Quincy Township (part 65 of 74)

At the age of twenty-four Mr. Loos married ^liss ]Mollie K. Speckhart, a daughter of William Speckhart, now a retired resident of Quincy elsewhere referred to in these pages. Mr. and Mrs. Loos have a happy family of children named Fred, Anna, Edna, Viola, Wilbert, Ida, Carl, Mollie, Edgar, William, Irene and Hilda. Mr. Loos is a democrat, has served as road commissioner, and is a member and trustee of the Bluff Hall Congregational Church.

William Speckhart, now living retired in a comfortable home at 520 South Twelfth Street in Quincy, is a member of that numerous and prominent Speckhart family whose activities and citizenship have been prominently sketched at various points in this historj'.

Mr. William Speckhart was born in Fall Creek Township February 2'4, 1851, the youngest son of John and Eva Speckhart. He was reared and educated there and since reaching his majority has been one of the successful fanners. He settled on part of the old homestead and still owns 154 acres. He has used his judgment to assist him in selecting farms in the most fertile district of the county, and has assisted several of their children in securing fine farms of their own. Mr. Speckhart was an active farmer until 1916, having spent forty-three years as an Adams County agriculturist. He has never sought public office but is a trustee of Bluff Hall Congregational Church.

At the age of twenty-two he married iliss Margaret Reich, daughter of John Reich, ilrs. John Reich is still living on a farm adjoining that of William Speckhart. ilargaret Reich was born there June 20. 1851, and she and her husband grew up from childhood in the same locality. Mr. and Mrs. Speckhart lost four children in infancy and childhood and have five living: JMollie is the wife of William Loos, of ^Melrose Township, and they have twelve children. William Speckhart lives in Fall Creek Township, two miles east of ilarblehead, married Laura Loos, a sister of William Loos, above mentioned, and their three sons are Edwin. Herbert and Fred. John Speckhart lives on the old farm in Fall Creek Township, and by his marriage to Nellie Ruby, of Payson Township, has a daughter, Wilma. Sadie is at home with her parents. Margaret married Fred Heelcher, a stove .salesman at Quincy, and they have two children. Merle and Marian.

WiLBER L. Myers. The old Myers homestead in Gilmer Township is now owned and occupied by Wilber L. Myers, who was born there and has spent nearly all his life from childhood to the present in that environment. It is unnecessarj' to repeat here what ha.s been told on other pages concerning his parentage, his brothers and sisters, but it should be noted that Mr. Myers is well worthy of membership in such an old and splendid family, and has contributed his share of the activities by which this family name is so well known in eastern Adams County.

The old Myers homestead is fourteen miles east of Quincy, two miles north of Broadway and three miles southwest of Columbus. On that fann Wilber L. Myers was born November 3, 1871. It has been his home continuously except for the twelve years from 1894 to 1905, during which time he rented other farms in Gilmer and Burton Township, and also spent one season in Colorado. In

1905 he bought the interests of the other heirs in the homestead. His father had secured this laud in about 1855, and had spent fifty j-ears of his life there. During that time the wild lands had been converted into productive fields and some of the improvements still stand, including the substantial house erected in 1882 and the barn built even earlier. Wilber Myers has continued to improve the estate, has erected a new barn, and has also constnicted a new tenant house and complete equipment. His fann comprises 207 acres devoted to genei'al farming, his cliief revenues coming from hogs, which he raises to the number of 150 or 200 every year. Mr. !Myers has not been an office seeker, has been satisfied to express his citizenship through those influences he can bestow upon all worthy enterprises in the community and a general helpfulness to his neighbors and as a patriotic American. He and his wife are both active in the Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. ]\Ir. ^Myers is past noble grand and has sat in the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, ilrs. Myers is chairman of the Mount Pleasant Red Cross Society. IMr. Myers enjoys outdoor life and his favorite recreation is hunting and fishing.

In 1904, at the age of thirty-three, he married Miss Laura Abel, of Burton Township, daughter of Joseph Abel. Mrs. IMyers was the only child of her parents.

Christian F. Mast. Tliere was a time when farm life in Illinois was one of continuous hard work and more or less social exclusion, but no better proof is needed to mark the change than is afi'orded in Melrose Township by such careful and progressive agriculturists as Christian F. Mast. On a finely improved estate located in a section of the county where public spirit is indicated by its material improvements Mr. ]Mast has lived for more than half a century, and in that time has proved that farming is not only one of the most profitable of occupations but the most independent.

Mr. ]\Iast was born in Adams County, Illinois, January 15, 1850, and is the third in a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, born to Casper and Rosena (Dold) Mast. Three of the children are still living: Mary, wife of Joseph Heckle, a retired citizen of Quiney ; Christian F. ; and Victoria, wife of Ben Heckle, a justice of the peace in Quiney.

The late Casper Mast was born in Baden, Germany, was educated in the German language, and when a young man came to the United States. He crossed the Atlantic in one of the old slow-going sailing vessels, and the voyage was one of six months duration. He landed at New Orleans and from there came up the river to Illinois. His first land was in section 31 of Melrose Towniship, Adams County, where he acquired 160 acres. It was at a time and place when all this region was little better than an unbroken wilderness, covered with heavy timber. It was characteristic of most of these early German settlers to look for "wood and water," and sixty years ago the original Mast homestead answered these requirements to the letter. Casper Mast became owner of a farm of 220 acres in that township, and proved in every way a successful agriculturist as well as a man of such character and qualities as to gain the general respect of the community in which he lived. He was a devout member of St. Boniface Catholic Church at Quiney. He died about 1885, and is at rest in St. Boniface Cemetery. His wife was also a native of Baden, and distingui.shed herself as a kind Christian mother, and the grateful memories of her children follow her.

Christian F. Mast grew up on his father's farm, and had a good education in the common schools, supplemented by a term in Bryant & Stratton Business College. Otherwise his entire active career has been spent as an agriculturist. He owns ninety-nine acres of fine land in Melrose Township, and he used such intelligence in its manaoement that its products furnished ample provision for all the needs of a growing family. Besides general crops Mr. Mast has been a successful stockman and has given special attention to Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs. His career has been a reward of honest, self-sustaining industry. When he was eighteen years old he began working at nioutlily wages of $15 a month. Two years later he started farming on his own account. His father let him have a team, and a spur to his industry was a debt of $100. His first purchase of corn was 100 bushels, which cost him $95. He bought this corn from Will Perkins.

On February 10, 1870, Jlr. Ma.st married IMiss Mary Freesc. The best evidence of Mr. Mast's success in life will be found in the noble family of sons and daughters who have grown up around him. Altogether there were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and seven are still living, two dj'ing in infancy. The following is a brief individual record of these children. Besides his living sons and daughters Mr. Mast has a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The oldest is William Mast, who is engaged in ice cream manufacturing at Quincy. He was educated in the common schools, is a democrat in polities, and is very active in the Catholic Church and its different organizations. He is a member of St. Boniface Church, is a Knight of Columbus and a member of the Western Catholic Union, and was financial secretary of the latter for fifteen years. He is married and has ten living ehildi'en. His wife was formerly Lliss Frances Herold.

Benjamin C, the second child, lives in Ellington Townshii?, owns a large farm and uses motor power wherever possible. He has a fine herd of cattle and is an all around successful farmer. He is married and has one son, Roj'. His wife was formerly Miss Rose Lacke. They are members of St. Francis Catholic Church. He is also a member of the Western Catholic Union.

Casper, a farmer in section 19 of Melrose Township, is one of the prominent men of that locality. His home on South Thirty-sixth Street is noted for its hospitality and is modern in every way, with electric lights, bath, running water and furnace. He is a farmer who makes a specialty of Jersey cattle, thoroughbred and in the Register of Merit, Class A. A. At present he holds the office of food administrator for the township, and is also a school trustee. He is a member of Branch No. 30 of the Western Catholic Union, and of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He and his wife have five children. His wife was formerly Miss Nellie Chase.

Mary, the only daughter, married L. F. Albers, and they reside at Fort Madison. Iowa, where Mr. Albers is in the grocery business and is present city clerk of that municipality. They are devout memlaers of St. Mary's Catholic Church and are parents of two children.

Christian C. was educated in the pai'oehial school and also in the Gem City Biisiness College and for fifteen years was general sales manager for the Williamson Produce Company. Since the death of C. H. Williamson he has had a clerical position with the Pape and Loos Milling Company, Mr. Pape being his father-in-law. He is married to Miss Jessie Pape, and has two children. He is a Knight of Columbus, a member of the Western Catholic Union, and of St. Francis Church. He lives in Quincy.

Lawrence, who is now manager of his father's farm, had a common school education and has developed into a splendid practical farmer. He is a breeder of Jersey cattle, line bred, and his cows are the Register of Merit, Class A. A. He is married and has two children, his wife being formerly Miss Ida Dunker. They are members of St. Mary's Church, and he is also a member of the Western Catholic Union. -

Clarence F., the youngest child, lives on his fifteen acre farm on South Twenty-Fourth Street in Melrose. He also is a capable agriculturist and has all the qualities of a suecessfid farmer. Besides his own place he is farming the Erke estate. He has a modern home, his wife being formerly Miss Helen Thieman, of Quincy. Tlicy are members of St. Mary's Church. He is a Knight of Columbus, also a member of the Western Catholic Union.

Mrs. Mast, the mother of these children was born in Quincy August 1, 1850, and was educated both in the German and English schools. For over thirty years she held up her noble part as wife and mother and homeraaker, and it was not alone in her own family that she was missed when she died suddenly August 8, 1902. Her remains were laid to rest in St. Boniface Cemetery. Her family was always with her the first consideration and object of her care.

