Horatio Nelson Todd of Wenona IL

Horatio Nelson Todd8, (Ira7, Jehiel6, Stephen5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Feb. 16, 1808, in Hartwick, N. Y., died Aug. 6, 1879, in Wenona, Ill., married Sept. 11, 1835, Jane Bennett, who was born Oct. 20, 1811, died Sept. 11, 1897, in Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. Todd went to Toddsville, Otsego County, N. Y., with his brothers, Andrew and Ira, where they operated a flouring and paper mill. Horatio and Andrew carried on the business until 1855, when they were forced into bankruptcy, soon after this, he moved to Wenona, Ill., where he with his brothers, Andrew, Walter and Ira formed … Read more

Biography of J. L. Stout

J. L. STOUT. – The proprietor of the townsite of Sea View on the weather beach, a city which boasts of a population of from five to eight thousand during the summer bathing season, is from the Buckeye state, having been born in Ohio in 1824. During his boyhood his father took him to Illinois; and he passed his early life on the frontier. he came up with a generation of men whose natural force and enterprise led them into the most exalted position in the great West which their energies had developed. While in Illinois he was ever restless, … Read more

Boers, Louis Paul – Obituary

Funeral services for Louis P. “Slim” Boers, Sturgis, were Friday at Carlsen-Jolley Funeral Home, Sturgis, with the Rev. Randy Hogarth officiating. Burial was at Black Hills National Cemetery will full military honors provided by the Sturgis Veterans Honor Guard. Boers, 78, died April 21, 1993, at his home. He was born Nov. 29, 1914, at Lacon, Ill. to Ole Jacob & Daisy Ellen (Hewitt) Boers. In 1917 he and his family moved to the Faith area where they lived for several years. They moved to Seattle, Wash., for a short time before returning to South Dakota. He served in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Judson W. Ong, Jr.

Ong, Judson W. Jr.; piano business; born, Lacon, Ill., Nov. 5, 1880; son of Judson W. and Isabelle Mayes Ong; educated, Lacon, Ill., High School; married, Chicago, Ill., Jan. 2, 1902, Mercedes E. Armitage; one son and one daughter, William and Mercedes; entered the retail piano business with George P. Bent, of Chicago, when he was 18; has continued in the piano business; traveled for leading wholesale firms; promoted and built, with H. J. Anderson, one of the most successful player piano mechanisms; came to Cleveland in 1904; has managed the Piano Dept. of the Bailey Co., and was connected … Read more

Biography of Julius M. Gehrt

Julius M. Gehrt has been successfully identified with Champaign County agriculture for a number of years, and is the owner and proprietor of a fine farm in section 33 of Harwood Township, near the village of Dillsburg. Mr. Gehrt was born at Lawn Ridge, Illinois, a son of John M. and Catherine (Best) Gehrt. His parents were both born in Germany, came to America in early life, were married in this country and the father is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-three, on his farm in Stark County, Illinois. The mother is now deceased. Julius M. Gehrt was … Read more

Street, Victoria Hewitt – Obituary

Mrs. Leslie Street passed away at her home in Sturgis Saturday evening [April 20, 1965]. Jesse [Victoria] Hewitt Street was born in Streeter, Ill., March 16, 1878, where she grew to womanhood and was married at Peoria, Ill., in 1899 to Leslie Street. They came to South Dakota in 1911, settling near Faith where they lived until 1945 when they moved to Sturgis. Mrs. Street passed away here in 1949. She is survived by one son, Harry of Rapid City; two daughters, Mrs. May Fuller of Rapid City and Mrs. Evelyn Marshall of Clayton, Idaho; one sister, Mrs. Alice Yeast … Read more

