CARROLL COUNTY DEMOCRAT
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Vol. VIII     Mt. CARROLL ILLINOIS     March 16, 1898         NO 96
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Harvey O. Robbe was born in Mt. Carroll, Nov. 26, 1864. He received his education in the Mt. Carroll public schools, was married to Miss Emma Smith Feb. 7, 1893. In 1894 he was elected constable and served two years in that capacity as a very satisfactory officer.

In December 1894 he was appointed deputy sheriff which position he now holds to the satisfaction of everybody. He is a member of the famous champion hose team of Mt. Carroll and is also a charter member of the fire department. Mr. Robbe is a probably candidate for sheriff, and his three years’ service as deputy sheriff goes forth as a recommendation to his fitness for office.




William F. Patterson was born in Savanna, May 25, 1856. Received his education in the Mt. Carroll public schools and the University of Illinois at Champaign. He was private secretary and manager of his father’s extensive lumber business for 16 years. In 1885, seeing the necessity of an opera house in Mt. Carroll, he erected the present play house, an interior view of which is shown in the accompanying picture, right in the business center of the city. He erected the building first for roller skating, had hard wood floor for that business. Then he put in a large state and scenery from the famous scenery house of Sosman & Landis, Chicago. The house is a credit to any city. In 1889, he purchased the old established Commission business of B. Lepman & So, which he still conducts in the building shown here, which in connection with the management of the opera house, and his father’s lumber business, has kept him busy. In politics, Mr. Patterson has always been a republican. For four years he was city treasurer, and was for one term alderman of the city,
being at that time the youngest city treasurer and alderman ever intrusted with the responsibility of conducting the affairs for the people. In both positions he showed his efficiency and business qualifications. For five or six years he also held the office of Treasurer for the Carroll County Agricultural Society, and under his reign many of the buildings were erected. Was married May 6, 1896 to Miss Margaret Miller, and together they live on Clay street honored and respected citizens. Beside the above Mr. Patterson owns a fine farm just south of the corporation line, which he rents. He is regarded as one of our careful business men, is always in line for public enterprise of any kind which he thinks is for public good. He is known to every farmer who brings his produce to the Mt. Carroll market as a square business man, while the public generally regard his word as being gilt edged. As a student he was quick to learn; at figures none could add a column more rapidly than he, and to his love of mathematics is due much of his success as a financier during life. He is also a fine and rapid penman, neat and accurate. From the time he quit school until he went into the farm produce commission business he was his father’s book keeper as well as secretary and manager. However, when he went into business for himself he had to resign as book keeper but retained his place as manager and advisor until his father’s death. He is numbered among Mt. Carroll’s people as one who has built and is building for the city a name that we all cherish, namely, that it is one of the most enterprising, modern progressive little cities in Northern Illinois

James B. Miller was born in Mt. Carroll, Jan. 27, 1856 and grew to manhood here. His education was gleaned in the Mt. Carroll public schools, Beloit College, and a 3-year course in Wesleyan law college, Bloomington, Ill. In 1881 he engaged in the insurance business with W. C. Smith, the firm controlling all the fire insurance in Mt. Carroll. He was married in 1882 to Miss Anna M. Eley. One son, Clarence, was born to them. In 1885 he was elected Police Magistrate and served four years, making a first-class dispenser of justice. In 1889 he was appointed city marshal, but after serving 7 months resigned and accepted a position as State Manager for the Peoples’ Mutual Benefit Association of Elkhart, Ind., serving 3 years in Indiana and 1 year in Minnesota. He returned to Mt. Carroll in 1892 and in August of that year opened the Arcade Saloon, in which business he is still engaged.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MT. CARROLL

Was organized early in 1864, succeeding the Carroll County Bank of H. A. Mills & Co. Jas. Mark, Henry A. Mills, Henry Ashway, Duncan Mackay, Uriah Green, Daniel Hurley, John Kridler and George Miller were the original stockholders, the first five named acting as the first Board of Directors. Commenced business June 1, 1864, in the Wm. T. Miller building, then located on part of the ground now occupied by the J. F. Allison building.

In 1870 removed to present location. Its success has been uniform. It has paid to its stockholders in dividends $339,964.23. It has paid in U. S. state and local taxes $78, 170.93. The proportion of taxes / aid to profits divided shows that it has given its full share towards the support of the government, U. S. and local.