Mr. Christian Mast has shared many of the honors and responsibilities of good American citizenship. A democrat in politics, he cast his first presidential vote for Tilden more than forty years ago. He .served several years as a tax collector, twenty-four years as township clerk, three years as road commissioner, twenty years as president of school trustees, and he is now chairman of the school board, and for twenty years has been trustee of St. Mary's Catholic Church. For the past eight years among other duties he has acted as justice of the peace. In his party he served as delegate to numerous county conventions. He is now living in comfort on his beautiful estate in Melrose Township, and has well earned the esteem of his neighbors and friends by a life of honest and upright integi-ity and earnest and fruitful eft'ort.

"VViLLi.^M W. WiLiiiAMS, M. D. Of the men devoted to the practice of medicine in Adams County few brought to bear upon their calling larger gifts of scholarship and personal resources than Doctor Williams, who has been in practice at Quincy more than twenty-four years, and a member of the medical profession over thirty-five years. His home and ofiices are at 12.50 Maine Street.

An authentic genealogy is extant showing that Doctor Williams is one of the descendants of the great Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation. Some eight or nine generations separate the Quincy physician from that pioneer character whose name is made familiar to every American school child. As Roger Williams was a pioneer in exploration and discovery as well as in the domain of religion and thought, so the pioneer instinct has descended to his descendants and was notably expressed by Doctor Williams' grandfather, Gamaliel B. Williams, who became one of the first pioneer settlers of Louisa Countj', Iowa. He went to the Territory of Iowa from Indiana, and settled at what is now Columbus City. That was then a district inhabited by Indians and wild animals, and was a lonely and isolated prairie on which he established his first home. Gamaliel Barstow Williams had the sturdiness of character which enabled him to endure the sufferings of the first settlers, and he not only made a good home but bore himself as a substantial citizen in his enlarging community. He died there when past fourscore years of age. In nearly all the generations of the family its members have been noted for their remarkable strength and athletic prowess. Gamaliel B. Williams married a Miss Hall, whose father, James Hall, was also of New England stock. She died in Iowa some years before her husband, when past forty years of age. Both had become converted to the preachings of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian Chi;rch, and Grandfather Williams was for many years an elder in the church.

At the old homestead in Iowa Dr. Wright Williams, father of the Quincy physician, was born nearly eighty years ago. That old homestead is still kept by the family. Dr. Wright Williams grew up in his native town, studied medicine under a prominent local practitioner. Doctor Overholtz, and after his marriage practiced there until 1867, when he removed to Unionville. Putnam County, Missouri, and for nearly half a century was one of the leading men of his profession in that part of Missouri. He died at Harris, Missouri, ilarch 28, 1918. He was an official member of the Christian Church for many years. In Iowa Dr. Wright Williams married Sarah S. Geisinger, who was born near Medina County, Ohio, daughter of John and Lydia (Overholt) Geisinger, who were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and spent their last years in Missouri. Mrs. Sarah Williams is still living at the age of seventy-five.

Dr. William W. Williams was born at Columbus City, Iowa, July 4, 1861, and was six years old when his parents moved to Unionville, Missouri. His eai-ly home influence were calculated to bring out the best in his talents and abilities, and from the local schools he entered the University of Iowa, where he graduated in medicine in 1884. Later he took post-gi'aduate studies in the New York Poh'clinic and at Chicago. For several years he practiced with his father, spent four years in professional work at Wichita, Kansas, and in October, 1894, came to Quincy, where his reputation as a capable medical man and surgeon has been steadilj' growing. During most of these years he has been a member of the surgical staff of Blessing Hospital, is a leading member of the County and State Medical societies and a member of the American Medical Association. Since he was seventeen years old Doctor Williams ha.s been a working member of the Christian Church, and for years has held the post of deacon and trustee in that church. Mrs. Williams is a member of the same church.

Doctor Williams married Anna Tatman, member of one of the substantial families of Unionville, Missouri. She was born in Illinois, daughter of James E. and Lavina Tatman. Mrs. James E. Tatman is seventy-nine years old and has made her home with Dr. and Mrs. W. W. Williams since the death of her husband, James E. Tatman, July 31, 1916. To the marriage of Doctor and Mrs. Williams were born five children, one now deceased. Their daughter Nita is the wife of Judge Fred G. Wolf, of Quincy. Doctor and Mrs. Williams have two soldier representatives in the family. The son James R. is a graduate of the Quincy High School and the State University of Illinois, and is now president of the Ellington Electric Company of Quincy. He volunteered and entered the School of Artillery at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and was in training when the armistice was signed. He married Florence Halbach, and they have one daughter, Constance. The second son, Robert T., is in the Observation Balloon Works and was at the front under fire for four months. This son is a graduate of the high school, spent one year in the University of Illinois and two years in Leland Stanford University in California, and is a member of the Obsei-vation Balloon Corps with rank of first lieutenant. He married Marjorie Curry, of California. They have one son, Robert T. Williams, Jr. Doctor Williams' youngest son, Gordon H. Williams, age fifteen years, is a student in the Quincy High School.

GEX3RGE HuBER is One of the well known residents of Melrose Township, and occupies a fine farm that has been in the ownership of the Huber family for over sixty years.

He was born on that farm September 16, 1858, son of Lawrence and Elizabeth (Zoph) Huber, the former a native of Baden and the latter of Bavaria. After coming to Adams County they settled in the woods of Melrose Township, having onl\- a one-room log house as a home, and there Lawrence Huber carried on the activities which were interrupted by his early death about 1860. He left his widow with seven children. His widow died in 1896, at the age of seventytwo. Their seven children were: Virginia, who married Fred Wellmann and died in middle life; Adam Huber, who died at the age of sixty-one in Melrose Township; John, of Montana; Mary, Mrs. Fred Jeddy, of Palmyra, Jlissouri ; Lawrence, of Quincy; George; and Lizzie, Mrs. Martin Wolf, who lives on the Payson Road in Melrose Township.

Adam Huber married Elizabeth Rupp. He was a farmer and spent his last days with his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Ehrhardt. His wife died in Quincy. Adam Huber had two daughters, Mary and Sophia, the latter the wife of Joseph Ehi'hardt and the former unmarried.

George Huber has spent all his life on the old farm of 105 acres, buying out the other interests at the death of his parents. He erected a good house and barn, and has devoted his attention steadily to the business of farming. He has served as school director. On November 15, 1885, he married Miss Frances Meyer, daughter of Landon and Katie (Ohnemus) Meyer. She was born in Burton Township. They have two livins children. George is now in Camp

Joseph Ehrhardt carries the heavy responsibilities of managing and operating a large farm in Melrose Township ten miles southeast of Quincy. ]\Ir. Ehrhardt has made a success of farming and his farm and home bear many evidences of his unusual enterprise and progressive energies.

Mr. Ehrhardt is a son of the late Philip Ehrhardt, whose life story is subject of a sketch on other pages. Joseph w-as born on a farm adjoining his present place June 22, 1869. He lived at home until his marriage, which occurred February 9, 1897. Mrs. Ehrhardt bore the maiden name of Sophia Huber, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Rupp) Huber, a family elsewhere referred to.

After his marriage Mrs. Ehrhardt settled on the farm where he now lives. This is the old King farm, and had been owned by Philip Ehrhardt for the preceding seven years. The King farm contains 146 acres, and Mr. Joseph Ehrljardt has subsequently added ninet.y acres adjoining on the south. He boiiglit the ninety acres at $33 an acre. Mr. King, the former owner, built the house, which occupies a slight elevation some distance back from the road. This house has been remodeled by its present owners, and Mr. Ehrhardt has also added extensively to the farm equipment, including a siibstantial cow barn, silo and other facilities. He keeps a herd of from thirty to forty graded Guernsey cattle, and milks about fifteeii cows. For many years he has made and sold to a special line of customers his butter, which commands fancy prices. He also keeps some tifty or sixty head of hogs, and markets about that number every year. Mr. Ehrhardt is not an office seeker, and is content to support the policies of the democratic party as a citizen. He and his family are members of St. Antonius Catholic Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Ehrhardt have a family of nine children, all of them at home. Their names in order of birth are Lawrence Adam. Hem\v Philip, Wilfrieda Elizabeth, Leonard George, Philip Harmon, Agnes Frances, Justine Catherine, "Wilbur John and Mary Cecelia.

WiLLi.\M Henry Barnard. For nearly fourscore years the interests and associations of the Barnard family have been with Pleasant View locality Section 23. in Liberty Township, formerly known as Barnard Postoffice, two and a half miles east of Liberty Village. The Barnards are a family whose history will be read with interest and instruction. Each generation has fulfilled its part in the work and citizenship of the community. In some respects there has lieen a steady progress, so that each successive generation has been a little better off and a little better able to render sei-vice to themselves and to the community than the one preceding. In many families unfortunately the reverse is true.

William Henry Barnard represents the third generation in Adams County, and his son, now a prominent railway official, is of the fourth generation.

