Middleton Tackaberry (1808-1863), 4th and 7th Mayor of Pekin
Middleton Adelbert Tackaberry was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 15 March 1808, the son of Robert and Jane (Cooke) Tackaberry. His first wife was Eliza Bailey, with whom he had an unnamed son, a son named Samuel (born 1836 in Newark, Ohio), and a daughter named Sarah E. in 1838. He and his family came to Pekin, Illinois, in 1837. His wife Eliza died 30 Sept. 1839 and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery. Middleton remarried to Olive L. Hackett in Pekin on 29 Oct. 1840, and they had a daughter Amelia and a son Middleton Adelbert Jr., both of whom died in infancy, and another daughter named Ellen.After settling in Pekin, Middleton Tackeberry went into business as a saddler, dealing in horse sadles and other leather goods. Just two years after coming to Pekin, he took an interest in local politics. He was elected as a Trustee on Pekin's Town Board on 12 Aug. 1839 and again on 10 Aug. 1844, being chosen as the board's treasurer on 12 Aug. 1844 and clerk on 25 Nov. 1844. The following month, on 16 Dec. 1844, he was appointed to be the U.S. Postmaster of Pekin, and was re-appointed as Postmaster on 7 Dec. 1854. He was also County Assessor in 1854. Around that time, he began to purchased large amounts of land in Pekin and Tazewell County (the 1873 Tazewell County Atlas showing sizeable tracts of land in southwest Pekin on the south side of Derby Street being owned by his estate).In 1853, Middleton Tackaberry became Pekin's fourth mayor, serving a one-year term. In 1857 he returned for another one-year term as Pekin's seventh mayor.The 1850 U.S. Census says he was a "saddler" by trade, while the 1860 census says he was a "magistrate." The 1861 Pekin city directory lists him as: "TACKABERRY MIDDLETON, justice peace and insurance agent, Court, ns., 3d d. w. Second ; res. se cor. Capiol and St. Mary." That same year he ran as a Democrat for election as county judge, and was elected on 5 Nov. 1861.Middleton A. Tackaberry died in Pekin on 25 June 1863. He is the earliest Pekin Mayor whose grave may be found in Lakeside Cemetery. His grave is found in the Oak Grove Cemetery section, having been transferred there from a previous pioneer burying ground of Pekin. His grave is marked by an old obelisk in Oak Grove's Section 12 -- the inscriptions on the obelisk's four faces are for Middleton, his first wife Eliza, his second wife Olive, and his daughter Sarah E. (Tackaberry) Foster. There are numerous descendants of Middleton's son Samuel and daughter Sarah.
Peter Weyhrich (1806-1879), 8th Mayor of Pekin
One of the Pekin Public Library’s copies of the 1861 directory is a precious and fragile edition that was formerly owned by none other than Pekin’s own pioneer historian William H. Bates, who prepared the first formal history of Pekin for inclusion in the 1870-71 Sellers & Bates Pekin City Directory.The pages of Bates’ copy of the 1861 directory are amply annotated in Bates’ own hand. These notes were probably added while Bates was working on later editions of the city directory. One of the notes, on page 70 of the 1861 directory, has to do with an early Pekin city official named Peter Weyhrich Sr.On that page is a list of the directors of the Pekin and Cincinnati Union District Schools, who were elected to three-year terms. In 1861, the school directors were “Peter Weyhrich, sr.,” whose term of office was to expire in August 1861; William Stanbery, who term was to expire in August 1862; and John Haas, whose term was to expire in August 1863. A handwritten note in Bates’ copy of this directory at bottom of this page says, “Peter Weyhrich, sr., was the pioneer German settler of Pekin.”Thus, we see that Weyhrich, who arrived in Pekin in 1831 or 1832, held the special place in Pekin’s history as the first of a great wave of German immigrants who would choose Pekin as their new home in America during the 1800s. To be sure, Weyhrich was not the only person of ethnic German descent to arrive during those earliest years of Pekin’s history, but he was the first of them who had been born in Germany. By the latter half of the 1800s, the number of German settlers in Pekin was so large that the city had more than one German-language newspaper and many businesses had signs in their windows telling people that German was spoken there.Peter Weyhrich Sr. was born in 1806 in Hesse-Darmstadt. A biographical sketch of the life of Peter’s nephew Adam is included in the 1894 “Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties,” on pages 565-566. The sketch says Adam’s grandfather (identified in Weyhrich family histories as Peter’s father) Jacob Weyhrich, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, settled in Tazewell County in 1828 and was later followed by other members of his family. Peter had arrived in Pekin by 1832, but Adam didn’t emigrate until the 1850s, at or around the same time that his father Philip Weyhrich, Peter’s brother, decided to join Jacob and Peter in America.Beginning his new life in America in Pekin, the early city directories indicate that Peter was active in the community’s life and commerce. He served as Pekin’s mayor in 1858 and 1859. Peter also took part in the formation of Pekin’s first railroad companies, according to Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 “History of Tazewell County.” Most of the Weyhrich family, however, acquired land in Sand Prairie Township to the south of Pekin. Peter died Jan. 2, 1879, and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Pekin.
Herman W. Hippen (1836-1889), 22nd Mayor of Pekin
From the 1879 "History of Tazewell County," page 602 --Herman W. Hippen, the present Mayor of Pekin, was born in Germany, July 18, 1836, and came to this country in 1855. His parents, Ulrich and Anna Hippen, were also natives of Germany. Mr. Hippen received a collegiate education at Aurich, Prussia. He was united in marriage, in 1866, and they have four children, Ella E., Alma H., Herman W., and an infant child. In addition to the mayoralty he has held the offices of Supervisor, School Director, and Alderman of the City of Pekin. Mr. Hippen has been very successful in his business enterprises in this county, having accumulated a competency. He represents the Republican school of politics, and is a member of the Lutheran Church.Herman W. Hippen served as Pekin mayor from 1879 to 1880.