Biography of Peter G. Johnson

Peter G. Johnson. The years 1858 and 1859 were particularly important ones in the history of Kansas. With the adoption of a constitution in the latter year, the peaceful, homeseeking settlers who had come from afar, even from other lands, to establish themselves on these wide prairies, as yet uncrowded as were older sections, found assurance of settled conditions and of the opportunity of preserving the homes they had founded. In the spring of 1858 the parents of Peter G. Johnson, one of Riley County’s most respected citizens, settled in Butler County, Kansas. They were natives of Sweden who emigrated … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Josiah McCoy

Josiah McCoy Justice of the Peace at Westminster, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1826. His father was Colonel John McCoy, of Scotch ancestry; and his mother, whose maiden name was Jane Brice, was a daughter of Rev. John Brice, of West Virginia. They were among the early settlers of Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 1850 Josiah McCoy went to Marshall County, Illinois, followed farming for a number of years, and subsequently mercantile business some five years at Henry, that county. In December, 1873, he became a citizen of California and a resident of the town of Westminster, where … Read more

Biographical Sketch of the Kahn Brothers

Kahn Bros., dealers in clothing, Mattoon. Mark Kahn, senior member of the firm of Kahn Bros., was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, Nov. 7, 1841; he emigrated to America in 1856, and first settled in Marshall Co., Ill., and engaged in peddling dry goods and clothing for eighteen months; during the summers of 1858, 1859 and 1860, he worked on a farm in Shelby Co., and during the winter season was employed in a store; in the fall of 1860, in connection with a Mr. Steiner and his brother Moses, he began the business of merchandising in Mattoon, under the firm … Read more

Boers, Ole Jacob – Obituary

Ole Jacob Boers was born May 19, 1878 at Lacon, Illinois, and passed away at his home in Sturgis, Friday morning, following a lingering illness. He grew to manhood at Lacon and on August 24, 1902, he was united in marriage to Daisy Ellen Hewitt. Born to this union were four children, two boys and two girls, the eldest son, Ole Allison, died in infancy. Mr. Boers is survived by his widow, a son Louis of Sturgis and a daughter, Doris Boers, and a married daughter, Mrs. Joe Cahill of Sturgis. Also three grandchildren, Eugene Cahill, Sturgis Keith Cahill, with … Read more

Biography of Howard L. Snyder M. D.

Howard L. Snyder, M. D. Doctor Snyder is of old American family. His paternal ancestors came out of Holland in colonial times and located in Southern Pennsylvania. From that state the family by successive stages had come fully half way across the continent. Doctor Snyder was born in Woodford County, Illinois, October 10, 1878. His father, David Snyder, was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1820. He moved west to Woodford County, Illinois, in 1848, and became one of the leading farmers and stock raisers there. He died in Woodford County in April, 1895. David Snyder was a republican in … Read more

Andrew Hinman Todd of Wenona IL

Andrew Hinman Todd8, (Ira7, Jehiel6, Stephen5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born June 21, 1824, in Hartford, Conn., married June, 1847, Jeanette Almy, who was born April 17, 1827. He was associated with his brothers, Horatio N. and Ira, they becoming owners and managers of the paper mill and flouring mill in Toddsville, N. Y. While living in Toddsville, he built a house not very far from their mill property and in which his relative, Samuel S. Todd, was living in 1918. Later he was in partnership with his brothers, Horatio, Walter and Ira, in a general store business in Wenona, … Read more

Biography of Peter Fries

Man whose personality was strongly A impressed on Rock Island County, was Peter Fries, distiller, banker, and man of affairs. Mr. Fries was born May 4, 1822, on the family estate known as “Guss-Hof,” situated on the River Main, in Bavaria, Germany. He died July 20, 1902, in Rock Island, Illinois. His father’s name was Johann, his mother’s, Gertrude (nee Brand), of Reistenhausen. Johann Fries was the owner of the Guss-Hof, the estate which had descended from father to son for many generations, and was situated near Stadt Prozelten. Peter Fries, the subject of this sketch, was the youngest of … Read more

