Quincy Township (part 57 of 74)

Samuel S. Harkness. This history of Adams County is being published .just ninety-five years after the first member of the Harkness family located here. Their first settlement was in Fall Creek Township, and in that community both his father and grandfather lived, Samuel S, Harkness has spent most of the years of his life in Burton Towmship, with enduring honor and with that esteem which is paid a man faithful to duty, hard working, and a con.scientious citizen, Mr. S. S. Harkness' home is seventeen miles southeast of Quiney.

His liirth occurred in Fall Creek Township January 21, 1850. His parents were Loren and Sarah (Tibbitts) Harkness. The grandfather, and the pioneer in this county, was Ebenezer Hai-kness. who was born in the State of Maine about 1785. He came to Adams county and settled in Fall Creek Township in 1824. Two of his brothers also came to the county. Ebenezer Harkne.ss at one time kept a tavern near the Mississippi River, where a ferryboat transported passengers across the river, and he also drove a stage between Quiney and Atlas and Naples. Ebenezer Harkness had three sons: Lyman, who married Mary Avis and lived in Hancock County, where he died in advanced years; Loren ; and Daniel, who never married and died at the age of fifty, A daughter, Laura, married Willard Keyes, a well known pioneer citizen of Quiney.

Loren Harkness was born at Springfield in Bradford Conntv, Pennsvlvania, February 9, 1816. He married,' October 8, 1840, Sarah Tibbitts, who was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, September 7, 1818. Loren Harkness died April 15, 1865, and his widow survived him thirty years almost to the day, dying April

14, 1895. After liis marriage Loreu Harkness lived at home with his father, operating the old farm, and in 1860 moved to Burton Township and acquired the land now owned by his son, Samuel S. Ebenezer Harkness also lived here until his death in 1863, at the age of seventy-eight. Ebenezer Harkness was a member of the first grand jury in Adams County. He voted as a whig and later as a republican.

Sarah Tibbitts, mother of Samuel S. Harkness. was a daughter of Samuel, a granddaughter of David and Betsy (Wright) Tibbitts. David Tibbitts was a son of Samuel and Sobriety (Drew) Tibbitts, and Samuel's father was Joshua Tibbitts, who came to America about 168.5 and settled at Dover in Stafford County, New Hampshire. Sarah Tibbitts lost her parents when slie was a child and she came to Adams County with her aunt and uncle, John and Betsy Bean, who located in Fall Creek Township. Loren Harkness did not live long after coming to Burton Township, but did much in that time to clear up and improve his farm. He was only forty-nine when he died. He had seven children : Oscar, who enlisted at the age of eighteen in the Seventyeightli Illinois Infantry, .saw active service until the close of the war, and is now living in an old soldiers' home in California; Samuel S. ; Eugene Bell, a farmer at Lakin, Kansas ; and James Edward, who died Jlarch 20, 1900, at Quincy. These were the sons of Loren Harkness and wife.

Samuel S. Harkness was fifteen years of age when his father died. His brother Oscar on returning from the army took charge of the old farm, and Samuel S. Harkne.ss had the privilege of the local schools of Camp Point and Payson. At the age of twenty-two he married Elizabeth Rhodes Young, who was born in Orange County, Virginia, May 20, 1851. They lived happily together for over thirty years, until Mrs. Harkness passed away April 5, 1905. She had come to Adams County as a child with her parents, Columbus L. and Nancy Young, who settled in Burton Township and later lived on a farm adjoining that of the Harknesses. Before his marriage S. S. Harkness had taken charge of the old homestead, after his brother Oscar moved out to Kansas to become a homesteader. He has looked after that farm ever since, his mother living M'ith him, and at her death he bought out the interests of the other heirs. The old homestead comprised 155 acres and he .still owns all of it except five acres. This is a well improved and valuable farm, productive of all the staple crops and grain, and Mr. Harkness has always raised and gi-own a number of stock. He served as school director about fifteen years, and as a republican has allowed his name to go on the ticket a number of times as candidate, though the democratic majority in that township has alwaj-s been very strong. Mr. and lilrs. Harkness were very active members of the Baptist Church at Newtown, and he served as superintendent of the Sunday school for ten or twelve years. Since the death of his wife he has livefl rather retired and not been so closely identified with the church and other affairs as formerly. Mr. Harkness has always been a peace loving man, and has never had a law suit. However, he is familiar with court procedure, since he has sat on a number of local juries and on grand juries. He has been connected with tlie Countv Farm Improvement Association.

Mr. Harkness had five children : Oscar T. is connected with the Fairbanks- Morse Company at Portland, Oregon. The daughter Lucy died in infancy. Herbert is a farmer in Burton Township and married Lena Wells. William is the manager of the homestead farm and married Mary Meyer, of Burton Townsliip. They have three children, Margaret Elizabeth, Wilfred and Harold. William Harkness was for five or six years a rural mail carrier, but is now giving all his time to general farming and the raising of good cattle and hogs." Columbus Loren, the youngest of the children, is a graduate of the Payson High School, took the full course of mechanical engineering in the Illinois State University, but instead of following his profession entered Young Men's Christian Association work as general secretary at Lincoln, Nebraska, also performed similar duties at Louisville, Kentucky, but is now in-

Frank Karl Gleichmann. During the dozen years he was a resident of Quiney Frank Karl Gleichmann was a successful and progressive merchant, and altogether a citizen whose memory is gratefully recalled by a large circle of friends. He wa.s German born and fought for the Union in this country as a Union soldier.

He was born in Saxony, Germany, March 1, 1837, and died at Quiney May 27, 1889. His parents were Gottlieb and Elizabeth (Kern) Gleichmann. His parents spent their lives in Saxon}^ His father died there when Frank K. was a boy and the mother married a second husband. Frank K. Gleichmann was fourteen years old when he left home and set out for the New World, coming from Hamburg on a sailing vessel to New York. In New York he joined an uncle at West Hoboken. That was about the time the horse car line was put in operation to New York City. Soon afterward Mr. Gleichmann took up and learned the trade of tailor ancl subsequently was employed in the finishing department of the Steinway Brothers piano works. That was the employment from which he was called at the outbreak of the war to serve as a soldier. He enlisted in the Fifth New York Infantry, and saw much hard service, including the great Atlanta campaign. He was captured in one of the battles, was sent to a Confederate prison at the old Fair Grounds at Raleigh, North Carolina, and was kept there nine months, being fed on a poor quality of pork and beans and in such meager rations that he was more dead than alive when he was released and sent north with the Union lines. As returning health and strength permitted he resumed his trade in New York and Philadelphia. On account of continued failing health he came west and located on a farm in Lewis County, Missouri, near Canton. The open life of the farm brought him restored health and strength and in the spring of 1877 he located at Quiney and entered the grocery business with a store on Seventh Street. At the corner of Seventh and Oak streets he built a large building, with a store on the first floor and his own home above. It was in that home that he spent his last days. He was a man of gi-eat industry, very capable in handling business affairs, and his qualities of thrift laid the foundation of his ample competence. He was a Lincoln republican and a member of the Lutheran church.

In New York City Mr. Gleichmann married Miss Frederica A. Becker. She was born in Germany September 16, 1848. She was a small girl when her mother died and her father, Carl Johan Becker, married a second wife and became a wealthy market man in Germany. The Beckers were a Lutheran family. Mrs. Gleichmann was the oldest of her mother's children. She was fifteen when she came to the United States. Miss Becker made the trip alone from Hamburg, Germany, being eight weeks on the ocean. She joined some relatives in New York, and lived there, working for her living, until her marriage. Her sister Amelia afterwards came to the United States and married a !Mr. Mayer, and now lives on Staten Island and is the mother of two daughters, Pauline and Amelia, the latter a teacher. Another sister was Agnes, who also came to this country, and died leaving two sons, Albert and Karl.

Mrs. Gleichmann became the mother of two sons. Karl A., who di"ed at the age of eight months, and Henry B. Heniy B. Gleichmann was born in Lewis County, Missouri, November 26, 1869. He was seven years of age when brought to Quiney, and in this city he grew up and received his education in the Lutheran parochial and public schools, and in the Gem City Business College. After the death of his father he continued the business, and very successfiilly until 1915. He and his mother own some valuable property in Quiney and Mr. Gleichmann is a director in the Quiney Stove Manufacturing Company and has many interests to claim his time and attention. He is a member of Herman

Abraham H. D. Buttz. Jlore of the real history of Liberty Village can be told in the experiences and fortunes of the Buttz family than can be obtained from any other source. Abraham H. D. Buttz was formerly called Junior in order to distiugiiish him from his father. Both of them have been prominent in connection with everj- movement and event in the history of Liberty Village. In fact nothing of importance there has ever occurred without the support of this family. For the last year or so Mr. Buttz has been totally blind, but despite such handicap seems to enjoy life, possesses a happy disposition and is not only fond of the society of friends but his many friends constantly seek him out. He still possesses all the powers of intellect which have distinguished him in former years.

His father, A. H. D. Buttz, Sr., was born August 13, 1809, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Jacob Buttz, his grandfather, was a soldier in the War of the Eevolution and was in Washington's army during the historic crossing of the Delaware River just before the battle of Trenton. Michael R. Buttz, father of A. H. D. Buttz, was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, moved from there to Northampton Count}-, Pennsylvania, and was a miller and merchant and at one time represented his county in the Legislature. He was a democrat.