William Henry Bates (1840-1930), Pekin's pioneer historian
It’s simply impossible to study the early history of Pekin and Tazewell County without running across the name, and relying on the publications, of William H. Bates of Pekin. Regular readers of this column will recall that Bates was the first to publish a history of Pekin, which was included in the old Bates Pekin City Directories starting in 1870. But just who was William Bates, and how did he become Pekin’s pioneer historian?The Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room files hold the answers to those questions, specifically in the lengthy obituary of William H. Bates published the day after his death in the Nov. 12, 1930, edition of the Pekin Daily Times.“Few men had contributed as much of their time and means for the betterment of Pekin as Col. Bates,” the obituary says. “He gave the city its first daily newspaper, back in the early seventies, the Bulletin, but the venture did not pay and the paper was discontinued after nine months. He was one of the publishers of the Weekly Republican, printed numerous city directories containing much historical data and issued the souvenir booklet at the dedication of the court house, Wednesday, June 21, 1916. He was the historian of the city and knew more of the story of its early history and growth to its present population than any living man.”Bates was born in New London, Ohio, on April 28, 1840, the son of Truman and Elizabeth Bates. The Bates family settled in Lafayette, Ind., in 1848, and it was there that William went to school and learned the printer’s art. He got a job on Sept. 15, 1853, in the Lafayette Daily Argus print shop, and the next year he transferred to the Lafayette Daily Courier. There he would compose a column of type and feed one end of an old-fashioned wood-framed Adams press. In 1855 he joined the staff of the Daily Morning Journal at Lafayette.Fate brought him to Pekin in 1858. Desiring to visit some of America’s larger cities, he “packed his carpet-bag and took the train for Chicago,” his obituary says. He was only in Chicago for three weeks, however, when he received a letter from a sister who was living in Pekin, urging him to come and visit her. His visit was extended, and apart from his three years of Civil War service in the Union army, he remained in Pekin until the end of his life.Bates volunteered for the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1864, serving in Companies C and H, 8th Missouri Infantry, 15th Army Corps. He “took part in twenty-six engagements, his regiment having the distinction of never losing a battle. He and other printers in his regiment issued a paper from a print shop they took over at Mexico, Mo., printing the edition on manila wrapping paper, the only kind available, the owner having secreted the print paper at the approach of the troops.”Prior to the war, Bates happened to meet Abraham Lincoln in Metamora. “During the time he worked at his trade in Peoria he was sent to Metamora to overhaul a print shop there that was badly run down. During his short stay the young printer stopped at the local hotel or tavern, and Abraham Lincoln, who was later to become president and a world figure, was there attending court. For a week the gaunt railsplitter entertained the crowd around the office stove with his stories, and he had no more attentive listener than young Bates. The latter remembered some of the stories Lincoln told and delighted in retelling them. In Lincoln he saw one of the future great men of the republic, became one of his ardent admirers and was always a consistent republican.”Bates played a central role in many of the affairs of his community. Active in local politics, he was Fourth Ward alderman in 1887-88, was elected city treasurer in 1903 for two years, and made an unsuccessful bid for the mayor’s office in 1914. He also supervised Pekin’s Memorial Day celebrations until 1929.“He was at the fore in all public demonstrations and old-timers still talk about ‘Giasticutus,’ a mechanical elephant Mr. Bates constructed for the Fourth of July parade of 1876,” says his obituary.“Patriotic to the last, he said only a few days ago: ‘I don’t care what there is on the casket so there is a flag.’ And a flag covers him as he reposts at his home on Haines avenue.” The obituary also commented how fitting it was that, “While the nation paused for Armistice day, marking the end of the world’s greatest war, an heroic figure in civil war history, William H. Bates, passed out of life into that realm of eternal peace. . . . “ Daily Times publisher F.F. McNaughton went to the trouble of making sure Bates received a grand military funeral, the first one in Pekin’s history.Bates never retired from his trade. At the time of his death, Bates was said to be the third oldest printer in the U.S., and perhaps the oldest active printer in the country.
Henry P. Westerman (1836-1922), Pekin Alderman, wealthy distiller
The November 2015 issue of the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society Monthly, page 1466, includes an excerpt and a reprint from two vintage newspapers that tell of Pekin alcohol distillery owner Henry P. Westerman (1836-1922). It’s not really the kind of news about one’s self that one likes to see in the newspaper.The excerpt, headlined “H. P. Westerman in the Toils,” comes from the Delavan Times of Dec. 11, 1875. It reads as follows:“The Pantagraph is responsible for the statement that a warrant was issued out of the United States District Court Saturday for the arrest of Henry P. Westerman, of the Pekin Alcohol Company. It is charged that there were frauds perpetrated by the Pekin Alcohol Manufacturing Company up to last January, when the name of the company was changed to the Pekin Alcohol Company. It is for refusing to produce the books of the old company showing the transactions during the time of the crooked work, that he is to be arrested. The penalty is from $500 to $5,000, and six months to ten years imprisonment.”The significance of that piece of news is explained by a previous From the Local History Room column, “Pekin was encircled by the Whiskey Ring,” published in the April 7, 2012 Pekin Daily Times. The federal warrant issued for Westerman’s arrest was a part of U.S. Treasury Secretary Benjamin Bristow’s efforts to put a stop to a widespread conspiracy to evade the federal whiskey tax. The 1949 Pekin Centenary describes the Whiskey Ring’s activities in Pekin, which included “emptying the vast city cisterns built for fire protection here in Pekin, and filling them with highly inflammable bootleg whiskey instead of water.”The Pekin Centenary continues, “Liquor was also cached in corn shocks, and kegs were sealed and sunk in the Illinois river, here and at Peoria and other locations.”The Centenary’s account of the Whiskey Ring does not name any of the Pekin conspirators, but we know Westerman was involved, because, as the TCGHS Monthly’s reprint of an editorial column from the Nov. 3, 1881 Washington Republican informs us, Westerman was “the old head of the Pekin whiskey ring.”Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County, Illinois,” page 1083, mentions that John L. Smith (who served as Pekin mayor in 1885 and 1886) sold his distillery to Westerman, which may be how Westerman first got into the distilling business. Westerman’s Pekin Daily Times obituary also mentions that he “was an early resident of this city and for many years was prominent in its affairs. He at one time conducted the old Crown distillery here and was actively engaged in business here for many years.”Allensworth’s history, page 905, says Westerman was elected Fourth Ward alderman for Pekin in 1861, but he resigned the same year. He later moved to San Francisco, Calif., where he died, his body being brought back to Pekin and buried in Oak Grove Cemetery (now Lakeside Cemetery). As an aside, Oak Grove Cemetery began as Temperance Cemetery, founded by the Pekin Sons of Temperance, so the burial of an old Pekin distiller there makes for something of a humorous irony.Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 “History of Tazewell County, Illinois,” page 611, includes this short biographical notice of Westerman:“H. P. Westerman was born, Aug. 25, 1836, in St. Louis, Mo., and is the son of Conrad and Margaretha (Lang) Westerman. His father and his family came to Pekin in 1846, and old Father Westerman died here in 1873. H. P. attended the common schools of Pekin, and then entered Bell’s Commercial College, from where he graduated. In 1848 he embarked in the dry goods business as clerk, and from that time his active business career began. He was united in marriage with Mary L. Gregg, Oct. 13, 1856. Three children were born to them, two of whom are living.”In fact, Westerman is known to have had four children: a son, Don Heaton Westerman, who died when only 9 months old in August 1866, and three daughters, May Leslie Westerman, who died at age 9 also in August 1866, Alice Breimar Westerman Chain, and Susan Leslie Westerman Brown.Though Chapman devoted only a single paragraph to Westerman himself, Chapman continued with two pages of a biography – more of a panegyric, perhaps – of Westerman’s wife Mary, who served locally in the Soldiers Aid Society during the Civil War for four years, two as president and two as secretary. Chapman tells of dissension in the Society over how best to spend their donations, which led some local newspapers to denounce Mary Westerman unjustly, accusing her of “striking hands with the Copperheads.” (She was a Democrat, and many Democrats in Pekin during the Civil War were Copperheads, that is, they had Confederate sympathies.)Besides Chapman’s information, the 1873 “Atlas Map of Tazewell County,” page 38, features a lengthy biography of H. P. Westerman and his wife Mary, while engravings of their mansion and of Henry’s distillery are found on pages 8-9. Mary Westerman is also important to the history of the Pekin Public Library due to her prominent role in the founding and promotion of the Ladies Library Association, forerunner to the public library.Given the number of newspaper articles over the years that showed Henry Westerman in a negative light, it’s perhaps understandable that he wouldn’t be on the friendliest of terms with the local press. It’s in that context that the first paragraph of the Washington Republican’s above quoted editorial column of Nov. 3, 1881, may be understood. The Republican editor’s column reprinted a couple items from a recent issue of the Peoria Journal, in which the Journal (and the Washington Republican) enjoyed some jokes at the expense of their Pekin newspaper rivals:“J. B. Bates, of the Republican, who was threatened at his very domicile by H. P. Westerman, the old head of the Pekin whiskey ring, evidently wished the people to know that he carried no concealed weapons, as he marched from and to his home with the immense Missouri bush-whacker’s rifle over his shoulder. Armed with such a murderous-looking weapon, we are rejoiced to know that he will hereafter walk in the paths of peace.”The Journal mixed up the initials of the editor of the Tazewell Republican – he was W. H. Bates, while J. B. Irwin was then editor of the Pekin Daily Times. In any case, the Washington Republican’s editorial writer remarked, “Nor is Bates the only Pekin editor who is fearful of being blown into kingdom come. Hoffman, also, sees danger ahead and while he has no fears of the hereafter he don’t propose to take passage across the rolling Jordan until he gets a good ready, and woe be unto him who tackles the Dutchman. See what the same [Peoria Journal] writer says of Jack:“Jack Hoffman of the Freie Presse, with blood in his eye, and his ears flopping, marched boldly down Court street with a shot gun over his shoulder a la Bates. All the editors here appear to be on the war path. Peace! peace, brethern (sic), let not your angry passions rise, for we think too much of you all, to have even one of you pass out of the world in a hurry, besides you would be missing heaps of fun up here on earth.”The Washington Republican’s editorial writer then added, using colorful language that would likely result in a libel suit today, “Bates and Hoffman are not alone in this, for Irwin has been in hot water ever since he went to Pekin, and has had more trouble with his neighbors than all the others put together. He fears neither God, hell nor the devil, and, in fact, the nearer he gets to the latter the more he feels at home. The old man will reach for him though some of these days, and then heaven pity the unfortunate imps who must endure his company throughout eternity.”
