Peoria Illinois

Biography of Charles Wesley Foster

Charles Wesley Foster, deceased, who was one of the public-spirited citizens of Page county, honored and respected wherever known but most of all where best known, was born May 19, 1833, in Canton, Fulton county, Illinois, where he acquired his education in the public schools. At the age of fifteen years he went to Peoria to learn the tinner’s trade and there remained for four years. When nineteen years of age he went to Abingdon, Illinois, and conducted the first hardware and tin store in that place. Four years later he removed to Bushnell, Illinois, where he also became the … Read more

Kickapoo Indians

Kickapoo Indians. From Kiwegapaw`, “he stands about,” “he moves about, standing now here, now there.” Also called: A’-uyax, Tonkawa name, meaning “deer eaters.” Higabu, Omaha and Ponca name. I’-ka-dŭ’, Osage name. Shake-kah-quah, Wichita name. Shígapo, Shikapu, Apache name. Sik’-a-pu, Comanche name. Tékapu, Huron name. Yuatara’ye-ru’nu, a second Huron name, meaning “tribe living around the lakes.” Kickapoo Connections. The Kickapoo belonged to the Algonquian linguistic stock, and in a special group with the Foxes and Sauk. Kickapoo Villages. The villages were: Etnataek (shared with the Foxes), rather a fortification than a village, near the Kickapoo village on Sangamon River, Illinois. Kickspougowi, … Read more

Biography of Fred Eugene Pettit

Fred Eugene Pettit is a veteran business man and merchant of Marion County, and until he retired a few years ago conducted one of the largest stores at Peabody. Mr. Pettit was reared and educated and gained his first mercantile experience in the State of Illinois. He was born at Wyoming in Stark County, Illinois, January 8, 1861, a son of Peter and Mary Anne (Bailey) Pettit. Peter Pettit was born in New York State and located in Illinois in 1851, when the country was new and undeveloped. After a few years he lost his health and suffered invalidism throughout … 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

Peoria Tribe

Peoria Indians (through French Peouarea, from Peoria Piwarea, ‘he comes carrying a pack on his back’: a personal name. Gerard). One of the principal tribes of the Illinois confederacy. Franquelin in his map of 1688 locates them and the Tapouaro on a river west of the Mississippi above the mouth of Wisconsin River, probably the upper Iowa River. Early references to the Illinois which place them on the Mississippi, although some of the tribes were on Rock and Illinois rivers, must relate to the Peoria and locate them near the mouth of the Wisconsin. When Marquette and Joliet descended the … Read more

Biography of Eugene B. Buck

Eugene B. Buck, editor and proprietor of the Charleston Courier. Charleston; was born in Fayette Co., Ind., Oct. 12, 1834; when he was about five years old, his father’s family removed to McLean Co., Ill.; he served his apprenticeship to the printer’s trade in Bloomington; in 1852, he went to Peoria, Ill., and, in 1855, was connected with the publication of the Pekin Plaindealer; in 1856, he was associated with four other journeymen printers in running a co-operative daily paper in Peoria; in 1857, he conducted the Washington Advertiser, in Franklin Co., Mo.; in 1859, he edited the Daily Enterprise, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry E. Brown

Mr. Henry E. Brown was born and uneducated in Elmwood, Peoria County, Illinois, until his sixteenth year when he moved to Peoria and entered the high school, afterwards entering Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, from which he graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Physics. Since then he has been connected with the Rock Island Public Schools, starting as a teacher and five years ago becoming principal of the high school. Mr. Brown has always been greatly interested in all educational matters and has received much recognition for his interest by educational associations. He is at the present … Read more

Biography of Thomas Page

For upwards of half a century, Thomas Page has been one of the prominent commercial figures in Kansas. With possibly one exception, he is the oldest miller in the state, and for years has been a factor in the milling and grain interests and as much as any other individual has contributed to make Topeka a center for the manufacture of flour. A native of Scotland, he was born in the little manufacturing hamlet of Dunshalt in Fifeshire, September 3, 1843. With a practical schooling he began an apprenticeship in the milling business. For some time he was employed in … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Schaff

Charles E. Schaff, receiver for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, was born on a farm in Licking county, Ohio. February 4, 1856. He is a son of the late Isaac M. Schaff, who was also born in the Buckeye state and represented one of the old families there of Dutch descent. In early life the father engaged in agricultural pursuits and later turned his attention to railroading, becoming connected with the train service of various roads. He passed away in Carroll county, Missouri, in 1888, aged fifty-seven years, having become a resident of Missouri four years before. He … Read more

Biography of Felix G. Campbell

Felix G. Campbell was a thoroughly practical and successful farmer before he took up the business of real estate, loans and insurance at Champaign, and in both lines his success has been noteworthy. He is still a farmer through ownership, though no longer a worker in the fields, and he now gives all his time to an extensive clientage in real estate and insurance. Mr. Campbell was born in Preble County, Ohio, November 11, 1848, and was four years of age when his parents, John W. and Margaret N. (Dooley) Campbell, moved to Peoria, Illinois. His father was a native … Read more

