One of Rock Island’s best known and most busily employed building contractors is Nicholai Juhl, the subject of this sketch. In the large and continuous building growth which Rock Island has undergone during the past few years, he has taken a conspicuous part, some of the largest and handsomest edifices that have been erected being […]
Little would the visitor of today suspect that much of the western part of the City of Rock Island, now built up with modern homes, business houses and factories, was once an uninhabitable swamp; worse than that, it was covered with water to a great extent, and when the Mississippi was high a rapidly flowing
The soldier-sheriff of Rock Island County needs no introduction to that county’s people. That he is well and favorably known is evidenced by the office with which they have honored him, and which he now holds and fills so acceptably. Edward Kittilsen was born in Moline, July 19, 1854, his parents being Andrew and Frederika
The name of Edgington is a well known one throughout Rock Island County. It is the name of one of the county’s earliest pioneer families. It is also the name of one of the county’s most prosperous little villages, named in honor of one of the founders of that family, John Edgington, the subject of
The above named and beloved patriot was of that branch of the Beardsley family which trace their genealogy in America as far back as 1628. Major Beardsley was born October 30, 1833, at Ellington, Chautauqua County (near the reservation of the Six Nations), New York State; died at Rock Island, August 22, 1903. He came
A good mental and physical equipment, unflagging energy, and temperate habits have been leading factors in the elevation of Robert Ward Olmsted, from a poor boy, dependent upon his own resources, to the honored position of judge of Rock Island County. Born on a farm in Edgington Township, Rock Island County, Illinois, May 6, 1868,
Thomas Campbell, one of the best known citizens of Rock Island County was born January 9, 1842, in Ballyhaskin Parrish, County Down, Ireland. His parents were John and Margaret (McQuaid) Campbell, and of their union four children were born: Mary (now Mrs. Rutherford), Margaret (deceased), Robert and Thomas, the subject of this sketch. The Campbells
David Hawes, the subject of this biography, father of Major Chas. W. and Frank B. Hawes, was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, October 19, 1809, and died in Rock Island, Illinois, April 20, 1900, aged ninety years six months and one day. In all that makes for good citizenship, it may be truly said that David
The City of Rock Island has several contractors and builders whose operations are upon a very extensive scale, and whose work is known, not only in the immediate vicinity of their home city, but throughout the entire western part of the United States, where they have been engaged to erect large public buildings, manufacturing plants,
The subject of this sketch needs no introduction to the older generation of Rock Island County, the larger enterprises of which he was intimately associated with throughout the many years of his residence here. Benjamin Harper was born February 12, 1817, in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died April 3, 1887, in the City
An attorney whose marked ability has been repeatedly recognized not only in Rock Island County, by whose Bar Association he has, at the time this sketch is written, recently been honored by the election as its president, but throughout the State of Illinois, is Charles J. Searle, of Rock Island. A biographical sketch of a
An able lawyer, a successful financier, and a man recognized as a state leader in Illinois Democracy, is Elmore W. Hurst, of Rock Island, one of the senior members of the legal firm of Jackson, Hurst & Stafford. Mr. Hurst was born December 6, 1851, in Rock Island, which city has ever since been his
Rufus Walker, one of the most extensive fuel dealers in Moline, was born in Williamstown, Orange County, Vermont, December 10, 1839, his parents being Rufus and Susan Walker. Eleven children, seven boys and four girls, were born to this couple. The father, who was a shoemaker by trade, died December 22, 1839, when the subject
Major Charles W. Hawes is probably the oldest male “native” of Rock Island, Illinois, born within the Village of Stephenson, now embraced in the city limits of Rock Island, prior to 1842. His father was David Hawes, a native of Belchertown, Massachusetts, and his mother was Julia M. Babcock, a native of Ware, Massachusetts, both
Morris Geismar was born April 7, 1868, at Freiburg, Baden, Germany, his parents being Nathan and Frederika Geismar. In 1885 he came to America and immediately located in Rock Island, which city has ever since been his home. In 1886 he entered the employ of the Moline Wagon Company, taking a position in the collection
The subject of this sketch, Josiah G. Heck, of Moline, was born in Harrison County, Ohio, May 8, 1840, the son of John and Sarah (Wilde) Heck, and has been a resident of Rock Island County the past sixty-four years. The Heck family is an old one; Phillip Heck, grandfather of Josiah Heck, belonging to
In considering the prominent legal firms in Rock Island County one’s mind instinctively turns to the firm of McEniry & McEniry, a firm composed of the two brothers, Hon. William McEniry and Matthew J. McEniry, having offices both in Rock Island and Moline. It is the life and character of the former of these two
The life of a good and just man, and the memory of his noble, kindly deeds, are in themselves his true biography. In the life of such an individual the observer of human character may find both precept and example. He may find in such a life sermons that speak more eloquently and leave a
Born in Rock Island in 1875, the above named gentleman, young though he is, has, by persistency and application to his chosen vocation, forged to the front until he is now one of the best known and capable contractors and builders in the City. Many structures throughout the City attest his mastery of the building
