and the prosperity of the Kiems is a tribute to her energy and good judgment. Mr. Kiem has always been a republican in political affiliations, but gives his vote independently in matters of local moment. He has been selected as delegate to county conventions. The welfare of the public schools always makes a strong demand upon his spirit of helpfulness and for from twelve to fifteen years he has served as a school director. The Kiem family divide their church allegiance between the Salem Evangelical and the IMelrose Chapel churches.

In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Kiem and their children took a vacation which brought them rest and recreation as well as many opportunities to see their native land. Their chief destination was the San Francisco Exposition. Going west, they journeyed through St. Louis, Kansas City and El Paso to Arizona and Los Angeles, which gave them an opportunity to see the homes and surroundings created by the vast wealth represented in the cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena, and then after attending the exposition at San Francisco they returned eastward by way of Ogden and Salt Lake, inspected the wonderful ilormon Temple with its vast auditorium and its perfect acoustics, and also spent a few days in the famous mountain resorts of Colorado. They returned home after an absence of four weeks.

The Kiem farm in Melrose Township is known as the Spring Brook Stock Farm, and has been brought to a high state of productiveness both for the culture of grain and raising of live stock. The home is two miles from the city limits, and is within half a mile of the State Aid stone road. It is a farm of much value and also an abode of hospitality, where the many friends of the family And a cordial welcome. The Kiems appreciate the value of money for what it will bring, and have made their home one of such conveniences and advantages that manj- citj' dwellers might envy. The house and barns are lighted by acetylene gas, the heating is by furnace system, and all other modem details are successfully worked out. The family also enjoy the advantages of a good touring car.

George Keil. The rich farming community of Fall Creek Township has known three George Keils. It is an old and noteworthy family. They have been among the most substantial people of that locality, have cleared and improved the land and proved their worth as citizens at eveiy point.

The George Keil under present consideration owns the old Keil homestead in Fall Creek Township, eleven miles southeast of Quincy. On that farm he was born December 24, 1863.

His grandparents were George B. and Louise Keil. The former was boi-n in Frankisch Grumbach, Hesse-Darmstadt, November 19, 1808, and died April 23, 1892. His wife, Louise, was born September 27, 1818, in Lippe-Detmold, and died February 14, 1869. These dates are found on the headstones in the Bluff Hall Cemetery, where both were laid to rest.

A son of these parents was George Keil, Jr., as he was known. He died at the early age of forty-five. He married Margaret Speekhart, and they were married on the farm where their son George was born and where he now lives. Margaret Keil is still living, residing among her children.

Mr. George Keil owns 260 acres of his father's home, and has added eighty acres of adjoining land ; also owns eighty acres a mile east, and has a 120-acre farm in Payson Township, with twenty-four acres of standing timber. All this land is used for general farming.

While Mr. George Keil is one of the successful farmers and progressive citizens of this locality, his home place is partly by preference and partly by accident somewhat remote and it does not indicate to the passer by its real value. The residence stands half a mile back from the country road and is not visible until close at hand. The approach is through pasture and over ditches. There is still another point of approach, through a picturesque gorge, whose overhanging roekj' sides threaten the traveler, and whose bed at times roars with the torrent flood.

At the age of twenty-seven he married Hannah Heitholt. She was a widow at the time, and her children by her first husband were Fred, George and Emma Wollbriuk. Mr. and Mrs. Keil had one daughter, Anna, wife of Heniy Althoff, and they live on her father's Payson Township farm. For his second wife Mr. Keil married Christina Blumer. They have three children, Elizabeth, Wilma and George.

The family attend the Bluff Hall Congregational Church. Mr. Keil's home was built by his father almost a room at a time. His father at the time of his marriage had two rooms of logs, and these were added to from time to time. The land originally was covered with heavy timber, and in the process of clearing much of it was burned and went to waste.

Hon. Ben.jamin Franklin Berrian came to Quincy at the age of fourteen, grew up in the community, developed with it, and for over half a century his life and actions were a determining factor in its historj*. He was long prominent in public affairs, and was one of the ablest law.yers of Quincy.

He represented a prominent old family of the East, and was a son of George "W. and Hannah (Brewer) Berrian. George W. Berrian, his father, was one of the first men to prospect over this section of "Western Illinois. In 1818, in company with an uncle, he made the long overland trip to this state, and in the state formed the acquaintance of John "Wood, afterwards govei-nor, and the founder of the City of Quiney. From this trip Mr. Berrian carried away many impressions which finally determined his investment in land here and the establishment of his permanent home at Quiney. The family once owned a section of land now known as South Park in the southern portion of Quiney, and also in the northern section, part of which was platted as the Primrose Addition. George W. Berrian spent his last years in New York City and died at Brooklyn at the age of eighty years. His wife, Hannah Brower, was a native of New York City and survived her husband .several years, both dying when about the same age. She was an active member of the Methodist Church. George W. Berrian and wife had three sons: George W., Jr., who died in 1898 ; William, who died in 1896 ; and Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin Berrian was born in New York City October 2, 1830, and died at his home in Quiney July 1.5, 1911. He was active almost to the last and was stricken with heart disease while measuring some land which he had sold.

As a youth he acquired a good education and soon after reaching manhood took an active part in public affairs. He was the first alderman from the Fourth Ward in 1857 and was re-elected in 1858 and in 1860. In 1869 he was elected mayor of Quiney, and that administration was signalized by many important economies and reforms, including cash payments for city expenses. In the meantime he was studying law in the office of Wheat & Marcy and was admitted to the bar. He was elected county judge with probate jurisdiction in 1877, and for seventeen years held that important office. He was distinguished by a judicial mind, absolutely fearless and with an unimpeachable integi"ity and was always ready with his legal ability to uphold justice and succor the needy and unfortunate.