William W. Sellers (1834-1872), 13th Mayor of Pekin
The foundation of Pekin’s historical record was laid in 1870, with the publication of the Sellers & Bates Pekin City Directory. Included in that directory was a “History of Pekin, from its earliest settlement to the present time.”The 1870 directory billed itself as “the first history and directory of the city.” The conjunction “and” is important – it was not the first city directory (that was the 1861 Roots directory), but it does contain the first published history of Pekin. If not for the Sellers & Bates directory, our knowledge of Pekin’s early history would be greatly impoverished.But just who were “Sellers & Bates, Printers,” to whom researchers into our local history owe such a great debt? The answer to the “Bates” part of that question is in the March 17, 2012 Pekin Daily Times, in the column, “William H. Bates of Pekin, ‘the historian of the city.’”Bates was the younger half of the printing and publishing partnership of Sellers & Bates. Sellers was William W. Sellers of Pekin, a newspaper publisher and Republican politician (there was no clear line separating the two roles in those days, even as the line between journalism and politics is obscured in our day) who enjoyed a fair degree of local prominence.Sellers briefly appears in Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 “History of Tazewell County,” p.723, in Chapman’s account of Tazewell County’s early newspapers. One of them was the Tazewell County Republican, of which Chapman writes, “. . . Wm. W. Sellers got a hold of it, in 1863 or ’64. He made it a red-hot Republican organ and one of the best papers published in the Northwest. He was a shrewd able writer and could turn the English language into a two-edge sword when in a wordy conflict with an opponent. He conducted it until his death, which occurred Dec. 15, 1872. It was then conducted by his administrators for a short time, when Jacob R. Riblett and Wm. H. Bates purchased it.”The reference to Sellers’ death in 1872 explains why Sellers’ name dropped from the title of subsequent editions of the Pekin City Directory. The business partnership of Sellers & Bates was ended by Sellers’ untimely death, after which Bates continued to publish the directories alone.The “Atlas Map of Tazewell County, Illinois” was published about 1873. The atlas includes several lengthy biographies of the “Old Settlers of Tazewell County,” all of them laden with fulsome praise of their subjects. On page 43 is a biography of Sellers that reads more like a funeral eulogy than a proper biography, but which nevertheless records all of the highlights of his life.Sellers, the biography says, “was born May 19, 1833, in Mercersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of a family of six children of Michael and Phoebe (Walker) Sellers. He is descended from one of the old and prominent families of eastern Pennsylvania. His early culture was received in the schools of his native town. His rare and eminent natural qualities, coupled with his active and studious mind, led him on to that success which, as a public man and journalist, he acquired in his after career.”Sellers went into journalism in the early 1850s as assistant editor of the Chambersburg Repository, but at age 22 he moved to McConnellsville, Pa., and became the owner and publisher of the Fulton Republican. “He was married July 8, 1856, in Indianola, Iowa, to Miss Lide Smith, with whom he first became acquainted in his native town.” They had five children. After their marriage, they returned to McConnellsville, where Sellers continued to publish the Fulton Republican. He also was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature.Sellers settled in Pekin in November 1863 and soon after purchased the Tazewell County Republican. “The county was largely democratic at this time, but owing to the herculean labors of this gifted journalist, we may largely account for the political revolution of 1872, when we find, for the first time in its political record, that the county was republican,” his biography says.Sellers was elected mayor of Pekin in 1865, but he resigned in the fall of 1866 after winning election as a representative in the Illinois General Assembly. Besides the elective offices he held, the biography states that Sellers also “was appointed, by President Grant, postmaster of the city of Pekin, which position he held until his death, which occurred at his residence on the 15th of December, 1872. His amiable and accomplished wife is still continuing the paper which was so ably conducted by her husband.”Somewhat remarkably for that era, after Sellers’ death, President Grant appointed Sellers’ widow as “postmistress of Pekin.” “The appointment meets the approbation of the citizens of Pekin, and it is well conducted through her management,” the biography says.In tribute to Sellers’ journalism, his biography comments, “It is a well-established fact in the minds of our intelligent citizens, that the press is the most potent agency for good or evil in Christendom. The same is true in state or municipal affairs. Every city owes its progress, in a great measure, to its press. Newspapers are now becoming the vehicle of thought, as well as the means of heralding the virtues of every people and the beauties of every locality to the world. In respect to these facts, Pekin was indeed benefited by the short but incessant labors of William W. Sellers.”
