Hancock County IL

Biography of Raymond Griffin Barnett

Raymond Griffin Barnett, who had the well earned title of captain of the American army in the World war and who is now engaged in the practice of law in Kansas City, was born at Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, October 8, 1882, and is a son of Fred P. and Adele (Griffin) Barnett, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Illinois. The father went from this state to Iowa and afterward returned to Kansas City. He is by profession a court reporter and is now the vice president of the Shorthand Reporting Company, with offices in the … Read more

Biography of F. Garner

F. Garner, residing on Mount Vernon Avenue, San Bernardino, was born near Quincy, Illinois, March 5, 1835. His parents were George and Elizabeth Garner. His father moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, at an early day, and remained there one year when he crossed the plains to Utah, where he spent one winter. Frank was fifteen years of age when they left the Missouri river, and he drove an ox team all the way to California. While crossing the Missouri river on a ferry-boat, the team which he afterward drove became frightened and jumped off the boat into the water, and swam … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Marshall C. Davis

Before Wallowa county had a separate political existence the subject of this sketch was in this section, redeeming from the savage and the unbroken wilds of nature the country and laboring for the development of the same, and constantly he has so demeaned himself that the confidence of all who know him is freely given him, while his characteristic qualities of uprightness, integrity and excellent capabilities for the business affairs of life have been displayed, and he justly stands today in the prominent place that he occupies and enjoys the prestige that his worthy career has gained. In Hancock County, … Read more

Biography of Joseph C. Rich

Judge Joseph C. Rich, eldest son of Hon. Charles C. Rich, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this history, was born in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, January 16, 1841. His mother’s maiden name was Sarah D. Pea, good stock all around, his ancestors being of that hardy pioneer school who have subdued the wilds of the middle and western states and made possible the grandeur of those noble commonwealths. When but a boy of five years he, in connection with his parents and several thousand others, was driven from the city of his birth by mobocratic persecution, and commenced … Read more

Biography of Joseph Hancock

Joseph Hancock, a rancher near San Bernardino, was born near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1822, and is the son of Solomon and Alta (Adams) Hancock, natives of Massachusetts and Vermont respectively. His father was born in 1793, and his mother in 1795, and were of English descent. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  His paternal great-grandmother was the daughter of General Ward. Solomon Hancock was a frontiersman in the Buckeye State, a farmer, but in his early days spent much time in hunting deer and wild turkey, with which … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lucas Hoagland

Lucas Hoagland, a rancher near San Bernardino, was born in Michigan in 1837. His father, Abraham, and his mother, Margaret (Quick) Hoagland, were born in the old country. They moved to Michigan in 1824, where Mr. Hoagland worked at his trade, that of a blacksmith. He was Captain of the militia that serenaded General Lafayette, and moved to Hancock County, Illinois, in 1845. After a short sojourn there he moved to Council Bluffs, where he spent one winter, and then moved to Salt Lake, where he died in 1879. The subject of this sketch was the oldest of seven children. … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Shinn, Hon.

Hon. Charles W. Shinn. In an able and vigorous service of eight years on the bench, Hon. Charles W. Shinn, now city attorney of Neodesha, Kansas, gained an enviable reputation for legal ability, thorough understanding of the law, wise judgments and unimpeachable integrity. As a private practitioner of law this reputation is still justified, while as a citizen Judge Shinn is numbered with the foremost men of Neodesha. Judge Shinn is a native of Illinois, born May 30, 1854, in Hancock County, and is a son of John K. and Tabitha (Ogden) Shinn. The Shinn family is of English ancestry … Read more

Biography of L. B. Hastings

L.B. HASTINGS. – Under the bluffs on the sandbank at the old place that the Frenchmen called La Dalles, in the autumn days of 1847, a company of wayworn immigrants was lying along the river side, the women at the tents, the children playing with the dogs and romping on the shore, and the ponies and cattle feeding upon the mountain. The men were at work day after day a whole month, with their axes and hammers, in making a flatboat from the pines that they cut form the hills. This company of sixty wagons had just come out of … Read more

Kinkade, Rawlin Madison – Obituary

R. M. Kinkade, Pioneer, dies. Farmed in valley over Half-Century. Rawlin Madison (Roll) Kinkade, 86-year-old long-time Kittitas Valley resident and the last surviving son of a pioneer valley family, died last night [February 16, 1955] in Sorensen Memorial Hospital here. In ill health for some time, he had been hospitalized 12 days Kinkade came to the Kittitas Valley with his parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. David Kinkade, in September, 1882. He farmed here more than half a century before retiring in 1940. He was born in Denver, Ill., Nov. 4, 1868, and the family came here from California Kinkade … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Andrew Lytle

Andrew Lytle, deceased, was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1812. His parents moved to Akron, Ohio, when he was a small boy. At the age of twenty-one years he went back to Pennsylvania and married Hannah Hull. This lady was the daughter of Abner and Martha (Skinner) Hull, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. In 1834, two years after his marriage, he moved to Portage County, Ohio. Next he moved to Bidwell County, Missouri, and two years later to Nauvoo, Illinois. From the latter place he removed to Salt Lake, where he remained several years. In 1850 he came … Read more