Biography of Albert L. Egy

Albert L. Egy. A retired cattleman and a bank director at Newton, A. L. Egy had had many interests to identify him with Harvey County, in which part of Kansas he had spent all the years of his life since early boyhood. Albert Lorenzo Egy was born at Wenona, Illinois, September 9, 1863. Going back several generations to his great-grandfather, the family came from Germany. His father, the late Solomon Egy, was a prominent pioneer of Harvey County. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1827, he grew up in that rugged and historic section of the Keystone State, afterwards … Read more

Storey, Emma Jane Hewitt – Obituary

Mrs. Emma J. Storey, 88, a Seattle resident 63 years, died yesterday [October 15, 1951] in a hospital. She had been ill for two years. Funeral services will be held at 3 o’clock tomorrow in the Butterworth Chapel with burial in Mount Pleasant. Mrs. Storey, widow of a pioneer King County miner, George C. Storey, was born in Sparland, Ill. She came to Seattle in 1888. Mrs. Storey was a member of Ridgeley Rebekah Lodge No. 6, and the Pioneer Association of Washington State. For many years Mrs. Storey was a well-known figure at the annual picnic of old timers … Read more

Cahill, Alice V. Boers – Obituary

Funeral services for Alice V. Cahill, who died Thursday evening at the Sturgis Community Memorial Hospital, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the F. O. Jolley Funeral Home, with Rev. Harold Fitch officiating. Burial will be in the Bear Butte Cemetery under the direction of the F. O. Jolley Funeral Home. Alice Boers was born on June 14, 1905 at Lacon, Ill. to Ole and Daisy [Hewitt] Boers. The family moved to South Dakota in 1911, returning to Lacon until 1915 when they returned to South Dakota. In 1917 they moved to Seattle, Wash. returning to South Dakota … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles W. Reed

Charles W. Reed is a farmer and successful stockman with home in section 16 of Philo Township. His rural mail delivery comes from Tolono on Route No. 48. Mr. Reed was born in Marshall County, Illinois, March 11, 1869, son of John Caldwell and Mary (Bell) Reed. Both parents were born in Virginia and in early life moved to Illinois. In 1879 John C. Reed came to Champaign County, locating on the farm in section 16 of Philo Township where his son Charles now resides. Both parents are now deceased. Their five children were named: Charles W.; Henry K., deceased; … Read more

Biography of John W. Parker

Among the younger business men of Rock Island County few have demonstrated their ability in as many different fields as has John W. Parker. City bred, and trained originally for commercial pursuits, he has been successful alike in trade, manufacturing, politics and ‘even agriculture. In addition, he has through his own efforts, secured a liberal education, including a fair knowledge of law, although dependent upon his own resources since the age of sixteen. Mr. Parker was born November 1, 1870, at Henry, Illinois, the son of Samuel and Anna Parker. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother … Read more

Biography of Rev. Berry Edmiston

Rev. Berry Edmiston, of Riverside, located there in 1878. He first resided on the Government tract at the head of Magnolia avenue, on Palm avenue. In the spring of 1880 he purchased a ten-acre tract on the west side of Bandini Avenue, about three miles south of Riverside. Upon this tract he erected his cottage residence and devoted him-self to horticultural pursuits. He has now three acres in budded orange trees of the Washington Navel variety, two acres in apricots and about four acres in raisin grapes. In 1881 he purchased a ten-acre tract adjoining him, on the south and … Read more

Ira Todd of LaSalle IL

Ira Todd8, (Ira7, Jehiel6, Stephen5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Sept. 15, 1822, in Hartford, Conn., died Jan., 1899, married Sept. 26, 1848, Mary Washburn Cushman, who was born July 19, 1825, in Asonet or Taunton, Mass., died Nov. 7, 1894. Ira Todd in association with his brothers Horatio N. and Andrew, owned and managed a flouring mill and a paper mill in Toddsville, N. Y. Somewhat later he became associated with three of his brothers, Horatio N., Walter S. and Andrew owning and managing a general store in Wenona, Ill., still later, he and Walter were in company in … Read more