John W. Stoltz (1825-1899), 18th Mayor of Pekin
From the 1873 "Atlas Map of Tazewell County," page 50 --HON. JOHN STOLTZ, present mayor of the city of Pekin, is a native of Wittenburg (sic - Wurtemburg), Germany. He was born March 7th, 1825, and is the youngest of a family of five children of Frederic and Dora Stoltz. The subject of this biographical notice received his early culture in the schools of Germany, attaining a sound knowledge of the rudiments of an education. When about fifteen years of age, he became an apprentice to learn the cabinet making trade. His comprehensive ideas while even a boy, led him to infer that the United States of America presented a better field for business than that of his native land. His mind was constantly yearning to visit the elysian fields across the Atlantic. In March, 1847, the dreams of his boyhood were gratified, as in that month he took passage in a ship for the United States, and landed at New York about the middle of May, with very little, if any, money, and no acquaintances except those made on shipboard. From the city of New York, he made his way to Milwaukee, where he resumed work at his trade, resided there about one year and a half, then went to St. Louis, where he made but a brief sojourn, and on the first of May, 1849, Mr. Stoltz became a resident of Pekin. Soon after arriving here he set up in business for himself, and three years after, he celebrated the anniversary of his coming to Pekin, by marrying on the first of May, 1852, Miss Amelia Dalcher, the daughter of Samuel Dalcher, an early pioneer of this city, though formerly from Switzerland. He continued to carry on the cabinet business till 1865. He was one of the sufferers in the great fire of 1860; and again in 1865 the fiery element siezed hold of his property, and in a few minutes consumed a portion of the profits resulting from the labor of several years. Yet this plucky German was not to be daunted by these obstacles in the road of financial progress. In March, 1867, Mr. Stoltz engaged in farming, but discontinued it after a trial of one year, and returned to Pekin in June, 1868, soon after which he became a partner in the "City Mills," which latter business he is still engaged in. Mr. and Mrs. Stoltz had born to them, one daughter, Mary A., who is still living, and now residing at home. On the 15th of October, 1871, Mr. Stoltz was called to the bedside of his dying wife. This was a greater grief than he had ever before been called to bear.After becoming a citizen of the United States, he made a point of study to familiarize himself with our political and social institutions, after which he joined the then powerful phalanx of the democratic party. He had since tenaciously adhered to those, his first political impressions. His first vote for president was cast for Franklin Pierce. Mr. Stoltz has voted at every subsequent presidential election. In 1871 he was elected supervisor of this township, as the candidate of the democratic party, and reelected to the same position in 1872. His party appreciating his integrity and ability, nominated and elected him in April, 1872, to the honorable position of Mayor of this city. He is still the present incumbent, and had proved himself to be an excellent executive officer, and one who watches closely the interests of the city. When Mayor Stoltz landed in New York, as above shown, he was poor, bt being industrious and energetic, he set about to carve out of the rough material, a home, and thoroughly understanding the importance of economy in the acquisition of property, he could not do otherwise than as he has, make life a success. In him we find an excellent type of the German citizen. In his composition, to a large extent, are united breadth of view, honesty oi purpose, truth, and candor. If he had an opinion to express, he is not afraid to give vent to his views, regardless of the opinions as held by others.Yet he is not a bigot in any sense of the word. Now, when we take into consideration his starting point in life, and watch step by step his rise into a position of wealth and usefulness, it can but draw out our appreciation of the sterling merit existing within the man.From the 1894 "Portrait & Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties," page 570 --HON. JOHN STOLTZ, ex-Mayor of Pekin, is a man of influence in this community, and possesses sound judgment in public affairs, as well as in matters relating to his private interests. He is one of the oldest residents in the city, having located here as early as 1849, and has therefore witnessed the wonderful progress made by the city in the past forty-five years.Like many of the best residents of Tazewell County, our subject is a native of Germany. He was born in Wurtemberg March 7, 1825, and is a son of Fred Stoltz, also a native of the Fatherland. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, at which he worked until reaching his majority. In 1847 he left Hamburg on a vessel bound for America; landing in New York, he came west to Milwaukee, and two years later we find him a resident of Pekin, where he engaged in the manufacture of furniture up to 1865. In that year his furniture factory burned down and although sustaining a severe loss, he three years later purchased the city flouring mills, which he operated until 1892. The plant was entirely remodeled in 1883, at which time Mr. Stoltz put in a full roller system, which had a capacity of turning out one hundred and thirty-five barrel of flour per day.Our subject disposed of his mill property in 1892 in order to give his undivided attention to the Independent Biscuit and Cracker Company, which was organized the previous year, when he was elected its President. The building which the company occupies was erected by our subject in 1860, and is a large structure fitted out with the latest improved methods for the manufacture of biscuit and crackers.The lady whom our subject first married was Miss Amelia Dalcher. She was born in this state, and became the mother of a daughter, Mary, now Mrs. F. Schnellbacher, of Pekin. Mrs. Stoltz departed this life in 1871, and five years later our subject married, in Peoria, Mrs. Emma Gosewitz, also a native of Germany, but who was reared to mature years in Peoria. Their union has resulted in the birth of one child, Anna.Mr. Stoltz has always been an ardent Democrat in politics, and in 1872 was elected on that ticket as Mayor of the city. He discharged the duties of. that responsible position in a most satisfactory manner. In all the affairs of life he has borne himself in an upright manner, and is regarded as a man of true worth.Mayor Stoltz died 29 Sept. 1899 in Pekin.
Thomas Cooper (1830-1914), 23rd Mayor of Pekin
From the 1879 "History of Tazewell county," page 709 --Thomas Cooper, County Treasurer, and a pioneer of Tazewell Co., was born Feb. 2, 1830, in Hamilton Co., Ohio, and came to this county way back in the early days of the county's history, in 1844, when but a lad of fourteen years. His parents, William and Mary (Beal) Cooper, were natives, the former of Virginia, and the latter of Pennsylvania. At the rather tender age of 19, Mr. Cooper, in compliance with the scriptural injunction, "took unto himself a wife," and in 1849 was bound in the bonds of matrimony to Miss M. A. Strickland. Five children blessed the union. Mr. Cooper at the age of 16, enlisted in the Mexican War, in which he did gallant service, and fought under that brave old hero Gen. Winfield Scott. In January, 1879, he, as a delegate, accompanied the " Merchant's and Manufacturer's Industrial Deputation of the Northwest," to Mexico, thereby giving him an opportunity to see that land, where thirty-three years before he had helped to vanquish that great Mexican chieftain, Santa Anna.Obituary notice from the Decatur Review, 8 June 1914, page 10 --G.A.R Mexican WarColonel Thomas Cooper, former mayor of Pekin, died at his home in Pekin Friday. He was the father of Mrs. Ellen Augustine of Decatur and she was at his bedside at the time of his death. Colonel Cooper was a veteran of the Mexican War.
William T. Edds (1827-1896), 16th Mayor of Pekin
Edds Street in southwest Pekin and Edds Addition are named for him. Appointed Pekin mayor in 1869 to serve out the rest of the term of Mayor Columbus J. D. Rupert, who had resigned after losing his reelection bid.From the 1894 "Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties" --WILLIAM T. EDDS. One of the most prominent men in the city of Pekin is the gentleman whose well known name opens this sketch. He has represented the city as Mayor, Marshal and Chief of Police, and is now a member of the Pekin Steam Cooperage Company.He is one of the oldest settlers in this locality, having come here as early as 1831, since which time he has been very successful in his business ventures.Our subject was born in Springfield, this state, November 25, 1827, and is the son of Bartlett Edds, a native of Virginia. The family name was originally spelled Eads, but was changed by Grandfather Barnett Eads, who was of Welsh descent.Bartlett Edds was an infant of two years when his parents removed to Kentucky, where he made his home until 1822, when he came to Illinois and located in Sangamon County. In 1831 he came to this county, and was engaged in farming on the Mackinaw Creek at the time of the Black HawkWar, in which conflict he participated. He departed this life in 1873 in this county. His wife, Mrs. Dianna (Kemper) Edds, was born in Kentucky, and departed this life in Tazewell County. She was the daughter of Thomas Kemper and reared a family of nine children, of whom oursubject was the fourth in order of birth.William T., of this sketch, was four years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal from Springfield to Tazewell County, and when old enough to do so attended school in the log schoolhouse. He remained at home on the farm until eighteen years of age, when he learned the trade of a cooper under the instruction of an uncle, and worked at his trade in Pekin for a time. He then removed to Newark, Ohio, and from there went to Muskingum County. In 1853, however, he returned to this city, and opening an establishment, here engaged in the manufacture of pork, lard and whiskey barrels. He was very successful in this venture, and five years later found him the proprietor of four shops in different parts of the city, and at the same time he was engaged as a wholesale liquor dealer and retail grocer. These enterprises he abandoned in 1873, and in 1889 he organized the Pekin Steam Cooperage Company, of which he is General Superintendent. The President of the company is George Herget, and the Secretary and Treasurer is J. A. Edds, a son of our subject. The factory is located on Twelfth and Margaret Streets, within a convenient distance of the railroad, and covers an area of 60x240 feet. They give employment to from seventy-five to eighty men, and have a capacity for turning out one hundred thousand barrels per year.Our subject was married in Newark, Ohio, in 1849, to Miss Mary E., daughter of James Dewar, who was born in Virginia. Her father was also a native of that state, but removed to Ohio in an early day and located in Newark. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Edds are, George B.,who died when young; Frances E., the widow of David VanAtta, and James A., who is engaged in business with his father. He is a graduate of the Abingdon College, and was engaged in the grain and feed business in this city until 1889, since which time he has been Secretary and Treasurer of the Cooperage Company. He was married in this state to Miss Lena, daughter of Thomas Payne, and to them have been born four children. He is a Mason of high standing, and is also a Modern Woodmen. He is very popular and prominent in public affairs and was elected Alderman of the First Ward.Our subject has been interested in real estate in the city, and in 1867 laid out Edds' Addition. He has built many houses which he has sold, but still has in his possession much valuable property. Socially, he is a prominent Mason, and is a strong Democrat in politics. For eight years he held the office of Chief of Police, and was Marshal of the city for some time. He has met with the success attending perseverance and industry, and is now one of the leading business men of this city.