A. H. D. Buttz was ediicated at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, partly under the instruction of Moravian teachers. In 1831 he set out on foot from Pennsylvania to seek a permanent home and location. His journey's end brought him to Adams County, and three miles east of Liberty he hired out to Captain Pierce. Together they built a house and soon opened a little store. Paris T. Judy sold lots at Liberty, but the land was owned by a Kentuckian named Talbot, whose son-in-law, A. W. Dudley, laid out the town. In 183.5 Mr. Buttz secured some ground there, and built a store on the present site of the brick store which was for so long under the ownership of the Buttz family. In 1850 Mr. Buttz erected the present brick store. It stood on the site occupied by the frame store erected in 1835. In the same year he put up a dwelling house, which is still in use. A. H. D. Buttz, Jr., was born in that home. Just across the street from the store D. P. Meacham built one of the fir.st residences and opened a butcher shop and a small stock of merchandise. On September 13, 1835, A. H. D. Buttz married Miss Mary E. Meacham, daughter of D. P. Meacham, just mentioned. She was born in Ohio July 3, 1819, and was brought to Adams County by her parents in 1829. The Meacham family came to this county by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and settled in section 20, Liberty Township, just across the road from where A. H. D. Buttz now lives. It was* in a log house on that farm that A. H. D. Buttz, Sr., and wife were married. D. P. Meacham, like many of the early pioneers, was rather too liberal in his potations. After his wife's death he spent some time with his son-in-law, Mr. Buttz. At that time the latter was trying to make a farm. ]Mr. Meacham was also very fond of talking and one day was requested by Mr. Buttz not to annoy his w'orkmen. He became very angry and left home and was never heard of again by his family.

Mr. Buttz, Sr., continued the business of his store until about 1856, when he was succeeded by Meacham «& Karns, his sons-in-law. They were succeeded by Buttz Brothers, comprising M. R. and A. H. D. Buttz, Jr. M. R. Buttz left the firm to enlist in the Civil war and the business was carried on by his brother. In 1865 P. H. Mercer, who also married one of the daughters of Mr. Buttz, Sr., became a partner in the store and continued until 1877. After that for several years it was continued by W. H. Meacham, a son of D. P. Meacham, who conducted it until 1880. At that time this business, after a continuous operation of forty-five years practically in one family, was discontinued.

of age. His home had been in Liberty Township and Liberty Village since 1835. He acquired 160 acres just east of the village, and in 1847 built on it a substantial brick house which is still standing and is in the southern part of the village. The land was all prairie and he hired men to improve it while he looked after his business as a merchant. Much of his money he invested in land and at one time had between 1,000 and 1,200 acres of land in Adams County, and property in Quiucy and in Kansas. He began voting as a whig and afterwards was a stanch republican. He was the first postmaster of the Village of Liberty, establishing the postoffice in his store. He held the office for thirteen years, 'until there occurred a change of political administration. He was very "popular in a town.ship where most of the voters were democratic, and he was one of the two men who in the early daj-s voted the opposition ticket to the democrats. That was before the day of the secret ballot, and all voting was done viva voce. 'Sir. Buttz was reared a Presbyterian, but always supported denominations without special respect to creed. His widow survived him and lived to the age of ninety years. She was blind and helpless in her last years and lived at the home of her daughter Mrs. Almeron Wlieat at Quincy.

A. H. D. Buttz, Sr., and wife had eleven children, seven of whom reached maturity, ilichael K. graduated from the Northwestern Christian University in Indiana, was a lawyer by profession, practicing at Quincy, served as a soldier through the Civil war. went out to Kansas and died there in 1875, at the age of thirtv-six. :\Iarv died at Libertv at the age of sixty-seven, the wife of P. H. "Mnx-er. who died February 9, 1919. The next in age is A. H. D. Buttz, Jr. John ^y. is a resident of Liberty. Jesse S. died on the old original Meacham farm at Liberty in April, 1916, "his widow still living at the homestead. Mira resides at 835 Cedar Street in Quincy, widow of Almeron Wheat, formerly a prominent attornev.

Abraham H. D. Buttz was born at Liberty November 21, 1843. He has spent all his life within eighty rods of the place where he was born. On November 9, 1865. he married Hattie Foster, daughter of A. M. and Mary (Griswold) Foster, of Burton Township. She was born in that township in September, 1843. Her parents came from New York City, where her father was a cabinet maker and expert mechanic.

After his marriage ]Mr. Buttz began housekeeping in Liberty and in ilarch, 1885, moved to his present home farm just north of the village. Part of the house and barns were built by his father and he subsequently enlarged and improved them. He has eighty" acres in that tract and forty acres three qiiarters of a mile north. From 1885 his attention was steadily directed ta farming until about eight vears ago. Mr. Buttz sold his interest in the old store in 1876. In 1877 he built a mill and conducted it until 1881, when, on account of adverse circumstances caused by competition of larger mills, he sold out.

Mr. Buttz in 1882 took charge of his father's affairs, managing the farms and other properties, and upon his father's death a year later was appointed administrator with his mother to settle the estate. This trust he executed with spkndid judgment and integrity. All the work was done to the satisfaction of parties concerned without the intervention of the Probate Court, a fact the more notable when it is remembered that the Buttz estate was the largest in Liberty Township, valued at more than $100,000, the real estate alone being worth 'more than $80,000. :\rr. Buttz has since been called upon to settle several other estates.

Wliile his political record is brief, ilr. Buttz has an especially enviable distinction in one respect. He is notary public, and received his first commission in January, 1865, from the war governor, Richard Yates. He has been notarv public under every governor since that time, and there is probably not another notary public in "Illinois whose official authority runs back further and more continuously. Mr. Buttz has been called upon by his friends and neighbors to prepare and draw up most of the legal documents in his part of the county. Legal papers with his seal and signature have entered into the records of the United States Government and in the records of every state and even in many foreign countries. Not one of them has ever been abrogated by any court. A Quincy attorney says that ilr. Buttz' name as notary public occurs twentj'-five times in the transfer of one piece of propertj-.

He has always been a republican, though independent in local matters. His name was several times placed on the county ticket, and he was elected a justice of the peace in a democratic township. Mr. Buttz has been a member of the Masonic Order since December, 1864, and is the oldest living member of Libertj' Lodge, No. 380. He took his first degrees in that lodge and has been representative to the Grand Lodge several times. He is a Royal Arch Mason at Clayton. As a member and official of Liberty Lodge he has been present at the initiation of every member di;ring the past fifty-five years. Mr. Buttz united with the Christian Church under Elder H. R. Trickett fifty years ago, and is a faithful and loyal member of that denomination.

Mr. Buttz lost his first wife in ilarch, 1879. She was the mother of three children. Thej- were Clarence G., Ada and Lewis. The last named died in infancy. Ada, born March 12, 1874, was a very talented and proficient musician. She had attended high school and normal school and at one time taught school. Her death was a tragedy to her family and cut short a brilliant career. She had gone to the assistance of her landlady who was filling a reservoir with gasoline. The gasoline took fire and she was burned to death. She died April 22, 1899.

Clarence G. Buttz, only living child of Mr. Buttz, now lives in the old home at Liberty. Besides his success in material affairs he is a very competent musician, a cornetist, had been a band leader and is master of several instruments, including the piano. Clarence G. Buttz married in 1890 Bertha Hunsacker. Their son, Albert D. Buttz, gi-andson of Mr. Buttz, is one of the young men on Adams County's roll of honor in the great war. When he was drafted he waived exemption, and was in the second lot of men sent from the county to Fort Dodge. He had married in 1916 Miss Gertie Daniels. Before the war broke out he was a rural mail carrier, and when granted leave of absence from that service to enlist his father took his jilace and has been distributing the mail along his route. Mrs. Albert D. Buttz during the absence of her husband in the army has been teaching near East St. Louis.

Albert D. Buttz was sent to France in May, 1918, and almost immediately was put at the front along the River Marne. He was a member of the One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment, composed of ^Missouri National Guard troops. This regiment was part of the Thirty -Fifth Division, whose record stands out so conspicuouslj' in the great turning battle which marked the fortunes of the allied troops in the .summer of 1918. Young Buttz was subsequently transferred to the band as a musician, but the transfer was not effective, owing to the demand for fighters at the front, and at last report he had never joined the band. For thirty days at one time he was in the trenches, and he was one of the American boys who participated in the real fighting which drove the Germans back.

On ilarch 23, 1882, Mr. A. H. D. Buttz married Fannie B. Jones. She was reared in Quincv, but after ten vears of age her home was in Liberty Township. Mrs. Buttz died" January 23, 1912.

Charles Henry Cl.\rk is owner of the old Clark homestead in Liberty Township, known as the Dividing Ridge Farm. The farm is a valuable business proposition, conducted in a business like manner by its proprietor, and has many associations with the interests and the people of that community.

In the present house on the old farm Charles Henry Clark was born February 6, 1863. He is a sou of Robert J. and Eliza (Fuqua) Clark. His mother was born in Kentucky', but as a child was taken to Missouri by her parents, and she grew up and lived until marriage in Pike County. Robert J. Clark was born near Richmond, Virginia, on the James River, and as a youth he worked as an overseer on a Virginia plantation. He also went when j'oung .with his parents to Pike County, Missouri, locating near Frankford. The grandparents all died in Pike County. About 1848 Robert J. Clark w-ith his two sons, the oldest only two or three years old, came to Adams County. His wife's brother, James Fuqua, and her three sisters were already living in the county. The three sisters were : Sallic, Mrs. Arthur Scott, who spent the rest of her life in Adams County; Lucy, then Mrs. Robert Bailey, later Mrs. T. Carter. and still later Mrs, George Cutforth, also died in this county; and Patsy, who was at that time Mrs. T. Carter, and she also died in the county. James Fuqua afterward moved to Missoiiri.

