Quincy Township (part 56 of 74)

Joseph Howard Lummis was bom January 19, 1866, during the temporary residence of his parents in Schuyler County, Illinois. He spent part of his boyhood in Northeast Township and came to manhood in Gilmer Township. His education was supplied by the country schools and he also attended Chaddock College at Quiney, where he took the scientific course. \Yith his college training he began teaching at the age of nineteen, and for ten years that was his occupation. Many of his pupils have since filled responsible positions in the world, and all of them recall with many expressions of gratitude and esteem their old instructor. He was one of the very successful teachers in the county at the time. On leaving that work I\Ir. Lummis took up the grain trade in 1898 at Paloma in company with J. E. Lohr. He had charge of the office and also owned an elevator at Augusta, though Paloma was the chief shipping point. At the same time he took up the handling of southwestern lands, and spent considerable time in Old Indian Territory before it was admitted as a state, and acquired some valuable interests in Mclntosli County, Oklalioma, where he now owiis about 400 acres. This is in the oil district of eastern Oklahoma, and is also being cultivated by tenants as a farm. Cotton is his chief crop, and he has to some extent benefited from the high prices prevailing in the cotton market in recent years. About two years ago Mr. Lummis gave up his active connection with the grain business, and much of his time is now taken up with his duties as vice president of the Paloma Bank. As a public spirited citizen he has also served as towniship supervisor and tax collector of Honey Creek Township, and for fifteen years was a member of the election board. He is a democrat, is a member of the ilethodist Episcopal Church and a supporter of all worthy movements in his community.

Mr. Lummis has one special interest which serves to make him known among a select circle of people outside of his home county. He is a bird lover and student, and for years has studied the bird life of Adams County, has kept close and accurate observations of the annual mignrations, the favorite feeding grounds and other facts that serve to determine some of the laws of the bird kingdom. He is corresponding member and reporter for Adams County for the Government, and also for the National Audubon Societ.y.

In 1896 Mr. Lummis married Miss Ella Carr, daughter of Daniel D. Carr of Coatsburg. Her father served in the Civil war with an Illinois regiment, but for the last twenty years has been a resident of his native state, West Virginia. Mrs. Lummis was bom at Coatsburg and was seventeen years old at the time of her marriage. They have two sons : Everett and Joseph, the former a student in the high school at Coatsburg.

Charles Morgan Henry, of Paloma, is one of the very busy men of Adams County, a fact that is sufficiently explained when it is stated that he is a farmer. Farming as ]\Ir. Henry performs it is a task requiring all that a man lias of energy and intelligence, and his part in the patriotic program of the nation is one that allows few vacations or outside interests.

Mr. Henry was born in Liberty Township of this county May 1, 1857, son of Alexander and Julia A. (Morgan) Henry. Alexander Henry was born in County Derry, near Londonderry, Ireland, and came to the United States when eighteen years old. He was one of the youngest of a family of twelve children. All of them came to the United States, usually singly or in groups of two, and those first here helped the others to come. Alexander Henry and his sister Jane came together. Jane afterward mai-ried John Callahan. They first stopped in Ohio, but soon joined older members of the family in Adams Count}'. Alexander Henry for several years worked as a farm hand. In 1849 he made that trip which called away so manv enterprising and adventure seeking youths from the Middle West, going overland to California in company with his cousin. Joseph McMillan. They drove ox teams, and were several months on the road. When they came back it was by the Isthmus, and Alexander Heiirj- walked across that narrow strip of land dividing two continents, and thence came across the gulf and up the Mississippi River. He was on a river boat during the high waters of 1851, when all bu.siness at St. Louis along Front Street was transacted from the second story of the buildings. While in California he had perhaps more than the average success as a miner and lirought back enough to enable him to start on a farm of his own. This farm he laought in Richfield Township but soon afterward moved to another place in Liberty Township. He married in Richfield Township Julia A. Morgan, daughter of Charles Morgan of LaRue County, Kentucky, where she was born. She was fifteen w'lien she came to Illinois and four years later she married Alexander Plenry. For over twenty-five years these worth.v people had their home on tlie farm in Liberty Township. He then moved to a farm in Gilmer Township, the old Da^^d Pearce place, but five or six years later retired and made his home in Quincy until his death in 1895, at the age of seventy-three. His widow survived him ten .vears and was sevent.v-two at the time of her death. Alexander Henry had sold his old farm before his death. He and his wife had a family of seven children : Rachel, who married Thomas Pearce and died two years ago : Charles M. ; Marv' J., Mrs. O. H. Lawless, of Paloma ; John W., of Gilmer Township ; Anna, ^Irs. W. 0. Wa.shbnrn, of Wilkesbarre, Penns.vlvania ; Elizabeth, unmarried ; and Hattie, Mrs. Dr. W. B. Short, of Peoria.

twenty-four years of age. The district schools gave him his early education and he was trained from youth to the pursuits of agriculture. At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Elizabeth Lawless, member of the well known family of that name in Adams County, and sister of Charles C. Lawless of Paloma. After their marriage they spent four years on the old farm in Liberty Township, and then bought a farm in the northwest corner of the township, and the cultivation and handling of this land furnished "Mr. Henry his chief occupation for a quarter of a century. In 1909 he removed to Paloma, but still owns his Liberty Township farm of 300 acres and has another place of 300 acres two miles west in Gilmer Township. This second farm includes the old Walter Cate farm, and also 160 acres formerly owned by Mrs. Henry's father. These farms are now occupied and handled by tenants. 'Sir. Henry also has forty acres adjoining his home in the Village of Paloma. These are the extensive interests which require his undivided energies. Mr. Henry for a number of years has been a large hog raiser and feeder. He has not been in politics, and though cla.ssed as a democrat is really independent in casting his ballot. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served as trustee and Sunday .school superintendent.

Of his children, Clifford died at the age of twenty-five. For several years he had been in charge of one of his father's farms, until ill health compelled him to retire. The son Albert operates a farm at Paloma and is a stock feeder. He married Bessie Post, of Quincy, and their two children are ]\Iildred and Albert, Jr. Mary is a graduate of the Illinois State ITniversity, and took special work in Applied Sociology at New York, and is now engaged in social settlement work there, a profession for which her nature and inclinations eminently qualify her. She is matron of a social home or settlement at Hoosac Falls, New York, where special attention is given to the poor from the city. The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Henrj' was Mabel, who died in childhood.

Thomas M. Yearg.mn, who lives retired at Paloma, has been a citizen of much push and enterprise in Adams County. The distinguishing fact about him. often referred to by his friends and neighbors, is his breadth of interests and the influence and encouragement he extends constantly to those movements and activities that are outside the range of a selfish man's life. Of Mr. Yeargain it can be said that he has lived as well as worked, and has experienced many of the deepest things of existence.

Of his family it is hardly necessary to speak. The Yeargains have been factors in Gilmer and other townships of the county for several generations. Thomas M. Yeargain was born in that township February 23, 1856, a son of John P. and Elizabeth (Lawless) Yeargain. His mother was a sister of James S. Lawless. John P. Yeargain was one of four brothers, all of whom were prominent in Gilmer Township. The names of these brothers are mentioned particularly on another page of this publication. Jolin P. Yeargain spent his life in Gilmer Townshp, having settled on a tract of prairie land which he broke with an ox team. He made a farm of 200 acres, situated in section 27, fourteen miles ea.st of Quincy. On that farm he continued to live until after the death of his wife, about fifteen years agj). They had lived happily together for over forty years. After his wife died he spent his time among his children and died in 1910, at the age of seventy-eight. He was one of the founders of the old Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. When he was a young man Peter Cartwright was one of the soul-stirring evangelists who sometimes preached in this community in schoolhouses and in private homes, and it was due to his influence that the Mount Pleasant Church was organized. John P. Yeargain gave liberally to the chui-ch and also donated as a cemetery a portion from the northwest corner of his farm. The church edifice still standing was erected in 1866. He was in charge of the church property and was sexton of the cemetery for a number of years. His house was practically flio headquarters. for all the preachers visiting there, and he and his hospitable wife entertained many people during the protracted meetings. John P. Yeargain also served as township supervisor several times, was school director, road commissioner, and for over a quarter of a century sei-ved as superintendent of the Sunday school. He was a capable farmer, but his chief interest was in livestock. There was nothing he enjoyed more than a fine animal, and he doubtless inherited his love of horseflesh from his Kentucky ancestors. He was a noted hunter in early days, frequently killing deer and turkey in this county. Even when old age came upon him he kept a pack of hounds and was always on hand with them when a coon hunt was proposed.

Of the children of John P. Yeargain six reached maturity : Emma married James Callahan, of Carthage, Illinois, and died in young womanhood. Stephen died at the age of thirt.y. For two 3-ears he had lived at Orlando, Florida, and had an orange grove nicely established before his death. Jane Elizabeth is Mrs. Alexander Callahan, of Camp Point. The next in age is Thomas 'Si. Maggie is ilrs. Frank Pearce, of Quincy. William 0. spent most of his life in Gilmer Township but is now a farmer at Nova, Ohio.