Along with his law practice he developed many important business interests. He platted Primrose Addition to the city and encouraged the location of a fine class of people there by founding the beautiful park that bears his name, Berrian Park.

Judge Berrian married for his first wife Charlotte Elliott, who died May 26, 1863, leaving three children: John S., a resident of Los Angeles; Benjamin F. Jf., who died September 1, 1918; and Hannah M., wife of Judge Lyman McCarl, one of the editors of this publication.

January 28, 1868, at Quiney, Judge Berrian married Genevra Nance. Mrs. Berrian, who resides at the old home on North Twelfth Street, a part of the original Everett estate, has lived in Quiney since she was five years of age. The present Berrian home has been her place of residence for forty-seven jears and many large and handsome trees have grown up as adornment since the Berrians located there. Mrs. Berrian was born December 11, 1844, sixteen miles east of Quiney at the old village of Columbus, daughter of Clement and Permelia (Watson) Nance. Her father was one of the earliest settlers of Columbus, which one time was a rival for county seat honors. He located there in the late '30s and for a number of years was a merchant. In 1849 the Nance family removed to Quiney, where Llrs. Berrian gi-ew up. For many years she has been an active and sustaining member of the Unitarian Church, of which Judge Berrian was also an active supporter. Judge Berrian was also prominent in Masonry, a Knight Templar, and in politics was a democrat.

Mrs. Berrian was the mother of one child, Clement Nance Berrian, who was born October 18, 1883, and spent much of his life as an invalid. He was liberally educated, and had the promise of a brilliant career w'hen he was stricken with tuberculosis of the spine. He died October 25, 1911, only a few weeks after the death of his honored father.

Altrogge Brothers. One of the conspicuous instances of successful farming and general agricultural and stock raising enterprise in Adams County is furnished by Altrogge Brothers, Henry and John Altrogge, whose scene of oper- ations is five miles southeast of Quiney and half a mile east of ^Melrose Chapel in the township of that name. Both are young men, but have displayed remarkable energy, foresight and all around business ability in handling their affairs, and have made their success in an era of high prices, when the average man considers the acquisition of a farm almost beyond his reach.

Both are natives of Adams County and were born at Walnut Springs where their mother Mrs. Theodore Altrogge is still living. Henry was born ilay 12, 187.3. and John, October 27, 1880. They are sons of Theodore and Mary (Willing) Altrogge. Theodore Altrogge was born in Germany and was seven yeai-s of age when he was brought to the United States with his parents. His mother died on the ocean and was buried at sea. The father came on to Adams County and settled on land where Mrs. Theodore Altrogge is still living. He died soon afterward. He was both a farmer and shoemaker. Theodore Altrogge grew up on the old place, learned the shoemaker's trade, and also farmed thirty-two acres. He died there December 2, 1904, at the age of sixty-five years, five months and sixteen days. His children were : Henry ; George, living with his mother; Lizzie, wife of Andy Klauser, of Ellington Town.ship ; John; Frank, a stock buyer and shipper at Quiney; and Mary, Mrs. John Grawe, of Melrose Township.

Henry and John Altrogge have been associated in business since 1907. For six years they rented land and then bought their present fann, the old Matt Pease place of 100 acres. For this they paid $135 an acre, and bought it altogether on time. It has been paid for and they have also acquired forty acres of pasture land three miles away at $40 an acre. They also operate 120 acres under lease of the L. P. Wheeler farm and thirty acres of the Niekamp farm. All this constitutes a large body of land, much of which is devoted to general grain farming, principally wheat and corn, and in less than ten years by their cooperating energies thej- have acquired a property that makes them at once among the mo.st substantial citizens of the county. The house on their home farm was burned election day in April, 1916, and it was rebuilt in the same year. In 191.3 the brothers built a large barn, and they have an equipment of buildings thoroughly adequate for all their needs.

For nine years John Altrogge was associated with his brother Frank as a buyer and shipper of livestock, and sent about two carloads to market every week. The brothers are democrats and are members of St. Antonius Catholic Church, this old center of worship being two miles from their home.

Henry Altrogge married in 1908 Miss Maiy Tulle, who died December 21, 1915. Her only son died in infanc.y. John Altrogge married, June 14, 1911, Eleanor Kroner. They have a family of three children, named Raymond, Helen and Mildred.

WiLLL\M J. Smith. The present county clerk of Adams County has many interests and associations that identify him with this section of Illinois. He was born here, and when Adams County was just emerging from its wilderness condition his grandparents established homes on tracts of Government land. There is a long and honorable record of the family, who have been known as substantial land owners and agriculturists and men who have borne their responsibilities with credit in every relationship.

The county clerk was born at tlrsa in Adams County July 26, 1870, a son of William B. and Susan (Dowry) Smith. The paternal grandparents were James Glenn and Sarah (Cundiff) Smith, who came from Kentuckj- to Adams County in 1830, and the 160-acre farm which the grandfather acqviired from the Government and developed for agricultural purposes is now owned by his grancLson, Thomas B. Smith, of whom mention is found elsewhere in this work. This old homestead is situated near Ursa. William B. Smith was a native of Kentucky and was a small child when the family came to Adams County. He died at the age of fifty-eight and his wife two years later. The maternal grandparents of William J. Smith were John and Isabel Dowry, who brought their family from Londonderry, Ireland, where Susan Lowry was Ijoru, and settled on a farm in Adams County in 1836. William B. Smith and wife were the parents of six children: Sarah E., deceased; Isabella L. Walker, deceased; Thomas B., owner of the ancestral estate near Ursa, and in whose sketch appears the family record ; Margaret and Susan, who died in infancy ; and William J.