The family histoiy may properly begin with the name Jason Barnard, a native of Virginia. He married Jency Carter. They lived for some years near Lexington, Kentucky, where William Barnard was born December 18, 1825. In 1831, when William was six years old, the family came west by the familiar means of transportation then available, horses and wagons, and settled in Ralls County, Missouri. Marion, a brother of William, was carried all the way by his mother on horseback. The family lived in Missouri vmtil the fall of 1842. when Jason Barnard secured a tract of land now contained in the Barnard homestead in Liberty Township. William was then a boy of seventeen, and he always remembered one part of the preliminary work done on the land, the digging of a w'ell. Of Jason's brothers one, Jonathan, remained in ^Missouri, another, Thomas, moved to Iowa, and still another, Calvin, lived in Indiana. Jason spent the rest of his days on the old farm in Liberty Township and died there in 1879, in his eighty-fourth year. His wife died in 1866, at the age of sixty-eight. The land of the original home was originally prairie, and all the buildings first put there are now gone. "William had eonstrueted a small house for his father's comfort in old age, and that honse is still in use as an outside apartment. Jason's children were: Guilford, wlio went to Oregon at the age of twenty-five and died aged eighty-two; Emily, who died a young woman; Nancy spent most of her life in Adams County, married Wallace Shohoney and died past eighty years ; AVilliam ; Marion, who served in the Civil war and died in Adams County November 14, 1916, at the age of eighty-six ; Fanny who married Andrew Casej' and died in young womanhood ; Eliza, who married Anson "Welte, and died when past sixty; Calvin, who was a Union soldier and gave his life as a sacrifice to his country during the war; and Maria, who married Martin McRae and went to Kansas, where she died at a ripe old age.

William Barnard, of the second generation in Adams County, gi-cw up at a time and in an envii-onmcnt which almost precluded his gaining an education. The fact is that when he married he was unable to write his name, and his wife laboriously taught him the ai't of writing. Later, by much application, he became well informed, and was a highly intelligent and useful citizen. He married November 2, 1845, when onh' twenty years of age. His wife was Elizabeth Pearce, who was born in Tennessee November 16, 1824, daughter of Joshua and Sarah Pearce, who came from Tennessee prior to 1842 and settled in Liberty Township. After his marriage William Barnard settled on land owned by his father, most of it in the timber, and he had to cut away the trees and grub out the stumps to make it available for crops. In course of time he liad a good farm. In 1877 he returned to the old homestead to care for his father. At that time he opened a stock of general merchandise and also began the construction of the present home on the farm. Two years later the merchandise was established in a store building of its own near the house. In 1894 the original building was struck by lightning and burned, entailing a loss of all the stock. On June 22, 1882, William Baniard was commissioned postmaster at Barnard, his commission being signed by the then postmaster general, Timothy Howe. Barnard Postoffice continued on the ofScial list of postoffices and also as a community center until the service was supplanted by the rural free deliverj' in 1904. In 1902 William Barnard gave up his offlce and was succeeded by his son William H., who was postmaster until free deliveiy started. After the store was struck by lightning it was rebuilt, but was located on a corner a few rods distant from the old site. When the postoffice was discontinued the stock of merchandise was sold. After leaving the postoffice William Barnard lived ciuietly retired. He was a republican practically all his life. He was reared a democrat, but was so impressed by observation of events at a democratic barbecue when he was young that he changed his party. He was one of the original members of the Pleasant View Baptist Church, situated a half mile from his home, and was a trustee of the church the rest of his life. He grew up in a pioneer time when every boy was supposed to know how to handle a gun. He became a fine marksman, and in earh' years killed many deer, and kept up his practice with the rifle until failing eyesight and old age compelled him to desist. His wife died in 1895 and he died January 16, 1917, in his ninetysecond year.

The children of William Barnard and wife were: Amelia, inimari-ied and still at the old home; Pliilip, wlio died at the age of six years: William H. ; Charles W.. in business at Liberty Village; Oliver G., formerly a mercliant and now owner of the waterworks plant at Orient in the State of Washington ; and Maria, who died in 1885 aged twenty-nine years.

William Henry Barnard was born on the old farm March 18, 1855. He made the most of his limited advantages in school, has always keenly realized the value of a good education, and his lil)eral assistance to his son to realize the best possible training has been well rewarded by the latter 's career. William H. Barnard has spent all his life on the old home farm, has superintended its cultivation, and managed both his father's and his grandfather's places. His residence is on a tract of land which has been in the family possession now for seventy-seven years.

March 2, 1880, Mr. Barnard married ]\Iiss Mary jMiller, who was born in the same community March 22, 1858, a daughter of Fred Miller, one of the prominent old residents of Liberty Township. The old Fred Miller home is now owned by Mi"s. Barnard and the other heirs.

William Fi'ederiek Barnard, only son and child of Mr. and Mrs. William Henry Barnard, was born September 21, 1883. He was given all the advantages at home and in local schools and at the age of nineteen took a course in the Gem City Business College, graduating in 1904. Soon afterward he was employed as a clerk in the offices of the AV abash Eailroad at Springfield in the maintenance of way department. Five months later he was promoted to the division point of that road at Decatur, and was soon chief clerk to the chief engineer. In 1915, when the general offices of the road were moved to St. Louis, Chief Engineer R. 0. Howard called him to that point as his chief clerk, with corresponding increase of responsibility and salary. Then, with the new management of railroads under government supervision. Director General McAdoo appointed Mr. Barnard superintendent of insurance for the Wabash Railroad, his appointment taking effect October 15, 1918. His offices are in the Railway Exchange Building at St. Louis. At the age of thirty-five, therefore, he has risen to one of the important responsible positions in the great railway industry of the country. He lives in St. Louis, and has been married since December 8, 1910. He married Lena Mae Keown, who was born near Pattonsburg, Missouri.

Samuel Thompson. The name Thompson is one of the first to occur in the history of early settlement in Fall Creek Township. There have been a number of the family who have contributed their energies and enterprise to local developments. One of them was the late Samuel Thompson, whose son. Arthur J. Thompson, now owns and operates the old home farm fourteen miles southeast of Quincy.

Samuel Thompson was born August 27, 1852, on the farm where his son Arthur now lives. His parents were Josiah and Priscilla (Crandall) Thompson. The real pioneer of the family was Samuel Thompson, father of Josiah. Samuel was a Pennsylvanian. He married C.ynthia Hewitt.

It was in 1832 that Samuel Thompson, the elder, came to Adams County, and bought land in section 23 of Fall Creek Township. His wife died there in 1852.

Josiah Thompson was born in Athens County, Ohio, May 20, 1823. He was a small boy when he came to Adams County. At the age of twenty-one he married Priscilla Crandall. It is said that she was the first white child born in Fall Creek Township. Her birth occurred August 27, 1825. She was the daughter of Rial and Anna Crandall, natives of New York State. Priscilla Thompson died May 2, 1871, and her husband December 30, 1875. Josiah Thompson was a whig and republican in politics and became one of the largest land owners in Adams County. He owned at one time 20,000 acres, most of it lying in the bottoms. He was a very ambitious and hard w-orking man and had much to show for his energies. He was a member of the Fall Creek l\Iethodist Church and was one of the men who vigorously upheld the cause of the Union during the Civil war. Of eight children only two are now living, Cynthia A., widow of Capt. M. W. Htighes and residing in Quincy, and ]\Iinnie, wife of George Myers, of Fall Creek Township. Mr. and Mrs. Myers live on the old Crocker property, where the noted mill once stood at the stone bridge. Another child now deceased was Mary Evaline, who married James Groves.

Samuel Thompson, son of Josiah and Priscilla, married Sarah Bennington, daughter of John and Martha Bennington. Her father came from England, lived for a number of years in Missouri, but spent his last years with Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson was born one mile west of Pavson on the Quincy Road. She died March 16, 1917.

Samuel Thompson took possession of the old homestead in 1879, having 160 acres under his management, and later he acquired 160 acres in the bottoms of

Fall Creek. He was a very progressive man, and did a great deal in his brief lifetime. He died in California March 15, 1887, at the age of thirty-five. He owned a ten acre orange grove at San Bernardino, California. After his death his \\-idow returned to Adams County and died just thirty years after him.

Of the three children Ai-thur J. Thompson is the oldest. The two daughters were Lucy Rose and Alma. Both graduated from the Payson High School and subsequently taught in the grade schools of Quincy, while Lucy Rose taught for three years in the Springfield public schools. She is now the wife of Dr. C. C. Atherton, assistant superintendent of the State School for the Feeble Minded at Lincoln, Illinois. The daughter Alma married Dr. Ralph T. Hinton, also a prominent physician and specialist and now superintendent of the Elgin Insane Asylum.

Arthur J. Thompson was born January 13, 1881, on the old farm, graduated from the Payson High School, and for twelve years has been in the railway mail service, his run being between Hannibal and Chicago on the Wabash. For ten years of that time he lived at Quincy. In those twelve years he experienced only one serious wreck. This occurred at Griggsville when the train jumped the track while crossing a trestle, but the engine did not turn over until it reached firm ground. The engineer was killed and the fireman crippled.

For the past two years Mr. Thompson has managed the home farm. He is a general farmer and horticulturist. He has an orchai'd of eight acres, chiefly in apples, and his apple crop runs between 900 and 1,200 barrels annually. It was 1,200 barrels in 1918. It is a commercial proposition, and he usually sells the fruit on the trees to buyers, though occasionally the apples have been packed on the farm and marketed by Mr. Thompson. He also raises much stock, including hogs, and has a thorough equipment of hog buildings. The substantial house was built by his mother about 1892, and there is a generous equipment of other buildings.

June 4, 1913, Mr. Thompson married Inez Carter. Her father is A. ^l. Carter, of Plainville, a well known Pavson Township citizen elsewhere referred to.

