Champaign Illinois

Biography of Joseph E. McGurty

Joseph E. McGurty is one of the successful business men of Champaign, where in the past seventeen years he has built up a large livery enterprise and also a well conducted automobile business. He comes from the country district and was a farmer prior to his business career. Mr. McGurty was born at Colfax, Illinois, December 11, 1869, a son of Hugh and Sarah (Reagan) McGurty. Both parents were natives of Ireland. His father when six years of age went with his parents to Canada, locating near Montreal, where he grew up, and about 1859 he came to Illinois and … Read more

Biography of Otto Huber

Among the younger generation of Rock Island’s prominent business men whose names are deserving of special mention for what they have achieved in their chosen vocations in life, stands that of Otto Huber, who is the present secretary and treasurer of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a Rock Island industry whose formation, growth and present scope, has been related elsewhere in this book. Mr. Huber was born in Rock Island January 19, 1866, and attended schools in that city until he was ready to enter the Illinois State University at Champaign, where he spent three years. Afterward he studied two … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Paul J. Strahle

Paul J. Strahle is one of the younger business men of Champaign, is active and aggressive, and has already acquired a secure position as a unit in the commercial community. A native of Champaign, he was born February 20, 1892, the only son and child of John G. and Catherine (Dawson) Strahle. His mother was born in England and died at Champaign, March 1, 1912. John G. Strahle is also a native of Champaign County, was for a number of years a tailor by trade, but is now associated with his son in business. Educated in the public schools of … Read more

Biography of William E. Schowengerdt, M. D.

William E. Schowengerdt, M. D. As even the layman finds wonder and interest in scanning the progress made by medical science from time to time, it is not remarkable that trained medical men should continue enthusiastic students and thereby still further deserve the faith and confidence of those who seek their healing ministrations. No men of any profession are so continuously students as are physicians, and the more competent and skillful they are the more closely do they devote attention to investigating the cause, prevention and cure of disease. They usually are real founts of wisdom; in fact, they must … Read more

Biography of Capt. Thomas Jefferson Smith

Capt. Thomas Jefferson Smith, of Champaign, is one of the few men still living in Illinois who made their first briefs and arguments in a court room prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In many ways his has been a remarkable life. He began practice before the war, enlisted soon afterward and gave the best in him to the perpetuation of the Union, came out of the war with the rank of captain, and at once began practice at Champaign, where he has now lived for over half a century. Captain and Mrs. Smith never had any children. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. Forney Wingard

L. Forney Wingard is a successful lawyer at Champaign, has been in active practice over fifteen years, and besides his accumulation of professional interests he has identified himself in a public spirited way with the work of the community. His family has lived in Champaign County for a great many years. Mr. Wingard was born at Champaign June 3, 1875, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary C. (Forney) Wingard. His father was born in Indiana, son of David Wingard, who came to Champaign County in 1859. Both the father and grandfather were in the jewelry business at Champaign. Mr. … Read more

Biography of Edwin P. Babb

Edwin P. Babb. The Babb family came to Champaign County in 1853. Five years later, at the home of his parents on a farm in North Ogden Township, Edwin P. Babb was born November 9, 1858. His life career has been one of commendable industry and accomplishment, has been liberally rewarded, and for a number of years he has lived retired in one of the comfortable city homes of Champaign. His parents were Milton and Elizabeth (Littler) Babb. Milton Babb was born in Grant County in what is now the state of West Virginia, grew up there, took up the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Leo H. Bireline

Leo H. Bireline, one of the youngest business men of Champaign, is successfully engaged in the metal roofing business, an industry which he learned during his youth, his father being also connected with the same line of business. Mr. Bireline was born in Danville, Illinois, June 19, 1894, a son of Henry and Emma (Diehl) Bireline, both of whom were also natives of Danville. His parents are still living at Danville and his father conducts a roofing and sheet metal works in that city. There were five children in the family: Catherine Ellen, wife of W. A. Meek of Danville; … Read more

Biography of Frank Kern Robeson

Frank Kern Robeson. Of the many business establishments in Champaign County perhaps none has a wider connection with the families of this section of Illinois and a better reputation due to many years of successful business relations than the Robeson Department Store, founded and built up by the veteran merchant Frank Kern Robeson, who has the distinction of having developed the first real department store in the city of Champaign. While his success and position in the community are now so well established, it is noteworthy that Mr. Robeson did not always have an easy course and one free from … Read more

Biography of John I. Groves, M. D.