Thomas M. Yeargain lived at home with his parents until he was twentyfive. He attended the district schools, but early considered it incumbent upon him to attend strictly to business and support himself. For some years he operated part of the old homestead, his father supplying the equipment and part of the stock. At the age of tw^enty-five Mr. Yeargain married Loretta Myers, a daughter of Jacob Myers, and of a numerous family long identified with Adams County and concerning \\hom more information will be found on other pages. After his marriage Mr. Yeargain and his brother bought a farm of 160 acres lYo miles south of Paloma, but he later acquired his brother's interest. This was the old Colburn farm. With the backing of his father he at once began building a house and good barns, and he can always look back to that experience of establishing a home as one of great pleasure and satisfaction, since it was an occasion for the manifestation of the kindly neighborliness which especially characterized the older communities of Adams County. His neighbors frequently came in and helped him when he hauled his hogs to Quincy fifteen miles awa}% and in many other tasks requiring co-operation it was not infrequent for a dozen of his friends in the same community to join with him. Sir. Yeargain and his capable wife graduall.y paid off their obligations in spite of an era of low^ prices through which they lived. It required about twenty j'ears to get their farm clear and it all came from the land itself. Mr. Yeargain still owns that farm, but in 1911 moved to Paloma. He owns ninety acres near that village, farm and pasture land, and has a substantial and comfortable home in the village.

Mr. Yeargain left the farm after the death of his wife in 1910, a loss which was aggravated a year later when his only son, John P., died at the age of eighteen. It was the necessity of a change whidi caused him to seek new environment in town. He is still in partnership with his son-in-law, the tenant of his farm, and takes much interest in maintaining farm stock and breeding from thoroughbred animals. Through his stock and in other ways he has contributed to the raising of standards in the neighborhood. To make the community better in eevry way has always been one of his ideals. Mr. Yeargain was one of the original members of the County Farm Improvement Association. He served eight years as assessor of Gilmer Township, taking the olSce only at the urging of his friends, and not because he was ambitious. He is a republican, has filled the place of delegate in various conventions, and has l)een keenly interested in the progress of the world at large. He was a member of the old Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church until removing to Paloma, and served as trustee and steward. He has never joined fraternities, and he has many of the tastes for outdoor life and wholesome sports that characterized his father. He has hunted the fox on horseback, has taken many fishing excursions, and is also keenly interested in the intellectual side of life. He attends chautauquas regularly and has been a booster for such means of culture. The

Mr. Yeargain had three daughters and one son. Eva is the wife of Edward Morton, and they have two children, Loretta and Edward. Mr. ilorton is now operating the Yeargain farm. Emma is unmarried and lives at home with her father in Paloma. Golden is the wife of ^lerle Ogle, a railroad agent at Paloma. All of Mr. Yeargain's ambitions were centered in his only son, John P.

WrLLiAM A. Coats. While in the course of a busy life William A. Coats has followed several occupations, it was as a farmer and manager of one of the extensive and well improved places of Liberty Towniship that he accumulated a competency, ilr. Coats is now a retired resident of Liberty Village.

He was born five miles northeast of Liberty Village February 16, 1860. His father was William A. Coats, Sr., who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, February 20, 1817. His parents came from Scotland. He wa.s seven years old when his father died and at the age of fourteen he lost his mother. He was then apprenticed to learn the painting trade, seiwing for his clothes and board until reaching the age of twenty-one. In 1838 he went to New York City, thence to New Orleans, and in 1844 to Mason County, Kentucky. He married in Kentucky Miss Payton. Her father, George Payton, a few years later came to Adams County and settled in McKee Township. William A. Coats and wife also came to this county in 1856, making the journey by wagon and locating in ifcKee Township. William A. soon returned to Kentiicky to get the rest of his goods, and when he returned he found that his wife was dead and buried. About 1858 he married Mrs. Ellen (Hugle) Gardner of Cincinnati, who had come to Adams County with her husband, Erastus Gardner. She was born in 1816 and died in 1897. Her father, William Hugle, went to Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1841. Mrs. Gardner at the time of her marriage had two sons and two daughters, while William A. Coats had three daughters by his first wife. Mrs. Gardner also had three children by her husband's former marriage. All of these became part of one household, making a family of ten children. The only child born to William A. Coats and 'Sim. Ellen Gardner is William A., Jr. These children grew \ip together and made one of the large and numerous families of the township. William A. Coats bought out the heirs to the old Gardner farm, and he lived and died there. His death occurred November 8, 1881. He was laid to rest in a cemetery in a corner of the farm, which comprised 137 acres. The farm is now owned by William A. Coats, Jr., and he also owns another forty acres in Columbus Township. The house was built by Erastus Gardner, and since the death of William A., Sr., the son has constructed a new barn and has repaired and remodeled the house. William A. Coats, Sr., served as road commissioner and as a member of the school board, but was never a seeker for official honors. He was a member of the Liberty Evangelical Lutheran Church, and was one of the charter members of Liberty Lodge of Odd Fellows and was active in Masonry.

By his first marriage William A. Coats had three daughters, namely: Eveline, who married John A. Williams, and both died on the old fann which was conducted by ilr. Williams for a number of years: ilinnie, who married Marion Garner and went to Kansas, where she is still living ; Emma, the widow of Robert Gates, and living in Butler County, Kansas. The four children of Erastus Gardner and wife were: Sophia Gardner, who married Henry Heaton, and they both died at Xenia, Ohio; Harrison, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died a bachelor; Robert, who was also a soldier and died at Louisville, Kentucky, April 22, 1863 ; and Luella, who married Fielding Smith, and after her death in Southwestern Missouri her husband moved to Montana with his six daughters. Erastus Gardner by his first wife had the following children: Charlotte, who married John Hendricks and died in Southwestern Missouri ; Charles, who died in Hancock County, Illinois; and William Gardner, who went west.

William A. Coats, Jr., spent his early life on his home farm, attended the local schools, also Carthage College and ^laplewood High School at Camp Point. For a time he was a teacher in the Qiiincy District and gave up that occupation to return to the home farm and take care of the property and his father during his last illness. When his father was on his death bed he requested that his son should not delay his marriage on his account, therefore on November 7, 1881, the day before William A. Coats, Sr., died the son and ]\Iary McCreery of Camp Point were united in marriage. Mrs. Coat:? died April 25, 1894. On June 23, 1897, ]\Ir. Coats married Emma Kuntz, of Liberty Village, daughter of John and IMary (Lentz) Knutz. Her father was a farmer and wagon maker and died in Liberty in 1908, in his seventy-fifth year. He was also a veteran of the Union army. His widow is still living at Barry, Illinois. ]\Irs. Emma was born June 25, 1876. Mr. and ilrs. Coats continued to live on the old farm until 1907, and since then have lived in the Village of Liberty, the farm ibeing operated by a tenant. Since renting his farm Mr. Coats has taken occasional work as a carpenter. He was one of the early membei's of the Tri- State IMutual In.suranee Company, of which Judge ^McCarl of Quiney is president. He has filled all the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Mrs. Coats is a Eebekah and has also passed the various chairs and greatly increased the membership of the local order during her term a.s noble grand.

Mr. Coats by his first wife had two daughters : Laura Ellen and Ijeetah. Laura Ellen is the wife of Ed Stewart and they live in Pueblo, Colorado; Leetah married Samuel McBride, Jr., who died November 13, 1917, and she passed away December 12, 1917. Their three children were EUwyn, Frances and Edna. The two daughters were adopted b_y her sister, Mrs. Laura Stewart, and the son has been cared for by his grandfather, A. J. McBride.

The children of Mr. and ]\Irs. Coats are : Ray, born in 1906 ; Roy, who when seven years of age was killed in the streets of Libertj' by an automobile April 3, 1917; and Anna Joy. All the families are members of the Lutheran Church.

George K. Maclaskey. who died at his home in Plainville August 20, 1918, was a man of interesting personality and of experience, and spent most of his life in Adams Count.v. Farming was his main business and it is an essential part of his record that he made a success of his undertakings.

He was born at Barry in Pike County, Illinois, November 27, 1847, and had therefore passed the age of three score and ten before his death. His parents were George and Barbara (Sweet) Maclaskey. George Maclaskey was a native of New York but was left an orphan when a child, was bound out, and never knew any other members of his family except this sister Mary. As a young man he came west. He had known the Sweet family in New York and they probably came together to Barry, where he was married soon afterward. George Maclaskey was a hard worker, did farming, and also hauled a gi'eat deal of freight to and from the Mississippi River landing in the early days. In 1858, when his son George K. was eleven years old, he moved to Richland Township in Adams County, and his children gi-ew up there. He continued farming until advanced years and his death occurred while visiting a daughter in Nebraska. He was then eighty-two years of age. The old farm in Richland Township is now owned by Frank Bowers. The widowed mother spent her last years with her daughter Mrs. Mary Farmer, and died in the house in Plainville where Mrs. George Maclaskey now lives. She was eighty-six when she passed away. George Maclaskey, Sr. was always willing to do his part in community affairs, and served several terms as a member of the local school board. He M^as a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of his children, the oldest, Sarah, died in young womanhood. Melissa married James Evans, who went to Nebraska and died there several years later. Mary married Cass Farmer, of Richfield Towniship, and he died in the home where ^Irs. George K. Maclaskey now lives. George K. ]\Iaclaskey was next in age. James Maclaskey is a farmer at Gridley in Woodson County, Kansas. He married Sarah

McCarl, a sister of Mrs. George K. Maelaskey, and she died in Kansas. Andrew Macla.skey was a bachelor, a railroad engineer, and he died in Denver, Colorado, at the age of sixty-two. Ira is a railroad man living in Kansas City, Kansas, Ida married Dr. David Rice of Colorado Springs, who was an executor of the gi-eat Stratton estate.