JOHX Philip Ehrhaedt. The brief story is told on other pages of the late Philip Ehrhardt and his struggles as a poor man to found and establish a home and the successful issues of his life. His son John Philip Ehrhardt has much the same force of character and ability, and in fifteen years has, from a start of practically a landless man, accumulated one of the good farms in ]Melrose Towniship. His home is 7i,4 miles southeast of Quincy on rural route No. 5.

Mr. Ehrhardt was born nearby April 16, 1875, son of Philip and Justina (Mast) Ehrhardt. His boyhood was spent at the old home, and for one year he had charge of the homestead for his father.

On April 16, 1902, on his twenty-seventh birthday he married Miss Frances Dietrich, daughter of Nicholas Dietrich, a well knov\ni citizen whose career is taken up individually elsewhere. The Dietrich home is seven miles east of Quincy on the State Street road. During the two years after his marriage Mr. Ehrhardt farmed the old homestead, and in the fall of 1903 bought his present farm. This is the old Jacob Ki-app farm, owned many years ago also by Le^T Wolf. It contains 120 acres and ]\Ir. Ehrhardt went in debt for the entire purchase price of .$6,000. He has rebuilt the house and barn, made many other improvements, and has paid out completely on the land, a record which shows the possibilities of modern farming even in an era of high prices. He does general farming, raises a great deal of grain, has twenty or thirty fat hogs for the market every year, and conducts a small creamery with Guernsey grade cows. He milks several cows and sells cream.

Mr. Ehrhardt has also been a participant in public affairs. In 1912-13 he was tax collector, and turned into the county treasury between .$17,000 and $18,000. In politics he is a democrat, and with his family is a member of St. Antonius Catholic Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Ehrhardt had six children. Wilfricd, the oldest, died from an operation for appendicitis January 18, 1917, at the age of fourteen. Tlie otlier children, all at home, are Isabel, born in 1905; Edward, born in 1908; Alfred, born in 1911; Jerome, born in 1914; and Elnora, born in 1916.

Charles H. Hirth. This is the name of a family that came from Germany seventy or more years ago, were early settlers in Adams County, by thrift and industry made good and has long been identified with the best citizenship of their respective localities.

Now living on a farm adorned with handsome buildings and with splendid improvements, in section 18 of Ellington To«aisliip, Charles II. Hirth was born on Mill Creek in Melrose Township October 22, 1852. He is a son of Jacob and Catherine (Mause) Hirth. They were born in provinces along tlie River Rhine in Germany and were young when they came with their respective parents to America. Jacob Hirth made the voyage on a sailing vessel, being eleven weeks before landing at New Orleans. The family came up the river to St. Louis, where they remained for some time. Jacob was a carriage maker by trade, but his fatheV was a farmer and finally left St. Louis to bring his family to Adams County. He located on a farm. Jacob Hirth married in Quincy and followed his trade there for a number of years. In 1861 he moved to a farm on Mill Creek in Melrose Township, and in 1865 went to Ellington Township, where he bought a good farm and was successful in its operation. His wife died there in 1870. Her parents, Henry Mause and wife, came direct from Germany to Adams County, and were among the pioneers along ]Mill Creek in Melrose Township. They were there at an eai-ly day and when the deer and wild turkey were so numerous that they had to be watched to keep them from eating the crops and grain. Henry Mause and wife died on their farm when in advanced years. Jacob Hirth died in 1908, at Quincy. He was a republican and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Charles H. Hirth grew up on a farm, received a common school education in Riverside and Ellington to^^oiships, and since then has been working hard to provide his home and prosperity. He and his wife have lived twenty-three years on their present farm. They erected a large eight-room house, two substantial barns, one 40 by 60 feet and the other 30 by 40 feet, and they have adorned their home by the planting of a large number of trees which now are stately and tall and furnish abundance of shade.

In Ellington Township Mr. Hirth married ^liss Ella Berrian. She was born in that towmship and was educated there, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Anderson) Berrian, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Pennsylvania. Her parents were married in Ellington Township, and were farmers there. Her father died at the old homestead at the age of forty-four, and her mother survived to the venerable age of eighty-four. Her mother was a Presbyterian, and all but one of her seven children are living.

The oldest child of I\tr. and Jlrs. Hirth is Charles E., who graduated from the Quincy High School and took medical studies at Chicago and St. Louis and in other medical schools, and for the past fifteen years has been a successful physician and surgeon in Utah, his home being at Vernal. He is unmarried. George Edgar, the second son, lives at home and runs the farm, and is also unmarried. Cora J. is the wife of Alfred Dairy of Grand Haven, Michigan. Ralph Earl is at home and married Eunice Piatt. Mrs. Hirth is a Methodist. Mr. Hirth is a republican.

Fredekick Lepper. If true success consists in a steady betterment of one's material circumstances, a growing enlargement of views and increasing influence as a meml)er of the community, the life of Frederick Lepper has been exceptionally successful by all the standards that might be applied to it.

He was born February 28, 1865, second in a family of twelve children, eight sous and four daughters, whose parents were Frederick and Frederieka (Ellermau) Lepper. All the children are still living except one, and are residents of Melrose Township with one exception. This son is a rural mail carrier.

Frederick Lepper, Sr., was born in the Province of Westphalia, Germany. He was only a boy when he came to the United States, making the voyage on a sailing vessel, and was some weeks on the ocean before landing in New York City. He had no mone.y and a brother sent him the means to complete his journej' to Quincy. Here he began working for wages as a baker, and for a number of j-ears was employed in the great stove works at Quincy. He made a success as a business man and eventually acquired a good farm of 160 acres in Melrose Township. He was a republican, a school director and a devoted friend of public education, and he and his wife were members of St. Jacob's Lutheran Church in Quiaicy. He died March 2, 1905. His remains are at rest in Woodland Cemetery. As a seal of his devotion to his adopted land he volunteered and served as a Union soldier in the Civil war, being in duty in the Trans- Mississippi Department until awarded his honorable discharge.

His wife wa.s born in Germany and was eleven years old when brouglit to America. Her parents made the voyage in a sailing vessel and were twelve weeks on the ocean. The Ellerman family located in Adams County, where Mrs. Frederieka Lepper died in August, 1918. She was on the farm for many years. She did a noble part in rearing her large family of children, and was always ready to do kindness to any one in need in the community. She was seventy-five years old at the time of her death, had the strength of her mind unimpaired and was a devout worshiper in her church.

Mr. Frederick Lepper was educated in the Irwin School at Quincy and also in the Hickory Grove School. He has been a busy citizen since reaching his majority, and soon after attaining manhood he married and took upon himself the responsibilities of a home. November 28, 1887, he married Miss Frederieka A. Voth. Three children were born to them, two sons and one daughter. Alfred was educated in the public and parochial schools and is a practical farmer in Melrose Township. He is a republican, and he and his wife attend worship in the Lutheran Memorial Church. He married Miss Alice Wolfe. The daughter Alma is the wife of Leo Humphrey, a fruit grower and farmer in Melrose Township, but now in the motor truck department and in France. Mrs. Humphrey was educated in the Emerson School and in the country schools and received special training in music. The youngest of the family is Robert, who was educated in the common schools and is associated with his father on the farm. He is a member of Melrose Chapel.

Mrs. Lepper was born in Quincy June 17, 1867, daughter of Casper H. and Elizabeth (Mester) Voth. She was one of their nine children, four sons and five daughters. The five daughters are still living and all reside in Quincy except one, Elizabeth, widow of Prof. H. Rankohl. She is living in Detroit. Michigan. Professor Rankohl was a teacher and for many years identified with the work of the parochial schools. They had eight children, all living.

Casper H. Voth was born at Lippinghausen, Germany, and came to the United States soon after his marriage. A farmer by training, he was a poor man when he reached Quincy and for several years worked at any toil that v.-ould afford him an honest competence. He had been trained as a soldier in the German army. He was a republican, and he and his wife were members of St. Peter's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which he was a charter member. He died at the home of his daughter Mrs. Lepper August 4, 1905, and is at rest in Woodland Cemetery. Mrs. Voth died in Quincy December 3. 1900, aged seventy-six years.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lepper made their home in Quincy for fifteen years, and from his earnings as an employe of the stove works accumulated the modest capital with which they bought their present farm of 120 acres. The Lepper farm is 2i/2 miles from the city limits on the extension of South Twenty-fourth Street. It is a very valuable farm and is managed to the acme of productiveness and its increasing value. Mr. Lepper specializes in Shorthorn cattle, while Mrs. Lepper has found both recreation and profit in a fine flock of Barred Eock chickens.

Mr. Lepper is a republican. He cast his first presidential vote for James G. Blaine in 1884. and has always been in sympathy with his party on its fundamental principles and policies. He and his wife are zealous advocates of the cause of public education and ]Mr. Lepper has served as a member of the school board. He is one of the men who recognize the necessity of Illinois getting into the list of good roads states, and has never lost an opportunity to advocate this desirable improvement. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lepper attend worship in Melrose Chapel.

John Noreis. One of the tine country homes in Columbus Township is found in section 16. owned by Mrs. Emma A. Norris. widow of the late John Norris, who was a capable and industrious citizen of the township for many years and en.joyed the high esteem of a large community.

