1902 Biographies
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ABY, JAMES O. Farmer born in Stark County,
Illinois, November 5, 1854. He is the son of Elder Aby born in Pennsylvania in
1828 and Mary Ann (Murphy) Aby born in Ohio in 1828 died December 25, 1896. She
was the daughter of James and Mary Ann (Trickle) Murphy natives of Ohio.
Benjamin Aby the grandfather of James O. moved from Ohio with is family to Stark
County in 1841 and purchased land in Jersey Township near Toulon. This farm he
sold to his son Elder Aby and moved to Millbrook Township Peoria County where he
invested in another farm and passed the remainder of his life his death
occurring in 1868. After selling his place in Stark County Elder Aby bought a
farm in Millbrook Township where he is still living. James O. Aby started out as
a farmer on coming of age in 1876 and rented for two years. Subsequently he
bought a farm in Millbrook Township which he sold and bought another of two
hundred acres in Radnor Township where he now resides. He has good land, good
buildings and is a prosperous stock raiser. Mr. Aby is a Republican. He was Road
Commissioner for three years and has also been School Director. He was married
to Alice Duggins in Elmwood September 19, 1877. They have three children:
Bernice M., born October 3, 1884; Alice Fern, born May 10, 1889; and Howard S.,
born May 27, 1893. Mrs. Aby was born at Easton, Ohio, November 10, 1851 the
daughter of Henry Duggins a native of Virginia; they came to Illinois in 1858
and settled in Elmwood where they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. Aby are members of
the Methodist Church. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, page 797, submitted by Diane Minor)
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ADAMS, GEORGE F. Engineer; Averyville; born at
Berea, near Cleveland, Ohio July 9, 1838; son of David and Beulah (Prince)
Adams. The principal Adams family of New England was found by Henry Adams
probably a native of Devonshire, England who with eight sons landed in
Massachusetts in 1646. From him are descended the presidential family and
numerous other branches. Elisha Adams, the grandfather of George F., was born
May 4, 1753 and lived at Dedham, Massachusetts. He joined the Revolutionary Army
April 17, 1777 serving as a private for three years. David Adams, a brick mason
by trade was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, March 28, 1794 and died September
1, 1858. He settled at Berea, Ohio in 1829. In 1851 he removed to Racine,
Wisconsin and later toe Leon, Decatur County, Iowa where he died. He was twice
married. His first wife Beulah (Prince) Adams was born at Burlington, Vermont,
March 28, 1803 and died in 1838. By this marriage there were four children:
Irene, Eliza F., Helen and George F. His second marriage was with Mary Palmer
who died in 1880. Three children were born to them: Mary, Ella and Elmore.
George F. Adams came to Peoria in 1858. In 1864 he became a fireman on the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Later he went to Bushnell, where he ran
an engine in a saw-mill one year. Returning to Peoria he worked for D.P. Grier &
Company and has been with them steadily for twenty-five years. He moved to
Averyville in 1891 where he soon became an influential citizen. In 1893 he was
elected Trustee of the Village which office he held five years and for three
years he was President of the Board. In 1899 he was elected Clerk of the School
Board. Mr. Adams is a Republican. He has been a member of the Masonic Fraternity
since 1877. He is a member of the Congregational Church. A cosy cottage which he
built in 1893 at 2905 North Adams Street is his home. He also built the
residences at 2909 and 2913 the former of which he still owns. December 5, 1872
Mr. Adams married Tillie Westwood in Peoria. They have two children: George E.
and Walter W. Mrs. Adams was born in London, England, January 23, 1847. Her
parents were John C. and Susannah Westwood, the father a native of London. They
came to America in a sailing vessel in 1849 landing in New York. Mr. Westwood
was a boiler maker and bridge builder by trade but was employed most of his time
as superintendent of Gas Works: at Cincinnati fifteen years; Indianapolis, one
year: Springfield, Illinois, eight years; at Peoria and at Bucyrus, Ohio where
he died in 1875. Mrs. Westwood died in 1874. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, page 567, submitted by Diane Minor)
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MARTHA J. ADAMS Mrs. Adams is related
through the families of her husband and mother to former President of the United
States. Her father David C. Little was a native of West Virginia and married Ann
Harrison who was born in England and died July 25, 1888. Mrs. Little was the
mother of five children: John W., Benjamin F., Martha J., James H., and Henry N.
