Putnam County IL Genealogy – Access Genealogy

Biography of Thomas Holmes

Thomas Holmes is a well-known resident of Ontario, San Bernardino County. He has for the past thirty years been identified with the mining, mercantile, agricultural and horticultural industries of the Pacific coast. A review of his life is of interest. Mr. Holmes was born in Lancashire England, in 1834. His parents, James and Hannah (Mort) Holmes, were natives of that place. In 1844 his father immigrated to the United States and settled in Putnam County, Illinois, where he engaged in farming and stock growing. The subject of this sketch received the benefits of a common-school education and became practically versed … Read more

Biography of Joseph Holmes

Joseph Holmes, one of the representative horticulturists of Ontario and progressive citizens of San Bernardino County, came to California in 1883 and located in the Ontario colony as one of its early settlers, and has ever since taken a leading part in building up his chosen section and advancing its interests. His home is on the corner of Fourth Street and Campus Avenue, where he has erected a substantial two-story residence, well furnished and fitted with modern conveniences. He has surrounded his home with ornamental trees and rich floral plants. His twenty-acre tract is located between Third and Fourth streets … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Aaron B. Whiteaker

Aaron B. Whiteaker was born in Bremer County, Iowa, near the town of Independence, February 24, 1849. His father, Joseph T. Whiteaker, was born in Virginia in 1818, and came to Daviess County in 1876, where he died July 14, 1881. His mother, Eliza Harris Whiteaker, was a native of Ashland County, Ohio. The subject of this sketch spent his early life with his parents in Putnam County, Illinois, working on his father’s farm and attending school. After the removal of the family to Daviess County, he made a permanent home in Sheridan, and gives his time to the cultivation … Read more

Black Hawk’s War – Indian Wars

We have now to record the events of a war “which brought one of the noblest of Indians to the notice and admiration of the people of the United States. Black Hawk was an able and patriotic chief. With the intelligence and power to plan a great project, and to execute it, he united the lofty spirit which secures the respect and confidence of a people. He was born about the year 1767, on Rock river, Illinois. At the age of fifteen he took a scalp from the enemy, and was in consequence promoted by his tribe to the rank of a brave.

Biography of George B. Keeler

There is no man who has taken more active and helpful part in the development of Bartlesville and Washington county than George B. Keeler. He has resided in this section of the state from early pioneer times and was adopted into the Cherokee tribe in 1872. He understands the sign language of all of the Indian tribes and speaks the Osage tongue. He has been in a way a connecting link between the Indian life and customs of an early day and the modern civilization and progress. His business activity has covered a wide scope, leading directly to the improvement, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Llewellyn Kiene

Llewellyn Kiene had served four years in the office of sheriff of Shawnee County, and his administration had been all that his friends predicted and had been such as to give him rank among the ablest sheriffs this important county in the state had ever had. Sheriff Kiene is a Kansan by many years of residence and is thoroughly in the spirit of the Sunflower commonwealth. He was born March 2, 1868, in Putnam County, Illinois, one of the twelve children of Francis A. and Rose (Doriot) Kiene. When he was fifteen years of age his parents came to Kansas, … Read more

Illinois Indian Land

With the rapid increase of a white population between the Lakes and the Mississippi, which followed the conclusion of hostilities with England and her Indian allies, new difficulties began to arise between the natives and the settlers. Illinois and Wisconsin were inhabited by various tribes of Indians, upon terms of bitter hostility among themselves, but united in their suspicions and apprehensions at the unprecedented inroads of emigrants from the east. The Winnebago, dwelling in Wisconsin; the Pottawatomie, situated around the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; and the Sac, (afterwards mingled with the Foxes, and usually coupled with that tribe,) of … Read more

Biography of W. S. Moore

A notably successful career is that of W. S. Moore, a prominent stockman of Dewey, who has devoted practically all of his life to the cattle business, in which he has become recognized as a leading operator, not only in Oklahoma but through the United States. He was born in Putnam county, Illinois, December 6, 1865, being a son of Mr. and, Mrs. J. B. Moore, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. He was reared in Burlington, Iowa, and in 1884, when a young man of nineteen years, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Oklahoma. His … Read more