William J. Smith lived on the farm and attended the rural schools until he was fourteen, after which he continued his education in the Quincy public schools and spent one year in the college at Carthage, Illinois. He faced the serious responsibilities of life at the age of eighteen, and for three years was employed in the office of John H. Best, traffic manager of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railway. He then went back home and participated in farming there for four years. Taking a civil service examination, he went to work for the Government as letter carrier in Quincy and was with the postal department there for ten years. He still retains his membership in the Letter Carriers' Association. Mr. Smith resigned as letter carrier to become deputy county clerk in 1906, and the four years he spent in that office was an invaluable preparation for his present duties. Leaving the county clerk's oiSce he went on the road as traveling representative of Armour & Company, and continued that work until elected county clerk in 1914. ilr. Smith's political activities have been in the democratic party. He is a Mason, a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of Moose, and belongs to the Adams County ilutual Benevolent Society. His church is the Presbyterian.

February 25, 1902, he married Maude E. Brazier, of ]\[aeon, Missouri. They have one child, Elizabeth. By a previous marriage Mr. Smith has two children, William Bryant, now an auditor, and Hunter B., a machinist.

George M. Wagnee, a well known business man of Payson, is a genial, accommodating merchant, whose personality makes for increased trade. He has a wide acquaintance, and the prosperity he enjoys is only an adequate return for the service he has rendered.

Eight years ago Mr. Wagner bought the stock of goods formerly owned by E. E. Thompson in the Masonic Building at Payson. He has since added to the stock, and now carries the normal value of $6,500 in his store. Mr. Wagner was born in Payson Township February 13, 1872, son of L. C. and Elizabeth (Ferguson) Wagner. H,is father was born in Pike County, Illinois, of German parentage, and spent his active career in Pike and Adams counties. He died June 11, 1911, while the widowed mother is still living at Paj'son.

George M. Wagner grew up on the home farm, worked out by the month, and at the age of twenty-four married Frances Moore, daughter of Roger and Emeline Moore. Her father is deceased and hor mother lives at Paj-son. Mrs. Wagner was born in Columbus Township and was nineteen years of age at the time of her marriage.

After his marriage Mr. Wagner began clerking for G. W. Lawrence and Brother in a general store. He was there six years, at wages of $1 a day. For two years he was with Mr. Thompson at increased pay, and also did considerable business as a teamster, freighting for local stores, until he bought his present establishment. Since then he has given all his time and energies to his business, which has grown most satisfactorily. Mr. Wagner has also served as township tax collector, and is a democrat in polities. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and he was made a IMason in Paj'son Lodge four years ago.

Stephen A. Benson. The farm that he owns, the way in which he manages it and his standing as a man and citizen in the community entitled Stephen A. Benson, of Payson Township, to some special mention in this work. Mr. Benson's home is one mile south of Plainville, and the Benson family have been anchored in that locality for over sixty years.

seven miles from where he now lives, October 5, 1854. His parents were Pleasant C. and Catherine (Parks) Benson, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Pike County, Illinois. Pleasant C. Benson came to Pike County, Illinois, when a lad with his parents, John and Lueinda Benson. The grandparents spent their old age in Adams County and died when about ninety years of age. One son of Jolui and Lueinda remains at Kinderhook. Another son, John, Jr., went to California at the same time with Pleasant, making the trip overland, and remained in that state. He was killed when still comparativel}' young, leaving a wife and three children in California. Pleasant C. Benson remained only a year in California and had the average experience of the early day miners and prospectors in that region. Returning to Illinois, he man-ied and in 1856 moved to the farm where Stephen A. Benson now lives. Later he had his home for a time at Barry, and finally retired to Plainville, where he died in his sixty-fourth year. His widow survived him fifteen years and also passed away at Plainville. Pleasant Benson owned 240 acres in a body, most of it prairie land, though including some timber. His improvements in the way of buildings still stand. During Civil war times he built the present bam, though it has since been remodeled and worked over by Stephen A. Benson. About sixty years ago he built the house, and that is one of the interesting structures of old time workmanship and materials built at the time in Adams County. The siding for the house was cut from heavy black walnut. There are many hundreds of feet of fine walnut lumber still in the hoi;se. Pleasant Benson was not a man who appeared much in public life, and was satisfied to give his time quietly and inconspicuously to his farm and his family. He belonged to no church nor fraternity. He and his wife had only two children, Stephen A. and Clara. The daughter married Wilson Lester and died when aljout fifty years of age in Plainville. Pleasant Benson gave her 160 acres and also built a house and otherwise improved it for her.

Stephen A. Benson has spent all his life on the farm to which his parents moved when he was an infant. He managed the farm during his father's lifetime and now owns 160 acres in the old estate. He has grown the staple crops and has done much stock feeding, his chief interest along that line being the feeding of hogs. Like his father before him he is a democrat, but is chiefly a voter.

September 24, 1876, Mr. Benson married Miss Eliza Wagy, daughter of Oscar and Rebecca J. Wagj% of Plainville. Mrs. Benson was born in Payson Township August 11, 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Benson have three sons. Charles, bom July 28, 1877, lives on the home farm, and served three years as road commissioner. Ellis is cashier of the Plainville Bank and married Gertrude Ramsey. Floyd is still at home. Mr. Benson is an active Mason, also an Odd Fellow at Plainville, and has filled the chairs in both orders and has represented both lodges in the Grand Lodge. He is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Barry, fourteen miles from his home. He and his wife are both enthusiastic Eastern Star members. Mrs. Benson was initiated in the Eastern Star at Kinderhook thirtj' years ago and has been very active ever since. She has filled all positions, including worthj^ matron of the Chapter and was delegate to the Grand Chapter at Chicago.

Edward Norton Larimore. ]\Iembers of the Larimore family have lived so long and have been so prominently identified witli Payson Township that it is difficult to specially identify any member of the family by unusual prominence. Identification, however, is easy in the case of Edward Norton Larimore, who for many years has been proprietor of the Bli Bro Farm of Aberdeen Angus cattle and has done as much possibly as any other Illinois man to popularize that strain among the farms of the state. His farm is 21 miles southeast of Quincy and 214 miles southeast of Plainville.