On coming to Adams County Robert J. Clark acquired a part of the present home farm. It was in timber, not more than twenty acres being in cultivation. He spent the rest of his life on that 110 acres and also had forty acres a short distance away. Part of the present house was already there, a structure of hewed frame timbers. He rebuilt it, and also built a horse barn. He was a hard working and prosperous farmer, a man of intelligence who read widely and kept in close touch with local affairs. He had been reared a democrat, but throusrh his admiration for Abraham Lincoln changed parties. He was a member of the Liberty Christian Church. His death occurred February 2, 1898, in his seventy-ninth year. His wife died June 12, 1885, at the age of sixty. Of their eleven children ten reached maturity: Julian Kenyon, who spent his life on a farm and died at the age of fifty years, his widow still surviving and having married again ; James Richard, a farmer on part of the old Clark estate ; Sarah Ann, Mrs. Mark Kinder, of Alaska, Missouri; Mary Ann, twin sister of Sarah Ann, who has never married and has spent her life at the old home ; Lucy Jane, who married Tom Cochran, of Pike County, Illinois, and died there when young ; ]\Iartha Elizabeth, widow of Izri Mayfield, of Beverly, Adams County ; Nancy Ellen, who mai-ried "William Carson and died in Liberty Township : Charles Henry; Lura Frances, Mrs. Ive Cutforth, of Burton Township; and Susan Lovina, who was the first wife of Ive Cutforth.

Charles Henry Clark has always been a fanner since he was old enough to handle tlie tools and instruments of farming. He took charge of the old homestead after his mother's death. He has increased his holdings from 110 acres to 200 acres, all in a body and well improved and most of it in ciiltivation. A cattle barn has been added under his ownership. He keeps high grade stock, and every season markets a bunch of good hogs.

September 26, 1895, he married Miss Mary S. Heberlein, a sister of August Heberlein. She was born October 28, 1866, at the Heberlein homestead, now occupied by her brother August. She is a daughter of August and Louise (Koeller) Heberlein, both of whom came from Lippe-Detmold, Germany. They brought with them to this country one child, and also a child of the mother's first marriage. August Heberlein, Sr., was a butcher by trade. He did farm work, rented for a time in Pike County, and finally located on the home farm in 1866. He took a tract of raw timber land and converted it into a well cultivated property. He had 150 acres in the home farm and altogether owned about 340 acres in Liberty Township along Camp Creek. The present home on that farm w-as built by him. About 1888 he retired from the farm and spent his last years at Quincy. Mrs. Clark ws reared on the farm and in Quincy, and lived there until she became the wife of Mr. Clark, with whom she had been a childhood playmate. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two children, Mabel Lovina and Iven Ellis, botli at home.

Mr. Clark is a democratic voter, is a member of the Woodmen's Camp at Liberty and of the Pleasant View Baptist Church. A number of well known business and professional men of Quincy know the Clark home because of the keen interest of its proprietor in fox hunting. Mr. Clark has a bunch of fox hounds, and takes the keenest interest in that old English sport.

Commodore Perry Johnsox, now living retired at Liberty Village, is an example of a man who made his real success in life after passing middle age. For many years he .struggled along as a renter, making a living for his family, but ouly about twenty years ago did lie acquire his first land. Since then he has developed a large and well imj)roved farm in Liberty Township, and has seen most of his children well established in homes of tlieir own.

Mr. Johnson was born near Toledo, Ohio, June 8, 1849. His parents were Joel and Christina (Blulwch) Johnson, both of Pennsylvania. A few mouths after the birth of the son Commodore the parents moved to the vicinity of Philadelphia, Marion County, Missouri. There Joel Johnson died when his son was live or six years old. The mother afterward married Joshua Pyles. Mr. Pyles was a republican, and when the Civil war came on he was iuformed that his presence was no longer desired in that section of ilissouri. They tlierefore went across the Mississippi to Adams County and settled a mile and a half north of Coatsburg, where they rented a small farm. Later ;\Ir. Pyles bouglit a place in Columbus Township, and lived there until his death, at the age of sevent.vfive. His widow was a well preserved woman even to the end, passing away in her eighty-eighth year. Her children by her first marriage comprised thi'ee who died in infancy, two losing their lives by being burned in Ohio. Elijah, Jerry and Joel were all soldiers in the Civil war, Elijah serving thi'oughout the war and now living in Arkansas. Jerrj' and Joel were members of the same eomjiany and both died of measles at Nashville. The next in age is Commodore P. Amanda died in childliood and Richard is a resident of Columbus Township. Rebecca Pyles, of her mother's second marriage, married Bruce Carr, and died in Adams County : Samson P.yles is a railroad engineer living in ililan, Missouri.

Commodore P. Johnson was about fourteen years old when he came to Adams County. He grew up here and at the age of nineteen married Mary Ellen Rowsey, who was then twenty years of age. She was born in Liberty Township, daughter of John and Sarah (Lierle) Rowsey. Her father was a native of Virginia, moved west to Ohio and later to Illinois, and married in Columbus Township of this county. Mrs. Jolm.son's mother was of the pioneer Lierle family so frequently mentioned in these pages. There were ten children in the Rowsey family, and six are still living: Samuel W., a bachelor, living with Mr. and ilrs. Johnson; William Seaton, of ^Montana; Sai-ah, Mrs. Thomas Viar, of Fowler. Adams Comity; Lucinda, wife of Lewis Phillips, of Columbus Township ; John Henrv", of Quincy ; and Mrs. Johnson.

At the time of his marriage ^Ir. Johnson rented a farm and for nearly thirty yeai"s was a renter in Columbus and Liberty townships. There were many things that held them back on the road to prosperity. There were periods of financial distress, low prices for everything raised, and ^Irs. Johnson frequently sold eggs as low as three cents a dozen. There was much hard work, and through it all was the strenuous necessity of economy. Their first purchase of land was twenty acres of brush in Cohunbus Township. Later they bought seventy acres of partly cleared land in Liberty Township. 'Mr. Johnson went in debt for this land, aiid lived in a log house. He sold his first purcha.se and bought a farm of 1-18 acres in Columbus Township. After improving that he sold and bought 228 acres in Liberty Township and later another eighty acres adjoining. Much of this was covered with binish, but its has been developed as a good farm of 308 acres. He has greatly improved the place, and the house, now a modern residence, comprises an original log house sturdily constructed of solid timbers that seem likely to last for several generations. The plates of this building were hauled to Quincy twenty miles away to have holes bored in order to attach timbei-s for a porch roof. ^Ir. Johnson continued active on the farm until 191:3, still owns it, but since then has lived in the Village of Liberty. He lias never sought public office, is a democratic voter, and is a member of the Church of the Brethren.

The record of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's children is as follows: Emma Edith, wife of John Clary, of Liberty Township; Lovina, wife of William Baker, of

Kansas ; Sarah Christina, wife of Kel Akers, of Paysoii Township ; Joshua 'Slavion, of Oklahoma; Mary Rosilla, Mrs. Ira Akers, of Liberty Township; ilinuie Alice, who married John Sheffeldeeker, of Hancock County, Illinois; Olive May, wife of Norman Blentlinger, of Liberty Township; Roy E., of Columbus Township ; Commodore Perry, Jr., of Quincy ; and Harry 'Ralph, of Liberty Village.

Jacob Schrader. "While his home for a number of years has been in the Village of Liberty, Mr. Schrader has been well known in several of the farming eommimities of Adams County, and in early life was one of the proprietors of a threshing outfit which went all over the countiy districts of the county.

Mr. Schrader was born in Melrose Township December 25, 1855. His father, Theodore Schrader, was born in Germany and when a young man came to Adams County with his two brothers. All of them located in Melrose Township and spent the rest of their years in that locality. Theodore Schrader married Barbara Wolf, daughter of Jacob Wolf. Her brother, William Wolf, is the father of Martin Wolf, M'ho is still a well kno\ra resident of ]\Ielrose Township. Barbara was the youngest of the Wolf children. She was born in Kentucky and was brought to Adams County by her parents at the age of three years.' The Wolf family settled on Mill Creek, and the old homestead was near the Stone Bridge on the Quiucy-Payson road. Mrs. Barbara Schrader inherited a portion of the Wolf estate, and this was mvolved in an interesting chancery proceedings. Mrs. Schrader 's children did not realize their respective shares in their mother's portion of the Wolf estate for about thirty-five years, and then each of them got only the amount of the original share without subsequent accretions or earnings.

Theodore Schrader after his marriage settled on the Wolf farm and finally bought it. He died there when about forty years of age. He and his wife had four children : Frederick, Jacob, Henry and Sophia. Frederick is a farmer in Liberty Township, Henry is in the same township, and Sophia is the wife of Philip Hoehne, of Chicago. About twelve or fourteen years after her husband's death Barbara Schrader married William Manigold. They and her children then moved to Liberty Township, where they had a rented farm, and afterwards lived in Richfield and Payson townships. Mr. and Mrs. Manigold spent their last days in Liberty Village, where both died when abovit seventyfour years of age. Barbara Schrader bj' her second marriage had the following children : William Manigold, of Liberty Township ; John, a fanner in Richfield Township; Louis, of Quincy; Loiiisa, Mrs. George Zander, of Quincy; and Lottie, Mrs. Levi Lawrence, of Payson.

