Rock Island County IL

Biography of Carl Bernhardi, M. D.

One of Rock Island’s long established physicians who has achieved an enviable reputation in his profession, and who is held in high personal regard by all who know him, is Doctor Carl Bernhardi. He was born September 10, 1843, in the City of Koenigsberg, East Prussia, Germany. Here he spent his boyhood, receiving his preliminary education in the schools and colleges of his native city, and finally entered the medical department of the University of Koenigsberg in 1863. He continued his medical course in this university until the Autumn of 1866, when he went to the University of Berlin. From … Read more

Biography of Joseph Huntoon

Joseph Huntoon, deceased, a native of Hanover, New Hampshire, was born April 17, 1812, and came to Illinois in 1837, and settled at Andover Heights. Shortly afterwards he went to what is now called Richland Grove Township, where he was united to Miss Sylvia Tanneg in marriage also a native of New Hampshire, having been born at New Ipswick October 22, 1822. Joseph Huntoon only had a common school education and at an early age learned the shoemaker’s trade. In 1844 he and Mrs. Huntoon took up their residence in Moline and he was the first shoemaker of that place, … 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

Biography of James Franklin Robinson

A man of prominence and wealth, yet unspoiled by his position and prosperity; a man whose life was filled with kindly thoughts and generous deeds; a man of sterling integrity, who typified in his everyday life the highest type of Christian character, was James Franklin Robinson, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Rock Island County February 27, 1849, and died May 23, 1902, at his home in the city of Rock Island. He was the son of those well known Rock Island County pioneers, a sketch of whose lives is written elsewhere in this book, Captain and … 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 Ed Green, Col.

Col. Ed Green. While Colonel Green’s home and interests have been centered in Kansas for a number of years, he is hardly less well known in the State of Illinois, where he was reared and where he spent many active years, and in fact throughout the country and even abroad the name of Col. Ed Green is one of the most prominent associated with the breeding of short-horn cattle and of fine trotting horses. His home is now at Howard, Kansas, and he owned several ranches in that section of the state. Colonel Green was born at Indianola, Illinois, October … Read more

Biography of Capt. John Burgess Davis

When the great West was young the Mississippi River, as the principal gateway to it and almost the sole means of conveying its products to the out-side world was the center of commercial life. Men who followed the river were participants in stirring events and their work was fraught with an importance in the eyes of the public that we of today can little realize. To be a steamboat captain in the fifties and sixties invested the individual with a dignity as great as that accorded to the average railroad magnate nowadays. Captain John Burgess Davis earned his title when … Read more

Biography of William Fisk Eastman

William Fiske Eastman, co-editor with P. S. McGlynn, of the Moline Daily Dispatch and Weekly Review-Dispatch, and postmaster of Moline, was born in Ellisburg, Jefferson County, New York, November 11, 1844. His parents were Charles W. Eastman, Doctor of Medicine, and Cynthia (Fiske) Eastman. He attended the public schools of his native village and Union Academy in the neighboring village of Belleville. Graduating there he attended Union College at Schenectady, New York, graduating in the scientific course in 1866, and taking first honors of that course. In the meantime he had been teaching in the district schools, earning in this … Read more

Biography of Charles Titterington

For sixty-seven years Charles Titterington lived on the farm in Edgington Township that he entered from the Government. His children grew to manhood and womanhood, married, grandchildren came and attained maturity, and still this doughty pioneer was tilling the soil of the old home place made dear to him by decades of association. He came to Rock Island County in 1835, and at once selected and purchased from the Government the fertile acres that were his abiding place for so long a period. Charles Titterington was born in the parish of Worley, West Yorkshire, England, January 22, 1814. His father, … Read more

Biography of Philemon L. Mitchell

In recalling to mind those men who in an early day laid the foundation of Rock Island’s present commercial and financial stability, one’s memory instinctively turns to an individual who, during his lifetime, was instrumental in organizing and conducting one of the largest banking houses in Rock Island County, and who was a tower of moral and financial strength in the community, Philemon L. Mitchell, deceased. He was born October 16, 1812, at Limington, Maine, and died at his home in Rock Island January 23, 1895. His parents were Isaac and Martha (Libby) Mitchell. The father was a native of … Read more

Biography of William H. Bean

Rapidly the ranks of those who took active part in the Civil War are thinning. One after another the gray haired veterans are going to join their comrades in a land where bloodshed and suffering are unknown. Few of the defenders of the flag in the sixties are now left who are able to hold their own in the keen struggle of present day commercial life. Physical infirmities, have with few exceptions long since compelled the great majority of the survivors to drop out of the race. Yet here and there are exceptions. Now and then a sturdy old warrior … Read more

Biography of James Blair Lower

James Blair Lower, president of the First National Bank of Washington, is a banker of long and active experience, and represents a family in which the financial ability had been highly developed, two of his brothers being also well known western bankers. Mr. Lower had spent most of his life in Kansas, but was born at Lenark in Carroll County, Illinois, July 30, 1860. A number of generations back his first American ancestors came out of Europe and settled in Pennsylvania. His father was of German descent and his mother of Irish-Scotch descent, her father being Irish and her mother … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ambrose Swasey

Swasey, Ambrose; manufacturer; born, Exeter, N. H., Dec. 19, 1846; son of Nathaniel and Abigail Chesley (Peavey) Swasey; early education in schools of Exeter; degree of engineering Case School of Applied Science, 1905; Sc. D. Denison University, Granville, O., 1910; married, Hampton, N. IL, Oct. 24, 1871, Lavinia D. Marston, daughter of David and Sarah Ann (Dearborn) Marston; entered into partnership with W. R. Warner (Warner & Swasey), 1880, mfrs. machine tools and astronomical instruments; the 36-inch Lick telescope, the 26-inch of Naval observatory, Washington, the 40-inch Yerkes telescope, as well as a new and exceptionally accurate dividing engine, are … Read more

Biographical Sketch of De Witt Clinton Dimock

This pioneer Moline business man and sterling citizen was born October 1, 1820, at Wellington, Connecticut. He came west and located at Geneseo, Illinois. in 1840, taking up his residence in Moline in 1843. His activities as a manufacturer began in 1852 when he formed a partnership with Judge John M. Gould for the making of furniture and wooden ware. On the incorporation of the firm of Dimock, Gould & Company, in 1869, he was elected its president. This position he held till 1884, when he retired from the head of the concern, retaining his connection through the office of … 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

Biographical Sketch of William T. Coyne

William T. Coyne is one of the enterprising and up-to-date agriculturists of Rural Township, Rock Island County, and a member of one of the pioneer families. He is a native son of the County, having been born in Bowling Township June 16, 1861. He is a son of William and Margaret (Morrison) Coyne. Born on the farm, he has always followed that vocation. With a limited schooling he, by study and close observation, has gained through his own efforts a ready fund of general information, as well as a good working capital of special knowledge of use to him in … Read more