The late John Norris, who died at the old home September 25, 1917, was born in Little York, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1848. He was left an orphan by the death of his father at the age of sixteen, his mother having died when he was four years old. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Cooper) Norris, both natives of Maryland but married in Pennsylvania. They were members of the Methodist Church. John Norris grew up in the home of an uncle, Thomas Norris, in ^Maryland, and had a farm training. In February, 1870, he and his coiisin, James Norris, set out for the West, and arriving in Adams County John Norris went to work for David Pierce in Gilmer Township. Later he farmed on his own account, and on February 3, 1876, married Jliss Emma A. Linn. They were married at the home of the bride in Columbus Township. Mrs. Norris was bom on the farm where she now lives March 23, 1852. She was reared and educated here, and besides the local schools attended colloge at Abingdon. She wa.s one of a large family of children. Her brother Amos and herself are the only ones living in Columbus Township in Adams County, the others being residents in other states.

Mr. and Mrs. Norris after their marriage farmed in Hancock County for one year, and then returned to her father's old farm in section 16 of Columbus Township. John Norris was successfully employed with the management of that place for nearly forty years. Mrs. Norris' father died November 7, 1881, at the age of seventy-seven years, six months and seventeen da.ys. He was born in Ohio and married in Indiana Nancy Gant. She was a native of South Carolina, but was reared and married at Brookfield, Indiana. Four of their children were born in Indiana. The Linn family came to Adams County with wagons and teams during the '30s, and as pioneers they bought 200 acres of raw land in section 16 of Columbus Township. Mr. Linn improved this land, and also owned 160 acres in Hancock County. His widow, who was born in 1809, died at Camp Point May 4, 1904, at the venerable age of ninetyfive years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Linn were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and they were noble, good people, with all the qualities of kindly neighbors and good citizens. Mr. Linn was a republican. The home in which Mrs. Norris and children now reside was built by her father more than seventy years ago. John Norris had the active management of this farm until about five years before his death. Mrs. Norris still owns 200 acres in the town and has capably managed her affairs with the assistance of her children.

Mrs. Norris had five children, but the only one now living is William A., who helps run the old farm. William married Lena Brackshiek, of Columbus Township. Tlieir children are Kaymond, Ernest, Allen, Ethel, Ivan May and Beulah, the four older now in school. They also lost two children. Earl, at the age of four months, and Carl, in infancy. The four decea.sed children of Mrs. Norris were Nannie May, Clyde, Nellie and Walter. The last three died in infancy and Nannie May at the age of twenty. Mrs. Norris has a grandson, Henry Louis, son of her daughter, Nannie May. This grandson has been carefully reared, by his grandmother and was twenty-one years of age in July, 1918. He is getting in readiness to enter training camp for military service.

Oscar Gunther is of the third generation of the Gunther family in Adams County, and is the successful manager of the old Gunther homestead farm in Camp Point Township, a locality in which he has spent all his life. He is one of tlie younger men and at the same time one of the most successful farmers and stock raisers in Adams County.

His grandfather, Carl F. Gunther, was born in Germany January 2, 1793. He married Justina Renschel, a native of the same country. They lived in Germany until past middle life, and two of their .sons came to Adams County before the parents. Their children were six in number: Dr. Julius Gunther, who arrived in New Orleans in 1851, and had a long and active career as a physician ; Frederick Gunther, who came to America by way of New Orleans in 1852 and for many years was a well known resident of Honey Creek Township ; Ernestine, who remained in Germany and died there in 1915, at the age of eighty years; Justina, who died in 1898; Louis; and Christina, wife of Christopher Nicolai.

Carl F. Gunther and wife arrived at New Orleans in 1853, and about six months later journeyed on up the Mississippi River, reaching Adams County in 1854. They bought their first land in Honey Creek Township, 160 acres, and developed and improved a fine farm comprising 320 acres. Carl F. Gunther spent his active life as a farmer and died uear Coatsburg in 1881, at the age of eighty-eight. His wife died September 26, 1861, when about fiftythree.

Louis Gunther, a retired resident of Camp Point and father of Oscar Gunther, was born in Germany April 5, 1847, being six years old when his parents came to America. He grew up on the Honey Creek Township farm, and in 1869 moved to Camp Point Township to manage 160 acres which had been acquired by his father in 1865. He became owner of that land, and today he owns 235 acres in Camp Point Township and eighty acres in Honey Creek Township. Since 1917 he has given over the active responsibilities of the farm and enjoys the comforts of a good home in Camp Point. In politics Louis Gunther has been one of the loyal and steadfast republicans, casting his first presidential vote for General Grant about fifty years ago and never once failing to support a republican candidate for the presidency. In his home locality he served as road commissioner, director of school district No. 5, and was also a trustee of the township schools. He and his family are Lutherans.

Louis Gunther married for his first wife April 4, 1869, Caroline Girky, who died July 26, 1870. In October 26, 1871, he married Susan Hochcraver, who was born in Adams County, in Ellington Township, in 1853. Her parents, Simon and Margaret Hochcraver, located in Adams County about 1848 and were farmers in Ellington Township for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Gunther were the parents of six children : Simon, a farmer ; Clara, wife of Charles Dittmer, and they occupy the Gunther farm in Honey Creek Township ; Kate, wife of John Schroeder, of Camp Point Township ; Cora, wife of William Murrah, a farmer in Honey Creek Township ; Oscar C. ; and John, who died in infancy.

14, 1887. 'Wniile getting his education in the countrj- school at Coatsburg he was also getting experience that has been valuable to him in his work as an agriculturist. For several years he has rented the homestead farm of 230 acres, and the results he obtains demonstrate his high class methods of farming. Mr. Gunthcr is a breeder of pure bred Polled Angus cattle and has about thirty-five head of this fine stock. He has most of his land under cultivation to tlie staple crops, but the revenue side of his farm operations is largely through livestock.

Mr. and Mrs. Gunther are members of the Lutheran Church. In 1917 he married Miss Emma Bauner, who was horn in Camp Point To^\iiship, daughter of Andrew Bauner, a well known citizen of that locality elsewhere referred to.

John Broderick. "Wliile the live and enterprising men of Columbus Township are under consideration special mention should be made of John Broderick and his fine country home in section 13. His farm comprises 200 acres. This is the old O'Reilly farm, later owned by the Dunlop heirs, from whom Mr. Broderick bought it in January, 1918. Mr. Broderick is one of the younger generation of farmers and is making headway by keeping high class livestock and pursuing all the most advanced methods of farm enterprise. His livestock consists of Poland China hogs, full blooded Polled Angus cattle and mixed breeds of horses. More than half his farm is under cultivation, and is productive of bountiful yields of crops.

Mr. Broderick has been a farmer all his active career and spent thirtytwo years in MeKee Township from childhood to mature manhood. He attended the rural schools of that township and in 1916 graduated from the Gem City Business College.

Mr. Broderick was born at Seottsville, Kansas, December 24, 1882, but was brought to Adams County when four years old. His parents, Maurice and Sophronia (Hoffman) Broderick, were both natives of Adams County, were married here, and most of their children were born within the county limits. They lived in Kansas five years, and while there their son John and their daughter Mary were born. Maurice Broderick died in McKee Town- .ship in 1891, at the age of forty-five. His widow is still living, aged fiftynine. She is a Protestant while Mr. Broderick was a Catholic.

In January, 1918, in Columbus Township, John Broderick married Miss Agnes Dunlop, and to this union one child was born, John Henry Broderick, February 5, 1919. Mrs. Broderick was born on the farm where she now lives October 3, 1878, and was reared and educated in this locality. She also attended the Maplewood High School at Camp Point. Mrs. Broderick is a Catholic, and her father was a Protestant and her mother a Catholic. She is a daughter of Thomas and Amelia (O'Reilly) Dunlop. Her father was born in Belfast and her mother in County Cavan, Ireland, and they were married in Quincy, Illinois. Fifty-two years ago Thomas Dunlop boiiglit 160 acres in section 17 of Columbus Township from his brother-in-law, Thomas O'Reilly. Later he increased the farm to its present size, 200 acres, and erected the substantial residence still on the farm. Thomas Dunlop died January 19, 1889, at the age of seventy-six. His widow survived him until March, 1915, and was then eighty-one years and nine months old. In the same year their son William T. died as a young man, and they also lost a daughter, Janet, wife of Gerald Hoffman. Mrs. Hoffman left a son, who was one of the first young men to enlist in the great war and is now serving in the navy. Three of the Dunlop children are still living, including Mrs. Broderick. Her sister, ]\Irs. Felix Penders, is on a farm at Stillwater, Minnesota, and is married and has two sons and two daughters. Helen is the wife of Edmond Wood, a farmer at Augusta, Illinois, and has six children. Mrs. Broderick has a half brother, Robert Dunlop, who lives at El Reno, Oklahoma, and has a daughter.

Mrs. Broderiek's maternal uncle, Thomas O'Reilly, above named, was one of the prominent and Christian men of his dav in Adams Countv. He came here a poor man, and eventually secured and improved neai'ly 600 acres near Columbus Village, in sections 17 and 18. ]Mr. Broderick is a democrat in politics.

Edw.vbd M. Kocii. An Adams County citizen whose memory deserves a special tribute in this publication was the late Edward M. Koch, whose life was one of effective purpose and successful results as a farmer and citizen. For many years he lived in ilendon Township and was a native of this county.

