Biography of Frederick C. Otto

Frederick C. Otto. A prosperous and substantial farmer and a dominating figure in the financial affairs of Riley, Kansas, Frederick C. Otto is also a leading factor in democratic politics in Riley County, at present being the democratic nominee for state senator. The achievements that may be justly credited to Mr. Otto have been fairly won. Deprived early of a father’s protection and assistance, he had, in large measure, his own way to make in the world, and it was through a process of struggle that he advanced for many years only step by step. Industry, frugality, efficiency in everything … Read more

Biography of Holmes Dysinger, Rev.

Rev. Holmes Dysinger has for the past twelve years been connected with the Western Theological Seminary of the Lutheran Church at Atchison, and since 1910 had been dean of the seminary. He had spent more than thirty years in the work of the church as a minister and as an educator, and had been connected with prominent schools and pastorates in nearly all parts of the country. Mr. Dysinger is of an old Pennsylvania family and was born at Mifflin, that state, March 26, 1853. The Dysingers’ original home was in Southern Germany. They came across the ocean and settled … Read more

Biography of Mansfield M. Sturgeon

One of the most brilliant and astute attorneys practising at the Rock Island County Bar is Mansfield M. Sturgeon, senior member of the legal firm of Sturgeon. Stelck & Sturgeon, a man whose great ability and profound learning as an attorney has been demonstrated in the trial of many important suits, as well as in sound counsel and legal advice. He was born September 10, 1843, at Letart Falls, Ohio, his parents, being Oliver Hazard Perry Sturgeon and Mary Ellenor (Summers) Sturgeon. The father was born March 14, 1818, at Sistersville, Virginia, the date of the marriage of the senior … 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

Ogle County, Illinois, marriage records, 1837-1850

Ogle County, Illinois, marriage records, 1837-1850 title page

In 1960 Robert Steenrod of Belvidere, Illinois, transcribed the early marriages of Ogle County Illinois, from the Marriage Registers volumes A and B. These marriage records cover the years of 1837, when the first record was created to 1850. This book is free to read or download as a PDF.

Biographical Sketch of Dr. H. Hannum

Dr. H. Hannum was born in Paine’s Point, Ogle Co., Ill., March 11, 1854. Attended Rock River Seminary in Illinois; also attended Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and graduated February 22, 1881, after having taken a full course of clinical and didactic instruction during three winters and spring terms of the institution, and received a certificate of honor for the same. The doctor first practiced in Illinois, came to Kansas in April, 1881, and settled in Burr Oak, where he has been engaged in the practice of his chosen profession ever since. He is also a graduate of the Kalamazoo … Read more

Biography of W. E. Taylor, M. D.

Placed at the head of a great state charitable institution, carrying the responsibility for the welfare of hundreds of unfortunates whose reason has been shattered and imbued with an earnest desire to restore his unfortunate charges to health and friends, stands Doctor W. E. Taylor, superintendent of the Illinois Western Hospital for the Insane at Watertown. He was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin, May 24, 1854, where his parents, E. T. and Esibell (Irving) Taylor resided. Here his boyhood was spent, and after thoroughly fitting him-self in preparatory schools, he entered the University of Wisconsin, and upon completing a course in … Read more

Biography of Luke E. Hemenway

Mr. Luke E. Hemenway, father of Charles, F., was born in Shoreham, Vermont, August 7, 1816. His father was Francis S., born at Grafton, Massachusetts, January 23, 1784, and his mother was Clara Turrill, born in the year 1786. He was a direct descendant of Ralph Hemenway and Elizabeth Hewes, who were married at Roxbury, Massachusetts, July 5, 1634. He received a common school education at Shoreham, Vermont. Leaving home at the age of thirteen, he worked in a store at Bethel, Vermont, until the year 1838, when he removed to Grand de Tour, Illinois, where he married Jane E. … Read more

Biography of John Deere

No citizen in Rock Island County, or throughout the country, was probably more widely known than John Deere of Moline. He was born at Rutland, Vermont, February 7, 1804, and died May 17, 1886. 1805 the family moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where the children attended school in a district schoolhouse, which had a long fire place across the end of the room. The reading, writing and little arithmetic obtained here, before he was twelve years old, was the principal educational start Mr. Deere had for life. He afterwards attended private school for a few months, but the inborn inclination for … Read more

Biography of Allen C. Mason

ALLEN C. MASON. – The well-known fact that a city presents, as a whole, the characteristics of the individuals who compose it, finds no better illustration than in the city of Tacoma, Washington. It is wide-awake, enterprising and progressive, and is such not only because of its unrivaled location and its commanding position as the terminus of the great Northern Pacific Railroad, but because its business men are themselves possessed of a spirit of progressive enterprise, are thoroughly imbued with confidence in the great destiny of their city, and are united in their efforts to promote its welfare. Prominent among … Read more

Biography of Charles Deere

The American plow and the name of Deere are synonymous in the public mind. Neither widespread commercialism inspired by the plow nor its constant development toward perfection by other hands and minds has effaced the intimacy between the inventor and his invention. There is no such close sympathy between Fulton and the steamboat, Morse and the telegraph or others among the pioneers of practical ideas. The living force of most inventors has been in the ideas they have given to the world, but the perfection of these ideas has been carried forward by others. The living force of the Deere … Read more