Jacob Schrader lived at home with his mother until he was about twentysix years of age. In the meantime he had been associated with his brother Fred and his stepfather in operating a threshing outfit. Fred Schrader was in this business for a number of years, continuing it after Jacob retired. At the age of twenty-six Jacob Schrader married Lydia Michel, of Richfield Township, daughter of Henry Michel. Mrs. Schrader was born near Plainville in Payson Towniship and was twenty years of age at the time of her marriage. Having sold his interests in the threshing outfit Mr. Schrader had a small amount of cash with which to begin married life. For ten years he rented in the townships of Liberty, Richfield and Burton, and then bought fifty acres a half mile south and east of Liberty. He paid ,$2,400 for this farm, assuming a debt of about $600. He bought forty acres adjoining for $800 and another thirty acres adjoining on the west for $1,400. This gave him approximately 115 acres, which he made into a first class farm, remodeling and rebuilding the houses and introducing other improvements from time to time. In 1908 Mr. Schrader sold this farm for $7,000. Since then his home has been in the Village of Liberty, where he has a neat home with a number of improvements. For several years he followed teaming, taking goods to Qiiincy and returning with mer-

He is a democrat, and a member of the Zion Lutheran Church at Liberty. He and his wife have two children : Edward William, who lived on the home farm to the age of twenty-one, and is now a dealer in electrical supplies at El Paso, Texas. Dora Caroline is Mrs. Arthur Goertz of Camp Point.

John M. Leaflet. The Leapley family have been residents of Adams County since pioneer days, contain a number of interesting personalities, and are people who have always earned their share of community esteem by their straightforward character and worthy achievements.

Now living retired at Liberty Village, John JI. Leaplej' was bom at Kellerville, McKee Township of Adams County, February 21, 1865. His parents were Henry C. and Clarissa (Hughes) Leapley. Henry C. Leaplej- was born in Ohio in January, 1829, and died in Jul.v, 1911, in his eighty-third year. His parents were John and Elizabeth Leapley. They came to Adams County in 1841, first locating in Concord Towaiship, and in 1865 moving to McKee Township. The Leapley family is a large and prominent one back in Ohio, and there are family reunions every year at Sidney in that state. This branch of the family lost connection with the Ohio branch until a few years ago. A brother of John M. Leapley, George William, while living in Nebraska met an old lady from Ohio who knew members of the Ohio branch. In 1915 John il. Leaple.v attended a familj' reunion at Sidney and met and ate with sixty-five of his relatives.

When John Leapley, Sr., came to Adams County he settled a mile north of Kellerville, where he cleared up a farm. He died there about 1875. He had served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and his widow, who survived him for some years, received a pension for those services. Henry C. Leapley was about twelve years of age when he was brought to Adams County. In 1850 he married Miss Clarissa Hughes. She was born in Liberty Township October 16, 1830, daughter of John Hughes. The old Hughes home was a mile east of Liberty. Mrs. Clarissa Leapley died October 11, 1903.

At the time of his marriage Henry C. Leapley began fanning on eighty acres in Liberty Town.ship, but soon removed to IMcKec Township, where his son John M. was born. There he cleared up a tract of wooded land and sold large quantities of railroad ties. He lived there until old age and then spent his last daj'S with his son John. He never held a public office but was a republican voter. He was laid to rest in the Grady Cemetery in McKee Township. He and his wife had nine children, one of whom died in childhood. The othei-s were: Thomas 0., a farmer at Mount Pulaski, Illinois; Albert T., a retired ifarmer in Nebraska ; Frances E., Mrs. James Conrad, of Williamsville, Illinois; Mary Jane, who died in Missouri in middle life, the wife of John Caldwell; George William, a Nebraska fanner; Laura, who died at the age of sixteen; John M. ; and Vina, wife of George Hocker, of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

John M. Leapley has spent practically all his life on a farm in McGee, Liberty Township. At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Anna Groves of McKee Towaiship. She was then twenty years of age. At the time of their marriage the.v moved to Trenton, Missouri, where Mrs. Leapley died three months later. He then returned to Illinois and two years later married Lizzie Dennis, of Brown County, Illinois, and she was twenty-two at her marriage and died eleven years later, the mother of three children, Lena, Jessie and Henry. Lena was ten years of age at the time of her mother's death. Mr. Leapley had a housekeeper for his children for four years, after which the whole responsibility for the rearing of the younger children devolved upon the daughter Lena, who deserves the gi-eatest credit for her noble efforts in their behalf. She was for eight years a successful teacher in the rural schools of Adams County, and completed her own education in the ]\Iacomb Normal.

(House) Johnson, also of Brown Comity, Illinois. Her maiden name was Coleman, bnt she and her only brother when small children were placed in a home, and she was finally adopted by J. B. House. She lost all trace of her brother. At the age of thirteen Mrs. Leapley came to Siloam with her adopted father, who was a Methodist minister and who conducted a hotel at Siloam some years. He finally died at Godfrey, Illinois, where he had a church. Mrs. Leapley by her previous marriage to Mr. Johnson had four children : Faye, William, Clara and Helen. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Leapley are Esther, Russell, George and Herbert. In 1911 Mr. Leapley sold the old farm and the following year bought a large place of 235 acres a half mile north and a half mile east of Liberty Village. This is the old Frank Williams farm. Mr. Leapley paid $17,000 'for it, a price that indicates its thoroughly improved and modernized condition. Mr. Leapley was engaged in farming there until about two years ago and has since lived retired in Liberty. He is a republican in politics and was twice a candidate for office, being defeated by a small majority. Once he was candidate for a.ssessor and the other time for supervisor. He has been a party committeeman and has attended a number of party conventions. He is affiliated with Liberty Lodge of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America and still enjoys outdoor sports, such as fishing and hunting.

John Keil. Anyone at all familiar with Adams County's history recognizes Keil as one of the oldest and best known family names, particularly in the southwestern part of the county. One of this substantial family is John Keil, owner of a large and valuable fann in Fall Creek Township, ten miles southeast of Qtiincy on the Quiney-Hannibal road.

Mr. Keil has always been of a family of land owners and agriculturists. He bought his present farm in 1912, and has occupied it since 1913. It is the old Wishon farm of 320 acres. About 200 acres are bottom land. Mr. Keil paid $131 an aci-e for the land. The main buildings were already there, but since he bought it he has erected other suitable outbuildings, and has the entire property now in fine condition and regarded as one of the most productive farms in Fall Creek Township.

Mr. Keil was born December 30, 1866. He remained at home to the age of twenty-one, and in the meantime had rented some land. His share of his father's estate amounted to $6,600, and he took in lieu of the cash 110 acres of the old homestead. This he still owns, and it is located about a mile and a half north of his present farm. Mr. Keil farmed this 110 acre place until he bought his present farm, and the two places make him one of the most extensive farmers in the county. He raises large crops of wheat and com, having fifty acres of com and ninety-five acres in wheat in 1918. He feeds and fattens from 60 to 100 head of hogs. Mr. Keil is now carrying forward his building improvements, erecting a large hay barn and cowshed. He is a democratic voter but has never been inclined to bother with an office.

February 12. 1893, at the age of twenty-six, he married Miss Barbara Schmidt, of Burton Towniship, daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Loos) Schmidt. Mr. and Mrs. Keil have four children, all of whom are still at home, named Dora, Lillie, Edna and Elmer. Their oldest child, named Freddie, died at the age of nineteen. Mr. and Mrs. Keil are members of Bluff Hall Congregational Church, of which he is a trustee.

Frederick Schmidt, father of Mrs. Keil, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and came to the United States at the age of fourteen, locating in Quincy. His brother William also came to this country and their sisters were Minnie, who married Hemy Wolfmeier; Louise, who married August Kluesemeyer and lives at LaGrange, Missouri ; and Caroline, who married Herman Wolfmeier, a brother of Henry, and lives at LaGrange, ]\Iissouri.

Frederick Schmidt worked for Michael Loos, a well known old timer of Melrose Township, whose granddaughter, Elizabeth Loos, he subsequently married. Elizabeth Loos was a sister of William, Fred and Louis Loos, constitut- ing one of the best known families in the county. Frederick Sclimidt and wife after their marriage lived for a time in LaGrange, :Missouri, and then returned to a farm in Melrose Township and still later moved to a farm in Burton Township. Mr. Schmidt died there at the age of sixty yeai-s, and his wife at the age of fifty-five. They had twelve children, nine of whom reached maturity. Briefly the record of these children is as follows: Fred, who lives in the State of Washington; Barbara, Mrs. John Keil; .^largaret, Mrs. Fred Speckhart, of Melrose Township; Emma, who died at the age of forty-four, unmarried: Dora, wife of Sylvester Haire, of Burton Township: Edward, a farmer at Rensselaer, Missouri; Louis, a farmer in Payson Township; Walter, on the old home in Burton Township; and Anna, widow of John ilollenhour, of Payson Village.

Arthur M. Carter. Everj- community has its men w-hose position and standing are unmistakable, reflected in many different ways. These marks are of ability as well as character, and as a rule they testify to long residence and honest relationship with the community. Arthur M. Carter has been a general mei-chant at Plainville nearly forty years, is the first and only president of the State Bank of that \'illage, and these facts alone speak for themselves as to the kind of man he is, his energy and all around good citizenship.