(deceased). David C. Little was a mechanic by occupations. He died October 1,
1856. Mrs. Adams’ brother, Henry N., is entitled to more than passing notice and
is enrolled among the brave who uncomplainingly sacrificed their lives while
fighting for the emancipation of the Southern slaves during the Civil War. With
the declaration of the war he was one of the first in his locality to tender is
services to the Union cause and the very confidence which he inspired to his
superior officers resulted in irreparable loss to his family and friends.
Entrusted with dispatches to be delivered at the headquarters of General
Hastings at Goldsboro, North Carolina, he was shot in the discharge of his duty,
the ball passing through his watch and entering his right side from the effects
of which would he soon after expired.
The marriage of Martha J. Little and Ezra Adams occurred in Princeville,
Illinois, October 23, 1856. Mr. Adams was a native of Pennsylvania and was born
January 11, 1828. He was educated in the public schools and under his father’s
able instruction learned to be a practical farmer to which occupation he devoted
his active life. He represented a family which furnished brave soldiers for the
War of 1812 and who ever maintained their reputation for industry, integrity,
and all-around good citizenship. His death in Princeville, May 21, 1890,
signalized the passing of a man of sterling worth, whose place in the old
familiar haunts would not be readily filled. He was a strict advocate of
Prohibition principles and adopted this as his national platform. In religion he
was a Methodist and contributed to the extent of his ability towards the
charities and support of his church. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams were born six
children: F. Marion, a farmer in Princeville Township who married Leoria M.
Kackley of Stark county and has two children Leota E. and P. Gilbert; Jane O.,
who became the wife of John Hoag of Akron Township and who died January 25, 1896
leaving two daughters, Beulah M. and Elva L; Newton E., a business man at
Princeville and who through his marriage with Annie French is the father of four
children: Florence E., Lois F., Blanche Marie and Ralph E.: Augustus H., a music
sales man of Buffalo, New York and whose wife formerly Hattie Colgrove of
Painesville, Ohio, died May 8, 1899; her one child Robert Lingard died March 7,
1899; Rowena A., who is the wife of Augustus H. Sloan of Akron Township and has
four children, Lowell J., Leland E., Jennie (deceased), Hobart D., and Eldridge
who was born March 14, 1891; and Della E., who became the wife of Willis M. Hoag
of Princeville March 5, 1901, and has one child, Eugene Ezra, born January 28,
1902. The Adams and Harrison families are of German and English descent. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, pages 778-779, submitted by Diane Minor)
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ADAMS WILLIAM H. Farmer; was born in Holmes
County, Ohio, August 30, 1835. His great-grandfather Thomas Adams a native of
County Armagh, Ireland married --------------- a native of the north of Ireland.
His grandfather, Henry Adams, a schoolmaster, was born in Armagh and came in
1795 to Cumberland County Pennsylvania where he married Mary McKeehan born there
and where their son John Adams, father of William H., was born also. The latter
married Sarah D. Funk a native of Adams County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Moses
and Rachel (Deardorff) Funks natives of the same county. The first Funks in
America were Mennonites who in 1683 came from Switzerland to London and in 1717
from London to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. William H. Adams was educated in
the common schools of Ohio and Illinois came to Peoria County in 1861, studied
law and was admitted to the bar but has never practiced his profession. As an
expert geologist he has made valuable discoveries of fossils notably in West
Jersey Township, Stark County. Certain fossil fruits have been named in his
honor and the list of his correspondents embraces many names well known in
America and Europe. A Democrat he is not active in political w1ork but has been
Supervisor, School Director, Commissioner of Highways, Justice of the Peace and
Notary Public. He married Sarah J. Anthony of West Jersey, Start County,
February 25, 1858 and they have had four children: Sarah E. who married Jacob
Jennings of Dallas Center, Iowa: Ida R.: John F., a farmer near Hanna City who
married Minnie Aiken: and Fred W., who graduated from the Medical Department of
Iowa University and took a post-graduate course at Bellevue Medical College, New
York and is practicing medicine and surgery in Iowa. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, page 764, submitted by Diane Minor)
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ADKINSON, JOHN D. Farmer was born in Radnor
Township October 30, 1843. He is the grandson of William Adkinson. His father
was Joseph Adkinson, born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1813,
died in February 1896; Susan Dickerson wife of Joseph Adkinson was a daughter of
John and Mary (White) Dickerson. Mr. Dickerson was born in February, 1893. His
wife died February 16, 1888. Joseph Adkinson came west in 1837 by way of the
Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and settled on the site of Mossville and
there raised his first crop. Afterward he bought eighty acres on Kickapoo Creek
which he sold and then bought a farm a mile north of the Kickapoo Creek where he
passed his days his days as a farmer. He served as Justice of the Peace, Road
Commissioner and School Director for years. John D. Adkinson lived with his
parents till he was twenty-two years old. He bought and lived on a farm in
Marshall County for a while then returned to Radnor Township and bought a farm
of eight acres on Section 16 a mile and a half northwest of Dunlap. During the
War of the Rebellion Mr. Adkinson served in the Sixty-sixth Illinois Infantry in
which he enlisted June 1, 1862. January 1, 1866 he was married to Marie J.