Capital………………………………......$100,000.00
Surplus Fund…………………………… 45,000.00
Undivided Profits……………………….. 6,747.66

DIRECTORS

Robert Moore, Jas. Graham, W. H. Wildey, N. H. Melendy and C. E. Beaver

Chas. F. Montague was born in Chicago, Oct. 3, 1852; received his education in the Lyons, Iowa public schools. He was employed by several carriage manufacturers in Morrison, Ill., as carriage body maker for seventeen years. Moved to Mt. Carroll in 1888, where he has since resided. Was chief of the fire department for two years and assistant chief for one year. Served on the night police force off and on for three years. He was elected constable last April and at present makes a specialty of collecting. In Feb. 1897, was elected state vice president at Monmouth of the P. O. S. of A.; was captain of the McKinley club during the last campaign. He was also a member of Co. I., 6th Reg., I. N. G. for eight years. Mr. Montague is an energetic citizen and is always for the best interests in the city. At present he is agent for the Metropolitan Accident Insurance Co.


Thomas Squires was born in Springville, Erie C., N. Y. in 1839, and lived there and assisted his father on the farm until 1864; in that year he came west to Mt. Carroll and worked on a farm. The next year he commenced work for Blake & Stowell and worked for them nine years, then went into partnership with D. M. Graham and in 1886 he secured the entire interest, and has been conducting it in his own name ever since. He was married in 1867 and has one child, a son 30 years of age, who is at present assisting in his business. They are conducting the largest hardware and machinery business in the northern part of Illinois.

The Lutheran church society was established in Mt. Carroll in 1858, and has steadily grown ever since.

Today the society owns the pretty brick church, presented in this cut, and is a progressive church, having a prosperous membership.

At present Rev. H. C. Stuckenberg is pastor, W. K. Stakemiller is superintendent of the Sunday School.

The membership of the church numbers about 90, and about 150 scholars attend the Sunday School. The Lutherans are a fine class of people and have done much towards building up the moral tone of the city.

George L. Hoffman was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany Dec. 1, 1847. He came to America with his parents in 1850, settling in Chambersburg, Pa. He was educated in the country schools in Pennsylvania and afterward attended a select school at Strausberg, Pa., to prepare for teaching. At the age of 14 he started to learn the shoe making trade which he followed for about 15 years. He came to Carroll County in 1870 and worked at his trade during the summer and taught school in the winter. In 1873 he entered the Normal school at Normal, Ill., graduating from that institution in 1877. The same year he graduated from the Wesleyan law school at Bloomington, Ill. He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and commenced practice at Des Moines, Iowa in July of the same year. In April 1878 he came to Mt. Carroll and officed with J. M. Hunter and in the spring of ‘82 opened his present office. He was elected to the Legislature in ‘82 and served one term. Mr. Hoffman was elected Mayor of the city four times and has held various offices on the city board for about 15 years. He was also the first president of the school board under the new law. Mr. Hoffman is a very intelligent man and obliging at all times.



The Bethel Church of God, or sometimes called the Winebrenarian, after John Winebrenner, was first founded in this city in 1849.

In 1860 a small church was built in East Carroll, but it was away from the business center of the city and in 1866 was moved to Main street directly opposite the public school, while Rev. H. L. Soule was pastor. Rev. I. S. Richmond is the pastor, and is a plain spoken minister of the gospel.

At present he is holding a series of revivals with success.

The Sunday School has long been a feature of this society and is well attended, Miss Cora Rinedollar being the superintendent.



Joseph I. Mershon, M. D. was born in Jones Co., Ia., Nov. 25, 1850. His father was a merchant stock raiser and shipper from 1861 to the time of his death three years ago. The Dr. received his preliminary education at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and for three years taught school near Anamosa, Iowa. In 1872 he was married to Mary Jeanette McMurrin. He first studied medicine with Dr. T. O. Mershon in 1873, who was then located at Lanark; afterwards attended lectures at the Hamilton Co. Hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, sessions of 1873-4-5 and 6. He was located at Mt. Morris, Ill., for eleven years and moved to Mt. Carroll in 1887 and conducted the drug store now owned by R. C. Stout, for three years, being a registered pharmacist. He then sold out to Mr. Stout and devoted his time exclusively to a large practice which he had built up. He has been a successful practitioner in medicine and surgery for over 20 years. He performed the high operation (or superpubic) in a difficult cystic trouble for the first time by any doctor in Northwestern Ill., now no other method in vogue. Progressive in his thoughts, active in mind and body, free, frank and without reserve in the _expression of his opinion, the Dr. resides in his beautiful home with his wife and five children enjoying a lucrative practice in Mt. Carroll and the surrounding country.

