Rock Island Illinois

Biography of Major Henry Clay Connelly

The record of Major Henry Clay Connelly, both as a soldier and as a civilian, is a brilliant one and will live long after he has passed to another world. His father was James Connelly, a son of Bernard Connelly, who settled in Philadelphia about 1800. He afterwards located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where, as a dealer in live stock he became successful. His wife, of English birth, was a Miss Eggleton. She was the first member of the Episcopal Church of England in that county and for many years the only one. James Connelly arrived at man-hood in Somerset … 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

Treaty of September 15, 1832

Articles of a treaty made and concluded, at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois, between the United States of America, by their Commissioners, Major General Winfield Scott of the United States’ Army, and his Excellency John Reynolds, Governor of the State of Illinois, and the Winnebago nation of Indians, represented in general Council by the undersigned Chiefs, Headmen, and Warriors. Article I.The Winnebago nation hereby cede to the United States, forever, all the lands, to which said nation have title or claim, lying to the south and east of the Wisconsin river, and the Fox river of Green Bay; bounded as … Read more

Biography of Carl Aaron Swensson, Rev. Dr.

Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson was the founder and chief upbuilder of Bethany College, the institution around which cluster the best and most noteworthy distinctions of Lindsborg as a community and from which have gone influences that now permeate and give character to many localities through the useful men and women educated there. In an important degree Bethany College is a monnment to the late Doctor Swensson, and to a nobler one few men could aspire. He was born at Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1857, a son of Jonas and Maria (Blixt) Swensson. His parents came to America in … Read more

Biography of Henry J. Frick

The life record of Henry J. Frick, the subject of our present sketch, is that of a self-made man; a man who through his unflagging industry and undaunted perseverance has achieved for himself not only a comfortable competence, but an enviable reputation for unswerving integrity and uncompromising honor. He was born August 31, 1858, at Rock Island, and this city has been his home ever since, with the exception of one and one-half years spent in Scott County, Iowa. His parents were William and Caroline (Dietrich) Frick. Both were natives of Germany. They emigrated to the United States in 1851. … Read more

Biography of Henry Stelck

Henry Stelck, a promising young member of the Rock Island County bar, is a native of the City of Rock Island, having been born there February 12, 1878. His father was Peter Stelck and his mother Caroline (Koester) Stelck. Both the parents immigrated to America from Germany. Mr. Stelck, the elder, was born in 1833 in Wisch, Propstei, Schleswig-Holstein. The mother was born in Lensah in the same state in 1845. The father located in Rock Island in 1867, after having for ten years immediately following his removal to America, been a resident of Davenport, Iowa. The parents of the … Read more

Biography of James Brackett

James Brackett, a prominent lawyer of Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, who graduated in the class with Daniel Webster, at Dartsmouth College, came to Rock Island in 1847 to spend the last years of a long and useful life. John Ely Brackett, eldest son of James Brackett, graduated from West Point and later was appointed a Lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Artillery. Later he became a Captain in Colonel Stevenson’s Regiment, which was to sail for California to serve during the war with Mexico, and afterwards, as Major-General John Ely Brackett, was very active during the troublous California … Read more

Biography of Rev. Christopher Mennicke

One of Rock Island’s most revered and honored ministers of the gospel, a man who has grown old in the service of his God and his church, is Rev. C. A. Mennicke, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Immanuels Congregation. He was born September 17, 1834, at Friedrichsschwerz, a small place near Halle, in Prussia, his parents being Andreas and Carolina (Winter) Mennicke. He received his early education in the institutions of Halle, Germany. An uncle, Professor F. Winter, whose home was in America, wrote to the young student and urged him to come to this country. He left Germany … Read more

Biography of Max Daniel Rosenfield

Max D. Rosenfield is a familiar name in business circles throughout Rock Island, Moline and Davenport as well. He was born in Muhringen, Wurttemberg, Germany, April 4, 1867, his parents being Daniel and Marie Rosenfield. He at-tended the public schools of his native town, He came to America at an early age, and later located in Chicago, where he resided from 1883 to 1901, when he removed to Moline. A branch of the Chicago Brewing Company had been established in Rock Island in 1894, Sam Pells being the first manager. In 1889 this Brewing Company became a part of the … Read more