He was born in I\Ielrose Township Xovember 20, 1858, and died October 3, 1907, when not yet fifty years of age. His parents were Gottlieb C. and Elizabeth (Powell) Koch. His parents were born at iluehlhausen in Alsace, close to the battlefront of the present dav. The father was born Mav 14, 1834, and the mother May 12, 1835. Gottlieb Koch died February 19, 1891, and his widow passed away June 16, 1917. He died in Mendon Township. They came to the United States on sailing vessels, being seven weeks on the voyage, and were married after they reached Adams County. They spent many years as farmers iu the county and were distinguished as hard working people, devout members of the Lutheran Church, and kindly neighbors. After the death of the husband his widow spent her last years with her daughter Mrs. Elizabeth Kessell at Beatrice, Nebraska. There were four children in the family, including Edward I\L and 'Sirs. Kessell. Another daiighter is i\Iary, wife of Ernst Lock, living at 629 South Seventeenth Street in Quincy. She has an adopted daughter. Another son, Adam Koch, is a farmer in Mendon Township and has a son, Karl.

Edward M. Koch grew up in Adams County, and received most of his education in the parochial schools of the Salem Lutheran Church at Quincy. He started in life as a tenant farmer in Mendon Township, and as his efforts brought increased results he finally purchased his homestead of eighty-five acres in that township and lived there until his death.

In the Lutheran Church of Gilmer Township Mr. Koch and Miss Louisa H. ileyer were ignited in marriage Febri:ary 5, 1890. She was born in Ellington Township June 8, 1867, and was reared and educated there. Mrs. Koch's parents were Gottlieb D. and Augusta H. (Haner) Meyer, both natives of Germany. Her father was born May 24, 1820, and her mother March 18, 1829. Her mother came to America in 1851, by way of New York City, and her father in 1852, through New Orleans. Her mother worked one year in St. Louis and then came to Quincy, and they were married soon afterward, and two years later bought a farm of 120 acres in Ellington Township. Mrs. Koch's parents lived out their lives in that locality. Her father died January 3, 1894. Her mother subsequently sold the farm and spent her last years on ^Madison Street in Quincy, where she died May 8, 1916. Both were active members of the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mrs. Koch was one of a family of two sons and six daughters. Her brother William is married and is a farmer in Hancock County and has a large family of nine daughters and one son. Her sister Emma is the wife of Ernest Dissenhaiif. of Adams County. Her sister Anna is unmarried and living at Quincy. The brother Gottlieb D., Jr., served in the Spanish-American war and is now in the "West. Mrs. Koch also has three deceased sisters. One of them was IMrs. Carolina W. Ruska, who was survived by eight children. Rica H. married Ernest Dissenhauf. Lj'dia was the wife of Henry Schipman.

Mrs. Koch remained on the home farm five years after the death of her husband and since February, 1913, has been a resident of QuincJ^ She owns her present home at 1431 Ohio Street. She and her children are members of the Evangelical Church. The children are three in number: Arthur K. E., Florenz E. and E. E. Esther. Arthur, born ^lay 21, 1895, was educated in the rural schools of ilendon Township and is now a successful farmer near Newton. Kansas. He married in Quincy Miss Carrie R. Barth. who was born in Lima Township of this county, a daughter of Ezra and Mollie W. (Braken- siek) Barth. Mr. and Mrs. Barth still live in Lima Township. Arthur Koch and wife have one son, Lester Barth Koch. Plorenz E. Koch was born August 10, 1S96, was educated in the public schools and is now an enlisted man in the government service, being a carpenter mechanic in the aviation department. The daughter Esther, born August 16, 1901, lives with her mother and is a member of the Quincy High School, class of 1919.

William Henry Perkins is one of the oldest living native sons of Adams County, has spent his years profitably as a farmer and horticulturist, has reared a capable family, and has many reasons to be well satisfied with the retrospect he can now contemplate while living at his beautiful rural home. Sunset View Farm, in the Township of Melrose. More than three quarters of a century separates his present days from the time of his birth, and in that period he has witnessed the wonderful development of this section of Illinois.

He comes of old New England ancestry, his people having been of stanch Massachusetts stock. Mr. Perkins was born in Adams County March 6, 1841, third in a family of four children and the only son of Jacob and ilarj' V. (Vinning) Perkins. He is now the only survivor of the family.

His father was bom at IMalden, Massachusetts, m 1800 and died in Adams County, Illinois, in 1875. He grew to manhood in his native state and in 1834 started west for St. Louis. That year was not a propitious one for making a comfortable and expeditious journey to the Middle West. There were no railroads over the Allegheny Mountains, and he followed perhaps the most popular route of the time. He came to the Great Lakes by the Erie Canal, had a lake voyage to Chicago, was in Chicago when that great city was only a village corporation, and thence traveled overland and by river to St. Louis, and from there the boat carried him up the Mississippi River to Quincy. Quincy was then but a river landing place. His first stop was made on what is now Front Street. He had had some business experience in Boston but was unfortunate and lost all his money and therefore when he came to Quincy it was to begin life practically at the bottom. He did work as a wage earner with the Pease pork house and later, as opportunity and his means made it possible, he took up fai-ming. For twenty-five years he occupied the farm now owned by Mr. Loring Wheeler in ^Melrose Township. Later he bought as a country home twenty acres and lived there in comfortable circumstances until his death. On that old homestead stands a giant tree more than 100 years old, and its sheltering branches at one time probably protected the wild Indians from the blasts of the storm and it stands in fact as a monument of the old days in Adams County. Jacob Perkins was one of the fine pioneer cla.ss of Adams County. He began voting as a whig, but at the birth of the republican party threw in his allegiance with that organization and both he and his son William H. were advocates of the policies of Lincoln. He was a Universalist in religion and his wife was a Methodist. Both are now at rest in the Woodland cemetery.

William Henry Perkins was reared and educated in Adams County. He attended one of the typical log cabin schools of Melrose Towniship. The teacher he best remembers was Edward Humphrey. Since he left school his life work has been that of horticulturist, and few men have had a more successful experience in the growing of fruit. Mr. Perkins has a farm of eighty acres where he resides, and for a number of years its most profitable crop was small fruits. Some seasons in the height of the berry picking he had from forty to sixty girls and women busy in gathering the fruits, and he frequently paid out as high as $1,400 for labor each season. Mr. Perkins also has sixty-five acres in Melrose Township, and that too has been largely developed as a fruit farm.

March 16, 1871, Mr. Perkins married Miss Mary L. Felt. Six children, three sons and three daughters, were born to their marriage and three are still living. The oldest is Cora L., who was well educated in the local schools and at Lombard College at Galesbiirg, and is now the wife of William B. Duncan, an agriculturist in Ursa Township of Adams County. ]\Ir. Duncan is a republican, and is the owner of 120 acres of land. They have two children, John W. and Richard P. Arthur L., the only living son of ilr. Perkins, was educated in the common schools and in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, and now has the active management of his father's farm in Melrose Township. He married Miss Laura Harve.y, and they have a daughter, Mary E., now in the sixth grade of the public schools. Arthur Perkins and wife are members of the Christian Science Church. Mary V., the third child, finished her education in Mrs. Deane"s private academy at Quincy and is now the wife of Frank B. Wheat. Mr. Wheat is a successful business man at Los Angeles, California, having built up a splendid b\isiness as a manufacturer of office, bank and store fixtures and furniture. He began with a capital of only $600. Mr. and Mrs. Wheat favor the Christian Science belief. They have one daughter, Mary E.

Mrs. Perkins was born in Adams County Jime 23, 1848, fourth in a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters. Her parents were Jeremiah and Adrianna (Leach) Felt. Six of their children are still living: William, a farmer at Mendon, Missouri, a republican, a Methodist, and has a family of wife and three children ; Mrs. Perkins ; George, a horticulturist and farmer at Scottsville, Michigan, a republican, his wife a member of the Christian Church, and of their five childern, three sons, Garrett, Stanley and George, are now soldiers of the American army; Ella, widow of Ira Coe, of the prominent Coe family of ^lelrose Township; Charles, a farmer and stock man at Mendon, Missouri, a republican in politics, his wife a Methodist, has two children ; Adrianna was liberally educated and is the wife of Weymouth Butcher, a retired resident of Long Beach, California, now deceased, where they were members of the Congregational Church.

Mrs. Perkins was well educated and comes of a prominent old family of Adams County. She attended Lombard College at Galesburg, and has given the best of her culture and her efforts to the rearing of her children and to the service of her community.

Jeremiah Felt, father of Mrs. Perkins, was born near New Ipswich, New Hampshire, May 2, 1817. He died in Adams Coiuity in March, 1906. He grew to manhood in his native state, was a pioneer of Adams County, and for some time also lived at Galesburg, Illinois. Among his early experiences in Illinois \va.s hauling hogs in a wagon to Chicago and selling them at the market price of 3 cents per pound. His first land in Adams County was eighty acres in Melrose Township, where his daughter, Mrs. Coe, and her son Wilbur now reside. Jeremiah Felt was descended from a family that furnished patriot soldiers to the Revolutionary war. He and his wife were active members of the Universalist Church and in politics he was successively a whig and republican. His wife was born in Boston, ^Massachusetts, December 12, 1820, and died in August, 1895. Both are now at rest in the Woodland cemetery.

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins have always shown themselves true friends of public schools and public education and of every good and humanitarian cause in their community. Mr. Perkins served for twenty-five years as a school director. He and his wife are members of the Unitarian Church at Quincy. They have sought not so much wealth but abundance of living, and from time to time have used their means for increased knowledge and culture gained through travel and a.ssociation with books and people of like ideals. They are well acquainted with their native land in the western and northern and southern states as well as the New England communities, where their ancestors lived. In 1881 they made a trip to the ]Mardi Gras at New Orleans, in 1888 went to Boston, and at other times have traveled through the states of Oregon, Washington, California, Utah and Colorado and the Yellowstone Park. One of the modern inventions that has added much to their pleasure and their ability to see the country and their friends is a modern touring ear. Their homestead lies only a mile and a half from the city limits of Qiiincy and the home aud surroundings indicate from afar the oare and thrift aud intelligent management that Mr. Perkins has so long bestowed upon his farm.

