Biographies

    GeorgeW. Allphin    GEORGE W. ALLPHIN, section 15, Huntsvilletownship, was born in Kentucky, September 13, 1830. He is the son of Reubenand Susan (Brumback) Allphin. He was five years old when the family cameto Illinois. He was reared on the farm and helped improve the new land.He at- tended such schools as those early days afforded, when they hadlog houses, with slabs for seats, and holes on the south side for windows.In the spring of 1850 he crossed the plains to California, and followedmining for four years, and was successful, returning by way of New Orleans.On his re- … Read more

    FrancisM. Curry    FRANCIS M. CURRY, a highly respected citizenof Mount Sterling, was born in Scott county, Kentucky, April 9, 1825, ason of John R. Curry, who was born October 19, 1803. The paternal grandfather,Alexander Curry, the honored founder of Mount Sterling, Illinois, was bornOctober 14, 1770, in the State of Maryland, the son of Archibald Curry,a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America in colonial times and settledin Maryland, where he passed the remainder of his life. Alexander Currywas a pioneer of Scott county, Kentucky; he purchased a tract of land onthe Lexington pike, on which he … Read more

    FredW. Korsmeyer    FRED W. KORSMEYER, one of the most successfulmen of this locality, lives on section 30, township 17, range 12. He isa German, being born in Hanover, January 15, 1838. His parents were J.H. and Mary (Lovecamp) Korsmeyer, who were born in the same place, anddescended from the best German blood. When our subject was thirteen yearsof age they came to the United States in the fall of 1851. They took theusual passage of their fellow countrymen, from Bremer to New Orleans, andfrom there up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Beardstown. They locatedvery near the … Read more

   F. WilliamMeyer F. WILLIAM MEYER, a prosperous farmerand stock-raiser of section 17, range 11, was born in Westphalia, Prussia,Germany, in 1838. In 1849. He came to America with his parents (see biographyof Fred Meyer) and has been living in this country ever since. Here hegrew to manhood, obtaining a little knowledge of English and English books.While he is not a well educated man he has good judgment and is very intelligent.He is the eldest of his father’s family, of whom all are married and livein the United States. Mr. Meyer owns a well improved farm of 160 acres,all under … Read more

  FrederickW. Rottger  FREDERICK W. ROTTGER, one of the most successfuland enterprising business men of Mount Sterling, was born near Mendon,Prussia, August 8, 1844. His father, William Rottger, was born in the samecountry, and there was reared and married. In 1845 he determined to tryhis fortunes in the New World, and left his family behind until he shouldseek out a home for them in the strange, new land. He located in Morgancounty, Illinois, where he died about a year later. His wife was left invery humble circumstances, with four little children. In 1850 she broughther family to America, sailing from … Read more

    GeorgeBordenkircher    GEORGE BORDENKIRCHER, Chairman of the CountyBoard of Supervisors, was born on a farm in Ohio, May 1,1842. His father was named Wendal, and wasborn in Germany; and his father, David, was born in Germany, and theremarried and came to America about 1833 and settled in Coshocton county,Ohio. He bought a large tract of land there, and lived there until hisdeath. Wendal was eighteen years old when he came to America, and he residedwith his parents until his marriage, when his father gave him land in Coshoctoncounty, and he lived there until 1851, when he moved to … Read more

    GeorgeW. Trone     GEORGE W. TRONE, one of the most practical andprogressive farmers of Schuyler county, has resided here sincehe was a youth of fifteen years. He wasborn in Carroll county, Maryland, April 4, 1849, a son of Adam Trone, anative of York county, Pennsylvania. The father was a miller by trade,and followed that vocation in Pennsylvania and Maryland; he settled inCarroll county before his marriage, and resided there until 1858, whenhe removed to Illinois and settled at Astoria, Fulton county; there heoperated a mill until 1863, when he invested in land in Rushville township;the remainder of … Read more

  HenryCady  HENRY CADY, of Huntsville,came to this county in 1840. His gradfather, Reuben Cady, has been writtenup in the biography of M. E. Cady. His father was Horace Cady, and he marriedalso a Miss Cady, but no relation. Mr. Horace Cady was a farmer, and emigratedto New York State, settling near Rochester. Here they stayed until 1840,when they came to Illinois, settled in Camden, and the father purchased120 acres of land. He later resided for four years near Farmington, Fultoncounty, then returned to Schuyler county and passed the remaining yearsof his life on the farm on which he first … Read more

    HenryCraske    HENRY CRASKE, a member of the State Boardof Equalization, a resident of Rushville, and one of its most prominentcitizens, was born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk county, England, September26, 1845. His father, James Craske, was born in the same place, January4, 1798, and his grandfather was also a native of England, where he passedhis entire life. James Craske was the only one of his children to cometo America. He was reared and educated in his native land and lived thereuntil 1862, when he came to this country and located at Little Falls, NewYork, where he still … Read more

    HenryHansmeyer    HENRY HANSMEYER was born in Lippe-Detmold,Prussia, Germany in 1833. He came of pure German ancestry and of hardystock. His father, Fred Hansmeyer, married Wilhelmina Hoy of the same province.In 1849 they took passage for America and landed in New Orleans after aseven-weeks voyage. Thence the family came up the Mississippi, to St. Louis,where the Mother and one child died of the cholera after being there oneweek. The father and four children came on to Chicago, where Henry wasattacked by the cholera and confined to the house for two weeks, laterhe joined his father and the other … Read more