Edward N. Larimore spent his boyhood at the home farm, and had one year of instruction in Knox College and took the short course in tlie Agricultural School of the State University. In 1891 he moved to his present farm, where he bought 160 acres, but now has 226 acres.

In addition to his efforts as a livestock breeder Mr. Larimore has been unusually successful as an oichardist. On taking possession of his farm more than a quarter of a century ago he set out an orchard of twenty-five acres. These trees have been in bearing now for fifteen years. Later he set out another thirteen acre tract and two years later bought thirty acres more of orchard. He now has three separate orchards, totaling sixty-eight acres. The thirteen acre orchard is almost entirely Jonathan apples. The principal variety is Ben Davis, and he also has many Grimes Golden trees. In 191-4 9.086 bari'els were packed in the orchard. He handled that large crop himself. In 1918 he sold his crop on the trees. Mr. Larimore is a charter member of the ilississippi Valley Apple Growers' A.ssociation. He was one of the pioneers in using the spray to battle diseases. He and two other men started spraying in the same year. For a long time it was necessary to spray only once a year, but now commercial growers claim at least three sprayings a year necessary. Mr. Larimore keeps all his trees trimmed to low heads, and fertilizes with home produced manure. He uses clover as a cover crop, but each year cultivates his orchards with a disc harrow.

Mr. Larimore 's Aberdeen Angus herd was established in ]S86. It is next to the oldest herd of that kind in Illinois. His father made the start with one imported cow, and gradually the business has been built up on a registered basis. Mr. Larimore 's herds at one time contained seventy animals. He now has only nine registered cows, and eighteen head altogether. He does not exhibit any of his stock and is satisfied with only local sales. It was some years before neighbors began to wake up to the fact that some of the finest beef stock in the world was being produced on the Larimore farm. Since then the quality of the Larimore herd has been sought by farmers and stockmen all over this section, and today there is hardly a neighborhood which does not have some of the original stock from the Larimore herd. The original nucleus of the stock was Old Maid of Bli Bro. The head of his herd for a number of years was Imported Delacourt, an almost full brother to a pair of celebrated Scotch bulls, and an animal of great individual merit. The present head of the herd is Eno Woodcote. This is a grandson of Pi-ince Ito, a .$10,000 animal. Mr. Larimore is also a grower and feeder of hogs for the market. His fann was formerly the old Vickers farm, the house having been built by a still earlier owner than 'Mr. Vickers.

Mr. Larimore is a director of the State Bank of Plainville. He is Central Precinct Committeeman of the republican party, and has attended several state conventions of delegates. During 1918 he gave much of his time to war work, including the campaigns for Liberty Loans, Red Cross, and the United War Work campaign, being captain of the latter organization. Mrs. Larimore is equally active in Red Cross and other movements. Not a little is due the untiring efforts of Mr. and !Mrs. Larimore for the fine showing made by Payson Township. Mr. Larimore is a recognized prince of good fellows, and has a circle of loyal friends all over this part of Illinois. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Plain-s-ille, and has held most of the chairs of the Lodge. He and his wife are members of Plainville Methodist Church.

October 5, 1898. 'Mr. Larimore married Miss Winifred Hartshorn, of Richfield Township, daughter of Alvin Hartshorn, still a resident of that township. Mrs. Larimore was bom in Richfield Township and was twenty-four years of age at the time of her marriage. She finished her education in the Barry High School and was a teacher in Adams County prior to her marriage.

Chaeles J. H'YER. Oue fact which stands out as evidence of Charles J. Hyer's progressiveness and success as a farmer is that he lives in a farming community which, it can be safely asserted, has no superior in point of rural management and productiveness anywhere in Western Illinois. The Hyer farai is on the township line between Paysou and Fall Creek Township, a mile west of Payson Village, and its own improvements make it a worthy part of the landscape which includes such splendid homes as those of Henry and L. K. Seymour and that of H. F. Scarborough. Practically every farm in that community might be taken as a model of productiveness, while the character of the owners represent the highest elements of good farming, good citizenship, and all around success in life.

Charles J. Hyer was born in Burton Township of this county January 9, 1870, son of William and Sophia (Harms) Hyer. His father was born in Hanover, Gemianj-, son of Henry Hyer, who came to the United States and settled in Burton Township when William was a child. Henry Hyer died in Gilmer Township, near Fowler, at the advanced age of eighty-two. His four sons were: Henry, who left Adams County twenty-five .years ago and died in Kansas; Charles and Theodore, both of whom live at Paloma, this county.

William Hyer married Sophia Harms, who was born at Quincy, daughter of Julius Harms. Julius was a native of Brunswick, Germany, was a carpenter, and died in Quincy at the age of ninety years. William Hyer moved to Riverside Township, near Holms Springs, now known as Spring Lake, and he died in that vicinity at the age of fifty years, leaving his widow and four children. The four children were : Charles J. ; Emma, widow of August Erke, of Melrose Township ; Edward and John, both residents of Quincy. Two children, George and Anna, are deceased. They married and left families.

Charles J. Hyer lived at home to tlie age of twenty-five. In the meantime he had attended the local schools, and when he took up farming it was with the determination to make a success and a career of the business. On February 21, 1899, he married Mary Ann Eisenberg, daughter of Fred and Louisa (Mueller) Eisenberg, of Ellington Township. Her parents now live on North Fifth Street in Riverside Township. ]Mrs. Hyer was born in Ellington Township and was twenty-two years of age at the time of her marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Hyer started out as renters. For four j-ears they lived in Marion County, Missouri. Then they bouglit a farm near Taylor, Missouri. Four years later, having sold there, they returned to Illinois, and in 1908 established their home in Pa.ysou Township, buying the old Wingfield farm, of 156 acres on Pigeon Creek. It was only recently, in 1918, that Mr. and Mrs. Hyer removed to their present place and their high class community. They bought the Horace Bernard farm of 147 acres. The land had scarcely any buildings worthy of the name. He at once planned and built a model country home, comprising eight rooms, heated with furnace, and with modern conveniences at every turn. He has a complete system of waterworks, including a cistern with a pressure tank operated by a gas engine. The house is also completely wired for electricitj'.