Daniel B. Herr. Following Broadway in Quiney two miles east brings one to the attractive farm home and estate of Dauiel B. Herr in Melrose Township. Mr. Herr has been a resident of Adams County half a centiiry. He is honored as a veteran of the Civil war, and also by reason of his steadfast citizenship during all the years of his residence in Adams County.

Mr. Herr was born in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1840. His ancestors came to America about 1700, and the family record shows that there are now between 30,000 and 40,000 of them. His father was a farmer and miller and Dauiel B. during his bojiiood when not in school worked in the mill. He had just about reached hLs majority when he enlisted in 1861 in the Seventh Pennsylvania Ca\'alry. From that time forward untU the close of the war there was no interruption to his service as a soldier. At the end of 2i4 years he veteranized and remained with the regiment until the war w-as over. During the last month he was in Alabama. The colonel of his regiment was made a brigade commander, and it chanced that Mr. Herr was among the troops who effected the capture of Jefferson Davis in Georgia. He was never wounded or captured. He held the rank of corporal.

On October 31, 1867, Mr. Herr married Miss Gertrude C. Hills, of Clinton County, Pennsylvania. In the meantime Mr. Hei-r had visited Adams County. His cousin was Mrs. John P. Cadogan, wife of the former proprietor of the Quiney Herald. While here Mr. Herr had arranged for the purchase of forty acres in Melrose Township. He and his wife arrived at Quiney September 15, 1868, direct from Clinton County, Pennsylvania. The land he bought was nearly all in timber, only a few acres w^ere cleared and the house was brand new. It cost him .$1.40 per acre and much remained to do before it could be utilized for production. Mr. Herr worked steadily to clear it up and eonvert it into a farm. He has since increased his holdings there to seventy acres, practically all of it in cultivation. He also owns another tract of forty-four acres a half mile away, and the two places constitute a well proportioned and productive farm. Owing to his convenient situation with respect to Quiney 'Sh: Herr made a profitable business of dairying many years. He milked as high as forty-three cows. At one time he distributed milk with two wagons. For years he supplied the Newcomb Hotel in Quiney. In later years he has separated the milk and converted the cream into butter. At one time he manufactured as high as 100 poimds a week, but now makes scarce more than a quarter that amount. Besides daiiying and milk production he carries on his fami as a general agricultural proposition and has a good deal of small fruit.

Mrs. Herr ha.s been active in the Eighth Street Methodist Episco]ial Church and is also a working member of the Red Cross. Mr. Herr is a republican, Init has never sought public position. A brief record of his children indicates justifiable gi-oiuid for pride on his part : George M., a merchant at Roundup, Montana; Harry P., a miner at the same place in Jlontana: Arthur B., connected with the Standard Oil Company's works at Wood River, Illinois; Walter S., a manufacturer of extracts at Wichita, Kansas; Eugene E., a carpenter in Chicago; Emma, wife of Walter Pfannschmidt. of Gilmer Township, and the mother of two children, Marian and Ruth; Pearl, wife of Harry Xesbitt and the mother of Emily. Ruth and Samuel ; Philip S., who is superintendent of the Knollenburg Milling Company at Quiney, married Florence Knollenburg aiul has two children, Robert and Jeanne; Charles, who in 1918 was in the army, stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia; Chester, who is a fanner on the home place; Herbert, a soldier at Camp Sheridan. Alabama. The sous Philip and Chester are both active members of Lambert Lodge of JIa.sons at Quiney. Mr. Herr for forty years has been affiliated with John Woods Post of the Grand Army of the JRepublic.

R, Fe.vnk Stowe, of Columbus Township, represents one of the pioneer families of Hancock County, but for tlie past fourteen years has been numbered among the most successful farmers of Adams County. Jlr. Stowe with the aid and co-operation of a loyal wife has accunudated much prosperity, owns a tine home and farm, has earned a commendable place in community esteem, and their only son and heir is now fighting to make the world safe for democracy.

Mr. Stowe 's farm comprises 320 acres in the east half of section 18 and within half a mile of the Village of Columbus. It is excellent land, rolling and with natural drainage, and under Mr. Stowe's direction it has been utilized on the strict rotation princii^le of cultivation and is the home of some high grade livestock. Mr. Stowe pastures about 100 head of sheep every year, about the same number of hogs, raises black cattle and from twenty to thirty head of mules and horses. His main barn is 40 by 50 feet, besides tool and wagon sheds and other equipment. The home is a nine room house.

Mr. Stowe bought this farm on coming to the county from Burnside in Hancock County, where he had previously been a successful farmer. He was born in Hancock County February 10, 1869, and attended school at Burnside. The Stowe family located in Hancock County, two miles west of Burnside, when that region was largely a wilderness, filled with wild game of all kinds. In fact in the early days his father and mother depended upon the game for most of the meat upon their table. There was only one house between the Stowe home and the Mormon settlement at Nauvoo. Mr. Stowe's parents were Solomon and Matilda (Jones) Stowe. Both were natives of Middle Tennessee of soutliern ancestry. Soon after their marriage they joined a party of several families from that part of Tennessee, and all of them journeyed overland with wagons and teams to Hancock County, Illinois. Mr. Stowe's maternal grandfather, Thomas Jones, was an old school Baptist minister and was the first preacher to this little colony of Tenncsseeans in Hancock Coynty, nearly all the members of which were of the same faith. Solomon Stowe secui-ed a tract of Government land and then made a good farm and home in that vicinity. He died there fifteen years ago, at the age of seventy-one, and his wife passed away some years pre%aously in her sixties. Both had lived retired for several years at the Village of Burnside. On their old farm they reared eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, seven of whom are still living and all married. The parents were strict members of the Primitive Baptist Church and Solomon served in various church oiSces. He was equallj' zealous in his support of the democratic party.

R. Frank Stowe married at Burnside in 1890 Miss Hannah ]\Iinerva Huff. She was born in McDonough County, Illinois, in a log cabin, July 16, 1868. She was a child when her parents, William M. and ]\Iary A. (Twaddle) Hutt', moved to Hancock County and located near Burnside. Her father was a native of Illinois, bom near Rushville, and her mother was born in Ohio. They were married in JIcDonough Coiuity, and they spent most of their active careers in Hancock County. Her father is still living there at the Village of Burnside, and celebrates his eightieth birthday February 4, 1819. ]Mrs. Stowe's mother died in 1892, when about fifty yeare of age. Both were membei-s of the Christian Church and her father was a democrat until past .thirty years of age, when he became one of the pioneer advocates of prohibition principles and party affiliation. In all ways he has been an excellent citizen and is widely known over Hancock County. Mrs. Stowe was one of five children, all daughters, three of whom are living, are married and have children of their own.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Stowe is Robert Harlan Stowe, born May 8, 189S. He grew up on the home farm, was well educated, and graduated with honors from the ^laplewood High School at Camp Point in 1914. He received his early militaiw training in a local home guard company, and on July 6, 1918, entered the Great Lakes Training Station at Chicago. Mr. Stowe and family are members of the Christain Church and in politics he is a stanch democrat.

Benton Shupe. There have been members of the Shupe family in Adams County for fully three quarters of a century. For the most part they have been industrious and capable farmers, have cleared many acres of wild land, have cropped the soil here for several generations, and all of them have performed a worthy part in local citizenship.

Mr. Benton Shupe, whose home is in Honey Creek Township, li/o miles north of Paloma, is a son of Christopher Shupe, who was bom in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1818, and came to Adams County in 1841. In 1840 he married Mary Shultz, who was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1818. Christopher Shupe on coming to Adams County bought land at .$1.25 per acre in Mendon Township, and the old homestead which he developed there is now occupied by his son Charles. He acquired 320 acres in one body and erected the old home in 1857. His last years he lived retired and died February 16, 1892, at the age of seventy-six. His wife passed away January 1, 1903. Their family consisted of the following children : Catherine, who married Andy Remp and both are now deceased, Catherine dying at the age of sixty-three; David William, who served as a soldier in the Civil war, afterward went to Mendon, Missouri, and died there soon afterward at the age of forty ; Edward Michael, who died at Mendon, Missouri, at the age of sixtysix ; John, who lived a bachelor at the old home and died at fifty-nine; Louis, whose home is in California ; Mary, who died in infancy ; George W., who went out to Kansas as a young man and is now living at San Antonio, Texas ; Benton ; and Charles, who was born January 10, 1860, and has spent all his life on the old homestead and has had active charge of it since reaching the age of twentythree. Charles Shupe married in 1892 Anna Isabel Pauls, of St. Louis County, Missouri. They have two children : George P. and Frederick Dewey.

Benton Shupe was born on the old homestead February' 20, 1858. He grew up there and received his education in the local schools. When he was quite young his father gave him an ad,ioining farm, but he soon sold that and came to his present place in Honey Creek To\vnship. Here he bought eighty acres, at $50 an acre, going in debt for a portion of the purchase price, but has paid it out, has made a good living from the land, and is now owner of 200 acres in a body and has it thoroughly well improved. He is a general farmer and stock man, and feeds and markets about fifty hogs a year. His land has cost him all the way from $50 to $75 an acre. Portions of it were originally covered with heavy timber, and some of this timber has been worked up since he became owner. For some years Mr. Shupe served as school director and was also road commissioner two years. He is a democrat, as was his father before him, and the only member of the family to break away from that party allegiance is his brother George. Mr. Shupe is a stockholder in the Paloma Elevator Company.