George K. Maelaske.v lived at home with his parents until his marriage October 20, 1875, when Mary E. McCarl became his wife. Her mother was a sister to Judge McCarl 's mother, therefore Mrs. Maelaskey and the Judge are double cousins. Mrs. ilaelaske.y was born in Richfield Township, November 13, 1852, and grew up on a farm. She was the third in a family of six children. Her sister Bethana, who died at Barry, Illinois, at the age of sixty-two, married Will B. Myers, formerh' a farmer of Richfield Township but now living with his son Harve.v L. at Barry. Sarah married James Maelaskey, as already noted, and she died in Kansas at the age of fifty-one. Mrs. McClaskey's brother Alexander is a Standard Oil Company employe at Portland, Oregon. Isaiah was a farmer in Richfield Township until his wife's death, but has since lived with his sister Mrs. Maclaske.y. Calvin is an emploj'c of the Williamson Oil Company at Quincy.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Maelaskey were one year in Southwestern Missouri. He then bought a farm of 115 acres, a mile south of Richfield Village and improved it with new buildings. That was their home when their two children, both daughters. Effie and Bessie, were taken away by the dread disease of diphtheria within two weeks of each other, Effie being sixteen and Bessie thirteen. This was a great sorrow for Mr. and Mrs. Maelaskey, and they were unable to endure life on the old farm longer and moved to Plainville, where they lived seven years. During that time Mr. Maelaskey filled several local offices in the village. Later he returned to the farm, improved it with new buildings, and finally sold it in 1909. The.y then returned to the village of Plainville and bought the present home, a commodious residence where Mrs. Maelaskey still lives. Mr. Maelaskey was one of the original stockholders in the Plainville Bank. He was never interested in politics for the sake of an office and only accepted such positions as school director and road boss in order to give efificiency to those local institutions. He was a democrat, for twenty-five years was active in the Methodist Episcopal church, a member of Plainville Lodge of Masons and was buried iinder the auspices of that order. He possessed a striking physique, was tall, straight and enjoyed perfect health until the last few weeks of his life. In later years he took much pleasure in the use and management of his car.

John Speckhart, Se. There are many reasons why the name Speckhart is spoken with such respect and esteem in Fall Creek Township. A large part of the population of Adams County during the past eighty years have been of German born or German parentage. John Speckhart, Sr., was the first German to locate in Fall Creek Township. He was a prominent settler there about seven years before he was joined b.v other fellow countrymen. He lived a long and useful life, and his sturdy character was transmitted to his sons and daughters. The family is now a numerous one, and some special tribute should l>e paid here to its founder in Adams County.

John Speckhart, Sr., was born at Dieburg in Hesse-Darmstadt June 14, 1812. He married Maria Furniff, who was born in Niederkindbach in the same Province of Germany April 23, 1816. It was in the winter of 1839 that John Speckhart set out for America. A sailing vessel brought him to New Orleans, where he landed February 22, 1840. A companion on the same vessel was coming to America for the purpose of settling in Iowa, and John Speckhart planned to make the same state his home. However, on reaching Quincy, having become separated from his traveling companions at St. Louis, he decided to remain in Adams Count.v, and in the spring of 1840 bought land now included in the Speckhart estate in Fall Creek Township. In Germany John Speckhart had learned tlie brick making trade and was also a roofer. He was a diligent workman, and tliough paid very meager wages according to present standards, he managed to accumulate some $900 before coming to this countrj'. He was possessed of perhaps more capital than most of the early Germans.

His first purchase of land consisted of 120 acres, included now in the farm of his son Adam. For seven years he lived in that English speaking community, without a single German neighbor. Later his brother-in-law, George Kiel, Sr., and a nephew, George Treats, joined him in Pall Creek Township. The first home of John Speckhart was a shanty covered with clapboards. It was roughly put together and both rain and snow came in, but it is significant that the family never had any sickness while living in that old house. Later he built a log structure and about sixty years ago put up the substantial brick house which is still standing and still offers all the comforts of a home. In building this home he utilized his knowledge of brick making, and burned the brick of his own farm.

Out of the trials and advei-sities of the early years he extended his possessions until he had 1,100 acres of good farm land. He was unable to speak English when he arrived, and gradually picked up a knowledge of the language by contact with his neighbors. He frequently hauled wood to Quincy, selling a load for 75 cents and taking it out in trade. He did much of his plowing wdth oxen, used the old fashioned cradle to garner his grain, and of him it could be truly said that he earned his bread by the sweat of his brow. The results he obtained showed what determined purpose and unremitting diligence would accomplish. He was a democrat in politics and both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church. He was never a seeker for any public office, and for the last fifteen years of his life he lived retired. He always wrote the language of his fatherland, and the family records in his own hand in the family Bible are all in the German script, and were written when he was quite old.

John Speckhart, Sr., died March 16, 1894, and his wife on June 25, 1884. They were laid to i*est in the Bluff Hall Cemetery. He and his wife had ten children. Those to reach mature years were John, William, Allen, Frederick, Lena, Elizabeth and Margaret.

John Speckhart, Jr., is son of John Speckhart, the pioneer German settler of Fall Creek Township, and has his home eight miles southeast of Quincy, in section 8 of Fall Creek Township. He has long been one of the prominent farmers and citizens of this locality.

His residence stands on the bi'ow of a bluff some 200 feet above the extensive bottom lands along the Mississippi. From the home a view up and down the river is afforded for miles. The home farm proper is on the uplands, but includes also a liberal stretch of the i-ich and fertile Jjottoms. Mr. Speckhart has 850 acres, the greater part cultivated, and includes some of the best wheat and corn land in the entire county. The old house still stands, and one room of it was the place where John Speckhart, Sr., began housekeeping. John Speckhart, Jr., erected his present home about thirty-four years ago. He also has all the necessary outbuildings, and his improvements are of the very best character. His three sons now operate the farm in partnership.

'Sir. Speckhart was bom July 4, 184S, in Fall Creek Township, and as a boy received very limited schooling. He had every opportunity- and encouragement to work, train his muscles and his native intelligence. He has performed the duties that lay nearest him, and in so doing has accomplished his greatest public service and' contributed most to the development of the community. Once when he was a young man he was offered the office of road supervisor. Appreciating the honor as coming from neighbors and friends he entered upon its duties, and even left his own work to attend that of the public. An important improvement needed to be made, and he set aliout it, exercising all the judgment he possessed. He experienced what every public servant exjicricnces, criticisms aaid objections. His own father-in-law joined in the objections to the waj- the improvement was made. Bnt Mr. Speckhart went steadily ahead and carried out his own ideas. Not long afterward anotlier influential neighbor said that Mr. Speckhart had done the work primarily to please his father-in-law, and after this unjustified criticism he became so disgusted that he resigned the office and never consented to serve in another public place. He has been an officer in the Bluff Hall Congi-egational Church since early manhood. For the past twelve years Mr. Speckhart has lived retired, spending mueli of his time with his brother Adam. They are mutually fond of angling for fish in the Mississippi River, and fishing is the best recreation of their advancing years.

John Speckhart married Hannah Schaeffer, who was bom in Lippe, Germany, October 7, 1851, and two years later came to America with her parents, William and Florentine (Kruger) Schaeffer. She was educated in the German school at Quincy, and was married to ]Mr. Speckhart April 15, 1869. A brief record of their children is as follows: Elizabeth, born October 7. 1871, married John Echtencamp : John, born Jinie 28, 1875, married Annie Wcstholdt : Emma, born January 25, 1878, died March 8, 1882; William, born Februaiw 7, 1880, married Letta Albsmeyer ; Maggie, born August 25, 1882, married John Hulcher; Charles, born May 21, 1886; Daniel, twin brother of Charle.s, died when one day old ; August, born March 1, 1889, died ]May 8th of the same year; and Ella, born June 3, 1894. The daughter Elizabeth is now deceasecl. Charles married Lillian Uebner and is at the old home. Ella is the wife of George Spencer, of Payson Township.

James Edward Lohe. of Paloma, has for twenty years been engaged in the hay and grain business. In that time he has had dealings with nearly every farmer in Gilmer and Honey Creek Township, and in an experience covering such a long period of years and involving so many transactions the people have come to have a high appreciation of Mr. Lohr's commercial integrity and tie importance of the service which he renders. For a number of yeai-s Mr. Lohr has handled between 100,000 and 150,000 bushels of grain and 150 carloads of hay annually. In recent years he has also been a lumber merchant, being manager of the Paloma Lumber Company since it was established three years ago by the Moller-Vanden Boom Company of Quincy. In the local yards at Paloma are carried a stock valued at $20,000, including everything needed in building. Mr. Lohr is alone in the hay and grain business, but had as his partner and associate until two years ago, J. H. Lummis.