Steinmetz Family Plot
This grand marker commemorates the Steinmetz family, who were prominent businessmen in Pekin. Note, however, that no one surnamed Steinmetz is buried in this immediate cemetery plot -- instead we see the surnames of Burress, Kaylor, Smith and Klein (i.e., Steinmetz relatives). In 1909 the Steinmetzes commissioned the construction of a memorial chapel further to the south in Section 11, but that structure fell into disrepair and was demolished about 1958. The remains of the Steinmetz family's most prominent members are entombed in Lakeside Cemetery Mausoleum in the south part of the cemetery.
John Herget (1832-1907), 19th Mayor of Pekin
From the 1879 "History of Tazewell County," pages 601-602 --John Herget, of the firm of J. & G. Herget, wholesale grocers, is one of the leading and representative men of Tazewell Co. He has accumulated a large property and built up one of the largest busi- ness houses in this part of the State. The citizens have honored him with the office of Mayor of Pekin. He is a shrewd business man, enterprising citizen, and an upright gentleman.John Herget (born 17 Aug. 1832 and died 7 Aug. 1907), served as Pekin mayor in 1873 and 1874. He built the large red-brick mansion at the southeast corner of Washington and Eighth streets.****From the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County, page 1020 --John Herget, the subject of this sketch, was born in Hergershausen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, October 27, 1830, and was a son of Philip and Margaret (Reuling) Herget, the former of whom was born in Germany in 1800. The maternal grandfather, George Reuling, was also a native of Germany. Mr. Herget spent the earlier years of his life in the city of his birth, where he learned the wagonmaker's trade under the personal supervision of his father. He came to America in 1849 and settled in Columbia, Lancaster County, Pa., where he remained one year and then removed to Gettysburg, Pa., working at his trade there until 1853.In the latter year (1853) Mr. Herget located in Pekin and entered the employ of T. & H. Smith, carriage manufacturers, remaining with them until 1866, when, with his brother, under the firm name of J. & G. Herget, he started in a grocery business in a building located where the German-American Bank now stands. In 1870 the brothers erected a double store, diagonally northwest from their former building on Court Street to which they removed, continuing in the wholesale grocery and liquor business until 1891. They then retired from the grocery business, devoting all their time to various other enterprises.Subsequently Mr. Herget was one of the organizers of the Star and Crescent distilleries with which he was identified until 1892, when the property was disposed of to Samuel Woolner. He was also the founder of the Globe Distilling Company, was interested in the Pekin Steam Cooperage Company, Gas and Electric Light Company, Turner-Hudnut Grain Firm, Globe Cattle Company, The Farmer's National Bank, The Beet Sugar Factory, and was also a large holder of real estate.As above mentioned, Mr. Herget came to Tazewell County in 1853, and just prior to his location there was married at Gettysburg, Pa., to Miss Ernestine Schreck, who was born in Saxony near Saxe-Weimar. Of this union the following eight children were born: Mary, who died in 1866; Emma. now Mrs. John Nolte; Lena, who became the wife of D. D. Velde; Martha, who married George Steinmetz; Bertha, now the wife of Mayor W. J. Conzelman; George, John, and C. G. Herget.In religion, Mr. Herget was a member of St. Paul's Evangelical Church, of which he was one of the founders, and to which his contributions were always most liberal. Politically, he was affiliated with the Republican party and held several important public offices, among them being those of Alderman, Supervisor, and Mayor. He was an incumbent of the Mayoralty during the years 1873 and 1874.Mr. Herget was a man of stalwart physique, and all his life had been a man of excellent habits and in the enjoyment of good health. But, about the 12th of September, 1899, he was attacked by malaria, which slowly developed into ascending paralysis and, under its insiduous approaches, he passed quietly and peacefully away on the 21st day of that month.From the above narrative, the conclusion is at once reached, that Mr. Herget was an exceptionally good business man; but it is well known that he was not so absorbed in the accumulation of money as to have no leisure for the enjoyments which spring from right living. His home was the abode of sensible and healthful happiness, and his life furnished an example to be emulated by all those who wish to attain ideals of honest and manly citizenship. He enjoyed due reward for all his labor — an affectionate help-mate, a family of appreciative children, an honored place in the community, and the respect and confidence of all who knew him. He was a man of great force of character and tireless energy, yet possessed of a most kindly and charitable disposition, firm in his friendships and true to his convictions of right. It is eminently true that the world was better for his living.
George Herget (1833-1914), prominent Pekin business and banker
The Herget name has been prominent in Pekin’s history since the 1850s and 1860s, when the Herget family left Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany and came to America. Of that family, the immigrant brothers John, George and Philip each played significant roles in the development of Pekin. Evidence of the legacy of the Herget family is found today in the name of the Herget House (or Herget Mansion) at 420 Washington Street, and, until some years ago, in Herget Bank.Another of the indications of the prominence of the Hergets in Pekin’s history and community life may be found in the 1894 “Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties, Illinois.” Included in that volume were the biographies of four members of the Herget family: the three immigrant brothers John, George and Philip, and John’s second son John H. Herget.The lives of the three brothers were intertwined, as they often partnered in various business ventures. The eldest, John, also served as Mayor of Pekin in 1873 and 1874.At the time that George's biography was published in “Portrait and Biographical Record,” page 384, he was president of the Globe Distilling Co., president of the Pekin Electric Light Co., and president of the Pekin Steam Coopering Co. The biography said that he “ranks among the most prominent and successful business men of central Illinois, and has not only sustained the reputation of the family name, but by his honorable and worthy life has added to its lustre,” praising him for his “superior intelligence, sound principles and noble character,” and commenting that, “he is always an earnest advocate of the cause of justice and right, and has exerted a beneficial influence in the community with whose interests his own have long been identified.”The biography continues, “Born May 9, 1833, the subject of this sketch is a native of Hergeshausen, Kreis Deiburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany . . . . In his native land he spent the days of boyhood, and learned the trade of a wagon-maker. In 1852 he took passage at Havre, France, on a sailing-vessel bound for America, and after landing in New York, proceeded to Gettysburg, where he engaged in the trade of a carriage-maker until the fall of 1853.“Coming west at that time via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Mr. Herget settled in Pekin, where he became a carriage-maker in the T. & H. Smith Carriage Works. In 1858 he embarked in the retail grocery business, and two years later he was joined by his brother John.” Together, John and George founded J. & G. Herget Inc. of Pekin, wholesale sellers of groceries and liquor.The sketch continues, “In 1870 he built a block containing two stores, and there, since 1871, he has conducted an extensive business, being for some time in the wholesale grocery and liquor business, but now devoting his attention wholly to the latter line of work.“In 1888 Mr. Herget assisted in the organization of the Pekin Steam Coopering Company, and has since been its President. In the fall of 1892 he built the Globe Distillery, which was completed and opened in April of the following year. This concern is situated on the Jacksonville South-eastern Railroad, and has a capacity of five thousand bushels per day, being the largest distillery in Pekin. In addition to these enterprises, Mr. Herget is interested in the Globe Cattle Company, which owns about thirty-eight hundred head of cattle. In the organization of the Electric Light Company he was a prominent factor, and has been its only President.”It was George’s nephew Carl Herget, son of John, who built the Herget Mansion on Washington Street in 1912. One the most significant parts of the Herget family’s legacy, however, was the establishment of Herget Bank on April 17, 1905. George Herget and his sons Henry G. Herget and William P. Herget founded the bank as George Herget and Sons, and were among the bank’s original board of directors. The bank was chartered nationally in 1910, when it became Herget National Bank of Pekin, Ill.Another lasting legacy of George Herget was the construction of the Pekin Carnegie Library in 1902. Herget played an important role in the events leading up to the library’s construction. When Mary Gaither had begun to drum up support for a Carnegie Library, Herget responded favorably, writing in a letter of Nov. 8, 1900, “I will be pleased to give to the City of Pekin a site for a Library building according to the terms of a certain letter to you from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, dated October 8th., 1900.”Copies of that and other related letters were included in the library’s cornerstone time capsule in August 1902. Also included in the time capsule was the title deed conveying the land for the library from George and Caroline Herget to the city of Pekin, along with a photograph of George Herget.