At the age of twenty-seven he married Miss Anna Beachy. She died leaving four children, and two of them are still living, Lester C. and Chester. Lester is now operating the home farm for his father, and by his marriage to Eva Moi-ton has two children, Bernice and Fannie. The son Chester, who is overseer of a large ranch in North Dakota, married Sadie Johns, of Adams County, and they have a daughter, Wilma. For his second wife "Sir. Shupe married Miss Susie Jeffry. They have one child, Oleen, who is attending school.

Walter Philip Beilstein enjoys an enviable place among the farmers of Melrose Township, having a fine farm in one of the best agricultural sections of the county, ten miles southeast of Quincy. He is opei'ating the fields and managing a property that has been in the ownership of the Beilstein family for three generations.

On the farm where he now resides he was born February 6, 1879. His /grandfather, George T. Beilstein, was born in Germany August 15, 1805, and in early life was a great traveler, seeing much of Europe, Palestine and the Holy

Land. At the age of twenty-one he entered the German army and served six years and seven months. In 1831 he came to America, settling at Carlisle in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. There in the same year he married Miss Elizabeth Klingland, also a native of Germany. They lived in Pennsylvania twelve years and in 1843 came to Adams County and settled on land in section 21 of Melrose Township. He became one of the prosperous farmei*s and land owners of the county and lived there until his death, when past eight}' years of age. He was a democrat, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and deserves to be remembered among the early settlers of the county. His wife died in Augiist, 1867.

The parents of Walter Philip Beilstein were George and Louise (Dickman) Beilstein. His father was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvaiiia, Februarj- 24, 1834, and was about eight' or nine years of age when his parents came to Adams Coimty. He remained in the old homestead until his marriage, at the age of twenty-eight. He rented the old farm and secured the place now owned by his son Walter about 1868. This land he improved with good buildings, including house and bam, and kept it until about 1912, when he sold it to his son. He also owned 200 acres in Freeport, Kansas, property that has since been sold, and also business property in Quincy. George Beilstein died January 19, 1918, while living with his daughter at Payson. His wife had passed away November 2, 1907. He was a democrat and a member of the Congregational Church. In his family were eight children : Charles, who died in childhood; Lizzie, who married Henry Peter and died in 1900; Pauline, unmarried and living at Payson; Anna, Mrs, Fred Gilhoase, of Payson Township; George, who died in December, 1901, at the age of thirty; John, who died August 28, 1901, at the age of twenty-eight; William, of Frankfort, Missoviri; and Walter Philip.

Walter Philip Beilstein has spent all his life on the old farm, and completed his education in the Payson High School. He has continued the improvements where his father left off and has kept the land in a maximum degree of productive usefulness. He has not found time to seek public honors or office, is a democrat and a member of the Congregational Church of Payson.

February 25, 1908, he married Miss Susie Lundberg, who was bom at Monroe City, Missouri, in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Beilstein have seven children, named Russell Walter, Louise, Helen, George A., Charles W., Dorothy and Marion.

John Jacob Schnellbecher is a member of that very enterprising family to whom other references are made in these pages. He is a practical farmer, a thorough mechanic, and has long been identified with the Schnellbecher brothers, threshermen, whose operations have taken them over practically all of Adams County. Mr. Schnellbecher owns a good farm adjoining that of his brothers George and Fred ten miles southeast of Quincy in Melrose Township, Payson being his postoffice.

Mr. Schnellbecher was born February 12, 1859, near Bluff Hall in Fall iCreek Township. The historical facts concerning his parents are published on other pages. He was reared a farmer and a number of years ago began threshing with his brother William, continued with his brother Henry for some years, and at one time four of the Schnellbecher brothers were engaged in this industry.

March 11, 1903, Mr. Schnellbecher married Miss Marj' Keil, a sister of George Keil, and member of a family whose part in Adams County histoi-y is described elsewhere. Mrs. Schnellbecher was eighteen years of age at the time of her marriage. Her children are Margaret, Elizabeth, and Harvey, all at home.

Mr. Schnellbecher has continued farming for many years on a part of the old Schnellbecher homestead tract. He has built barns and given much of the equipment to the fann. He is active in community matters, especially in keeping up the local schools. He was a director of his school district for four years. Mr. Sehuellbecher is a democrat aud a member of Cougregational Church at Payson.

Steven G. Lawless. It is an opinion based not on assertion but on substantial evidence that Steven G. Lawless has done more than any other local citizen to rejuvenate the Village of Liberty aud put it on the map as one of the progi-essive smaller towns of Adams County. ]Mr. Lawless has a spirit of co-ordinated policy which is typical of so many young American business men, and with broad plans and ideals as to what his community needs he has proceeded steadily and undeterred by criticism toward securing their fulfillment. The people of the county in general know him for his effective work and unselfish labors during the war as secretary of the County Exemption Board.

Mr. Lawless, who is cashier of the Farmers Bank of Liberty, was born in Gilmer Township October 14, 18S5. His father is James S. Lawless, concerning whom more is written on other pages of this publication. Steven remained at home to the age of twenty-one, in the meantime attending the disti'ict schools ajid completing his education at Quincy in the Gem City Business College. He went to St. Louis to get a metropolitan experience in business, acting as salesman in the sporting goods department of the Simmons Hardware Company. He remained there until he was unexpectedly called to take his present position as cashier of the Farmers Bank of Liberty.

This bank was started in 1903. Its organizers were George R. Stewart, of Qnincy; Hez G. Henry, of Quincy; and George D. Mercer, of Liberty. 3Ir. Mercer was the original cashier. It was organized under a state charter, but in the following year was made a private bank. The stockholders were all local men. It has a capital of $18,000, surplus of $2,000, and its deposits in 1918 avei'age $350,000. The bank building, erected in 1914, is a credit to the town, and on the second floor is the fine opera house, about 36 by 76 feet, with seating capacity for 400 and with modern stage. M. W. Callahan is president, ilr. Callahan lived in Columbus, Kansas. Alvin Hartshorn and George C. Dean are the vice presidents. Mr. Lawless became cashier October 4, 1907, succeeding Mr. Mercer. In 1916 they organized a branch bank at Beverly, known as the Beverly Bank. This bank is now being organized as a state bank.

Soon after locating in Liberty Mr. Lawless with another associate put an addition to Liberty on the market, giving about as much more ground for the development of the town, and he individually built several residences there. For six years he has been a member of the school board, and is an active republican in polities. The governor selected him as clerk of the County Exemption Board, the other two members being J. A. Osmus, of Loraine, and Dr. A. B. Bates, of Camp Point. During the first year of the war the chief office of the exemption board was in the bank at Liberty, and the first 100 men to leave the county were inducted into service in that building.

Mr. Lawless promoted the electric light plant, organizing the stock company for that purpose. This plant now supplies the town, having about 120 customers. He is manager of the plant. Mr. Lawless is affiliated with the ilasonic Lodge at Liberty and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has taken much interest in these fraternities. He is a member of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church. October 14, 1909, he married ^liss Anna Schmiedeskamp, of Camp Point. They have one child, James S., born in 1915.

Frederick Frank Gilhouse is not only a mau of importance in the fanning and civic affairs of Payson Township, but also represents a family long notable in the industrial affairs of that locality. The Gilhouse home is sixteen miles southeast of Quincy and three miles south of the Village of Payson.

The family was established in this county by Ernest Gilhouse, who is still living at the old home in Payson Township and is a man of advanced years and long and successful experience. He was born in Lippe Detmold, Germany.

In 1851 he came to the United States and located in Adams County, accompanied by his brother August and also his mother. Ernest was then twentyone years of age. In Germany he had worked in a brick yard but on coming to Adams County he found employment as a farm hand. He had only $65 on reaching Quincy. In Burton Township his emplo.yer was Mr. Bliven. Though paid very small wages, corresponding to the standard of wages of that time, Ernest Gilhouse managed to save enough and by strict economy purchased the tract of timber land on Liberty Koad two miles from Burton Village. He and his brother August were together in this purchase, and they continued partners in working it for eight or nine years. On dividing their interests Ernest Gilhouse took eighty acres of wild laud on the south line of Payson Towaiship, four miles south of Paj'son Village. He cleared it up, and it is in that localit.y and amid the scene of his earlj- endeavoi-s that he is still living. His mother died in the county at the advanced age of ninety-two. His brother August spent his life on the Burton Township farm and died when about seventy. Charles, a son of August, is still living in Payson Township.

Ernest Gilhouse has been greatly prospered in his business affairs. He invested steadily his extra profits and savings in more laud, and now has 622 acres in one body, though divided into four farms. The home farm comprises 185 acres. In his land buying he has paid as high as .$125 an acre for improved farms. For several years the task of running these fanns and cultivating the fields has been left almost entirely to his sons.

Ernest Gilhouse married in xVdams County ilinnie Kampmeier, also a native of Germany. Their family of six children is briefly 'referred to as follows : Mary, Mrs. Geisel, of Burton Township ; William, at home ; Lizzie, wife of Edward Orr, of Pike County, Illinois; Frederick Frank, mentioned below; Edward P., of whom more is said on other pages; and Amanda, still a member of the home circle.