Mr. Lohr was born in ilorgan County, Illinois, November 27. 1871, bnt his parents had lived in Adams County and soon returned here. He is a son of the late William L. and Sarah (Booth) Lohr. William L. Lohr was liorn in IMorgan County December 27, 1843. and died at his late home two miles east of Fowler on the Cannon Ball Trail in Gilmer Township October 10, 1914. He was a son of Peter and Susannah (Davis) Lohr. He was a small boy when his mother died, and Peter Lohr lived to a good old age, past eighty-five, dying at Columbus as a retired farmer. William Lohr came to Adams County when about twenty-one years of age and for a time was employed by D. L. Hair, then superintendent of the County Poor Farm. While here William L. Lohr met Miss Sarah Booth, member of the old and prominent family of that name. She was born in Adams County September 7, 1847, and was just twenty years of age when she married on January 31, 1867. After their marriage they lived in Morgan County on his father's farm four years, and then came to the place in Gilmer Township where William L. Lohr spent the rest of his days. He found that farm with only a small frame house, and he was responsible for placing there the substantial buildings which adorn it today. William L. Lohr was a repiiblican in politics, and his family have long been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Paloma. For a number of years William L. Lohr had a special distinction of service in the community as a grower of cane and operator of a mill producing a high grade of sorghum molasses, a commodity greatly appreciated by his patrons, but even iu these days of sugar scarcity seldom produced on a commercial scale. Mrs. William L. Lohr is still living." She became the mother of seven children : Susie, Mrs. J. Henry Morton, of Honey Creek; Nellie, who died November 3, 1914, just a month after the death of "her father, in her thirty-ninth year; Sina B. and Jennie, still at home with their mother; Edward: Rolla L., who operates the old home farm, married J:dna iliddelbury, of Fowler; Harry B., who is in the United States Army aud is now being trained in an automobile school at Kansas City. Both Rolla and Harry were associated for ten years as threshermen in this county. James Edward Lohr was one year old when his parents returned to Adams County, and he grew up on the old farm in Gilmer Township. At the age of twenty-four he married iliss Mary Hastings, daughter of William Hastings of Mendon. References to this family are made on other pages. After his marriage ilr. Lohr fanned for two years in Ellington Township, and then came to Paloraa and bought out the Lummis Brothers general store. For six years he bought and sold hay and grain as a side line, and then sold his store and gave particular attention to the hay and grain business. He owns a half interest in the Grain and Livestock Company of Coatsburg and Loraine, and is associated with Mr. Lummis in the ownership of a cotton and corn plantation of .500 acres in ]\IcIntosh County, Oklahouia. Mr. Lohr is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Mystic Workers of the World, and he and his wife' belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Arthur Henry Loos. On other pages will be found a somewhat extended account of various members of the Loos family, and here it is the purpose to single out one of them who has made a specially good record as a progressive farmer and citizen in Fall Creek Township, his home being ten miles southeast of Qniney in the very noi'theast corner of the township.

He was born March 26, 1881, a son of George F. Loos. His father was also born in Adams County, in 1848, and for many years had a fine farm of 100 acres in section 34 of Jlelrose Township.

It was on that farm that Arthur Henrv Loos grew to manhood and got his education in the local public schools. On November 4, 1903, he married Elizabeth Schnellbecher, daughter of William and Kate (Speckhart) Schnellbecher. The annals of the Schnellbecher family are also published elsewhere. William Schnellbecher was killed by lightning, and Mrs. Loos' mother afterward married Henry Kauffman. a Melrose Township farmer. Both are now deceased, and there were four children by her second marriage : August, John, Clarice and William Kauffman.

Mrs. Loos was eighteen years old at the time of her marriage. They started out a young couple on their present farm, having fift}--six acres of the old homestead, and they also own seventy acres adjoining across the road, including ten acres of timber. ^Ir. Loos has gone ahead aud done much to improve and increase the value of his farm, erecting a new barn and remodeling the other buildings. He farms as a stockman and grain raiser and keeps a herd of good cows, milking eight to ten regularly. He converts the cream into but, ter for special customers and uses the skim milk largely to fatten from fifty to sixty hogs, w'hich he sends to the market every year. Mr. Loos has been too busy to seek public office, and is content to cast his vote as a democrat. He and his wife have four young children. Florence, the oldest, is now in the eighth grade of the public schools. The other three are Helen, Hazel and Orville. Mr. and Mrs. Loos attend the Payson Congregational Church. He is a school director. Mrs. Loos had a sister and brother, Catherine, ilrs. Chris Raabe, of near ^Mendon, and Fred Schnellbecher, in Fall Creek To«aiship.

Reich Brothers & Comp.\ny. In these stirring times it is significant to refer to some special instances of the strength and validity of new ideas which have gained hold in many parts of the country. In the business world it has long been recognized that in union there is strength, that the combination of resources effects larger and better results than strictly individualized effort. The same thing is equally true of agriculture, with some modifications, and it is undeniable that two farmers working together can accomplish more than twice as much as one alone.

It is this idea which is at the foundation of the firm Reich Brothers & Company in Fall Creek Township. They are not merchants, but are a firm of general farmers and stockmen, liandling a large body of land, using up-to-date methods, and getting all the advantages that come from a combination of resources. Their enterprise is divided among three farms, though operated practically as one, and their homes are about fourteen miles southeast of Quincy and two and a half miles west of Paj'son.

The members of the firm are George Fred and AVilliam Reich and a brotherin-law, Charles Willis. William occupies the old Reich farm proper. The old Seehorn farm, where 3Ir. Willis lives, is one of the oldest estates in that part of the county, and the same is true of the Abijah Harris farm, which is the home of George Fred Reich. On this land is the old Harris residence, one of the landmarks of the countj.

The firm was organized in 1917. The partners operate 620 acres in a body, and they have carried out many extensive improvements. One feature which indicates their progressiveness is the use of gas tractors in plowing their large fields. They grow extensive crops of wheat, corn and oats, and in 1917 they ' fed over 100 cattle and marketed over 100 head of hogs.

The father of the Reich brothers was the late Frederick Reich, who was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, May 3, 1841, and died August 11, 1900, at the age of fifty-nine years, three months and eight days. His death was the result of injxu'ies received in an accident three days before his death. He was a small child when his parents brought him to Adams County and settled in Fall Creek Township. His mother lived to advanced years. Frederick Reich on June 26, 1864, married Elizabeth Keil, daughter of George Keil. She was also born in Germany and was brought as a child to Fall Creek Towniship. She is still living on the old Reich farm. Frederick Reich learned the blacksmith trade at Quincy and followed it actively for eleven years. He then took charge of the Keil farm, and his wife's father spent his last years in that home and died when past eighty years of age. Frederick Reich bought part of the ])resent farm, eighty acres, later secured thirty acres adjoining, and still later purchased 160 acres, though leaving it to his sons to paj* for this part of the land. Subsequently the sons acquired 251 acres, giving them all told 620 acres. As noted above, this includes the old Abijah Harris farm. The Abijah Harris residence is one of the oldest in that part of the county. It is said that one of tlie first schools in Adams County was taught in the house of Abijah Harris himself about 1S33. Marcus Thompson, father of John G. Thompson, once said that he attended school in that old building, which is still standing. This structure has special interest from the fact that most of its covering is of walnut boards.

Frederick Reich and wife were active members of the Bluff Hall Congregational Church, and he was one of the early treasurers of that society. He and his wife had two sons and two daughters. The oldest is George Fred. The daughter, Licelta, is the wife of Charles Willis, one of the present partners in the firm. Their home is the old Seehorn place. Mr. and ilrs. Willis have two sons, Frank and Emmett Willis. Charles Willis worked for the Reich brothers as a hired hand for several years, until his marriage, and finally was taken into the partnership. The second child is William Reich. The second daughter is Margaret, wife of William Born, superintendent of sub-postal station in St. Louis. They have three daughters, Dorothy, Margaret and Louise.

Frederika (Gasser) Hock, both of wlioiu (.IuhI in Melrose Township. Mrs. Reich was boi'ii in ilelrose Township June 3, 1872. She is the mother of four sons, Arthur, Theodore, Leo and Fred, and she lost one daughter, Irena, in infancy. Another member of the family of George Fred Reieh is Mrs. Reich's sister, Katie Bock.

Edwin Nichols Yingling. Some of the first settlements in Adams Connty were made in Fall Creek Township, several years prior to the establislunent of Qiiincy. The Yingling family while not among the first were among the ver.v early settlers, locating there more than eighty-five years ago. Ever since the name has stood for all that is good in citizenship, industry and high character. One of the familj- was Edwin Nichols Yingling, who spent all his life in the county, and had a farm four miles east of ]\Iarblehead and fifteen miles southeast of Quiney, still occupied by Mrs. Yingling.

He was born in Adams Connty April 19, 1836, and died November 1, 1904. His parents were Joseph and Nancy (Nichols) Yingling. Joseph Yingling was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1791. His wife was l)orn Jannai'y 28, 1802. They were married August 19, 182-1, and came to Adams County from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Joseph Yingling died December 21, 1864, and his widow May 27, 1881. They had four children. The oldest, James A., who was born in Kentucky in 1829, inherited the old homestead, later moved to Quiney, and died in the West but was buried at Quiucy. A daughter, Elizabeth A., married a ]\Ir. Thompson, and their two sons are Emir Thompson, of Payson Township, and Wilbur Thompson, of Quincj-. Another daughter, Mary B. Yingling, became the wife of Charles Stewart. Charles Stewart was born at Barneygat, New Jersey, January 7, 1838, son of Samuel and Rachel (Malcolm) Stewart, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Charles Stewart and Mary Yingling were married February 11, 1866. She was Ijorn June 5, 1838. Charles Stewart came to Adams County with his parents in 1840 and they settled in section 11 of Fall Creek Township. In 1868 they sold their old home and located south and west of Newtown in Burton Township, but finally retired to Payson, where Samuel Stewart died at the age of seventytwo and his wife at eighty. Their seven children were George, Charles, Selina, Helen, Samuel, Jane and Isaac. Charles Stewart in 1861, with several other neighbors, went overland to California but at the close of the war returned to Adams County, and after his marriage settled on the farm now occupied by his son Wilmer. Charles Stewart died February 29, 1916, and his wife October 29, 1891. They are buried in the old Craigtown Cemetery at Pay.son.