Mr. Carter was born in Hampshire County, West Virginia, February 12, 1852. As a young man in 1875 he came to Adams County to join his brother J. J. Carter, who had located at Plainville in 1866 and was a blacksmith there. Arthur M. after coming to Adams County taught school four terms in a district near Plainville. He also w-orked on fai-ms. In 1879 he and John De Laplain established a general store under the name De Laplain and Carter. In 1889 the partners divided their stock, and Mr. Carter moved his merchandise to his present location, where he erected a substantial building, which has bepn in use ever since. Thus for thirty-nine years he has been continiiously a merchant of the village and has not only had a most satisfying trade, but has built up A reputation for integrity that is unassailable. In 1910 the State Bank of Plainville was established, with Mr. Carter as its first president. This bank has been very prosperous, has a capital of $25,000- and surplus of $2,500, and average deposits of $100,000. In 1913 a building was especially erected for the bank on the ground floor, while above is the ilasonic Hall.

Mr. Carter's career is not entirely a record of business service and experience. For seventeen consecutive .vears, until 1912, he served as township clerk. He has been a delegate to many township conventions of the democratic party and has served on the Central Committee. Since 1893 his valuable associate and helper in his business has been his brother, Calvin Lycurgus Carter.

September 1. 1881, ^Mr. Carter married Miss Clara Howard, a native of Payson Township and daughter of Abraham and Rachel Howard. Mrs. Carter died September 16, 1914, after thirty-three years of married companionship. There are three daughters: Ollie and Edith, both at home; and Inez, ^Nlrs. Arthur Thompson, of Fall Creek Township. Edith is a former teacher in this county and Ollie is a trained musician. Mr. Carter has long been identified with the First Baptist Church of Plainville. was one of its organizers, and has been one of its trustees ever since, and a deacon since 1896.

Fred Schwengels. The most interesting part of a man's career is concerned with the difficulties and handicaps he has to overcome, how he manages to solve the problems of existence, and get ahead in the world. Before he was three score and ten Fred Schwengels was able to retire with a competency and enjoy life at (Joatsburg, and yet thirty-five years ago when he came to America he and his wife were so poor they could not owti the simplest kind of a home and had to depend upon their daily work for subsistence.

Mr. Schwengels was born in Oldenburg, Germany, April 14, 1848. He lived in the old country until 1881, when he was thirty-three years of age. He escaped the enforced military service of Germany because of the fact that he failed to pass the physical examination. At the age of seven j'ears lie was paying his own way by hard work. Until he was fourteen he received nothing at all for his labor and at sixteen was earning only 6 cents a day and at tweutj'- one 12 cents a day. Most of his time was spent on a farm, but later bj' employment in a brick yard he earned 50 cents per day for eighteen hours of labor. While working on farms his wages were $5 a month. Making all due allowance for the time and for the differences in money values, his hard work barely netted him a meager living.

In 1871 Mr. Schwengels married Anna Joergans. lu her he found a most capable helpmate. She was very strong, and after they came to Adams County she was able to perform with a.s much ease as the average man the work of clearing and cultivating as well as the duties of the household.

Mrs. Schwengels' brother, Frank Joergans, came to the United States about 1871, and her sister. Mrs. Marj^ Kramer, also lived in Adams County for about ten years. These relatives wrote from time to time of the improved conditions of the new world and the better opportunities, and this was the chief cause for Mr. and Mrs. Schwengels starting for the land of promise. They left Bremen on a sailing vessel and arrived in New York City accompanied by two children, the older about ten years of age. Coming on to Adams County Mr. Schwengels found work at 75 cents a day, but after a year he contracted to buy eighty acres of land a half mile east of Coatsburg. The land was covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the price was $25 an acre. Of course his savings did not allow him to pay cash, and he went in debt for practically all of it. In the course of a few years about fift.v acres had been cleared and put into cultivation. The timber he worked up chiefly for fuel and sold it at Coatsburg. Some of his neighbors came and helped him erect a log house, and the first year he was able to get five acres in condition for planting a small ci'op of wheat and corn. That was the scene of constant labor on the part of himself and wife for twenty-five years, at the end of which time they had a good farm. They sold the place at $45 an acre, and had paid the original purchase price in eleven years from the time they located there. On selling that farm ]VIr. Schwengels boiight his present place of 170 acres 2V2 miles east of Coatsburg in Camp Point Township. This farm comprised 100 acres of improved land, and with a small house. The purchase price was $50 an acre. At the present time 110 acres are in cultivation and the rest in timber and pasture. Again he and his wife went into debt, but in five years had paid off all their obligations and had also ei'ected a good, substantial barn and enlarged the old house. This, in brief, is the stoiy of iMr. Schwengels' experience as a home making and home owning citizen of Adams County. Eight years ago he left the old farm, but still owns it, and it is under the capable management of his son. Since then he and his wife have lived in Coatsburg, and have one of the neat homes of that village. Mr. Schwengels took out naturalization papers many years ago and is one of thousands of our citizens of German origin who thoroughly appreciate the meaning of American opportunities and the possibility of raising oneself beyond the circumstances to which he was born. In politics he has always affiliated with the democratic party. He and his family are members of the Lutheran Church at Coatsburg. They have four children. Mary is the widow of Louis Givert and lives in Gilmer Township. Sophia is Mrs. George Scheufel, of Honey Creek Township. Anna married Andrew Steinbrecher and lives near Princeton in ]\Iillelaes County, Minnesota. Fred D., the only son, now lives on and has the active management of the home fann. He married Laura Hyatt, and they have a son, Paul, aged five years.

Thomas B. Smith. The chronicles of early settlement and pioneer activities of northwestern Adams County make frequent mention of the Smith family, who established themselves in Ursa Township almost ninety j^ears ago. Long residence has been accompanied by many other influences and activities that constitute a justifiable claim to the high esteem in which the members of this family are held.

The founder of the family here was James 6. Smith, who married Sarah Cundiff. James G. Smith drove overland from Kentucky with an ox team and on October 5, 1829. arrived in Adams County and pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 24 in Ursa Township. He cleared up some of the heavily wooded land of that region, made a farm, was esteemed as a good citizen, and lived there until his death in 1853. His wife passed away about 1840.

The second generation of the family was represented by William B. Smith, who was born in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, February 16, 1823. As a boy oi six years he probably remembered many of the incidents of the family migration to Adams Coimty. In 1848 he married Miss Susan L. Lowry, who was born in Londonderry, Ireland, November 22, 1830. Her family came to Adams County in 1836. After his marriage "William B. Smith bought 110 acres in section 18 of Ursa Township, and during the next thirty years he added to his possessions and became one of the largest land owners in Adams Couut.v. His estate at the time' of his death included 968 acres. Part of his land included the site of the Village of Ursa, which he laid out in 1875. Success came to him by honorable methods and his name will long be spoken with the respect it deserves. He died March 26, 1882. He had a family of four children : Sarah E., born October 17, 1849, who was first married to "William McCormick and after his death became the wife of Otto Keim; Isabelle L., born June 5, 1851, who first married Dr. "W. A. Byrd and later became the wife of George H. "Walker: Thomas B. ; and "W. J. who was born July 26, 1870, and is the present county clei-k of Adams County.

Thomas B. Smith, who has followed with great success the profession and calling of his father and gi-andfather as a farmer, was born at the old home in section 18 of Ursa Township June 13, 1853. In that locality he grew up, attending the local schools, and was well trained for farming by his association with his father. In 1877, after his marriage, he bought the farm where he now lives in section 13 of Ursa Township. His first purchase was 160 acres, and later he bought 120 acres adjoining on the south, and later eighty acres in section 26. With the assistance of his sons he has cultivated large tracts of land and has helped to keep up the average of production in Adams County in such crops as wheat, hay and livestock.

Mr. Smith has also taken an active part in local affairs, has served as supervisor of Ursa Township, as town clerk and assessor, and for twelve years was president and for a number of years secretary of the Mutual Insurance Company of Ursa Township. When the communit,v needs something that requires leadership and cooperation it usually looks to Thomas B. Smith as one of the citizens best fitted to promote and insure the success of such an undertaking. Mr. Smith is affiliated with Ursa Camp No. 995 of the Modern Woodmen of America, with Quincy Lodge No. 44, Knights of Pythias, and with Marcelline Lodge No. 127, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife is a member of the Christian church.

Mr. Smith married ]\Iiss Josephine Frazier. She was born February 27, 1856, a daughter of Lemuel G. and Eva (Ahalt) Frazier. The Fraziers were even earlier settlers in I^rsa Township than the Smiths, and reference to the career of Lemuel G. Frazier and other members of the family will be found on otlier pages of this work. Mrs. Smith's father died October 5, 1880, and her mother on December 7, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had five children : Edna born January 24, 1878, is the wife of D. C. Hill; Jessie B., born September 17, 1882, married Arthur Bittleston ; Thomas B. Jr., born Julv 22, 1888; Boyd F., born August 27, 1890 ; and Nellie M., born June 14, 1892. Mr. Smith lived in his present home for forty years. Mrs. Smith died on the 9th of October, 1917.

John G. Thompson is cashier of the Payson branch of the State Street Bank of Quiney. He is also a farmer and land o^vner, a citizen active in atfairs in Payson and Fall Creek townships, and member of one of the earliest settled families in that section of Adams County.

His grandfather was William Thompson, who came from Athens, Ohio, in 1833, down the Ohio River and np the Mississippi, and located in what is now Fall Creek Township. The land he first settled there was afterward occupied by his two daughters. He died on his old farm in 1880, at the age of ninetj'- one. One of his sons was Vincent Thompson, who became a well known physician at Payson, and the other was Marcus L., father of the Payson banker.