*****From the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County, page 1018 --If we have kindly words for men, we should deem it a privilege to speak of them while they live. Those who have reached the allotted three-score and ten, and all along the way have been exemplars of those virtues which mark manliness and exalt citizenship, are deserving full need of praise, as they round out a life of integrity and beneficent usefulness. To speak of Mr. Herget as one who has lived long and lived well, is but to express the conviction of all those who have known him best.Born May 9, 1833, the subject of this sketch is a native of Hergeshausen, Kreis Dieburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. His father, Philip, was born in the same place in 1800, and served as an officer in the German army, after which he followed his trade of a wagonmaker, together with farming pursuits. The mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Reuling and who was born in Hergeshausen, was the daughter of George Reuling, a well-to-do farmer of Hesse-Darmstadt; she died in 1836. The father died in Pekin, in September, 1871.The three children born to Philip and Margaret Herget are: George, of this sketch; John, who died in Pekin in September, 1899, and Mary, the wife of Nicholas Reuling, of Pekin. The father married as his second wife Miss Anna Klein, and they had five children: Margareta, who became the wife of Adam George (both being now deceased); Mary, who married John Fraeger; Philip; Catherine, wife of John Block, and Madeline, wife of George Meisinger, of Peoria, Ill. Of the four living children, all but the last named are residents of Pekin.Mr. Herget spent his boyhood in his native land, and there learned the trade of a wagonmaker. In 1852 he took passage at Havre. France, on a sailing vessel bound for America, and after landing in New York, proceeded to Gettysburg, where he was employed at his trade until the fall of 1853. Then coming West, via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, he settled in Pekin, where he found employment in the T. & H. Smith carriage-works. In 1858 he engaged in the retail grocery business. Two years later he was joined by his brother John, forming the partnership of J. & G. Herget. In 1870 they erected the store building at the corner of Court and North Fourth Streets where, since its completion, he has conducted an extensive business, being for some time in the wholesale grocery and liquor trade.In 1888 Mr. Herget assisted in the organization of the Pekin Stave and Manufacturing Company, and has since been its president. In the fall of 1888, with other family interests he built the Star Distillery: in 1890, the Crescent Distillery, and, in 1892, the G1obe Distillery. This is the largest distilling house in Pekin, having a capacity of 5,000 bushels per day. The year 1900 witnessed the building and completion of the Illinois Sugar Refining Company, and Mr. Herget became largely interested in it. In addition to these enterprises, he is also interested in the Globe Cattle Company, which annually feeds from 6.000 to 7.000 head of cattle. He was honored by being elected the first President of the Pekin Park District. As will be seen, he deservedly ranks among the most prominent and successful business men in Central Illinois, and his position in the financial world has been reached only by the exercise of sound business principles and unswerving integrity. He is a safe counsellor, and has always been an advocate of the cause of justice and right, in whatever capacity he may have been called upon to act.Mr. Herget has frequently been called to public position by his fellow-citizens, but has never been an aspirant for political office. He has served in the City Council, on the Board of Education and has represented the city in the County Board of Supervisors. In politics he has always affiliated with the Republican party.One of the notable benefactions bestowed by Mr. Herget upon the community was the presentation to the city of the site upon which the Carnegie Library Building stands. He was one of the founders of the St. Paul's Evangelical Church, and, ever since its organization, has been one of its most liberal contributors.Mr. Herget was married in Pekin, in 1861, to Miss Caroline Goehner, born in that place and the daughter of George Goehner, an old settler and prominent farmer of Tazewell County. To this union four children have been born: Henry G.; Mary L., wife of George Ehrlicher: William P., and Carrie A., wife of C. A. Harnish— all residents of Pekin. The members of the family stand high in the social circles of the city, and are universally respected for worth and nobility of character.
Isaac Eugene Leonard (1822-1879), 9th Mayor of Pekin
Among the drawings illustrating Thompson’s 1864 wall plat map of Tazewell County is one that shows the mansion of a certain I. E. Leonard of Pekin. To have lived in such a house, clearly he must have been a man of some importance in town. Delving into Pekin’s history, that is exactly what we find.Born April 8, 1822, in Hallowell, Maine, Isaac Eugene Leonard II was a son of Isaac Eugene Leonard (1790-1853) and Julia Washburn, and was a brother of Frederick Washington Leonard (1820-1879) and Julia Maria Leonard (born 1825). I.E. Leonard’s parents were born in Raynham, Mass., and they and their children came to Illinois. The elder Isaac E. Leonard is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Tremont.The 1840 U.S. Census shows “Isaac Leonard” living in Tazewell County – that could be either the elder or the younger Isaac E. Leonard. Ten years later, the U.S. Census shows “Eugene Leonard” living in Pekin, age 24, a merchant – that’s undoubtedly I.E. Leonard. He had four sons, Louis, Charles G. Isaac Eugene III, and Henry Baldwin.In fact, I.E. Leonard was one of Pekin’s early merchants. The 1861 Pekin City Directory, page 38, shows “Isaac E. Leonard,” residing on the west side of Leonard (today called Summer Street), two doors south of McLean. The neighborhood where Leonard built his mansion was the Leonard Addition. Also listed in the 1861 directory was Isaac’s brother Frederick W. Leonard. Together, Isaac and Frederick operated the firm of Leonard & Co., and lumber and produce outfit located at the corner of Front and Ann Eliza on the Illinois riverfront.The 1870 Pekin City Directory shows that Isaac was apparently still living at the same spot: on the west side of Leonard, between Winter and Pearl streets – “Pearl” is today known as Prince Street. The 1873 Atlas Map of Tazewell County shows that a significant stretch of land adjacent to Isaac’s place of residence was then the location of “Leonard Bros.” Leonard’s mansion is no longer there today.The 1879 and 1905 Tazewell County histories of Charles C. Chapman and Ben C. Allensworth together show that “I. E. Leonard” served as mayor of Pekin in 1860 and 1861, afterwards being elected as Fourth Ward Alderman on the Pekin City Council in 1862 and again in 1870. Leonard’s leading position in town is further indicated by the fact that his wife was one of the founding members of the Ladies Library Association (ancestral to the Pekin Public Library) and served as the association’s president in 1870. She was noted for her great success at organizing fundraising events on behalf of the library.Chapman’s history, page 347, also lists “I. E. Leonard, Pekin” as one of the 19 vice presidents who on Aug. 6, 1864, were chosen to represent the communities of Tazewell County on the committee overseeing the Tazewell County Sanitary Fair, an event held to raise money for the Soldiers Aid Society’s efforts to provide care for Civil War soldiers and returning veterans.Allensworth’s 1905 history, pages 872-3, informs us that Leonard was the founding president of the First National Bank of Pekin when it opened in 1866. His brother F. W. Leonard was vice president. The bank only existed for nine years, however. After the bank was liquidated in 1875, Allensworth says, “the private banking firms of Leonard & Blossom and, in 1876, F.W. Leonard & Co. continued the banking business at the old stand of the First National Bank.”Isaac was not a part of the reorganized banking firm, however. The 1876 Pekin City Directory says “Israel” (sic) Eugene Leonard, retired, then lived at the southwest corner of Delavan Ave. and Winter, four blocks east of his former residence. He died in 1879 and was buried in Section I-3 of Lakeside Cemetery, Pekin, in a grave marked by an impressive obelisk monument (indicating his wealth and status during life).