Mr. Hyer has served as a road commissioner of Payson Township, having been elected to that office on the republican ticket in a democratic township. He is identified with the Adams County Mutual Insurance Company. He and his family attend worship in the Congregational Church at Payson. Mr. and Mrs. Hyer have four children, all at home, Edith, Marguerite, Frederick and Charles, Jr. The daughter Edith graduated from the Payson High School in 1918 and is now teaching in Payson Township. ^Farguerite is a student in the Paj^son High School.

George Albert Le.vse. Every fact and feature connected with the name and career of George Albert Lease of Payson Township signifies his progressiveness and unusual ability. The Lease home is a mile east and half a mile south of Plainville, and is one of the fine estates in that section, pleasing to the eye and representing a great amoimt of value and productiveness as well.

Mr. Lease was born on the old home near his present place September 3, 1863, son of John W. and Eleanor (Lewton) Lease. His father was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, June 1, 1828, and at the age of twenty years came with his parents, Jacob and Phoebe Lease, in 1848 to Adams County. The family settled in Payson Township, spending one winter on a farm. The grandparents spent the rest of their lives in this county, where the grandfather died at the age of eighty-four. John W. Lease had two brothers. Jacob moved to Pike County, Illinois, and died in advanced years. Henry remained in Payson Township and spent his last days at Hull in Pike County. There were also two sisters: Phoebe married "William H. Thompson, of Paj'son Township, and they finally moved to Oregon and spent their last days at Sweet Home, that state. Susan married Emery Harris, a farmer of Pike County, Illinois, where he died. She then became the wife of A. M. Simpson, and she spent her last years at Plainville, where she died at the age of sixty-five. All three of the larothers died suddenly.

John W. Lease married at the age of twenty-five Eleanor Lewton, then sixteen years of age. Her home was near Barrj- in Pike Countj*. For several years after his marriage John W. Lease rented land near Plainville and then bought the home where his son George A. was born. He bought that place about 1856. It contained sixty-five acres, most of it in cultivation. He cleared out much of the woods and underbrush and kept on adding to his property until he had 500 acres. The old homestead now consists of 240 acres. The land was used for general farming, the raising of many cattle and hogs. In 1892 John "W. Lea.se moved to the old Jacob Baker farm of 160 acres, the house having been built by the widow of ]\Ir. Baker. Here he lived retii'ed and tinally went to Plainville, where both died. He never held any public office, was a democratic voter, and a supporter of all churches. His wife died Februarv' 28, 1908, and he passed away October 15, 1911. They were the parents of twelve children, including: William H., who married Mary Nowell, of Pike County, died at Payson October 3, 1895. Maiy Etta is the wife of Asbury Wagy, of Dawn, Missouri. Susan M., is the widow of John S. Thompson, and is living at Plainville. Charles E. married Ella Fitzgerald, married for his second wife Susan Deere, and for his third wife Anna Sweeney. The next in age is George A. Margaret E. married Charles Wingfield and died at Qnincy at the age of twenty-five, leaving three children. Elmer Lewis married Luella Higgins, of Pike County, and he is now a widower living at Billings, ilontana. John A. married Fanny Bemont, and went to Colorado and is now living at Billings, Montana. Frances is the wife of Dr. il. Rice, a dentist at Blandensville, Illinois. Alta married Leroy Lease at Plainville, and later married his brother, Ellis Lease, now of Quincy.

George A. Lease has spent all his life at the old home. At the age of twentyfive he married Sarah E. Raymer. of Plainville, daughter of Heniy Raymer, a farmer of that section. She was bom in Payson Township and was twenty-one at the time of her marriage. In 1898 Mr. Lease took charge of his parents' farm, and later bought the original eighty and still later the 160 acres, and upon the settlement of the estate he accpiired another forty acres formerly owned by his father. To this he has since added 183 acres, giving him 463 acres divided into three tracts or three farms. The 183-acre farm was for some years the property of his brother C. E. Lease. Mr. Lease now handles all this large place, and his operations as a stock farmer are in proportion to the extent of his land. He fed about 150 head of hogs every year and of late years has fed 200 head. In 1918 he sold a b\inch of hogs numbering 134 for a total price of $6,095, about .$45 apiece on the average. He keeps good horses, including mules, and has eight or ten fine daiiy cattle, selling the cream and feeding the skim milk on the place. He is a stockholder in the Bankers and Farmers Livestock Insurance Company, and a member of the County Farm Improvement Asso-

They have one son, Stajiley H., born December 6, 1898. He graduated from the Quincy High School in 1918 and in the fall of the same year entered the Student Army Training Corps at the State University. This son is an interested and enthusiastic stock farmer. Two years ago he bought a thoroughbred Aberdeen Angus cow, and has kept all her increase registered and now has the nucleus of a fine herd of Aberdeen Angus, including four cows and heifers and one bull. The son is a member of the Aberdeen Angus Breeders' Association.

Emmor E. Thompson. The community around Payson has long come to look 'upon Emmor E. Thompson a.s a leader in affairs, not only a.s a successful merchant, but as a man whose talents and capabilities enable him to perform greatlj' appreciated semice in many ways for his fellow men.