Edwin N. Yingling was married December 29, 1868, to Helen Stewart, a sister of Charles Stewart, above noted. She was born March 3, 1842, and died Feln-uary 28, 1891.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Yingling .secured the farm now occupied by his widow. He had spent several years in California as a young man. The Yingling homestead was included in his father's original estate. It contains ninety acres. He and his wife lived in a log house until the present sul)stantial structure was erected about forty years ago. It was then and still is one of the host homes in that community. The farm is now rented. Mr. Yingling was a democrat, served as road commissioner, and was always public si)irited in matters of local moment.

On July 20, 1896, Mr. Yingling married Christine R. Seiz. She was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, December 28, 1859, and came to the United States in company with her brother, Gottfried Seiz, in 1880. Her brother now lives in Burton Township. ]Mi-s. Yingling for a number of years was employed in the Yingling home, and after the death of the first Mrs. Yingling she married and continued as head of the household, and today occupies the old home and has carefully looked after the business affairs.

ilr. Yingling 's only child by his first wife was Elmer E. Yingling, who died in infancy. The present Mrs. Yingling is tlie mother of one daughter,

Esther Nancy, who remains at home with her mother. Mrs. Yingling is a member of tlie Christian Church at Pa.vson. Mr. Yingling took a fatherless young boy to rear in his home, named Hari-y Cram. He was one of the Yingling household until he married Dolly Sparks, and they now live in the West. Joseph Yingling. father of Edwin N., before coming to Adams County was a merchant. He was a very methodical man, as is evidenced by the accounts which he kept carefully for many j'ears. His account books, now carefully preserved by his grancl-daughter, Esther N. Yingling, show various transactions from the year 1819 until 1854-55.

Charles Lionberger. A farm that has been in one family ownership for over half a century and has many interesting associations with good and honest people of Adams County now deceased is that of Charles Lionberger in Payson To^^^lship, % of a mile east of Plainville.

On that farm and on the site of his present home but in another house Charles Lionberger was born March 15, 1862, son of John and Elizabeth (Kite) Lionberger. His great-grandfather, Peter Lionberger, was a native of Geraiany and a colonial settler in Virginia, and was there in time to join the colonies in their struggle for independence and served in the revolution. By his first wife he had a son, also named Peter, who married Elizabeth Smith. The second generation fared westward from Virginia and settled in Ohio. John Lionberger, father of Charles, was born near Newark in Licking County, Ohio, August 11, 1816. In 1842 he came to Illinois in company with Benjamin Lionberger and William Morris. William Lionberger, his brother, was born January 21, 1829, and married Amanda Taylor, and for many years was a resident of Adams County. After about a year and a half in Adams County John Lionberger returned to Ohio, but soon came back and took up his home on what is now the Lionberger homestead, living in a little log cabin. On October 20, 1840, he married in Licking County, Ohio, Elizabeth Kite, who was born in that county IMarch 20, 1821. Her parents were Adam and Sarah (Parr) Kite. The Kite family had moved from Page County, Virginia, to Ohio about 1804. Mrs. Jolm Lionberger 's grandfather was a native of Hesse, Germany, but came to America prior to the war for independence, and one of his family was a colonel in the Hessian Army. Adam Kite at the time of the Revolution was detailed to stay home and keep guard over the people of his locality.

A brother of Elizabeth Kite, and uncle of Mr. Charles Lionberger, was the late William Kite, an interesting character and a man of pioneer instincts who was always on the move and seldom remained long in one place. He followed farming in Ohio for a time, went to Jlissouri, then to Adams County, Illinois, lived at Huntington, Indiana, from 1860 to 1864, spent the next four years in Adams County, and for eight years was in ilissoiiri and one season at Sherman, Texas. For three years he lived in Indian Territory, where his wife died and was buried. They had four children. Again William Kite was back among old familiar scenes in Ohio, then went to Crawford Count.y, Illinois, again to Adams County, was in Missouri for a time, and his last days were s]ient in the home of his nephew, Charles Lionberger, where he died March 12, 1910.

John Lionberger died Juno 16. 1887, and his wife on December 14, 1882. They were the parents of eight children : Sarah, born April 2, 1842, deceased ; ficorge, born March 20, 1844, deceased; Alfred, born April 22, 1846, married i\Iaggie Greene, had a family of five sous and two daughters and lived in Livingston County, ^Missouri ; Alvira, born June 16, 1848, was married to George Green and had eight children ; Calvin, born April 28, 1850, deceased ; Isaac, ^ born March 10, 1852, deceased ; Louisa, born June 20, 1855 ; and Charles.

Charles Lionberger grew up on the old homestead in Payson Township, attended the country schools and the Gem City Business College, and has given the best energies of his life to farming, and always on the old home- stead. He worked for his father there until reaching his majority. He owns 204 acres, 160 acres iu section 23 and the remainder in section 24. Part of it is in timber. The substantial liouse was erected in 1875, and with that exception 'Sir. Liouberger has added all the building improvements. He gives particular attention to livestock, and sells a number of cattle everj- season direct from the grass and is also a breeder of Poland China hogs.

April 14. 1891, Mr. Lionberger married Jliss Ollie Blauscr. She was born March 4. 1872, daughter of John and Amanda (Wagy) Blauser. John Blauser was born in Pennsylvania November 27, 1844, and spent the last eight years of his life in the home of his daughter, ^Irs. Lionberger, where he died November 22, 1918. He came to Illinois when about six years of age with his parents, who madp the journey down the Ohio and up the Jlississippi rivers. These parents were Jacob and Chrisanna (Lupton) Blauser, the former also a native of Pennsylvania. The Blausers eame to Adams County in company with the Carmony family, they being related, and as there were twelve children in the Carmouy family, the party made almost a boat load. Jacob Blauser settled two miles .south of Payson, and died there when past eighty years of age. Chrisanna, his wife, died when about sixty. Jacob Blauser and wife had four sons who are still living: Jacob, of Fall Creek Township; William, of Pike County. Illinois; Henry, of Spokane, Washington; and Alexander, of Quincy. Therewere also three daughters: ;\Ielinda, Mrs. John Bohn, of Payson; Anna Mary, widow of George Nowell. of Payson; and Catherine, IMrs. il. Thompson, of Fall Creek Township. John Blauser, father of ilrs. Lionberger, had a good farm in Richland Township, two miles east and a half mile south of Plainville, but this property has since been sold. He and his wife, Amanda, had two daughters : Mrs. Lionberger and Nellie. The latter was l)orn November 28, 1873, and married Frank Waters, of Plainville, and became the mother of three children. John Blauser b.y his second marriage also had two children : Elmer, who died at the age of .seven years, and Florence, born July 15, 1888, now the widow of Burdett Scott and living at Memphis, Tennessee.

IMr. Lionberger has found sufficient interest for the energies of his lifetime on the home farm. He served a very efficient term as road commissioner three years. He is a democrat, and supports all the churches. He is a member of the Adams County ilutual Life Insurance Company.

J. Philip Spangler. The community of Burton Township knows J. Philip Spangler as a citizen and farmer whose progi-essiveness is above question and who lias utilized the capital and opportunities with which he started life to acquire abundant possessions and extend his holdings and usefulness until he is one of the chief farmers in that locality. His home is thirteen miles east of Quincy.

Mr. Spangler was born in the same township, not far from Burton Village, September 28, 1868, son of John and ^Margaret (Wirth) Spangler. Both parents were natives of Germany, his father born in the valley of tiie Rhine. His mother came with her parents to America and he came to this country alone. After their marriage in Quincy they became renters in Btirton Township, later bought forty acres and he gradually improved his holdings until he had 310 acres in the homestead and eighty acres a mile and a half north, which is now owned by his son J. Philiii. John Spangler was a very resourceful and energetic farmer. He built a number of buildings on his land and managed his atfairs s.o successfully that he was finally able to retire and spent his last days in the village of Liberty, where he died December 24, 1898, at the age of seventy-two. His widow passed away at the same age. They had the following children: Lizzie, wife of Charles File, of Kansas; John, who was a stock buyer and died at Liberty in April. 1915, when about fifty-five years of age; Mary, unmarried and living in California; J. Philip; Henry, on the old homestead ; and Jacob, who operates a hack line from Quincy to Liberty.

of Samuel MeBride. Her father was a well known Liberty Township farmer and died in 1918. Mrs. Spangler was eighteen at the time of her marriage.

After their marriage they came to occupy their present home farm, which Mr. Spangler's father liad owned as above noted. Some years later 'Sir. Spangler bought the James Lytle farm of 170 acres adjoining his homestead, and lie paid for this large and well improved farm .$22,250.00. He now has it all under cultivation, and is doing his part as one of the Liberty farmers of America.

Sir. Spangler has served as road commissioner one term, is a democrat, is a trustee of the Pleasant Grove ^Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been very active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Liberty, passing all the local chairs and twice serving as representative to the Grand Lodge. He and his wife have one daughter, Mabel, at home.

August F. Stormer. A highly esteemed citizen of Quincy, and one of its successful business men, August F. Stormer has won an extended reputation a.s an undertaker, and his services are sought not only in the city, but in the surrounding country. A son of Frederick William Stormer, he was born in Ellington Township, Adams County, Illinois, October 22, 1868.

Frederick W. Stormer was born and brought up in Germany. Immigrating to the United States in 1857, he located in Adams County, and having bought land in Ellington Township was engaged in tilling the soil until liis death. He married Anna Margaret Lueninghouer, a native of Germany, and to them eight children were born, as follows : Henry, deceased ; William, of Quincy ; Theodore, of Quiney ; Anna and Edward, deceased ; John L., of Quincy ; August F., the special subject of this sketch ; and Herman H., of Quincy.