Biography of Walter Johnson

Mr. Walter Johnson, the subject of this sketch, died in Rock Island, November 23, 1903. He was for a third of a century one of the vital forces of the community. For twenty-seven years he occupied the editorial chair of the Daily Union, in which position he at all times was an able and courageous champion of that which he considered right, and calculated to make the community better. His editorial utterances carried weight not only because of their intrinsic merit and evident fairness in the presentation of the subjects under discussion, but because it was recognized throughout the community … Read more

Biography of Samuel Baughman

Samuel Baughman. In the career of Samuel Baughman, now one of the leading real estate and insurance men of Chanute, there are found those qualities which make for success in business life. Industry, perseverance, a wise direction of talents and a quick grasp of opportunities have always characterized his actions, and throughout his life he has governed his operations by principles of fair dealing, so that his reputation in business matters is one which places him in an enviable position. He has been interested in a number of lines of endeavor, and in each has made a success, and the … Read more

Biography of Ben C. Hartz

One of the most extensive business enterprises conducted in the City of Rock Island is the wholesale drug house of Hartz & Bahnsen Company. It is a business that, although modest in its inception, has attained immense proportions, until today it occupies a magnificent four-story building on Third Avenue and Nineteenth Street, and for its successful operation requires the employment of a small army of clerks. It is one of the founders of this large concern and its president, whose life we propose to take up in this sketch, and as a specific example of what integrity, perseverance and industry … Read more

Biography of Rev. Thomas Mackin

Reverend Thomas Mackin was born in County Armagh, Ireland, January 4, 1841, the son of Daniel and Ann Mackin. His rudimentary education was received in the Government schools of his native land, and upon his completion of the course afforded there, he turned to teaching as a means of livelihood, and to pave the way for the attainment of wider educational advantages. In 1861 Thomas Mackin came to America, settling in Leland, Illinois. Here his brother James, was engaged in the dry goods, commission and land business. It was during war time and they did an extensive business. Thomas, however, … Read more

Biography of Frederick C. A. Denkmann

When on March 2, 1905, the spirit of Frederick C. A. Denkmann passed from earth there was completed and rounded out a life that may well serve as an inspiration for American boys of this and succeeding generations, through its disregard of difficulties, steadfastness of purpose, energy and accomplishment, sterling worth and help-fulness. In such a life there is encouragement for every young man who is constrained to be the architect and builder of his own fortunes, even as this necessity was laid upon Frederick C. A. Denkmann. He sprang from sturdy German stock, did this great American lumberman, and … Read more

Biography of L. S. McCabe

L. S. McCabe has been a factor in the commercial history of Rock Island County since 1868. He is a native of Delaware County, New York, and was educated in the common schools and academies of that locality. Coming west in his young manhood, Mr McCabe took up his residence in Rock Island County. He taught school for two terms in the southern part of this county during the time that the Hon. W. H. Gest, the present circuit judge, was county superintendent of schools. In 1870 his business career as a Rock Island merchant was begun, and his steadily … 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 Samuel Sharpe Davis

In considering those among Rock Island’s citizens whose activities have been directed toward developing that city’s industries, and whose foresight has been rewarded in a most substantial manner, one’s mind instinctively turns to the subject of our present sketch, Samuel Sharpe Davis. He was born February 1, 1858, at Covington, Kentucky, his parents being John, B. and Anna E. (Sharpe) Davis. To this couple three children were born: Thomas B., Samuel S. and Mary. The parents were of Scotch-Irish origin. Thomas Bodley Davis, the paternal grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania. In early life he moved to Kentucky, and for … Read more

Biography of Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt

The history of the United States Government Arsenal located upon Rock Island is exhaustively narrated from its inception in another portion of this work. Consequently it is not the intention of the writer of this sketch to touch upon any phase of that history except the period covered by the regime of the present Commandant of Rock Island Arsenal, Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt, a man whose executive ability has been demonstrated of a high order. Stanhope E. Blunt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1850. His father was Colonel Charles E. Blunt, Corps of Engineers, United States – Army, … Read more