Hancock County IL

Burnap, William David – Obituary

La Grande,Union County, Oregon William David Burnap was born in Bedford township, Meigs County, Ohio, May 10, 1842, and died at his home near LaGrande, Oregon, December 22, 1911. He was married to Mary Melvina Hoit, of West Point, Illinois, March 3, 1867, by the late Rev. William B. Finlay, of St. Albens township, Hancock County. The following children and his aged companion survie him; Rrs. Ruthanar Maud Cole of flora, Or., Marius Melvin Burnap, La Grande, Or, Albert Vinton Burnap, Walla Walla, WA, W. Eugene Burnap, Asel Hoyt Burnap of Touchet, WA, and Mrs. Ocie Vaun Frakes of Starbuck, … 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

Biography of Enos Fitterer

Enos Fitterer was born in Baden, Germany, July 28, 1835, and lived in his native land until 1846, when his parents emigrated to America. They settled on a farm in Butler county, Ohio, and there the subject of this sketch lived and grew to manhood. In 1856 he went to Hamilton, Ohio, to learn the baker’s trade with Messrs. Nutts & Sivers, remained with them some fifteen months, and then located in Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, where he established himself in the bakery business and carried it on until 1861. In that year he joined the Union army, enlisting in. … 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

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

Ankrom, Edward Conway – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Edward Conway Ankrom, 85, a longtime Halfway resident, died Dec. 22, 2000, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. His memorial service will be Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Halfway Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Lon Nalder of the LDS Church will officiate. Disposition was by cremation at the Eastern Oregon Pioneer Crematory. Mr. Ankrom was born Sept. 17, 1915, at Salem, W.Va., to Connie Eli Ankrom and Bertha Maude Matheny. While he was a young boy he, along with his family, moved to Augusta, Ill., where they lived until he was six years old. From … Read more

Biography of Mary Pierce Van Zile

Mary Pierce Van Zile. A very important member of the faculty of the Kansas State Agricultural College is Mrs. Mary Pierce Van Zile, dean of women and dean of the division of home economics. Her name is a household word in many widely separated homes, for each year Mrs. Van Zile has under her immediate care and instruction from 800 to 900 girls. They come from many environments and are mostly in the most receptive period of their lives, and the influence exerted by Dean Van Zile largely moulds their future. Mary Pierce Van Zile was born on her father’s … 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 Lewis Snyder

LEWIS SNYDER. – How many of the thriftiest and most enterprising of our leading citizens have been born in Germany, and having torn themselves from the ties that bound them to native land and friends, have chosen this land as their abiding place! They are a class of which we may well be proud, and among their numbers we are led to mention the esteemed and substantial citizen, whose name is at the head of this article, who was one of the early pioneers of Union county and wrought here for many years while it was still a wild country, … 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 David S. Lamme

The history of the pioneer settlement of Payette would be incomplete without the record of this gentleman, who from the earliest founding of the town has been a prominent factor in its substantial growth and improvement. When Idaho was cut off from the advantages and comforts of the east by the long, hot stretches of sand and the high mountains, he made his way across the plains, braving all the trials and hardships of pioneer life in order to make a home in the northwest rich in its resources, vet unclaimed from the dominion of the red men. Mr. Lamme … Read more

Biography of Danford Atwood

Danford Atwood was born in Connecticut in 1823. His parents were Mormons and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, at an early day, and from thence to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where in 1850 Mr. Atwood married Miss Jane Garner, of Hancock County, Illinois. She was the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Hedrick) Garner, natives respectively of North Carolina and Indiana. They had six children. Mrs. Garner died in Illinois at the age of thirty-two, and Mr. Garner married Lydia Hill. In 1836 he went to Council Bluffs, where he remained nearly two years, and then came to California, in 1852, by ox … Read more

Biography of James P. Stephens

JAMES P. STEPHENS. – This original owner of a large portion of the townsite of East Portland, Oregon, was born in 1806 in Virginia, and removed to Indiana when but a boy of eight, and came still farther west to Hancock County, Illinois, in1832. In 1830 he married Miss Elizabeth Walker of Ohio, and passed on to Missouri, and in 1843 made preparations to come to Oregon. Failing, however, to reach the rendezvous in time, the journey was postponed until the next year. Crossing the plains in 1844, he endured the hardships of that toilsome year, and reached Oregon City … Read more

Ensminger, Jacob H. – Obituary

Jacob H. Ensminger Haines Pioneer Dead Resident of Baker County For 64 Years Passes Jacob Henry Ensminger, a resident of Baker county for the past 64 years, died at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, exactly a week to the hour after he was stricken with paralysis. Funeral services will be held from the residence at 1 o’clock Saturday with Rev. R.C. Lee of Union officiating. Mr. Ensminger was born March 19, 1847 in Hancock County, Ill., and was nearing his 81st birthday. He crossed the plains in 1863 locating in this community. He was married in 1871 to Miss Johanna Loennig … 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

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 Karl Marshall Geddes

Karl Marshall Geddes. In point of experience, sound knowledge of the law, and forceful ability in its practice, the firm of Leydig & Geddes occupies a conspicuous position among the leading law firms of Southern Kansas. Mr. Geddes, the junior member of this firm, had been well known in Butler County for a number of years. He is a leading republican, had held several important public offices, and is now a member of the State Legislature. His early life was spent in Hancock County, Illinois, where he was born at Fountain Green, April 13, 1882, a son of Cyrus M. … 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 John Davis

John Davis, of Jonesburg, familiarly known as “Uncle John,” is the oldest son of the late Thomas Davis, of Shenandoah Co., Va. John was born October 30, 1791, in Shenandoah County, and is now nearly 85 years of age. When he was about sixteen his parents removed to Bourbon Co., Ky., and when the war of 1812 began, he enlisted in the army and served under Generals Winchester and Payne. He was stationed at Forts Wayne and Laramie, in Ohio, for some time. In 1820 he came to Missouri, and stopped a short time in St. Louis, which then had … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry King

It is not the rule for men to follow the trade or profession to which they are best adapted and to achieve the dominant ambition of their lives. This inclination and result can in absolute truth be said of Capt. Henry King. He learned the printer’s trade because the attraction was irresistible, and advanced from the composing room and hand press to the editorial desk because he must have foreseen the work he was best fitted to do. His taste and capacity were for writing, a natural force impelling him to reduce the workings of his mind to written form–and … Read more