Strain in Radnor Township. They have three children. Minnie A., born December
11, 1869 married George M. Brassfield; Luella M., born October 5, 1871 married
William A. Hervey; and Joseph Wesley born February 4, 1878 married Cora May
Radley. Mrs. Adkinson was born in Park County, Indiana, December 6, 1840. Her
father Wesley Strain was born in Bedford County Pennsylvania December 3, 1817.
He came to Indiana where he married Sara A. Reeder who was born in Montgomery
County, Ohio, February 19, 1820. They came to Radnor Township in 1863 where Mr.
Strain purchases a farm which he carried on for some years. He then went into
the lumber business in Brimfield and later engaged in the grocery business and
while on a visit in Radnor died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Adkinson. Mrs.
Adkinson is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Adkinson is a Republican and a
progressive farmer. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, pages 797-798, submitted by Diane Minor)
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HORACE G. ANDERSON It is a pleasure to review the acts and some of the incidents in the lives of
the older citizens of Peoria, who have in the past contributed to its prosperity
and development, and have set an example worthy of imitation. Among these is Mr.
Horace G. Anderson, the subject of this brief sketch. He was born in the town of
Portland, Chautauqua County, New York, on September 13, 1822. He came to
Illinois with his parents, in March, 1833, and settled upon a farm in Will
County, near Lockport, where the family remained for seven years, and then
removed to a farm near Naperville. Mr. Anderson remained with his father upon
the farm, until he was twenty-one years old, attending the country district
school, for a part of the year, until he was nineteen years old. He then went to
the Rock River Seminary, at Mt. Morris, in Ogle County, where he remained for
two years. After leaving school he was engaged as a clerk in various places, for
three years, until June, 1848, when he came to Peoria and established himself in
the lumber business, which he followed for eleven years. Subsequently, he
operated the Peoria Pottery for two years, with more of loss than profit. After
quitting the management of the Pottery, he engaged in the foundry business in
connection with the old Peoria City Foundry, which he conducted for six years
with success, but finally closed it out, near the end of the Civil War, because
of a general collapse all over the country in this branch of manufacture. Soon
after the great fire in Chicago, he established himself in the wholesale hat,
cap and fur business, in the city of Peoria, but learning that it could not be
profitably conducted here, finally abandoned it.
Mr. Anderson’s active business career was continued for many years; he was a
well-known citizen and one who was interested at all times in whatever pertained
to the welfare and growth of the city. He always had confidence in the location
and future of Peoria and encouraged at all times the bringing in of new brains
and money. He was never an office-seeker but always ready to do his part,
officially or otherwise for the development of Peoria. He served as School
Inspector for a number of years, was a member of the City Council, held an
appointment as Canal Commissioner for four years, and Gauger in the United
States Revenue Service for seven years. He was also a member of the Board of
Supervisors that Planned and constructed the present Court House which was quite
and evidence of enterprise for the conservative county of Peoria as many of the
people of that time believed that the old structure was sufficient for all
needs.
Mr. Anderson married Miss Melinda Arnold, of Collins Center, Erie County, New
York in 1850. Several children have been born to them, some of whom are still at
the parental home, while the others reside in the immediate vicinity.
The latter years of Mr. Anderson’s life were spent in the society of his wife
in the peace and quiet of their beautiful home upon the bluff, overlooking the
business portion of the city. Here he died on the 16th day of
February, 1902, his wife surviving him. Their life was a serene and happy one in
which they set an example that may be followed with profit by others. Always
devoted to each other to their family and their home they grew old gracefully
without any of that hardness and bitterness that sometimes seems to develop with
increasing years. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, page 474, picture is on page 4, submitted by Diane Minor)
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JOSHUA AIKEN
Among the early settlers in Peoria stands prominent the name of Joshua Aiken.
He was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire where his father Captain James Aiken a
native of Paisley, Scotland, settled in 1719; he and his three brothers taking
up the tract of country known as “Aikens’ Range.” Joshua Aiken was a pushing
business man.
(Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, page 442, submitted by Diane Minor)
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ROBERT H. AVERY. Probably no city in the United States
owes more of its development in wealth and population to the manufacturing
enterprises with which its history has been identified, than does the city of
Peoria. This is especially true of its manufactures of agricultural implements
which, in extent and variety, equal, if they do not surpass, those of any other
city of its size in the country. For a generation Peoria has been recognized as
the center of this great industry so intimately connected with the growth and
development of one of the richest and most prosperous agricultural regions of
the American continent; and the demand and source of supply have kept pace with
each other, until now the products of Peoria manufacturing establishments are
found in almost all the markets of the world. This has been due not alone to the
advance made in the methods of cultivation and harvesting the products of the
soil within the last two or three generations, but to the skill and enterprise
of individual inventors and manufacturers in meeting the wants of the
agriculturist and in pointing the way to new and profitable lines of production.
To the above Robert H. Avery contributed his full portion. He was the founder of
what is now known as the Avery Manufacturing Company. Born in Galesburg, Knox
County, Illinois, January 21, 1840, he grew up as a farmer's boy, receiving a
common school and academic education in his home town. Like thousands of the
patriotic young men of his time he had barely reached his majority, when the war
for the preservation of the Union having come on, he entered the army as a
volunteer, serving for three years, about eight months of this time being spent
in rebel prison pens. It was while confined as a prisoner at Andersonville
awaiting the time of release, that he devised his first farm-tool – a cultivator
– and, while he was deprived of the means of perfecting his invention there, at
least in the construction of a practical machine, he did afterwards complete it
from the plans which he had there designed, and thus began an industry which has
grown to such large proportions in connection with the Manufacturing Company of
which he afterwards became the head.
The Civil War over, the youthful soldier and inventor returned to the farm, but
not to remain. In 1869, taking his brother, Cyrus M. Avery, as a partner, he
built from the plans devised in the Andersonville prison, his first cultivator,
known as the "Avery Cultivator." Then followed the Avery Stalk-Cutter and the
Avery Planter, both of which have come into extensive use and received the
approval of the most progressive and enterprising agriculturists, as shown by
their wide sale at the present time. In 1882 the Avery brothers removed their
establishment from Galesburg to Peoria, and during the following year the
partnership of R. H. & C. M. Avery was organized into a stock company and
chartered under the name of the Avery Planter Company, of which Robert H. Avery
continued to be the President during the remainder of his life. Around this
establishment in the next few years, grew up the flourishing village of
Averyville, now a suburb of the city of Peoria near its northern border. The
products of the concern embrace many devices required in the cultivation of the
soil and the harvesting of its crops by machinery – including corn-planters,
check-rowers, stalk-cutters, cultivators, stackers, threshing machines, etc. Its
output, amounting in 1883 to $200,000 and employing 150 men, has increased in
less than twenty years to one and a quarter millions annually, furnishing
employment to over 750 men, and finding a market in both hemispheres.
The first ten years after the removal of the Avery Manufacturing plant from
Galesburg to Peoria not only saw its success assured, but its business vastly
increased. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Avery was not destined to witness the
still greater development of an enterprise to which he had devoted so many years
of persevering and assiduous labor, backed by the intelligence and mechanical
genius of the inventor. His death occurred in the very zenith of his successful
business career while on a trip to California, September 13, 1892, at the age of
a little more than fifty-two years. Mr. Avery was a man of rare integrity, in
his every act considerate of the interests of others – an inventor of absolute
originality, he was never accused of appropriating the ideas or labors of
others. His intimate friends were few but well-chosen, and those who knew him
most intimately valued his friendship most highly. Surely, if "He is a public
benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before,"
Robert H. Avery proved himself by the results of his life-work a benefactor of
his race. (Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria
County, 1902, pages 476-477, submitted by Sam Moore)
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ROBERT H. AVERY. Probably no city in the United States
owes more of its development in wealth and population to the manufacturing
enterprises with which its history has been identified, than does the city of
Peoria. This is especially true of its manufactures of agricultural implements
which, in extent and variety, equal, if they do not surpass, those of any other
city of its size in the country. For a generation Peoria has been recognized as
the center of this great industry so intimately connected with the growth and
development of one of the richest and most prosperous agricultural regions of
the American continent; and the demand and source of supply have kept pace with
each other, until now the products of Peoria manufacturing establishments are
found in almost all the markets of the world. This has been due not alone to the
advance made in the methods of cultivation and harvesting the products of the
soil within the last two or three generations, but to the skill and enterprise
of individual inventors and manufacturers in meeting the wants of the
agriculturist and in pointing the way to new and profitable lines of production.