Biography of S. S. White

S.S. WHITE. – The pioneer experiences of Judge White are of an exceptionally interesting character. This well-known and highly valued citizen of Portland was born in Franklin county, Indiana, December 14, 1811. His father was much of a frontiersman, and, after a removal to Ohio in 1815, went three years later to Sangamon county, Illinois, settling on Sugar creek, twenty miles south of Springfield. This was then a remote and unoccupied region, Mr. White’s family and those of a Mr. Ellis and Mr. Vancil being the only families within the limits of the present Sangamon and Morgan counties, and sixty … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Noble L. Prentis

Noble L. Prentis, a leading Kansas editor for twenty-one years, and for the last decade of his life identified with the Kansas City Star, was born on April 8, 1839, in a log cabin three miles from Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois. His parents were natives of Vermont, descended from English settlers, and on both sides of the family came of brave Revolutionary stock. His parents died at Warsaw, Illinois, of cholera during the epidemic of 1849, leaving him an orphan at the age of ten years. He went to live with an uncle in Vermont and remained there until … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Rich

Pioneer of Utah, California and Idaho, Charles C. Rich figured prominently in the early development of these states, and took an active part in furthering the welfare and promoting the progress of the commonwealths. He was also a most able exponent of the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and with a colony of believers he founded the beautiful and thriving little city of Paris, the County of Bear Lake, Idaho, and the Mormon colonies of southeastern Idaho. A native of Kentucky, Mr. Rich was born in Campbell County, in 1809, and was of English … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. F. Shaw

A. F. Shaw, Police Magistrate, Charleston; is a native of Illinois; he was born in Paris, Edgar Co., Feb. 10, 1824; he is a son of Smith and Elizabeth Shaw; his father was born in North Carolina; was raised in South Carolina, and when a young man, emigrated to Tennessee, and from there to Kentucky; he was one of the pioneers of Missouri, from which State he was several times driven by the Indians; he afterward came to Illinois, long prior to its admission as a State, and finally, in 1822, settled in Paris, where he died about sixteen years … Read more

Biography of William H. Reed

William H. Reed. By reason of the extent and quality of his usefulness, his commercial soundness and acumen, his public spirit, his integrity, and his nearness to the fundamental requirements of citizenship, William H. Reed affords in his career an excellent and encouraging example of success gained through the proper use of every day abilities and opportunities. He laboriously climbed every round of the mercantile ladder, and so ably did he make use of his opportunities, that he was able to retire from activities in the evening of life, and is now quietly residing at his comfortable home at Topeka. … Read more

Biography of Winslow P. Powers

Deceased. – While it is the province of our volume to give mention of the leading citizens of Wallowa county, it also comes within the purview of the work to grant to such as the noble and esteemed citizen, whose name appears above, a memoir, and it is with especial delight that we are privileged to do so at this time, since he was one of the builders of the county, and one who held in becoming manner the position of leader for many years, being eminently fitted for that capacity, both by marked capabilities, great energy and force of … Read more

Davis, Minnie – Obituary

North Powder, Union County, Oregon Funeral services will be conducted Thursday at 2 p.m. at The North Powder Community Church for Minnie Hester Davis, 91, longtime North Powder resident. She died early Monday morning at St. Elizabeth Hospital after a brief illness. Mrs. Davis, a native of Tioga, Ill., was the daughter of Gus and Lucy Ensminger Roth. She married John William Davis in Baker on Sept. 2, 1903. They purchased land in the North Powder Valley to farm and built their home. She is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Lula Cantrell of Portland; three sisters, Mrs. Jessie Hannahs of … Read more

Biography of Albert Irven Decker

Albert Irven Decker. In the demands which it makes upon its devotees, educational work is exceedingly exacting. The duty of the educator, ostensibly, is to instill a practical, working knowledge into each of his pupils, but his correlative, although less direct, function of instilling character and worthy precepts through his personal influence is equally important. The duty first named calls for an individual of knowledge and specialized training, while the second demands a conscientious and capable person whose life and mode of living provide a fit criterion and example for the minds of youth. When a man is found in … Read more

Biography of Fred Leslie Ervay

Fred Leslie Ervay, M. D. The medical fraternity of Wilson County had as one of its highly skilled and thoroughly trained members Dr. Fred Leslie Ervay, who had been engaged in a general practice at Fredonia since 1908. While Doctor Ervay had not carried on his profession as long as some of his fellow practitioners, he had risen to a prominent place in his calling, and the confidence in which he is held is evidenced by the size and importance of his clientele. He was born at Elk Point, South Dakota, June 14, 1880, and is a son of H. … Read more

Biography of Alfred Harris Hecox

Alfred Harris Hecox. One of the native sons of Allen County who are now holding official positions in the employ of the United States Government, is Alfred Harris Hecox, who since July, 1914, had served in the capacity of postmaster of the City of Iola. Mr. Hecox had had a diversified and interesting career, in which he had visited various parts of the country and engaged in a number of different occupations which have brought him in close touch with the public and at the same time had given him a broadened experience. These qualities have served him well in … Read more