Mr. Thompson was bom in the Village of Payson April 28, 1860, son of Andrew U. and Elizabeth (Yingling) Thompson. His father was born in the Amei'ican Bottoms near Alton, Illinois, December 4, 1825. About 1840 he came to Adams County, his parents both having died. His older brother, Winston, accompanied him to Quincy. His uncle. Elijah Thompson, lived at Payson. A sister of Elijah was Mi*s. Obediah "Waddell, whose old farm was in Melrose Township, four miles from Payson on the country road.

Andrew U. Thompson was apprenticed to learn the black.smith trade at Payson. He worked at the trade for twenty-five years, operating a shop in Payson. He moved to a farm 21/0 miles southeast of the village on the Payson and Plainville road, along Pigeon Creek. He cleared a part of that land, the entire farm comprising eighty acres. He died there April 1, 1875, in his fiftieth year. He was a very hard worker and had made considerable progress in clearing up his new farm. He was an active ilethodist and a local preacher, and did much to keep xvp the musical activities of the church. For many years he taught singing classes and was a leader of the choir for thirt.y years.

In January, 1850, Andrew U. Thompson married Elizabeth A. Yingling. She was bom December 24, 1827, in Payson Township, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy Yingling. Many references to the Yingling family are made on other pages of this publication. Her father was of Pennsylvania Dutch and her mother of Kentucky ancestry. Mrs. Andrew Thompson died June 2, 1902, at the age of seventy-five. She had lived on the farm continuously except for about four years after her husband's death. There were nine children, two of whom died in infancy. Charles W. was a well known teacher in Adams and Hancock counties, also in Kansas, and is now a resident of Chicago. Emily T. has been a teacher since the age of sixteen, teaching in Payson Township, in Kansas and for twenty years has been connected with the scliools of Chicago. She married Robert Norris, now deceased, who was principal of the Payson schools while she was a teacher there. Anna E. is the wife of William Howard, who was reared in Adams County, and now lives at Los Angeles, California. Joseph S. learned the blacksmith and carpenter's trade, and at the age of twenty went to California and Oregon, and for the last twenty-five years no word has come to his people concerning his whereabouts. The next in age is Emmor E. Edwin P. is a blacksmith at Plymouth, Illinois, leai-ning the trade at Camp Point. Wilbur F. is business manager of the Illinois State Band and has long been well known in musical circles. He has taught band music and has organized a number of musical organizations.

Emmor E. Thompson began doing some work on the home farm as early as seven years. He was fifteen when his father died, and the next four years he attended high school at Payson. At the age of nineteen he taught a term of school in Hancock County, and was connected with public schools, chiefly in Adams County, for ten years. Part of the time he was also operating the old home farm.

"William H. and Jennie (Fowler) Morris. She was reared in the same community as her husband, and was twenty-three years of age at the time of her marriage. Her father, William Morris, came from Ohio when a youth and settled on Pigean Creek in Adams Coimty, his parents later spending their last years at Payson. William Morris died in December, 1912, at the age of seventyfive. His wife was born either in Tennessee or Kentucky and came when a child with her parents to Adams County. She died in 1906. The old Morris farm is now owned by their son Frank.

Emmor E. Thompson continued his farming until 1903, when he Iwught a general store in Payson. Since then he has been a merchant. His headquarters for eight years were in the Masonic Building. He also bought the George Sinnock Building and for one year conducted a grocery and men's furnishing*business, then selling the grocery stock and continuing the men's furnishing goods, rubber goods, shoes and notions. He has a large trade. He also still owns the old farm on Pigeon Creek and has improved it with a new house and barn.

IMr. Thompson has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since he was fifteen years of age and has served as trustee and steward and for eleven consecutive years as Sunday school superintendent. He has always sung in the choir and has frequently been a leader in musical affairs. He learned when a lad to play the bass horn, and since then has acquired some proficiency with everj^ band instrument. He played with the Cleveland band and at one time was leader of the Plainville Band. For nine years Mr. Thompson was a member of the School Board and during that time the High School building was erected. He served as president of the Town Board two years, and as police magistrate three years, resigning that office to become justice of the peace, in which capacity he is still serving. Mr. Thompson has Ijeen called upon to draw up most of the legal papers for his neighbors and friends. He was executor of the estate of Jolm P. Lewis, and has had many other offices of trust and responsibility. In early days he was rather noted as a baseball player, and was very enthusia.stic about that sport. It is possible that baseball lost a big leaguer in Mr. Thompson largely because of the practice of Sunday playing.

Mr. Thompson has two children: Loyal Morris Thompson, born February 2.3, 1888, is an able young minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now located at Lacon in Marshall County, Illinois. He graduated from the home district school, from the Payson High School in 1906, then spent four years in Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomingtou, graduating in 1910. In 1913 he completed his theological course in the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston, Illinois. For five yeai-s he was local minister at Silvis, Illinois, and has also preached in the Payson Church. He married Hazel Heath, a graduate of the Musical Conservatory- of Northwestern University. She is a very talented 'and highlj' trained musician and has had complete charge of the church music since her marriage.

Hazel Thompson, born February 1, 1892, graduated from the Payson High School in 1912, and in Septemljer, 1914, became the wife of Arthur L. Cosgrove. Mr. Cosgrove operates the Thompson farm. They have one child. Coral lone.

George D. Levi. A straightforward, upright man. bounteously endowed with common sense, alive to all that is going on in the world around him, and especially interested in the welfare of his home city, George D. Levi, of Quincy, has been actively identified with many important enterprises and a constant worker for the advancement and betterment of the community. He was born in Quincy, March 26, 1866, of German ancestry.

His father, Edward Levi, was born and educated in Germanj-. Coming to Illinois in early manhood, he located in Quincy, where he subsequently lived a successful life. He was city comptroller a few terms, and afterwards in the mail service for a time. Then, in company with George Ertel, he was prosper- ously engaged in the manufacture of hay presses in Quincy. He subsequently lived retired until his death in 1907. He married Minnie Aumann, who was also a native of Germany, and to them six children were born, as follows: Amelia, at home ; Edith, at home ; George D., with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned ; Harry and Charles, deceased ; and Walter, of Quincy.