Receiving his preliminary education in the country schools, August F. Stormer .subsequently continued his studies in the Quincy schools for awhile. Returning home, he assisted his father on the farm for about six months, and then, a lad of fourteen years, he entered the employ of the Dayton Book & Paper Company, with which he remained four years. Being forced to resign that position on account of ill health, he stayed with his parents two years, and then re-entered the service of his former employers. Two years later Mr. Stormer made a change of occupation, and afterward became associated with the paper house of Ben Lock, remaining in the establishment six months. Entering then the employ of George Stornmann, he was for sixteen .years engaged in decorating, becoming quite skilful.

In 1906, Mr. Stormer, in partnership with his lirother Herman H. Stormer, purcliased an undertaking business at 918 State Street, Quincy. and continued with him three years, being quite successful. In the meantime he became skilled in the embalming process, attending embalming schools in Chicago and Peoria, and receiving his diploma June 15, 1907. On January 18, 1908, the partnership with his brother having been dissolved, Mr. Stormer started in business alone, and has since devoted his time exclusively to undertaking, in which he is very efficient. He is located at 803 State Street.

On August 30, 1894, Mr. Stormer was united in nmrriage with Hannah Seibe, a native of Quiney, and tliey have one child, Grace, born June 14, 1899. Politically Mr. Stormer is prominent in party affairs, being a member of the Republican Central Committee. Fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World; the Modern Woodmen; the Loyal Order of Moose: Queen of the West; Royal Neighbors of America; and is a member of the South Side Boat Club. Religiously he and his family are members of the St. James Lutheran Church.

Ch.vrles W. Sturtev.vnt. If for no other reason Charles W. Sturtevant, of Plainville, is one of the interesting and honored citizens of Adams County because of his .service as a Union soldier during the Civil war. However, he has played a worthy part in the county in eivil life for fifty or sixty years, and he is still interested in business, though nominally retired.

Mr. Sturtevant was born at Bennington, Vermont, December 1, 1845. Soon after his birth he was adopted by Marshall B. and Fidelia Sturtevant, and with them as a child of 2i/o years was brought West to Illinois. Marshall B. Sturtevant w^as born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, October 21, 1818. His father, Daniel Sturtevant, had eighteen children by two wives. The mother of ^Marshall B. was Hepzibah (Barney) Sturtevant. Marshall B. Sturteyant grew up on a farm and worked in a cotton factory, and on October 6, 1838!, married Fidelia Keteluim. daughter of Solomon and Polly (Hcmenway) Ketchum. She was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, September 18, 1818, but grew up in Massachusetts. Marshall B. Stvirtevant and his wife had no children of their own. except their adopted child, Charles W. They finally arrived in Chicago on their journey westward July 3, 1848. and for eight years lived in Winnebago County, Illinois, at Cherry Valley. They then spent a year at Kinderhook in Pike County, Illinois, where Marshall Sturtevant built and ran a saw mill. In 1857 he moved to Adams County and located on his farm in section 26 of Payson Tow-nship, three-quarters of a mile south of Plainville. Marshall B. Sturtevant and wife are well remembered old peo;:le of Adams County. The former died July 21, 1908, aged eighty-nine years and nine months. His widow lived for three years after his death with her foster son Charles W., and died January 17, 1912, aged ninety-three years four months, ilarshall B. Sturtevant improved his farm with good buildings and finally willed it to his nephew% ^lelvin W. Bowker, who had lived in the Sturtevant home from the age of eleven and farmed the place for many years. ]\Ir. Bowker still owns the Stui'tevant homestead. M. B. Sturtevant was a charter member of the Plainsville Masonic Lodge and was buried wdth Masonic honors. In politics he was a republican.

Charles W. Sturtevant lived with his parents until past twenty-one years of age and received his education in the district schools. In the meantime he had made his record as a Union soldier. He enlisted in 1862 in Company F of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, and served until discharged for disability at Vicksburg in 1863. In the spring of 1865 he .joined the army again as a recruit for Company D of the Fiftieth Illinois Infantry, and reached the command at Goldsboro, North Carolina, participating in some of the last movements of the war, including the Grand Review at Washington. He is a charter member of William Larimore Post No. 591 Grand Army of the Republic, and past commander, and has attended some of the national encampments.

For several years Mr. Sturtevant conducted the home farm for his parents, and then worked as a house painter fifteen years. For six years he was a hardware merchant at Plainville. He then resumed his trade of house painter and also of house carpenter. On July 1, 1906, he accepted the post of carrier for rural route No. 2 out of Plainville. Some of his friends said that he would not continue the work a year, but instead he kept at it for nine years and five months, until he was past the age of seventy. Even after leaving his daily routine of mail delivery he kept up an interest in business affairs as a builder and contractor, occasionally taking a .job to build a house or barn from foundation to ridgepole. Though a republican, he has never sought public office, but served as president of the village board and in other minor positions. He has been a loyal Odd Fellow for thirty years, joining the Plainville Lodge at its organization, passing the various chairs and several times representing it at Grand Lodge. He is also a charter member of Camp No. 1116, ^Modern Woodmen of America. In former years Mr. Sturtevant keenly enjoyed hunting, fishing and other outdoor sports, and as a fine rifle shot his prowess was much to be feared in the old time turkey shooting contests.

December 28, 1876, he married ]\Iiss Lucretia Haws, a native of Hampshire County, West Virginia. At the age of sixteen she came west with her parents.

George and Eve Haws, who located at Plainville in Adams County. Her father died liere tliree years later and her mother twelve years later. Her mother Sj.ent her last years with Mrs. Sturtevant. Mrs. Sturtevant has had the care and responsibility of looking after three old ladies, including her husband's real mother, who has kept in touch with him for many years. She had a son by each of three husbands, and one of these, Charles, half-brother of Charles W. Sturtevant, spent a few years on the Sturtevant homestead. Mr. Sturtevant's mother died when past eighty years of age. As already noted, his foster mother spent her last years at this home. Thus Mrs. Sturtevant performed a noble part by these old people altogether for a period of seventeen years. Her own mother suffered from paralysis for seven years.

Mr. and ilrs. Sturtevant have two children, the only one growing up being a daughter, Mertie F. Mertie taught for sixteen years, mainly in Adams County, including ten years at the Plainville School. She is still at home with her parents. She is a most independent and effective worker, and is widely known over Adams Countj-. She is active as a Sunday School teacher, and has been particularly active in Red Cross and Liberty Bond campaigns. She runs her own car, and is alwaj's ready to enlist her services in any campaign for local good or patriotic cause.

Jajies Russell Ferguson. Some of the first white settlements in Adams County were planted in Biirton Township, and the roll of pioneer names includes several memlters of the Ferguson family. Part of the big stock farm of James Russell Ferguson in that township includes a portion of the land acquired by his ancestors here ninety years ago.

James Russell Ferguson was born in Burton Township September 18, 1847, son of John and Emily Jane (Pollock) Fergiison. John Ferguson was one of eight brothers, of a family that originated and lived for many years in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The father of these brothers was also named James. He was a resident of southwestern Pennsylvania during the years immediately following the Revolution, and was a participant in the whiskey rebellion, one of the events always referred to in American histories. Some of the sons participated in the War of 1812. Among them was Samuel, a brother of John, who brought a land warrant west and located in Burton Township, and Duilt his log cabin home there as early as 1828. Four years later he volunteered to serve in tlie Black Hawk Indian War of 1832.

John Ferguson, father of James R., was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, and his wife at Mansfield in Richland County, that state. John Ferguson came to Adams County in 1833 and his wife the next year. Emily Jane Pollock's father was an Ohio River steamboat captain, and spent many of his winters at Quincy and in Adams County. His brother, Robert Pollock, settled in Burton Township. John and Emily Ferguson were married in Burton Township, and they located in section 2, where his i;ncle Samuel was the second white settler. John bought the farm of his uncle and he and his brother Robert lived on it for a time as bachelors. Robert Fergiison died at the age of fifty-eight. John Fergiison died on the old Samuel Ferguson farm at the age of eighty years and his wife at the age of eighty-four. Of tliis farm eighty acres is now owned by James R. Ferguson. John Ferguson was a very pro.sperous and energetic business man and farmer, and acquired fully 800 acres in Missouri and Illinois. His son James R. was a.ssociated with him for a number of years and looked after the operation of 460 acres in Illinois, including his present fine farm.

James R. Ferguson had three sisters: Ann ]\Iaria, living in Gilmer Township, widow of Thomas Lawless; Clara Viola, Mrs. James Lawless, of Gilmer To\\niship : and Helen A., now living in Gilmer Township, widow of Doctor Landon, of Burton.

James R. Ferguson has given all his mature years to farming and stock raising. He first acquired 160 acres, two miles south of the old jiomestead. and inherited eighty acres of the homestead. He has since added another eighty acres, making 240 acres in his home phice, and he now has just exactly a half section of Adams County land and some of the very best soil in the entire county. J\Ir. Ferguson has been very progressive and has expended nearly $10,000 in building improvements. He raises hogs and cattle, selling the cattle from the grass, and turning off from 100 to 150 fat hogs every season.

At the age of twenty-four he married iliss Emma X. Kimmons, who was born in Adams County, daughter of Luke Kimmons. Iler father came to this county in 18.35 from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and thus the Ferguson and the Kimmons families were from about the same section of the Keystone State. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have three living children, and Edna and Clarence died in childhood. Ada, their oldest living child, is the wife of Henry Lolise, who is associated with her father in farming. Lulu, now at home, was educated in the Illinois Normal University and was a teacher for ten years in this county. Jessie finished her education in music at Chicago, was formerly a teacher in Adams County, and is now in the same vocation in South Dakota. Mrs. Ferguson also taught school in early life at Camp Point. 'Sir. Ferguson is a republican, but without aspirations for office, though for twenty-five years he has been a member of the school board and takes much interest in improving the local schools. He and his wife are members of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church.