Marcus L. Thompson was born at Athens, Ohio, Januaiy 6," 1816, and was seventeen years of age when his parents came west. At the age of twenty-six he married Louisa Gamble, daughter of William Gamble. The Gamble family came from the same section of Ohio and likewise were early settlers in Adams County. Marcus Thompson and wife were married in Greene County, Illinois, and after their marriage they rode eighty miles on horseback to Adams 'County, locating on land adjoining that of his father and later moving to still another tract. He owned a fine farm of 240 acres, and was a successful business man, though he was never rugged in health and also suffered from weak eyes and finally lost his eyesight altogether. He lived long and usefully and passed away in 1907, at the age of ninety-one. He had been retired for about twenty years before his death. He was a stanch republican, but never sought official honors, and was a member of the Payson Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died in 1905, aged eighty-two, terminating a marriage companionship of nearly sixty years. Their children were eight in number: Sarah Frances, widow of Henry Walker, of McDonough County; Lois, who has never married and still occupies the old homestead ; William Elmer, a farmer on a farm adjoining the homestead; Mattie J., who lives with her sister Lois at the old home ; Kate, who died at the age of thirty-five in Missouri, wife of Asa Berry ; Charles A., a former teacher in Adams County, married in Iowa, and is now a fruit grower in the State of Washington; John G. ; and Ella M., wife of William Waddill, of Payson.

John G. Thompson was born March 19, 1858, just a quarter of a century after his family had settled in Adams County. He grew up at the home farm, and in 1881 finished his education in Chaddoek College of Quiney. He taught in district schools for fifteen years, living at home and during the intervals of school operating the farm. A number of his old pupils have since become prominent in the professions and the business affairs of life, including former County Judge Charles JlcCrory, now of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For three years Mr. Thompson was secretai-y of the Payson Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and now for the past ten years has been cashier of the Payson branch of the State Street Bank of Quiney. From 1898 to 1902 he served as a member of the Board of Supervisors, and was the first republican elected to that office in Fall Creek Township for a long period of years. He has always been active in county polities, has attended county, state and other conventions, and has been a delegate to many of them. Mr. Thompson owns part of the old homestead of 150 acres, and now entrusts its management to his son John B. He also bought the Shinn farm of 173 acres in Payson Township, and this was occupied by his oldest son, C. H. Thompson. His farms are conducted on the general plan, without any unusual specialization, though he has always raised a number of high grade hogs.

December 23, 1886, Mr. Thompson married Miss Olive B. Shinn, daughter of 0. H. and Susanna (Seehorn) Shinn. Her parents are both deceased and were long residents of Payson Township. ]Mrs. Thompson was born in Payson Township and was nineteen years of age at the time of her marriage. Her father was a very enthusiastic citizen and prominent in all local matters. He was a republican in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have the following children: Charles H., who married Cynthia Nesbitt and has one child, Charles H.,

Jr. ; John B., who married Edna X. Larrimore, of Paysou ; C. Josephine, wlio is assistant cashier of the Bank of Payson; Marcus L.. still attcndinu; school. The family are members of the IMethodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Thompson has ser^-ed as steward. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, is a charter member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Payson, and was formerly affiliated with the lodge at ]\Iarblehead. He has been a Mason for twenty years or more and has affiliations with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Quincy.

James Wh.lis Lierle. Lierle is one of the oldest family names in Adams Countj'. It has been borne by a number of the useful men and women here during the past seventy or eighty years, and among them is James Willis Lierle, for many years a practical thresherman, a business man and a farmer whose home is in Liberty Township, three miles east of Liberty Village. He was born in the northwest corner of that township, in section 6, December 27, 1853, and is a son of William and Diana (Gooding) Lierle. His parents had both been married before. William Lierle by his first marriage had twelve children, and he and Diana Lierle were the parents of four. The first family comprised the following, including several who were formerly well known in Adams Countv. Zachariah, born May 21, 1815; Sarah, born October 28, 1816; William, born August 16, 1818, wiio was the father of Mrs. Nathan Fessenden ; John, born July 1, 1820 ; Nancy, born I\Iarch 30, 1823 ; Elizabeth ; Catherine, born ilarch 31, 1827; Anderson, born June 8, 1829; Ehoda, born January 7, 1832; Martin, born September 3, 1833; Susanna, born August 7, 1835; and George, born October 20, 1837.

William and Diana Lierle 's foTir children were: Manda, born ]\Iay 2, 1845, married James Allen, and both are now deceased, he having died at the Soldiers Home at Quincy; Huldah, born in 1848, died INIay 6, 1890; Richard, born January 6, 1852, a resident of Butler County, Kansas; and James W., the youngest of the family.

James W. Lierle lived on the old home farm until he was thirty years of age. In the meantime, at the age of twenty-three, on February 3, 1876, he married Melisia Jane Schwartz, who was born in Libert.v Township May 13, 1856. Seven years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lierle moved from the old homestead and bought eighty acres in another part of Liberty Township. They were there seven years and then sold and in 1890 bought their present farm, the John Gorman estate of 160 acres. For this they paid -$35 an acre. It had few buildings, and its improvements were by no means high class, and much of the land was not ready for cultivation. Jlr. Lierle steadily progressed toward better things on that farm, cleared off the land, and in 1907 put up his present neat and comfortable residence.

In recent years Mr. Lierle has been greatly handicapped physically, though he has accomplished a wonderful amount of work. For thirty years, as already noted, he operated a threshing outfit. Some of his patrons had him come around to their grain fields year after year, without a thought of considering any of his competitors. He knew every branch of the business, and rendered adecjuate service at everv point. His last experience in the threshing business was when he undertook to start a new self-feeder for another party. A belt slipped, and he lost his left arm, the injury being such that his arm had to be amputated close to the shoulder.

Mr. Liei'le has made much success as a breeder of Poland China hogs. Morris Kelly was the first in that neighborhood to breed this stock, and more farmers handle the Poland China than any other breed in this part of the county. Mr. Lierle now furnishes much of the breeding stock on the neighboring farms and has developed many splendid specimens of the Poland China. He has demand for all that he can supply, but has never exhibited any of his animals at shows. For twenty-one years he was a road commissioner in his district. He is a democrat, and that is the political faith of most of the Lierle family.

is in Government service at Rock Island, Illinois; !Maud is ]Mrs. William Rulil, of Richfield Township ; Stella is Mrs. Fred Manuel, of Payson Township ; Clifford is a farmer in Liberty Township ; Pearl married "Walter Wilkey, a farmer in Liberty Township ; Quendo is the wife of Earl Blagg, a fruit man in the Hood River District of Oregon; Emma is the wife of Herman Fingel, also a resident of the Hood River District ; Roxie is Mrs. Edward Keller of Liberty Township ; Chloe, a teacher now living with her father, is the wife of "William Detterding, who during the war is with one of the American divisions in France ; and Alva, who operates the home farm for his father, married Susie Kline. Mrs. Lierle is a member of the German Baptist or Dunkard Church.

"Wilbur F. Coe. While one of the younger men in the farming activities of Adams County, Wilbur F. Coe lacks none of that enthusiasm, energj- and enterprise which are fundamentals in success and the advancement of community. He has one of the best eared for and cultivated farms in Melrose Township.

He was born in Montrose Township of Adams County September 20, 1887, the only child of Iro and Ella (Felt) Coe. Iro Coe was a native of Ohio, was born and grew up near the Town of Clyde, and the first change of location took him to Michigan. He was there when the Civil war was in progress and responded to the call of patriotism and enlisted in the Sixth Michigan Heavy Artillery. He faithfully sei-ved his country until granted an honorable discharge. He was well educated and for a number of years was engaged in the profession of teaching. He came to Adams County, and married in this county Miss Ella Felt. He finally located in Melrose Township and bought fifty acres near the Coe Spring. This land is still owned and occupied by his widow and their son Wilbur. Iro Coe was a republican voter, and his early experience as a teacher always made him an advocate of good schools. He was an honored member of the Grand Army Post at Quincy, and some of the happiest occasions of his later years were mingling with the old comrades of the war. Iro Coe died in April, 1907. One of the appropriate monuments in Woodland Cemetery marks his last resting place.

His wife was born in Adams County, was educated in the common schools and in the Young Ladies Seminary, and has long been identified with the Melrose Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society and is an enthusiastic worker in the Red Cross.

Wilbur Coe grew up on his father's farm, and in addition to the common schools attended the Quincy High School and spent two years in the agricultural department of the University of Illinois at Champaign. This education supplemented the practical knowledge he had acquired as a boy on the farm, and he is one of the men well fitted by training and experience for the heavy responsibilities that now devolve upon the American farmers.

On June 30, 1915, Mr. Coe married Miss Leone F. Humphrey. They have a daughter. Wilma Ellen. Mrs. Coe was born in Adams County ilarch 22. 1893, daughter of E. D. and Rena (Timmons) Humphrey. She was educated in the common schools and spent one .year in the Illinois State Normal L'niversitj' and one year in the Macomb Normal. Prior to her marriage she was a teacher in Melrose Township four years, and drew many commendations for her work. Both Mr. and IMrs. Coe are active members of the Melrose Chapel, of the Methodist Episcopal Church and its various kindred organizations. Mr. Coe has been president of the Melrose Township Sunday School Association and was treasurer of the Missionary Unit. Mrs. Coe is a teacher in Sunday School. The Melrose Sunday School is a prosperous one, with an enrollment of 125 and an average attendance of seventy-five. Mr. Coe in polities is a republican and gave his first presidential vote to Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Coe had a very interesting wedding journey, including a tour of the far West. They visited the states of Washington, California, Oregon and Utah, including the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tacoma,

Thomas Rottenkolbee has earned the comforts of a good retired home at Thirty-second and Broadway in Melrose Township, just east of Quincy, by reason of thirty years of continuous business activity. Mr. Rottenkolber is one of the veteran butchers and retail meat men of Quincy, and by slow and steady progress, with varied experiences now on the fortunate and now on the unfortunate side, he attained a competence.