Leaving the Quincy High School at the age of sixteen years, George D. Levi completed a course of study at the Gem City Business College, after which he spent a year with the Stahl Commission House. Since that time he has been connected with the office of R. G. Dun & Company, of which he is now the able and efficient manager. His efforts, however, are not confined to one line of endeavor, he being at the present time a member of the National Credit Association and one of the state committee superintending the work of the National Defense Association. For these positions Mr. Levi is well adapted, being a man of broad capabilities, resourceful, and quick to grasp a situation and utilize given opportunities. In local affairs he is quite active, his influence being felt in business circles. He served as president of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce in 1915-16-17 and part of 1918, and it was largely thi-ough his influence and ability that the substantial building the organization now occupies was erected. The address of President Levi at the dedication of the building was characteristic of the man, showing that he had a keen sense of the duties and responsibilities, not only of the officers of the association but of each and every member of the Chamber of Commerce as men and as loyal and trustworthy citizens.

Mr. Levi married, July 9, 1892, Nellie Kintze, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and to them two children have been born, Edward and Helen. Politically Mr. Levi is a democrat. Fraternally he is active and prominent in Masonic circles, belonging to and past master of Bodley Lodge No. 1, Eastei-n Star and Consistory, and has served as secretary of the Masonic Temple Association for eight years and he was largely responsible for the building of the Masonic Temple. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Royal Arcanum.

Henry E. "Wharton. Adams County and particularly the southern half has for many years been one of the chief producing centers of fruit in Illinois. and the fame of Adams County apples has spread ail over the ^Mississippi Valley. Local horticulture is not entirely due to climate and other physical advantages, but even more to the enterpri.se, knowledge and expert skill of some horticulturists who have lived here and concentrated their energies for years upon this profession. Among them perhaps the most widely known as an authority on scientific propagation is Henr>' E. Wharton, who is now practically retired, but is still interested in fruit growing ou his home place in Payson Township.

Mr. Wharton was born in Chester Coiintj', Pennsylvania, fifteen miles from Philadelphia, September 17, 1845, son of Benjamin and Amy (Smedley) Wharton. The Whartons are of English ancestry and established their home in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary war. Benjamin Wliarton was an only son. His uncle. General Wharton, distinguished himself as a soldier in the early half of the last centurv.

in 1853 Benjamin Whai-ton took his family of children to Wayne County, Indiana, and located eight miles froni Richmond, at the Village of Hillsboro. Five years later, in 1858, the Wliarton family came to Western Illinois and located in Pike County, not far from the Adams County line. In the same fall they moved to the Village of Payson, and Benjamin Wharton bought the Payson Hotel. He died in February, 1859, of pneumonia, at the age of forty-two. His widow continued the hotel there for twenty years, until her death. Benjamin Wharton's children were as follows: Kate married Frank Krauss and died at St. Louis in 1895; Emma married Jess Bernard, and thev moved to Clay County, Missouri, where she died in 1910: Amy is the wife of Jacob

Urech, well known in Adams County as editoi* of the Mendon Dispatch; the next in age is Henrj' E. ; Eleanor as a girl attended school at Payson, her teacher being T. C. Poling, and she is now the wife of that well known Quiuey banker; Sarah married for her first husband V. W. Bernard and is now the widow of H,arry Baughman and is living at San Diego, California ; ]\Iargaret is the deceased wife of "William Holman, of Payson; Lydia married Charles Sinnock and lives in Montana.

Henry E. Wharton was thirteen years of age when he came to Adams County. Up to the age of twenty-seven he lived in the hotel with liis mother and had a part in its management. His education was the I'esult of attendance at the common schools. In 1864 Mr. Wharton went to the Pikes Peak mining region in Colorado, spending a few months, and after his return to Adams County he became associated with Albigence Scarborough, Jr., son of Deacon Scarborough, whose career features so prominently in the early historjof Payson Township. The younger Scarborough owned the laud now included in the farm of Henry E. Wharton. They formed a partnership to enter the nurseiy business. At that time the Concoi'd grape was exciting a great deal of attention all over the state and the West and there was a great demand for the sets. The partners built a greenhouse to propagate these sets, and from that they entered the general nursery business. Henry E. Wharton as a boy had worked in the orchards of Deacon Scarborough and also for his son. This son finally lost all his property through mortgage. After giving up grape propagation they started growing apple and peach stock and in a short time ]Mr. Scarborough witlidrew from the firai, leaving the business to j\Ir. Wharton.

Mr. Wharton soon had a reputation as a very practical, expert and reliable nurserA-man. He took many contracts to set out orchards and he also agreed to take eai"e of the young trees for two or three years. This professional service as well as the stock from his nurseries had a demand which extended all over Adams and Pike coimties and over the river into Missouri. Eventually he had fifty acres in his nursery, practically all of it devoted to growing fruit stock. He continued tliis business actively until about 1905. Mr. Wharton personally supervised the planting and furnished the trees for many of the important orchards in Adams County, including practically all the commercial orchards. He had many hands working under him. but he always did his own grafting. The advice which he gave to both amateur and professional orchardists was alwa.ys to limit planting to a few standard varieties, including the summer, fall and winter fruits. ]\Ir. Wharton -was employed to set out the extensive Seymour orchards, also the orchard of Joel Scarborough. Joel Searborough in later years absolutely refused to purchase tree stock from any other grower. During the past thirteen years Mr. Wliarton has given up his business and professional service, and now spends his time looking after his own orchard of about fourteen acres. He is one of the prominent members of the ^Mississippi Valley Apple Growers' As.sociation.