Henry H.\mpsmire has the proper pride due a citizen of exemplary ehai-acter and conduct who has spent many years in Adams County, has worked hard, has seen the fruition of his plans and hopes in many respects and all the prosperity he enjoys is only a due reward for the service rendered. The Hampsmire home is in Payson Township, twenty-one miles southeast of Quincy and 4% miles north of Hull, located on the county line between Adams and Pike counties. The farm is a fine body of land in most excellent condition of tillage and fertility. Its owner has found scope to work out various economic plans in building and in breeding livestock, and these constructive details served partially to offset the strain resulting from the sudden death of his son just coming to maturity. Mr. and Mrs. Hampsmire are closely identified with Akers Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and exemplifying in their own lives the teachings of the Master they accept with due humility the burdens of service and with a fine realization of ultimate causes they pursue their life's course steadily and bravely.

Henry Hampsmire was born in Lippe-Detmold, Germany, October 15, 1851. He was five and a half years old when his parents, Frank and Louise (Dickman) Hampshire, set out for America. His mother's brother, Fred Dickman, and wife also came along. Four sisters were already in Illinois. ]\Irs. Fred Dickman, Mrs. Gilhouse, mother of Ernest Gilhouse of this county, 'Sirs. Mej'er and Jlrs. Miller. The family arrived in Adams County in the spring of 1857. Frank Hampsmire was a brickmaker by trade, b\it had no capital on reaching Quincy. The first summer he worked for his brother-in-law, Jlr. Miller, in a brickyard. He then went to the Abel farm in Burton Township and undertook the heavy work of grubbing new land and making a farm, working out for several of his neighbors. He put in one crop on the Humphrey farm south of Adams. His farming was done with an ox team. Later, on a place l^o miles south of Burton, he contrived during the summer seasons to put in a few acres of crops, and during the winter hauled wood to Quincy for $2 and s|i2.50 a load. In time, as his sons became able, they assisted him. He continued to rent until about 1869, when he bought a farm of 120 acres in Pike County, on the north line of the county from his son's present place. More of this place was uncleared than cleared and he rented the bottom lands for his immediate crops. He built a house, the original one being destroyed by fire. He had a log barn, but later constructed a l)ctter one. He went in debt for a large part of his purchase and had many difficulties to overcome. One wheat crop was destroyed when it was set on fire by the engine while threshing. With some a.ssistance from his sons he finally ])ul)ed out, and made a good living for himself. His prime purpose in coining to America was to see his sons established in this free land, and he lived to" see them in a fair way to prosperity. He lived to the age of eighty, and for a number of years his youngest sou had operated his owu farm. His first wife was the mother of his children and died aliout 1879. He remained a widower some eight years, and then married Mrs. Sarah Donelson, widow of Andrew Donelson, of Pike County. The Donelson family had moved to Pike County from Monroe City, Missouri, about the time of the Civil war. Mr. Donelson later went east and died there. Sarah (Wilt) Donelson was born in Pennsylvania. She survived her second husband, Frank Hampsmire, about thirteen years, heiug eighty-three when she passed away. Her last years were spent in the home of her children, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hampsmire. Frank Hampsmire by his first marriage had the following children : Fred, who was a farmer and thresherman in Adams and Pike counties, liis home being near Seehorn, but he died at the home of a daughter in Payson at the age of sixtyfive. The second in age is Henry Hampsmire. William Hampsmire is a farmer at Seehorn in Adams County. August is a Pike County farmer. Ernest died when about twelve or thirteen years of age.

Henry Hampsmire lived at home and bore his share of responsibilities in making a farm for his father. On March 3, 1875, he married Jane Donelson, daughter of Mrs. Sarah Donelson, above mentioned, who afterwards became the wife of ]\Ir. Frank Hampsmire. ilrs. Hampsmire was born in Marion Countv, Missouri, October 28, 1852, and grew to womanhood in Pike County, Illinois.

After his marriage Mr. Hampsmire secured a farm in Payson " Township near his father's place, later selling that to Henry Smith and buying his father's old property. He built additif)nal buildings, and was living there when the tragedy occurred which robbed him of his promising son, Charles Elmer. He and this son were working together gathering cane seed. The son was driving to shelter before an oncoming storm and was struck by a bolt of lightning from a small cloud and killed in his father's presence. The latter was so overcome by this tragedy that he was unable to live on the place longer and about 1906 he sold and came to his present place. This is the old Oscar Wagy farm of eighty acres about two miles east from his old farm. It had a good' house, but Mr. Hampsmire has erected a large bank bam and many other improvements during the last twelve years. The land was sold at a public sale, having been bought in by Henry Hampsmire "s son Walter. The land was greatly depreciated by successive cropping and Mr. Hampsmire has done much to build it up by keeping it in pasture for cattle and sheep. He has all the land well fenced, and it is now in a high class condition of fertility and productiveness. His building improvements include sheep and cattle barn", tool house, hog and chicken houses, and he has exercised much ingenuity and followed most approved modern plans in getting this building equipment suitable for the most efficient handling of stock. He breeds Duroc-Jersey hogs and his stock has served the good purpose to raise the .standard of stock in the neighborhood. Mr. Hampsmire is a democrat but has never sought office.

A brief record of bis children is as follows: Rosa died in childhood. Walter lives on a farm adjoining his father and married Miss Ethel Wagy. daughter of John Wag}', mentioned on other pages of this publication. Frank operates the home farm. The next was the son who was killed by lightnnig at the age of nineteen. A daughter of Mrs. Hampsmire 's brother," Goldie Donelson, was taken into the Hampsmire home at the age of three and a half and lived there until her marriage to James Richmond of Quiucy.

Henry S. Cook was a farmer for many years, still owns a good farm in the county, but for a number of years has made his home in Payson Village, and six days in the week, irrespective of weather or other conditions, carries the mail over route No. 1 throughout the country.

5, 1868. His parents were Alonzo T. and Susan (Wells) Cook, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Pennsylvania, but they were married in Adams County. Alonzo Cook came to this county as a youth with his parents. Grandfather Cook was one of the early settlers in Payson Townshij), and lived there until his death, when past ninety-two years of age. Henry S. Cook as a boy well remembers his grandfather. Alonzo Cook had two sisters : Mrs._ Emma Hedges, who lived in :\Iifhigan ; and Rhoda, who married Leonard Hoffman and spent her life in Burton Township. Alonzo Cook worked with his father, cleared up a large tract of timbered laud, and eventually acquired the old homestead, a farm that has since been sold. He always enjoyed the contidence and good will of his fellow citizens and tilled various offices, including that of supervisor. He was a democrat. He died in September. 1893, at the age of seventy-two. His widow survived him seventeen .years, passing away in 1910, at the age of eighty. Eight of their children reached maturity : Jesse, who spent most of his life in the West and died when past sixty years of age ; Chauncey, who lived in Adams County and died at the age of fifty-five; William, a resident of Denver, Colorado: Olive, who taught school in Adams County', was postma.ster at Payson four yeai-s, and is still unmarried and living at Pomona, California; Talcott. a resident of Payson; Abner, a Payson Township farmer; Joy, widow of Frank Stratton, of St. Joseph, ^Missouri ; and Henry S.

Henry S. Cook remained at home until after his father's death. On December 24, 1893. he married ^liss Josephine Getzs, of Burton Township, daughter of Levi and Irene (Hancock) Getzs. Levi Getzs, a well known miller of the county, was born in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1836. His father moved to Newtown in Adams County, Illinois, in 1851 and was a miller by trade. Levi Getzs' parents were John and Harriet Getzs. Levi married in 1861 Miss Irene Hancock, who was bom in 18-16. In 1863 Levi Getzs embarked in the milling business on 'Sl'iW Creek in Burton Township, and in 1873 moved the mill to Newtown, where he conducted a custom mill and made flour and ground feed for many years. He and his wife had five children : Isaac, William E., Annie E., Clara P. and Josephine.

Mr. and ilrs. Cook have a farm in Burton Township, and they lived on that and made their living from it for t'nirteen years. Since then Mr. Cook has rented his farm and has lived in the Village of Payson. For some time he did a considerable business in hauling, but for the past eight years has carried the mail over route No. 1. Mr. Cook is a democrat in politics. He and his wife have a neat home in the village. Mrs. Cook is authority for the statement that Mr. Cook's hobby is a Ford automobile.

Christopher Rump, whose home is in Payson Township, ten miles southeast of Quincy, is one of the enviable men of Adams County, enviable because of what he has done and achieved from a beginning of limited means and circumstances. He has reared a fine family, has provided home and education for them, and has a liberal competence with which to enjoy his own declining years.

^Ir. Rum]) was born on a farm in Burton Township, 2i/2 miles northeast of Burton Village, February 6, 1855, son of Christopher and Sophia Rump. His parents came from Germany soon after their marriage. His father was a carpenter, and in Adams County settled on a tract of brush covered land, but did not have long in which to work out his destiny since he died before his son Christopher could remember him. The mother married again and died when Christopher was six or seven years of age. He was the only one of the two children who survived. Peter Rump, a brother of Christopher, Sr., also came to Adams County, and settled on land adjoining his brother, and died there in middle life. His son, John Rump, is the well known auctioneer of Quincy.