Jlr. Rottenkolber was born April 29, 1856, at Munich, Bavaria. On December 8, 1880, he landed in Quincy. While coming to this country he met a Doctor Stieuer. who induced him to come to Quinc.y. Mr. Rottenkolber had learned the trade of butcher in Germany. He reached Quincy with only 10 cents in money. He had $100 in cash on landing at New York, but he generously paid the railroad fare of two companions less fortunate than himself to Quincy, and he never received any of this money back. For three years he worked for Simon Warnet at Fifth and Vine streets. His wages the first year were .$125, the second year he was paid -$30 a month, and the third year, $35 a month. Out of this he managed to save $300, and he used that capital to set up in business for himself at Tenth and Oak streets. He bought all the livestock which he killed, and at first slaughtered about two beeves per week. His sales amounted in gi'oss aggi-egate to possibly $100 a week. After three years he started another shop at Twelfth and Hampshire, and continued the two shops for two years, having three men working under him. Mr. Rottenkolber did all his own killing, and with a growing trade was gradually getting ahead in the world, though he always had low prices to contend with and the margin of profit was a very slender one. He continued his shop at Twelfth and Hampshire streets for about twenty-two years, and he and liis wife lived over the shop on the second floor. This old shop occupied the site of the present Standard Oil Company's plant. Finally ilr. Rottenkolber moved to his present property at Thirtysecond and Broadway. This is a small suburban farm, comprising seven acres and was formerly used as the site for his slaughter house. He bought the land about thirty years ago. After leaving the retail meat business, Thomas Rottenkolber again bought a shop at Eleventh and Maine streets, and he conducted a business there d'^o years, until he finally retired in 1913. During this new period of business he bought all his meat from the packers. He has lived in his present home since 1908. Mr. Rottenkolber knows only two other men who were in the butcher business at Quincy when he started, and one of them is John Gehring, Sr., who is still active. During the last five years Mr. Rottenkolber has given his time to the management of his little suburban farm. He has never aspired to office. He began voting as a democrat, but since 1896 has been chiefly republican.

On February 28, 1884, Mr. Rottenkolber married Catherine Bangert. She was born in Quincy September 8, 1860. daughter of Frederick and Mary Bangert. Her father was in business at Fifth and Vine streets from 1880 until 1914, and the store is now continued by his son Adam J. Mrs. Rottenkolber after her marriage assisted her husband in the sales in the market, and has thus shared his business career with him. They are members of St. John's Lutheran Church at Seventh and Kentucky streets.

Edward C. Deege. While the Deege family are best known and have been longest established in Burton Township, one of the number, Edward C. Deege, is an exceptionally energetic and prosperous farmer of Liberty Township. A brief sketch of his career and experience will supplement other information contained in this volume concerning his father. J. Philip Deege, of Burton Township.

ship October 1, 1870. He grew up in that community, attended the local schools, and had a thorough training to fit him for his career as a farmer.

March 13, 1895, he married Miss Amanda Uhland, of Richfield Township. Mrs. Deege M'as born at the old home in Richfield Township ]\Iay 25, 1869, daughter of Christopher and Caroline (Seitter) Uhland. Her father died there in July, 1896, and her mother May 8, 1916. The old home is still owned by the Uhland heii-s. Mrs. Deege 's parents were both born in Germany but were married in Adams County and lived on their farm in Richfield Township from about the time of their mariuage.

For three years after his marriage Edward C. Deege rented and then bought his present farm of 120 acres of the Sander farm. He paid ,$55 an acre for the land. Most of the buildings, including the house, were already there, but he has made many other improvements. He went in debt for the entire farm, and by his industry and the thrifty co-operation of his good wife has raised himself into the position of one of the independent farm owners and managers of the county. Mr. Deege is a democrat and a member of the Lutheran Church of Liberty. He and his wife have one son, Harold I., who is now at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, in Company A of the Two Hundred and Ninth Regiment of Engineers.

Scott Wheeler is proprietor of the Hickory "Woodlands Farm four miles northwest of Liberty Village. Mr. Wheeler has lived on this farm all his life, and his energy and enterprise have brought him prosperity. He is member of a family which in several lines goes back in Adams County history nearly ninety years.

He was born in the house in which he now lives June 15, 1873, son of Aquilla B. Wheeler. Aquilla B. '\Nnieeler was born near Williamstown in Grant County, Kentucky, June 3, 1828. He was born after the death of his father, Aquilla, Sr. His mother, Bethelon Woodyard, was born December 9, 1802, and died June 13, 1839, in Liberty Township, Illinois. There is a further record showing that William Woodyard, father of Bethelon, was born August 12, 1775, in Virginia, and died in Grant County, KentuckJ^ November 29, 1858. His wife was Rebecca Sims, who was born December 27, 1776, in Virginia, and died in Grant County, Kentueks-, Islay 21, 1850.

The grandfather of Aquila Wheeler, Jr., was George Fennel Wheeler, who was born in Virginia and died in Liberty Township of Adams County. He married Elizabeth Becker Hume, also a native of Virginia, who died in Liberty Township and is buried in Burton Cemeteiy. George Fennel Wheeler came to Liberty Township in pioneer times. Aquila Wheeler came to Illinois with Paris Judy, and lived with his uncle, Burt Wheeler, in Burton Township. Afterward he lived on the farm of his grandfather, George Wheeler, where Scott Wheeler now lives. The old brick house on that farm was built by the Wheelers from brick burned on the premises. Aquila Wheeler had two brothers, Thomas, who was a farmer in Bui'ton Township and died at Quincy in 1912, and Ferdinand.

Aquilla Wheeler had a farm in Burton Townsliip, but about 1873 moved to the old place of his grandfather, and lived there until his death on December 11, 1911. On December 18, 1866, he married Helen ^l. Bliveu. She was born in Burton Township January 14, 1836. Her father, Benjamin Burris Bliven, was born in Allegheny County, New York, April 28, 1813, and died in Burton Township. Her mother, Caroline Wheeler, was born in the same township May 18, 1811, and died December 13, 1848. Helen M. Bliven died September 1, 1917, at the old homestead. Aquilla Wheeler during his lifetime had added forty-six acres of timber to the old place and cleared up about twelve acres of this. He erected a number of outbuildings, and the last fourteen years of his life he lived retired. He served as tax collector of Burton Township and was a school director for thirty years. He and all his family were republicans in politics. He was a member of the Liberty Christian Church. He was also a Masou of long standing, and was bnvied by the Masons. Mrs. Wheeler was a member of the Eastern Star and was bnried by that order. Aquila AMieeler had two sons, Scott and William. The latter was horn ^larch 6, 1875, lived on the old farm to the age of twenty and is now a farmer near Cameron iu. Warren Coiint.v. He married Ida Reynolds, and has two sons, Frederick Scott and William Wayne.

Scott Wheeler since coming to manhood has engaged all his energies and initiative on the home farm, and has the same land which his father owned before him. He does much livestock raising and keeps about fifty head all the time. October 28, 1897, he married ]\Iiss Irma Josephine Grubb, member of the well known Griibb family whose history is recomited on other pages. Mrs. Wheeler was born October 24, 1875. Their four children, all at home, are George B., Albert W., Ida J. and Ernest S. Ida J. is a student in the Liberty High School. George B. has taught in Libert^y Township.

Mr. Scott Wheeler served several years as school director and is a republican. He is a deacon in the Christian Church at Liberty. Both he and his wife have been prominent in Red Cross activity and he is chairman of the local chapter. Mr. and ilrs. Wheeler both went to school to Judge LjTnan McCarl, one of the editors of this history.

Ernest J. Grl'^b. The esteem in which Mr. Grubb is held in Liberty Township is well reflected in his present official capacity as township supervisor, an office he has filled three consecutive terms. Mr. Grubb has well earned the confidence of his fellow citizens, and has been a man of substantial character and ability in affairs in that locality nearly all his life.

He was horn I14 miles north of Liberty Village October 5, 1870, son of George W. and Hannah (Howerton) Grubb. George W. Grubb was born in Crawford Comity, Penns.vlvania, I\Iarch 9, 1837, and wa.s brought to Adams County when two years old by his parents, Jonas and Sarah (Weiser) Grubb. Jonas Grubb settled on the farm where Ernest J. Grubb was born, and lived there the rest of his life. Jonas and his wife were natives of Zurich, Switzerland. They were the parents of a large family, and as most of the sons remained in Adams County there are many families of the name who have been identified with this community. The children of Jonas Grubb and wife were Reuben, David, George W., Abraham, Jonah, John, Edward, Reuben. Those who remained in Adams Coimty were Reuben, David, Edwai'd, Jonah and George. John went to Pike County and Abraham to Hancock Countj-, Illinois. All of them were farmers.