The Soldiers’ Monument, shown in the cut, is the pride of every citizen of the county, and especially those of Mt. Carroll. It stands on the northwest corner of the court house square as an every-living memento of those soldiers who lost their lives in the great struggle between the North and South in 60-65. It was erected in the summer of 1891 and was dedicated Oct. 6, 1891. It is 50 feet high, is built of Barry granite from the quarries of Vermont, and weighs in the neighborhood of 50 tons and cost something above $6,000. D. W. Dame, now dead, formerly of Lanark, was father of the project, which was carried out by a committee appointed at the soldiers’ re-union at Milledgeville, viz: W. H. Griffith, Savanna, L. F. Eastabrook, Milledgeville, N. Lewis, Thomson, Eli Lower, Salem, C. L. Hostetter, Salem, Geo. Fuller, Savanna, D. W. Dame, Lanark, Geo. F. Bucher, Mt. Carroll, to which committee were added the names of Lewis Sprecher, Lanark and Wm. J. Hay, Woodland, Supervisors. The project was earnestly opposed by certain members of the Board of Supervisors, but patriotism won, and to-day the monument stands, a monument to the committee as well as the dead veterans. For several years Mayor Geo. F. Bucher interceded through the war department and our congressman, for two cannon and a pyramid of balls and last Fourth of July they were dedicated, having been sent from the Rock Island Arsenal.

Attorney W.H.A. Renner was born in Renssalear county, N. Y. Sept. 3, 1863 and came to Illinois when but a year old. He was educated in the Lanark high school, graduating with high honors in 1882. He taught school for several years, then entered the law office of the late O. F. Woodruff at Morrison, and was admitted to the bar March 27, 1888. He has practiced law ever since with phenomenal success, attained only by a man who gives his business his undivided attention. He practiced in Lanark until 1891, when he was appointed Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court, a position which he is now filling for a third term. He moved to Mt. Carroll in 1893 and erected a fine residence given in the accompanying cut, where he with his wife, who was formerly Miss S. Allie Miller of Lanark, and his three sons, Rex, Max, and Allan, he makes his home. Mr. Renner has served a term or two as city alderman and in every position he has held has proven a success.

Mary Imogen Hunter was born in Mt. Carroll and has resided here all her life, except for a few years while attending school and teaching. She was educated in the Mt. Carroll public schools and Northwestern University at Evanston. Taught with success in the public schools of Carroll county and one year at Hinsdale, Ill. She has always spent more or less time in her father’s law office and was familiar with the land and court records previous to 1891, when she established herself in the line of Abstracting and Land Titles, and to-day her compilations are scattered far and near. This line called for others, and thereto were added, Notary Public, Fire Insurance, Loans, etc. Miss Hunter is a member of the Art Association, the Woman’s Club of Mt. Carroll, Secretary of Ola Chapter No. 170 O. E. S. for 3 years, Secretary of the 9th Dist. W. C. T. U. for the past 5 years. Miss Hunter has ever been busy, and is to-day one of the business women of not only Mt. Carroll but of Carroll county.

J. W. Thomas was born in Adams Co., Ill., Nov. 15, 1847. He received his education in the public schools of Columbus, Ill. Enlisted in the War of the Rebellion as a private soldier in the 50th Ills., Co. E., in August 1862, before he was 15 years of age, and served until the close of the war, taking part in several of the hardest fought battles, including those of Shiloh and Fort Donelson. He went through to the sea with General Sherman during that great and memorable march. Since 1865 he has traveled all over the west until 1892 when he located in Chicago and remained there until Jan. 1, 1897 when he came to Mt. Carroll, associating himself with F. A. Ehmer of Lanark in the granite and marble business. During his stay in this city Mr. Thomas has proven that he is a thorough business man and has made may friends. He was married in May 1892 to Miss Katie Geldmacher, a native Mt. Carroll lady.