Christopher Rump's mother mari-ied for her second husband Christ Tennis. They lived on a farm in Burton Township and there Christopher Rump remained to the age of sixteen, when he moved to Payson Township, a mile ea.st and quarter of a mile north of liis present home. His half-brother, Fred Tenuis, now lives a mile southeast of Plainville. At the age of twenty-one Christopher began working at monthly M'ages. He kept that up for seven years, and all that time was in the employ of only two parties, John Rump and Fred Rump. He received from $18 to $20 a month for ten months of the year, but carefully saved his earnings, and finally had two horses as part of his equipment with which to begin farming on his own account. For nine years he rented land from his cousin, John Rump, in Burton Township. The first two years he ran $200 behind. The seasons were poor, he had no wheat sown, and he lost all his hogs with cholera. Tlie arrangement was that he should pay $4 an acre cash rent for 160 acres, but after the disastrous experiences of the first j'car or so he arranged to rent on the share. After that the crops became more favorable and he made such progress that at the end of nine years he was able to buy his present property in 1893. This is the old home of Robert Kay, comprising 120 acres. Mr. Rump bought it for $62.50 an acre, going in debt $3,000. Later he added the 157-acre Perry farm, cornering his first place. The purchase price of this was $92.50 an acre. There was a house on the farm when he boiight it in 1893, but it has since been remodeled and rebuilt. A few weeks after he took possession the old barn was burned, and that was only the first of many losses and vicissitudes he had to sustain as an independent farmer. Again and again he lost his hogs by cholera, but has never given up that feature of his farming, and in recent years has sold from fortj' to sixty head every season. He also sells cattle direct from the gras.s. He has a fine body of land, all well improved and the soil carefully conserved by good management and proper rotation of crops and application of fertilizer. For many years he has made wheat a large crop. He rents land for wheat growing, fifty to sixty acres, and has had from sixty to seventy acres of corn and twenty to thirty acres of oats every year. He has never worked less than 240 acres for many years. For the past two years ilr. Rump has been content to shift the heaviest responsibilities to the shoulders of his sons, but still stays on the farm and has an active part in its management.

On March 5, 1884, ]\Ir. Rump married Miss Mary Hunsacker, daughter of Alexander and Mary Elizabeth (Freeman) Hunsacker. Her mother was born in New York State. The Hunsackers were a prominent family here. Jlr. Hunsacker was a blacksmith and miller, owned a distilleiy and carding mill and store and lived in Adams County until about thirty-four years ago. ^Irs. Rump has the following sisters : ]\Irs. Lizzie Strathman ; I\Irs. Belle ileckes ; Mrs. Dorinda Cleveland, of Chillicothe, Missouri ; Frances IMcVeigh, of California; Gertrude Biggy, of Texas; Harriet, of Walla Walla, Washington: Anna, of Peoria, Illinois ; and Deborah married Mr. Nash and died in Missouri. Mi-s. Rump also has a brother, John Hiuisacker, now living at Quincy, who for twenty-seven years was a locomotive fireman.

Mr. and IMrs. Rump have four children : Clarence K., is a city mail carrier in Quincy and married Marjorie Lehman ; Archie Alexander is on his father's second farm, the old Perry place, and married ilyrtle Nell Inman ; Myrtle Gertrude is the wife of Stanley Inman, of Payson Township, and has one son, Stanley Rump Inman: Clara Delia, the youngest of the family, is a student in high school and in the opinion of her friends she is one of the most attractive, vivacious and blithesome young women of Adams County. Mr. Rump is a democrat in politics but has never sought public service or office of any kind. He was reared in the Lutheran Church and !Mrs. Rump and sons are members of tlie Christian Church.

Wn:.Li.\M Fred K.\ltexbach is proprietor of one of the fine farm homes in Burton Township, located a mile east of Newtown. He is living now in the same environment in which he grew up as a boy, and for over sixty years the Kaltenbachs have been among the prosperous, honest, industrious and capable people in that part of the county.

Alois and Anna Sabina (Saxey) Kaltenbaeh. Alois Kaltenbach was born in Baden, Germany, and at the age ol' sixteen came to Adams County with his parents, William and Syephana Kaltenbaeh. The grandparents secured a farm in Payson Township, and the grandfather died at the age of eighty-five. Alois remained at home with his parents until his marriage in 1865. He was then twenty-eight years of age and his bride eighteen. He had as his chief capital at the time of his marriage an extensive experience as a farm laborer. For one year he and his wife lived at the old home, and after tiiat they rented until 1872 and then bought 160 acres in Burton Township, now owned by their youngest daughter, Rosina. Alois Kaltenbaeh also bouglit 158 acres additional, giving him almost a half section, but always kept as two farms. His second farm was the old William Rowe farm, and he rented this land to his oldest daughter for nine years, nntil 1897, when it was taken over by William Fred Kaltenbaeh. Alois Kaltenbaeh died April 10, 1917, at the age of seventy-eight. His wife died in 1911 at the age of sixty-eight. He was a democrat in politics and for many years attended St. Bridget's Catholic Church at Liberty, but had formerly been a member in St. Anthony's Church in ^lelrose Township. He donated liberall.y towards the churches. Several of the family are buried in St. Anthony's Cemetery. Alois Kaltenbaeh and wife had four children : Amelia, ]\Irs. Theodore jMeyer, living on a farm in Burton Township : Anna, wife of John Ormond, a farmer in Liberty Township ; William F. ; and Rosina, wife of Albert Meyer, on the old Kaltenbaeh farm.

William F. Kaltenbaeh grew np on the old homestead, attended the local schools, and on ]\Iarch 2, 1897, married Elizabetli Flick, danghter of Andrew and Marie (Lambert) Flick, of Richfield Township. Her parents now live in Liberty Township. Mrs. Kaltenbaeh was born October 9, 1874. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kaltenbaeh at once located on the second farm of his father, running it for ten years, biit he now owns it and forty acres additional, and in the fall of 1918 he bought forty-three acres adjoining, giving him a large and well proportioned place of 241 acres. When his father bought the land it had a honse on it, but this house was added to by his father and the son has built additional rooms, and also two large barns. He devotes his land to general farming and keeps from twenty to twenty-five head of cattle. Mr. and Mrs. Kaltenbaeh are members of St. Bridget's Catholic Church. Their children, four in number, and all at home, are Loretta M., Alois A., Anna Viola and Albert William.

James B. Cook is the present supervisor of Burton Township. He is also a farmer, a large land owner, and has been successfully identified with agricultural enterprise most of his life. ilr. Cook has three sons who are ser\'ing their country in the uniform of United States soldiers.

Most of his life has been spent in Adams County, but he was born at Fort Madison, Iowa, October 27. 1860, sou of James J. and Dorothy C. (Brown) Cook. His father was a native of England. His mother was born in Quincy, danghter of David Brown, a native of Bavaria, Germany. David Brown at one''time drove a stage between Quincy and Alton. James J. Cook was a wagon maker by trade and had a shop at Fort Madison, Iowa, from 1861 until 1867. He then came to Adams County and settled on a farm two miles east of Adams postoffiee and sixteen miles southeast of Quincy. He bought eighty acres of improved land and made much of this farm in the way of further improvements before he died. The substantial house which he erected is .still used. The farm is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Martha Sinnock, of Quincy. James J. Cook died March 27, 1896, at the age of fifty-eight. Ilis widow' survived him about five years, passing away at the age of sixty. James J. Cook was a republican voter but never aspired to holding public office. He contributed liberally of his means to the support of church and other worthy causes. His family consisted of the following children: Mary, who died as the wife of John Reed, of Burton Township ; Martha, Mrs. PMwin Sinnock, of

Quiney ; Emma, wife of John Hunsaker, of Chieago ; Blanche, who died unmarried at the age of twenty ; Bertha, who is unmarried and is living in Chicago with her sister; Edward Theodore, a thresherman and rancher at Three Porks, Montana ; James B. ; and Harris, who died in childhood.

James B. Cook lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age. During that time he attended the common schools and for a brief period of six months worked in a book store, but otherwise his life has been identified with the open eountrj- and with agricultural enterprise. He rented a farm until he married, at the age of twenty-four. Miss Sarah Winget, of Burton Township, daughter of "William Winget, whose home was near the Cooks. ^Ir. and Mrs. Cook are of the same age and grew up as schoolmates. After their marriage they lived five years on a farm ad.ioining Quiney, for three j-ears were fanners in Shelby County, Missouri, and about twenty-five years ago returned to Adams County and bought their present place, which adjoins the old Cook homestead. Here Mr, Cook owns eighty acres of well improved land, and he is also operating the old homestead and handling both farms productively and with very gratifying returns.

Mr. Cook was first elected to his office as supervisor of Burton Township in 1913. He is now serving on his third two-year term. In his official capacity he directly superintended the building of the Towai Hall in the center of the township, and has also been interested in the construction of concrete bridges and culverts throughout this part of the county. He is a director of his home school and as a republican has been delegate to various congressional conventions and member of part_v committees. Mrs. Cook is a member of the Baptist Church.

Their oldest child, Grace L., died at the age of twenty-one, having taught school in this county four years. Mamie A. was also a teacher in the county, but is now the wife of J. A. Pullman, of Burton Township. Charles is serving with the colors, sergeant in a regiment of heavy artillery with the Expeditionary Forces in France. Howard died in infancy. Frank L. is with an ambulance corps in France. Russell L. is also a soldier in France. The son Henrj' died in infancy. Aubrey and Clarence both had two .years in high school and are now assisting their father on the farm. Robert, the youngest is still a schoolboy.