Hannah Howerton, wife of George W. Grubb, was born in Kentucky November 22, 1844. She was a child when her parents, James and Elizabeth (Rhodes) Howerton, moved to Adams County. They located on a comer west of the bank in Liberty Village and conducted a hotel there many years, finally moving to Novelty, Missouri, where they spent their last years. Mi-s. Hannah Grubb alone of the Howerton family remained in Adams County. George and Hannah Grubb were married December 17, 1863. He acquired the old Grubb homestead, located in section 17 of Libert.v Township, and kept it until shortly before his death. He finally retired to Liberty Village, where he died December 16, 1910. Mrs. Hannah Grubb is still living in Liberty. George W. Grubb was a democrat and was a verj' devout and faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. He was an old fa.shioned churchman, and one of the few who retained that happy custom of household and family worship in his own home. He was regular in his attendance at church and filled all the church offices. He knew the Bible thoroughly and could discuss intelligently both theological and political questions. His family consisted of the following children : Ella, who taught in the Maplewood High School at Camp Point, the Barry High School, in Lombard College, and at one time was appointed county superintendent of schools to succeed John Jamison, but was defeated for election. She is now ;\[rs. James W. Simons, living at Pacific Beach, California. Susie, who like all her sisters, finished her education in Lombard College at Galesburg, is the wife of Charles ]\Iiller, of Oakland, California. Lura taught school in Adams and Pike counties for several years, and is the wife of Robert Mercer, of Liber tj-. The next in age is Ernest J. Grubb. Clara was a teacher in Adams County and is the wife of Ben E. Gilmore, of Stockton, California. Josephine likewise did some teaching in the county and married Scott Wheeler, a farmer at Liberty Township. The son John died in infancy. Roseoe is an engi-aver living at Champaign, Illinois. Mary, a former teacher, is the wife of Howard Lawless, owner of the elevator at Loraine, Illinois.

Ernest J. Grubb finished his education in the Maplewood High School, and lived at home and worked on the farm until his marriage January 7, 1892, when Stella Allen, of Columbus Township, became his bride. Her parents were James and Amanda (Lierle) Allen. Mrs. Grubb was born in Columbus Township twenty-one years before her marriage. She had also attended the Maplewood High School and was a teacher for three or four terms in the county.

After his marriage Mr. Grubb continued farming for three years and since then has lived in the Village of Liberty, following the general blacksmith trade and operating a shop for automobile repairs. In the line of official duty he has been busy for a number of years. For seven years he was deputy sheriff. He elected township supervisor in 1912 and is now serving in the third term. He is a member of the Illinois Road and Bridge Committee and has consistently stood for and advocated permanent improvement, particularly good roads. He is a democrat and has been township committeeman several years, serving as a delegate at various conventions of the party.

ilrs. Grubb died May 15, 1910. She was the mother of three daughters, Alta, her father's housekeeper; Frances, wife of Roseoe Boj'cr, connected with the Collins Plow Company at Quincy, and Clara, clerk of the County Exemption Board. Mr. Boyer was for three years associated with his father in the management of a general store at Liberty.

Mr. Grubb has always been fond of outdoor life and enjoys nothing more than an occasional hunting trip. He is prominent in the local Odd Fellows and Masons, and was in the Grand Lodge of the JIasonic Order three terms. He and his wife were both members of the Eastern Star and their three daughters are members of the same order. The daughter Alta has filled all the chairs of the Chapter and was representative to the Grand Lodge in 1917. Mrs. Grubb was at one time worthy matron of the Chapter, at the same time that Mr. Grubb was worthy jiatron.

Charles Henry Rakkin. Some competent critics have called the Rankin home in Fall Creek Township, fifteen miles southeast of Quincy, the best planned, most artistic and commodious country residence outside of Quincy. Reference is made at the outset to the home, since it is in a large degree typical of the character and enterprise of the family who center their activities there. The Rankins are pioneers of Southern Adams County, and some of the most important developments in the county's history have had them as leaders and promoters. This is particularly true of the agi'icultural interests. The Rankins as mi^ch as any other family have been prominent in developing the gi-eat apple and peach orchards of this section of Illinois.

The first generation of the family in Western Illinois were Elias and Elizabeth Rankin. Elias Rankin was a native of Scotland. He and his wife lived in Caldwell County, Kentucky, came to Illinois and first settled in Sangamon County, later went to Iowa for a brief season, and then established pioneer homes in section 13 of Fall Creek Township. Elias Rankin died there about 1868, at the age of ninety-six. He was buried in the Fall Creek IMethodist Cemetery. One of his sons, Jesse Rankin, lived on a farm in section 14 until 1888, when he moved west, and his death occurred near Spokane, Wasliington, about 1916. A daughter of Elias became Mrs. Berry and died in Fulton, Missouri. Another daughter was Mrs. Smith, who died in Adams County.

Robert Raukin, father of Charles Henry, was one of the interesting: and prominent figures of Adams County's history. He was l)orn in Caldwell County, Kentucln-. June 23, 1827, and was a small child when his parents started west. The first day he attended school was in Fall Creek Township. Becoming tired, he spread his body out on the puncheon bench and fell fast asleep, and he always recalled that incident of his early schooling. At the age of twentythree Robert Rankin married Miss Sarah Jane Edmonds. She was born in Iredell County, North Carolina. May 20, 1828, daughter of John and Elizabeth Edmonds. John Edmonds was born in Ireland, was brought to America by his mother, and married Elizabeth Fitzgerald in Virginia. Tlie Eduu)nds family lived in Tennessee during 1828-31, and arrived in Adams County, Illinois, July 3, 1831, settling in Payson Township, where John and Elizabeth lived and died. Elizabeth Edmonds spent her last years with her daughter Sarah Jaue.

Robert Rankin located on his home farm in the spring of 1852, and lived there until his death December 11, 1878. He also owned a large acreage six miles away on Sni Island. His home farm comprised 480 acres. The Sni Island Drainage District was organized in 1872 and he was one of its chief agitators and promoters. During the war he was a firm friend of the Union cause, a republican in politics, and apparently it was his chief characteristic to stand honestly and firmly by the principles and policies which he believed to be right, and denounced all that he considered wrong and un.just. Despite the positiveness of his manner he was universally esteemed, and had a host of friends.

His work and influence were especially valuable in promoting agi'icultural and horticultural development and the co-operative movements which insure better markets and other advantages to a farming community. He was the first president of the Adams County Horticultural Society, being elected in 1870, and he held that office until his death. In 1868 he organized a number of men into an a-ssociation to plant and develop peach orchards. As a factor in that movement he set out thirteen acres in peaches. When these trees came into bearing he was influential in securing a pi-oper co-operation among other growers to secure proper transportation and marketing facilities. This local a.ssociation shipped nine carloads a week from Fall Creek station. Robert Rankin had a packing house on his farm, employing sixteen girls during the packing sea.son. The peaches were put in boxes holding a third of a bushel each. He also set out 21/2 acres of vineyard on his land. Though a horticulturist, he was also a livestock grower, and identified himself with every movement in his section of the county for general improvement.

His first wife died September 15, 1873. She was the mother of ten children, only three of whom reached mature years. One daughter married Henry Cupp, and a son, Curtis, died at the age of sixteen. The only survivor of the children today is Charles Henry Rankin. The father married for his second wife Miss Laura Goodner, who died in 1878, both her children dying in childhood.

Charles Henry Rankin was born August 2, 1859, on the site of his present home. As a boy' he spent four years in the Payson High School, two years in the :Maplewood School at Camp" Point, and two years at Chaddock College in Quincy. He graduated from the Illinois State University with the degree Civil Engineer, class of 1885. Since then he has given all his time and best energies to the home farm, and had taken a responsible part in its management from the age of eighteen. The farm under his ownership comprises 228 acres. Mr. Rankin built one of the best houses in the township in 1907, but it was burned October 31, 1908. It was rebuilt in 1909. Besides his horticultural interests he is a general farmer and stock raiser.

Mr. Rankin has set eighteen acres in orchard, and it is thirty-three years old. His fruit growing is an enterprise to which he has applied the most modern methods, and he is himself a recognized authority on horticulture in the Mississippi Valley. He is an active member of the ^Mississippi Valley Apple Growers'

Association, and for many years has kept in close touch with horticultural and agricultural interests. His apple crop runs from 1,000 to 2,500 barrels annually. It is divided among four or five staple varieties. At one time it was possible for him to exhibit from the local orchards 160 varieties of fruits at the Camp Point Fair.

February 14, 1888, Mr. Rankin married Miss Henrietta L. Wliittleton. She was born in"l\Ielrose Township, daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth (Cox) Whittleton. Her father was a native of England and as a child came to America and was educated chiefly in New York. At the age of twenty-six he came to Adams County and taught school here. A year later he married Elizabeth Cox, daughter of Matthew and Sarah B. (Gooding) Cox, of Melrose Township. Henrietta Whittleton was twenty-seven years of age at the time of her marriage. She had attended high school at Barry, Illinois, and an academy connected with the University of Rochester, New York. For seven years before her marriage she taught in Adams and Pike counties, Illinois, and in Saline County, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Rankin have a family of three children. Harriet Elizabeth, born October 6, 1889, is the wife of George Ernst, an electrician at Quincy. Luro Jane, born February 17, 1892, and at home with her parents, is a graduate in household economics from the Illinois State University, and has done much work in demonsti-ation and other phases of her science. The son, Robert Edmund, born September 8, 189.3, spent two years in the agricultural department of the State University, specializing in livestock, husbandry and dairying. He went into the service of his country, June 24, 1918, and honorably discharged February IS, 1919, from Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky.