Rock Island County IL

Biography of Guy V. Pettit

In none of the walks of life, perhaps, does the personality of the man impress itself so thoroughly upon the public with which he deals as in the case of the editor of a country newspaper. While he does not reach the thousands that the editor of a metropolitan daily does, he offsets this disadvantage through the close personal relations he sustains with his patrons and thereby his position in the community is rendered the more difficult of the two to maintain. While the head of the news gathering department of a big paper may strike right and left with … Read more

Biography of Ernst Fredrick Pihlblad, D. D., Rev.

Rev. Ernst Fredrick Pihlblad, D. D., president of Bethany College, is an educator of long and successful experience and had been connected with Bethany College more than twenty years. He was born at Kansas City, Missouri, March 18, 1873, a son of John and Louise (Nord) Pihlblad. Both parents were born in Sweden. His father came to America in 1869. He followed merchandising all his active career, and lived at Kansas City, Missouri, and at Lindsborg and Marquette, Kansas. His death occurred March 14, 1889. In 1872 he married Miss Nord, and they were the parents of two sons. The … Read more

Biography of Hon. Samuel S. Guyer

The Honorable Samuel S. Guyer was born at Lewistown, Pennsylvania, December 26, 1814. In his early manhood he was a contractor in New York City and in the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal System. In 1839, with his mother, sister and two brothers, he removed to Peoria, Illinois, from which base he engaged in the business of building flat boats and carrying cargos of merchandise to trade with the planters between Natchez and New Orleans. In the great tornado at Natchez in 1842, he lost all his possessions and barely escaped with his life. Returning to Peoria he studied law … Read more

Biography of William H. Marshall

The combination of human attributes which yields success in many fields, though a rare one, is embodied in the subject of this review. The drug business, manufacturing, stock raising, what ever he has turned his hand to, has given a balance on the right side of the ledger, so carefully has he studied and so well has he wrought. William H. Marshall was born April 23, 1851, in Warren County, Indiana. He was the youngest of eleven children, five of whom are still living. His father was Edward P. Marshall and his mother Ann (Kellam) Marshall, both being natives of … Read more

Biography of Daniel M. Sechler

Daniel M. Sechler, founder of the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company, of Moline, Illinois, was born March 4, 1818, at Danville, Pennsylvania, and died at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 27, 1903. Mr. Sechler’s forefathers, in the days of the persecution of John Huss, were obliged to flee for refuge from Austria, taking up their abode in Holland, from which country, in 1685, Mr. Sechler’s great great grandfather emigrated to America, locating near William Penn’s town of Philadelphia. His grandson, John Sechler, a revolutionary soldier, founded the town of Danville, the birthplace not only of the subject of this … Read more

Biography of George Loughead Eyster, M. D.

Among Rock Island physicians none have a wider practice or a more successful one than the subject of this sketch, Doctor George L. Eyster, one of that city’s old established and prominent physicians and surgeons. He was born May 14, 1853, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, his parents being William IF. and Lucretia (Gibson) Eyster. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Vermont. His father’s family was of German origin, the Eysters being among the early settlers in the colony of Pennsylvania. Doctor Eyster’s father was for many years a clergyman of the Lutheran Church, being also engaged … Read more

Biography of Hon. John T. Browning

The oldest member of the Rock Island County Bar, a lawyer of ripe learninig and wide experience, who has now retired from the active practice of his profession, is the Honorable John T. Browning, of Moline. He was born in Genesee County, New York, June 11, 1830, his parents being John L. and Lucy (Tillotson) Browning. He received an academic education at Rochester, where later he was admitted to the bar in the Autumn of 1858. He came west in December of that same year and located at Moline, where he immediately engaged in the practice of law, being that … Read more

Biography of Charles J. Searle

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 man so well and widely known, seems almost superfluous, for there are but few in Rock Island County, and indeed in this section of Illinois, who do not enjoy a personal acquaintance with the gentleman himself. And were these sketches written and published merely for … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Harper

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 of Rock Island, Illinois. When about fourteen years of age his parents removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served his apprenticeship to the wagon-maker’s trade, upon completion of which, that spirit of bold initiative and energy which characterized his whole after life, asserted itself in … Read more

Biography of David W. Matthews

David W. Matthews, supervisor of Black Hawk Township, president of the Black Hawk Good Roads Association, and farmer and stock raiser, is a native of Illinois, having been born in Mercer County, March 22, 1854. His parents were Dr. James S. and Mary J. (Willson) Matthews, both natives of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. Matthews was born January 1, 1825, and his wife August 18, 1829. They were united in marriage in their native state and in the fall of 1853 removed to Mercer County, Illinois, and settled at Preemption. There Dr. Matthews took up the practice of medicine, … Read more