Biography of William T. Cohenour

William T. Cohenour, a prominent and well known representative of the automobile business in Muskogee, established his agency in 19 9 and through the intervening period ha s built up a substantial trade. He came to the southwest from Illinois, his birth having occurred in Pittsfield, Pike county, that state, on the 7th of March, 1877. He is a son of Howard A. and Mary (Cope) Cohenour. The father was a farmer and breeder of fine stock, making a specialty of cattle and hogs. William T. Cohenour was reared in his native state, spending his youthful days under the parental … Read more

Biography of James W. Layman

James W. Layman deceased, late of Santa Ana, was born in Peoria, Illinois, January 24, 1846. His parents, Martin and Elizabeth Layman, were from the State of New York, and had thirteen children, of whom James was the eighth. He was educated at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his father had moved when the son was seven years old. He followed farming with his father in Minnesota until 1871, when he came to California. His first purchase here was a ranch near Newport, where he lived four years. He then purchased property on Main Street in Santa Ana, which he improved and … Read more

Biography of Francis Fletcher

FRANCIS FLETCHER. – Mr. Fletcher was among the very earliest of the settlers of Oregon, being here two years before the establishment of the Provisional government, and has consequently seen the great development of this state and coast form its earliest inception; and he has himself been one of the most active to induce the progress of the last fifty years. He was born in Yorkshire, England, March 1, 1814, and, at the age of fourteen years, crossed the water to Ontario, Canada, and afterwards to Peoria, Illinois. In 1839, in company with Amos Cook and others, he started for … Read more

Biography of John Gallup

John Gallup, assistant treasurer of the Missouri Portland Cement Company comes to the Mississippi valley from New England, where the family has been represented since early colonial days. He was born in Mystic, Connecticut, December 14, 1844, son of John Gallup and Roxanna Fish. He received his education in the public schools of Mystic, Connecticut, and also studied under private tutors. After leaving school he gave special attention to accounting and later was associated with his father in the lumber business. In Mystic, Connecticut, October 5, 1870, Mr. Gallup was married to Ellen E. Noyes, daughter of George W. and … Read more

Biography of Isaac E., Lambert, Sr.

Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., whose tragic death in the burning of the Copeland Hotel at Topeka in 1908 is generally recalled, was in his time one of the most prominent attorneys of Kansas and stood in the forefront of his profession and also as a public leader. His son, Isaac E. Lambert, Jr., is also a lawyer, a resident of Emporia, and is now serving as chief clerk of the Kansas House of Representatives. At the time of his death Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., was fifty-five years of age and in the prime of his powers. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Joseph Holman

JOSEPH HOLMAN. – This pioneer of the North Pacific was born in Devonshire, England, in 1817, and came to the United States when nineteen years of age. Three years later he was at Peoria, Illinois, at which place he listened to a lecture on Oregon by Reverend Jason Lee, and was one of the party organized to cross the plains which left early in the spring of 1839, reaching the Willamette after fourteen months of travel, toil, hardships and privation. Many of the incidents of his trip are mentioned in the biographical sketch of Francis Fletcher in this book, he … Read more

Wicks, H. Mrs. – Obituary

Mrs. H. Wicks Passed This Life Sunday Noon Another pioneer was called to the beyond this week when Mrs. H. Wicks died at her ranch home east of North Powder, Sunday morning, June 21. Mrs. Wicks had been in ill health for the past two years, and for the past several months, had been bedfast, and while her death was not unexpected, yet it cast a gloom over the entire community. She will be missed by her many friends and acquaintances, many of whom had known her for the 43 years she has spent in this section. Mrs. Wicks was … Read more

Swiger, Polly Mrs. – Obituary

Union, Union County, Oregon Mrs. Polly Swiger, aged 81 years and 26 days, died at the Swiger residence near Union, Oregon, Sunday, October 9, 1910, and was buried from the Presbyterian church Wednesday, October 12, at 11 a. m. Polly Wilkinson was born in Jackson county, Ohio, September 29, 1829, and her early life was passed in the vicinity of Peoria, Ill. She was married to N. Swiger in 1851, and in 1858 moved from Illinois to Nebraska. In May, 1864, Mr. and Mrs. Swiger moved to Oregon, arriving in the Grande Ronde Valley, October 9, of that year. From … Read more

Biography of O. A. Kimball

In a history of the business development of Clarinda and Page county mention should be made of O. A. Kimball, who for some years figured prominently in connection with the lumber trade and later with the agricultural interests of the community. He was born in New Hampshire in 1835 and was a son of Edwin and Elizabeth (Prescott) Kimball, both of whom were natives of New England. The father followed the occupation of farming in New Hampshire, where both he and his wife died. The Kimball family was established on American soil in the early period in the colonization of … Read more

Biography of Samuel C. Miller

Samuel C. Miller as we have heretofore seen was one of the Walker Party, the first to discover gold in northern Arizona. He was the youngest member of this exploring band, and was, in many respects, a very remarkable man. He was born in Peoria, Illinois, November 4th, 1840. At the age of fifteen, he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast with his father and mother, making the entire journey on foot. He was naturally a frontiersman, which may account for the fact of his joining the Walker party at the age of twenty-one years to explore the wilderness … Read more