Renner & Smith

Members of Carroll County Bar since 1887. Formed the present partnership 3 years ago. Mr. Renner has been Master in Chancery three terms, and is now filling that office. Mr. Smith was formerly County Clerk and Clerk of the County Court and for three terms City Attorney of Mt. Carroll. The firm is now located in the new W. F. Snook building, where they occupy the entire second floor, having one of the largest and finest suites of offices in Northwestern Illinois. Their law library is not surpassed outside the large cities, embracing over 2,000 volumes and including, besides complete lists of text books on all the titles of the law and all the law Encyclopedias published, the Supreme Court reports of Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska. The Supreme and Appellate Court Reports of Illinois, and the Reports of the Supreme Court of the U. S. Also over 250 volumes of selected cases reported in the American Decisions, the American Reports and the Lawyers’ Reports annotated. Have an expert stenographer and typewriter, enjoy a large and lucrative practice, and have the reputation of winning their cases. Their clients are among the leading citizens and business men of this part of the state. They are young men, are hustlers, and up-to-date.

Oscar E. Plasch was born in Shullsburg, Wis., Aug. 15, 1866. His education was gleaned in the public schools, where he lived for about 12 years. He came to Mt. Carroll in 1866 and went into the painting and paper hanging business, which he has followed ever since. Mr. Plasch is foreman of the Fire Department as well as a leader on the hose team. He is a bright, energetic and hustling young man who is ever willing to do good for the best interests of the city. It was through his training that the hose team was in condition to win their first championship race at Decatur, as he had patiently trained the boys for several months. He is one of the fastest foot racers on earth, and a square man. His fleetness has never swelled his head, and to-day he is one of the most modest, unassuming young men in the city.



Samuel J. Campbell was born in Lancaster county, Pa., Jan. 1, 1822. The family moved to Wheeling, West Virginia in the fall of 1831 where he spent his boyhood days and during the time learned the tinner trade. In the spring of 1847, he came to Mt. Carroll, opening the first tinshop and hardware store in the county. He is still active in business, being the oldest merchant in the county. Mr. Campbell joined the M. E. Church in January 1844, and by the guidance of a kind Heavenly Father he has been directed so far through life. With a grateful heart he desires to lean upon the same arm until the close of life’s journey.






The Mount Carroll Electric Light Co. was incorporated in Nov. 1894. The Stockholders are representative business men and merchants of Mt. Carroll. The officers of this corporation are as follows: Geo. D. Campbell, Pres., Chas. Holman, Treas., W. Q. Sayers, Sec, and Supt. The Board of Directors are: W. Q. Sayers, W. H. Wildey, Chas. Holman, H. F. Beaver and G. D. Campbell. The Company erected for a central station, a fire proof brick building which contains a 125 H. P. Buckeye engine, battery of two boilers 54 in. x 16 ft., a Springfield heater and a Duplex Dean steam pump. The electrical appliances are of the famous Wood System, consisting of one No. 7 are dynamo and lamps, one 37 ½ Kilowatt compound Wood Alternator, with switch boards, meters, transformers, and such other appliances as are necessary in a complete central station. The company has a contract with the city to furnish all night street light excepting moonlight nights. The company recently installed a City Telephone Exchange with the central office in the company’s office at the electric light station.


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Scene on Market Street on a pleasant Saturday

Residence of Mrs. R.J. Tomkins.. Built by her sons Henry & Lewis of Colorado in 1891

D. Wales was born in Ogle County, Ill., in 1838. Received a public school education at his home, then spent two years in the Mt. Carroll Seminary. After that he taught school for a time in Wysox township. Commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Leonard Pratt and graduated from the Homeopathic College of St. Louis in 1861, since which time he has been in constant practice, which gives him the title of having practiced medicine in Carroll County a longer time that any other physician. Until 1891, he was located in Lanark, but at that time moved to Mt. Carroll, where he has since made his home. He was married in 1863 to Miss Anna E. Belding. Two daughters are the result of the marriage. Dr. Wales is known from one end of the county to the other and is regarded as authority on diseases of all kinds. He has been a Mason since 1875, joining the Freeport Consistory in 1891. He has filled nearly all the chairs in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery. [Dr. Wales’ photograph was sent to our engraving house but neither cut nor photo were returned. -- Ed.]

John Taylor's Livery, Feed and Sale Stable

The First House in Town