Biography of Rufus Walker

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 of this sketch, the youngest of the large family, was only twelve days old. The seven sons all learned the same trade as the father, that of shoemaking. Rufus Walker obtained a common school education in Williamstown, and in November, 1860, he left his native … Read more

Biography of Captain Thomas J. Robinson

The municipal history of Rock Island contains some illustrious names. It is a city that has been slow in attaining its present proportions, but its growth has been steady and constant. To those hardy and adventurous men who in an early day saw Rock Island’s possibilities and expended strength, time and money in laboring to build up what was then a mere handful of people gathered together, great credit must be given. They had faith in Rock Island’s future. They labored to make that future a reality, and in their labors they were successful. One of those men who had … Read more

Biography of George Wagner

A man whose perseverance, industry and business sagacity has been largely instrumental in the establishment of one of Rock Island’s largest industries was George Wagner, one of the founders of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a man in whom those potential elements that are essential in every successful career, seemed to center. George Wagner was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, January 13, 1832. He died January 10, 1907, in Rock Island. In his boyhood he attended the common schools of his native land, and there acquired a fair education. After leaving school he was apprenticed to a baker, and in this … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Morris Geismar

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 department of that concern. Ten years later he was elected secretary and treasurer of that company, a position which he now holds. As a part of his duties Mr. Geismar has assumed what may be called the publicity department of the Moline Wagon Company. By … Read more

Biography of Walter A. Rosenfield

Walter A. Rosenfield, the eldest son of Morris and Julia E. Rosenfield, was born in Rock Island, June 13, 1877. The sketch of his father and of the history of the Rosenfield family precedes this. After completing the Rock Island public schools, Mr. Rosenfield entered St. John’s Military School at Manlius, New York, and graduated from that school. In 1898 the lingering and hopeless illness of his father, Morris Rosenfield, having made it impossible for him to longer assume the duties devolving upon the president of an industry like the Moline Wagon Company, his son, our subject, was elected to … Read more

Biography of Otto Huber

Among the younger generation of Rock Island’s prominent business men whose names are deserving of special mention for what they have achieved in their chosen vocations in life, stands that of Otto Huber, who is the present secretary and treasurer of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a Rock Island industry whose formation, growth and present scope, has been related elsewhere in this book. Mr. Huber was born in Rock Island January 19, 1866, and attended schools in that city until he was ready to enter the Illinois State University at Champaign, where he spent three years. Afterward he studied two … Read more

Covey, Harry – Obituary

Harry George Covey, 88, died this morning at the Sorensen Memorial Hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for the past six years [died March 28, 1953]. Covey was born August 7, 1864, at Poplar Grove, Ill. He lived there until 1885, when he moved to Montana, and came to Washington following the death of his wife, Mrs. Bertha Covey, in 1907. Covey had lived in Kittitas County for more than 25 years, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Ward Simons, in Ellensburg, and with his son, Harry O. Covey, in Cle Elum. Other survivors are three daughters, Mrs. … Read more

Biography of Hon. George W. Vinton

It is a pleasure for the writer to take up the career of men who, through long years of residence in Rock Island County, have by their upright lives and splendid deeds won for themselves the enduring respect and regard of their fellow citizens. In this class the Honorable George W. Vinton stands prominent. He was born at Middlebury, Vermont, December 5, 1834. His father was John A. Vinton, who served as a drummer boy during the War of 1812. After the close of that war the father received from the United States Government a tract of land for his … Read more

Biography of Alfred Bergin B. D., Ph. D.

Alfred Bergin, B. D., Ph. D.The Bethany Church at Lindsborg ever since it was established on the prairies of Central Kansas nearly fifty years ago had been a powerful influence not only in the religious life of Kansas but to a remarkable degree in the social and intellectual advancement of the people of the state. It is the oldest and the parent church of the Swedish Lutheran people who did so much to colonize and develop these prairles from a wilderness into a smiling landscape of farms and towna. The church had a membership of over two thousand people. It … Read more

Biography of Dr. Charles Crawford Carter

No vocation in life offers opportunity for greater genuine service to mankind than that of doctor of medicine, and the physician who fully appreciates his responsibilities and conscientiously responds to every call made upon him is a public benefactor in the highest sense of the term. There can be no question as to the reward that will be his in the after life. Such a man was Charles Crawford Carter, one of the best known and most generally beloved medical practitioners who ever ministered to the ills of the people of Rock Island County. Purity of mind, lofty ideals, and … Read more