John I. Groves, M. D., was born in Cass County, Illinois, May 2, 1854, a son of Isaac and Mary E. (Coal) Groves. His father was born in England and his mother in the State of Maryland. Isaac Groves was for many years an active minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1878 he removed to Champaign, and died there December 12, 1906. By his first marriage he had two children, Elizabeth J., wife of Hugh Mitchell, of Fisher, Illinois; and Harriet A., wife of Thomas M. Foster, of Dickens, Iowa. Rev. Mr. Groves’ second wife died March 22, 1905. … Read more

Biography of Archie Ernest Strode

Archie Ernest Strode. One of the important industries of Champaign is the tent and awning business which for a number of years has been carried on by the Strode family. The owner and proprietor of the business at present is Archie Ernest Strode, who gave up his active trade as a boiler maker to take charge of this business at the time of his fathers death. Mr. Strode was born in Bristol, England, May 11, 1879, but was brought to this country when a child of about four years. His parents, George and Elizabeth (Frank) Strode, were both natives of … Read more

Biography of F. C. Amsbary

F. C. Amsbary, superintendent and manager of the Champaign Waterworks, has been superintending waterworks plants in different parts of the country for upwards of thirty years. It has in fact been his regular profession, though some of his younger years were devoted to railroading. Mr. Amsbary has numerous connections that identify him with the substantial interests of his home city. A native of Illinois, he was born at Pekin, January 24, 1863, a son of William Wallace and Harriet E. (Harlow) Amsbary, both of whom are natives of New York State. William W. Amsbary moved to Champaign in 1907, and … Read more

Biography of Arthur Sheridan

Arthur Sheridan is one of the live and enterprising real estate men of Champaign, and has been broker and agent for some extensive blocks of central Illinois farm lands and has handled a number of important transactions in that field. He is also well known in local politics and is one of the citizens of Champaign who can be counted upon for effective exertion of public spirited service. Mr. Sheridan was born in Champaign, September 16, 1874, a son of Patrick and Catherine (Sullivan) Sheridan. His father was a native of County Mayo and his mother of County Cork, Ireland. … Read more

Biography of Thomas H. Leathers

Thomas H. Leathers, who for a number of years has stood second to none among the competent dental surgeons of Champaign County is an instance of a self-made man who came almost to the age of manhood without schooling or education and by sheer force of will and ambition qualified for a profession requiring a high degree of skill and intelligence. Doctor Leathers was born in Glensboro, Kentucky, June 30, 1870, son of William and Mary (Royalty) Leathers. His parents were both born in Kentucky, were thrifty farming people but of modest means. The mother died at the age of … Read more

Biography of Joseph H. Winkler

Joseph H. Winkler, firm of Clark & Winkler, lawyers, Oakland; born in Coles Co., Ill., March 14, 1851, where he attended school during the winter and learned and worked at the blacksmith trade during the summer until 17 years of age, when he entered the State Military College at Champaign, Ill., where he attended nearly two years, during which time he worked at his trade Saturdays and mornings and evenings, from which he obtained the means to meet all of his bills contracted while attending the above College; he then, in the fall of 1873, entered the Law School at … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William B. Chandler

William B. Chandler, a well-known stock buyer of the County and a resident of Bourbon Township, was born in Douglas County, Illinois, March 6, 1852. He is a son of Lemuel Chandler (for the ancestry of the family, see sketch.) When yet a boy, William B. Chandler entered the University of Illinois at Champaign and was graduated there from with a degree of B. S. in the class of 1876. In 1885 he served in the capacity of clerk to the Indian commission at Yankton and continued in this capacity for four years. He then went to Pueblo, Colorado, where … Read more

Biography of Captain Edward Bailey

Captain Edward Bailey is president of the Champaign National Bank, an institution which has become noted as one of the most conservative in the United States and as a leader among the great banking institutions of Illinois. He was one of its founders. He was born at Bloomfield, Edgar County, Illinois, September 8, 1843, a son of David and Hannah (Finley) Bailey, concerning whom mention is made on other pages. His early education was obtained in subscription schools at Bloomfield. In the last part of 1854 or early in 1855 his parents moved to Monticello, Illinois, thence to Urbana, Illinois, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Egbert Davison Burnham

Egbert Davison Burnham is the only surviving son of the late Albert C. Burnham, long prominent as a pioneer lawyer and banker at Champaign and whose career is more fully noted on other pages. Robert Davison Burnham learned banking with his father, but for many years has been actively engaged in the farm loan business, with offices in the First National Bank Building. He was born in Champaign, February 19, 1872, one of the five children of the late A. C. Burnham and wife. Three of these children died in infancy. Mr. Burnham was the oldest and the second in … Read more

Biography of James F. Rankin

James F. Rankin has proved his ability both in general business affairs and as a banker, and is the organizer and active official of the State Bank of Sidney. Mr. Rankin was born near Deland, Illinois, October 31, 1879, a son of Joseph H. and Emma (Brown) Rankin. His parents were natives of Ohio, and his father was for a number of years a general merchant at Deland, but about 1902 removed to Champaign County and located in the city of Champaign, where he is still living. James F. is the only surviving child, his younger brother, Willis D., having … Read more

Biography of Alba J. Flatt

Alba J. Flatt. In a business way Mr. Flatt has been most prominently known in the community of Leverett in Champaign County, when he has the finest grain elevator in this section of the state and where for many years he has been the active medium through which an important bulk of the local grain production has been marketed. Mr. Flatt in recent years has had his home in the city of Champaign. While a resident of Champaign County most of his life, Mr. Flatt was born near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July 6, 1863. His parents, James H. and Matilda … Read more