February 7, 1873, Mr. Wharton married Mrs. :Mary A. (Gilbert") Nicholson. She was born at Payson February 7, 1840, and in 1858 became the wife of John Nicholson. By that marriage she was the mother of three children, the only one now living being Lucy, Mrs. H. M. Seymour. Mr. and Mrs. Wharton had three children, Reba G., Harry E. and Arthur H. The only daughter is Reba G., bom December 30, 1873. She has long been prominent in educational affairs. She is a graduate of the Illinois State University, also the University of California at Berkeley. She taught at Payson, Clayton and in the Quincy High School, and spent two years in the Pittsburg Academy at Owatonna, Minnesota, and for the past five years has been Dean of the Junior College at Riverside, California, and also teacher of historA^ in that school. The son Arthur Harlan, born in 1878, is associated with his father and lives on the home farm. He married Edna Thompson, a sister of William A. Thompson. They have three children, Roger and twin daughters, Louise and liUcile.

William Gilbert, father of Mrs. Wharton, was born in Norfolk County, England, December 24, 1802. He learned the trade of millwright. In early manhood he located in New York State. He was an employee of a company in New York who made a specialty of building power windmills for grinding and other purposes. A company of Adams County pioneers, including Deacon Scarborough, Deacon David Prince, John Burns and others at Payson, secured his services to come to Payson and build a windmill, which he constructed in 1836 or 1837. In the meantime he left his wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Gaskin, and their one child in New York. He boarded with Deacon Prince until his family joined him here in 1839. On February 7, 1840, their daughter Mary A. was born.

After completing the windmill Mr. Gilbert remained to operate it as miller. This mill is frequently referred to and was an historic structure. It stood on the site of the present home of Frank Armold in Payson Township. It was operated as a toll or custom mill. The wind mill or sweeps were erected on a stone tower sixty feet high. The wings were thirty feet long, giving the total diameter of the wheel sixty feet. At that time this was as much a marvel of construction as many years later the famous Ferris wheel of the Chicago World's Fair. William Gilbert was an expert machinist, as the construction of this mill will prove. From the top of the tower was afforded a great range of vision, and Mr. Gilbert always kept a spy glass for use by the visitors. Some of the more venturesome would climb out to the end of one of the sails and be carried aloft until eighty or ninety feet above ground. From that liigh position it was possible to obtain a complete view of Quincy, Hannibal and otlier places, ilrs. Wharton grew up practically in the shadow of this mill, and is one of the best authorities concerning its history. Her father survived her mother about twenty years. Mrs. Wharton recalls that the first school she attended in Adams County was taught by a half Indian named Clymer.

Edward P. Allen has found his hours and daj-s fully engaged in the practice of a busy lawyer since his admission to the bar, and though a young man in years there need be no hesitation in ascribing him place among the leaders of the Adams County legal profession.

Mr. Allen was born at Quincy January 15, 1884, and is a .son of John A. and Anna il. (Lane) Allen. His father, who died at Quincy in November, 1906, was a prominent citizen and had lived in Adams County since 1868. Prior to that he had made a gallant record in the Union army during the Civil war, had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and for a brief time served as military governor of North Carolina during reconstruction times. He was in the tailoring business at Quincy for a niimber of years, but is perhaps best remembered through his long service of thirty-five years as justice of the peace. He was born in New York State, and his wife, who died in February, 1908, was a native of Ohio. They were the parents of four children: John C., Anna M., Robert C. and Edward P. The first three are now deceased.

Edward P. Allen after finishing his work in the public schools of Quincy took np law study privately and was admitted to the bar in 1907. Along with a gratifying private clientage he gave six years to the office of city attorney and for two years was master in chancery. Mr. Allen has twice been a candidate of the democratic party in this congressional district for Congress, in 1914 and 1916. He is prominent in the orders of Masons and Elks and a member of the Episcopal Church. September 8, 1909, he married Mi.ss ]\Iaude Homan. They have one daughter, Anna Lane, born December 12, 1910.

Timothy P. Castle. It is probably true that nothing has advertised Quincj^ to the world at large so much as stoves made in this city. The stove industry is a primary one, at the very foundation of the city's industrial prosperity. For over half a century the name Castle has been intimately associated with this business, ever since the grandfather of Timothy P. Castle, who also bore the name of Timothy, acquired a large share of stock in a local stove foundry which in the course of time was developed as the Comstock-Castle Stove Company. The head of this industry for many years was the late Chauneej' Castle, and the destinies of that large manufacturing corporatiou are all being successfully guided by Timothy P. Castle.

The latter did not merely succeed to a position left vacant by his father, but had earned and thoroughly qualified himself for big responsibilities in this industrj' independent of any family connection.

Timothy P. Castle was born at Quiney in September, 1873. Concerning the history of the family more information will be found following. Mr. Castle was liberally educated and after the public school course at Quincj' entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he prepared for college and then spent ll/> years in Harvard University. He returned home in 1895 to begin work in a minor capacity with the Comstock-Ca.stle Stove Company. His first duties were those of shipping clerk. He has been in almost every department of the business, and for several years was secretary-treasurer of the company, from which he assumed his executive responsibilities as president.

Along with a successful position in business affairs Mr. Castle has always manifested a deep interest in everything that affects the welfare and advancement of Quiney as a city. He is an enthusiastic republican, and in Masonry is affiliated with Lambert Lodge, No. 659, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is also a Knight Templar. October 6, 1897, he married Miss Edith Berry, a native of Quiney and member of one of its oldest and most respected families. She is a daughter of Colonel "W. W. Berry and Georgia (Hewitt) Berry. Her father, who died in 1895, was one of Quincj-'s eminent lawj-ers. ^Ir. and Mrs. Castle have two daughters : Georgeann and Elizabeth.