Benjamin S. Prettyman (1819-1895), 10th Mayor of Pekin
On the shelves of the Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room is the 1864 edition of the “City Charter and Revised Ordinances of the City of Pekin, Ill.,” a relatively slim volume that comes to only 154 pages counting the index.Perhaps most people would say the 1864 city charter generally makes for some dry reading, since it is only a collection of laws and regulations, with no narrative or characters or plot. In all its pages, this book mentions but one person by name, on page 29, at the start of the section on the charter’s amendments.The first amendment to the charter was approved by the Illinois General Assembly on Feb. 10, 1849, a few months before the town of Pekin would be incorporated as a city. The amendment ratified the town board’s decision granting and confirming title to “the ferry across the Illinois river within the corporate limits of said town of Pekin” to “Benjamin S. Prettyman, his heirs and assigns.”Who was this Benjamin S. Prettyman who had the distinction of being the only individual named in the 1864 Pekin City Charter? The answer is readily available in another book in the Local History Room collection, the 1893 “Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties,” pp.457-461. Prettyman’s biography which appears in that volume is longer than most, indicating his prominence in the early history of Pekin and Tazewell County. An even lengthier biography of B.S. Prettyman was published in the 1873 “Atlas Map of Tazewell County, Illinois,” pp.30-31, and his portrait adorns the title page of the atlas.Benjamin Stockley Prettyman was born Nov. 21, 1819, in Smyrna, Delaware, the only son and second child of Lewis and Harriet (Mason) Prettyman. Lewis brought his wife and five children to Tazewell County in 1831, “journeying up the Delaware to Philadelphia, thence to Pittsburgh, and from there down the Ohio and up the Mississippi. The boat upon which they journeyed from St. Louis to Pekin was the second that made the passage up the Illinois.”Lewis Prettyman settled on land by the Mackinaw River that had never been broken by a plow. He built a fort at the river bank – this was the year before the Black Hawk War – and later built a log cabin at the forest’s edge “and broke the prairie soil with the first wooden mold-board plow introduced into the neighborhood.”His son Benjamin was intellectually gifted, but had the common experiences of growing up in a pioneer family on the American frontier, which including being mostly self-educated since there was little access to formal schooling. Benjamin’s father served twice as County Surveyor, which led Benjamin to serve four years as Deputy Surveyor. It was during those years that Tazewell County, which formerly extended from the Illinois River to Sangamon County and included the city of Chicago, was reduced to its present boundaries. As deputy surveyor, Prettyman was one of the commissioners who divided the smaller county into townships around 1841.Prettyman’s duties led him to begin legal studies in 1844 under Judge Robbins of Springfield. “He went to the office of Logan & Lincoln, but it was crowded with law students, and Logan advised him to get some legal books, adding that he would loan him such volumes as he desired. In March, 1845, he was admitted to the Bar of Illinois, at Springfield, and afterward settled in Pekin, which then had a population of four hundred.”Prettyman’s connection to Pekin dates to as early as April 1840 – it was in Pekin at that time that he married Sarah A. Haines, daughter of William Haines, one of Pekin’s founders. He and Sarah had a large family, and one of their sons-in-law, Daniel Sapp, later became mayor of Pekin. Benjamin’s father-in-law “owned a mercantile establishment, a distillery, as well as the ferry and other important interests here.” That is how Prettyman came to be mentioned in connection with the Pekin ferry in the 1864 city charter.Besides the family interest in the ferry, Prettyman also played a prominent role in bringing the railroad to Pekin and helping to extend rail lines throughout central Illinois. In addition, Prettyman was elected Mayor of Pekin in 1862. His 1893 biography says, “During the war he was twice elected mayor of Pekin, and served in the same capacity several times afterward.” Other published lists of Pekin’s mayors show only his 1862 term in office – during the other times he apparently served temporarily as acting mayor.Prettyman’s 1893 biography notes that he then had “the distinction of being the oldest attorney in Tazewell County.” He died April 8, 1895, and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Pekin. His home in downtown Pekin is long gone, but another of his homes, in the 1100 block of North 11th Street, still stands today.
Civil War Veterans Memorial
The Civil War Soldiers Memorial in Lakeside Cemetery was dedicated on Memorial Day, 30 May 1905. The inscription on the monument says, "In memory of our soldiers of Pekin, Illinois. Erected by W.R.C. #236." The Women's Relief Corps #236 used to meet on the second and fourth Friday afternoons at the former Grand Army of the Republic Hall, 616 Court Street. GAR and WRC Civil War artifacts were committed to the care of the Tazewell County Board and formerly were displayed in a small museum call "Historical Hall" in the Tazewell County Courthouse.54 soldiers are interred at the Civil War memorial, although only 48 grave plots are marked or visible, and only 23 of the soldiers buried at the memorial were Civil War soldiers -- the remainder were Spanish-American War or World War I veterans rather than Civil War soldiers. A remarkable feature of the Civil War memorial is that the five rows of headstones are all arranged so that a visitor must face east in order to read their inscriptions. Likewise, the statue of the soldier who is standing guard over their graves is also facing east. This is in keeping with ancient Christian beliefs and burial customs in which the remains of the deceased are laid with the feet facing east in anticipation of the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. At the resurrection, Christ is expected to return coming as a light from the east, so the dead are buried in a way so that they can readily sit up and stand to see Jesus approaching. The soldier standing guard faces east so he can spot the light of the return of Christ and then quickly awaken his comrades.The soldiers buried at the Civil War memorial are just a fraction of the Civil War soldiers who rest at Lakeside Cemetery. Cemetery records at the Pekin Public Library show a total of 238 Civil War soldiers interred at Lakeside. Of those 238, two of the Civil War dead at Lakeside are Unknown Soldiers. (Lakeside also has two other Unknown Soldiers, but records do not tell us in which American war they fought and died for their country.)These are the names of the dead at Pekin's Civil War memorial:Row 1:Cpl. Allonzo McCain, 85th Ill. Inf., Co. A - CIVIL WARPvt. Henry Free, 106th Ill. Inf., Co. H - CIVIL WARPvt. James Slates, 5th Ill. Inf., Co. G - Spanish-American War veteranPvt. Joseph Grans, 1st Missouri Engrs., Co. I - CIVIL WARCpl. James VanDoren, 11th Ill. Cavalry, Co. D - CIVIL WARPvt. Joseph Smith, 1st U.S. Artillery, Co. L - CIVIL WARPvt. Jasper Eveland, 7th Ill. Inf., Co. E - CIVIL WARPvt. John Strand, 8th Ill. Inf., Co. I - CIVIL WARCapt. Nickols Davis, 44th Ill. Inf., Co. A - CIVIL WAR[Stone Illegible]Row 2:Pvt. Thomas Peyton, 16th Ohio Inf., Co. D - CIVIL WARCvt. Ferdinand Plocher, 2nd Ill. L.A., Co. A - CIVIL WARSgt. Edgar Bosley, 1st U.S. Cavalry, Co. E - CIVIL WARPvt. Charles Hinkel, 1st Missouri Inf., Co. I - CIVIL WARPvt. Michael Bastian, 57th Ill. Inf., Co. A - CIVIL WARPvt. I. D. Sipes, 148th Ill. Inf. - CIVIL WARCpl. William Bohlander, 148th Ill. Inf., Co. C - CIVIL WARPvt. John E. Baker, 1st Reg. Ill. Vol. Artillery, Battalion I - CIVIL WARRow 3:Pvt. Martin H. Kaufman, 5th Ill. Inf. - Spanish-American War veteranArtifi. George Jerger, 5th Ill. Inf., Co. G., Spanish-American War veteranPvt. Henry Crist, 6th Indiana Cavalry, Co. G - CIVIL WARHenry Bradley, 7th Kentucky Inf., Co. C -- CIVIL WARWag. John Duncan, 108th Am. Trn., 33rd Division, Co. G -- World War I veteran1st. Sgt. William H. Fuller, 108th Amm. Tr., 33rd. Division, Co. G -- World War I veteranPfc. George Franklin Palmer, 23rd Inf., 2nd. Division, Co. M - World War I veteranPvt. George Cole, 126th Pa. Inf., Co. C, and 21st Pa. Inf., Co. L - CIVIL WARRow 4:[Unmarked Plot]Pvt. Andrew S. Green, 34th Ill. Inf., Co. I - CIVIL WARPvt. Jesse E. Collar, 9th. F. A., Battalion D, World War I veteranPvt. Lucious Hill, 23rd Ill. Inf., Co. D - CIVIL WARWag. Roy Anderson Lawson, 108th Am. Tr., 33rd Division, Co. G, World War I veteran [Headstone marked with Star of David]William E. Daniels, cool, 114th Cas., World War I veteranPvt. George H. Munson, 5th Ill. Vol. Inf., Co. G, Spanish-American War veteranPvt. Levi Powell, 64th Inf., Co. F, World War I veteranPfc. Pelegreno Zucarine, 129th Inf., 33rd Division, Hdq. Co., World War I veteranPvt. Frank Daniels, School for Bakers & Cooks, World War I veteranPvt. James Calvetti, Prov. 31st Division, 161st D.B., 13th Co., World War I veteranRow 5:[Stone Illegible]Pfc. Roy E. Chamberlain, 10th Am. Tr., 33rd Division, 1st Co., World War I veteranPvt. Justus Wilts, 201st Inf. and 2nd U.S. Inf., Spanish-American War veteranPfc. Robert Gray, 7th Inf., Co. I, World War I veteranPvt. Thomas P. Biggs, 2nd. Hq Co. Base Hospital, World War I veteranPfc. Clarence V. O'Keefe, 123rd & 30th Ill. Inf., Co. G, World War I veteranPvt. George L. Heinz, QMC, World War I veteranPvt. Steve Vaughn, 38th Inf., Co. L, World War I veteranFred N. Olson, cook, 304 F. A. 77th Division, Battery A, cook, World War I veteranCpl. Minard Remmers, 4th F. A., Battery H, Spanish-American War veteranPfc. Walter E. Behrens, 100 Aero Squadron Ill., World War I veteranOther soldiers buried at the memorial -- rows unknown or uncertain:Sgt. Edward Bailey, 1st U.S. Cavalry, Co. E - Spanish-American War veteranPvt. Elmer A. Baker, regiment unrecorded -- CIVIL WAR(NN) Hubert, no information availablePvt. J. B. Kitchen, 116th Ill. Inf., Co. I - CIVIL WAR(NN) White, no information available(NN) Wilson, no information available
John L. Smith (1838-1924), 24th Mayor of Pekin
From the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County, page 1083 -John L. Smith, fire insurance agent and Mayor of the city of Pekin, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, May 27, 1839, being the son of John and Jane (Leslie) Smith, both natives of Scotland, and the grandson of John Smith and William Leslie, also Scottish-born and bred. The boy was brought by his parents to Pekin, when he was five years of age, and the father secured a farm in Elm Grove Township, on which our subject was reared. His education was secured in the public schools of that locality, and a commercial school in Peoria. When he was twenty years old he was appointed teller in the bank of George Griegg & Co., Pekin, a position he retained for about three years.For fifteen years Mr. Smith was in the distillery business, finally disposing of it to H. P. Westerman. For the succeeding fifteen years he was superintendent of the harvester works of P. Myrick, and in 1898 entered the insurance field, in which he is still active and successful. His office is in Court Street. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Tazewell Club, of which he has twice been President, Vice-President, and a member of the Board of Directors.Mr. Smith was married in October 1869, to Miss Corinthia L. Cummings, in Pekin. They have two children: C. R. and John C.A PRANK ON A PLANK BRIDGEIn the past century and a half, several bridges have spanned the Illinois River at Pekin. Today’s “Pekin bridge,” the John T. McNaughton Bridge, was dedicated in 1982. Prior to that, Pekin’s bridge was a lift bridge that was built in the late 1920s and was dedicated on June 2, 1930.Before that, however, Pekin not only had long had a railroad bridge, but non-rail traffic was able to cross the river over a plank bridge at the foot of Court Street.That first “Pekin bridge” is probably not well remembered today, but in the lore of Pekin’s past a humorous anecdote about its construction and dedication has been handed down. The story is recorded in the 1949 Pekin Centenary, pp.39, 41, which tells of events during the time of Pekin Mayor John L. Smith (1885-1886). Before it had appeared in the Centenary, however, the story was told in the pages of the Pekin Daily Times on Jan. 16, 1930, and reprinted in the special bridge dedication edition of the Daily Times on June 2, 1930.The Pekin Centenary says it was during Smith’s term that “the first plank bridge was built across the river here at a cost of $17,500,” the city council having taken a pass on a proposal to build a pontoon bridge for $14,500.Around the same time, Pekin got its first electric street lights, contracting for a mere $5,000 a year to install and maintain them. The city decided to have a grand public celebration to inaugurate the new bridge and the new lights – but the bridge workers decided to celebrate in a way that wasn’t on the official program of events.According to the 1930 Daily Times article, there had been some kind of falling out between the city’s bridge committee members and Earnest Kidd, the assistant foreman, and Kidd decided to get even by pulling a fast one on the city council with the help of the foreman, Jack Jennings.As the Centenary relates, “Mayor Smith, himself, rode the first rig across the new bridge, in impressive ceremonies, but his triumphant opening was somewhat marred by the fact that much of the populace knew and the rest soon learned that Charles Holland had actually been first to cross the new bridge, thanks to a conspiracy with the workmen. The last of the planking was not to be completed until just before the mayor was to cross, but workmen labored through the night to lay the planking so that Holland could drive a carriage over the bridge at the crack of dawn, and then they hastily took up the planking again to be relaid for the mayor.”The Centenary does not say what Mayor Smith thought about the prank, but the Daily Times story says that he and the aldermen were very upset and even sent Police Chief Tim Sheehan to have Holland arrested. Jennings and Kidd, however, were tall and imposing men, and Jennings told Sheehan that if he arrested Holland he would have to arrest him too, so Holland was left unmolested.The story, of course, does not end there. On pages 67 and 69, the Centenary tells of the construction and dedication of Pekin’s new lift bridge 45 years later, and mentions that Holland, by then a well known and respected insurance man, was there too:“The stock market had fallen apart in 1929, and the Great Depression was underway in 1930, and yet the record shows that in this year the new half-million dollar Pekin bridge was completed . . . Completion of that bridge marked one of the biggest celebrations in Pekin history. Rep. Martin B. Lohmann (now Senator) who led the fight for state funds, drove the first car across. It was Fred Moenkemoeller’s car, and this time they forestalled any double-shuffle such as had taken place at the opening of the old bridge by having Charles Holland, now getting along in years, ride across with the others in the first car. It was Holland, the reader will remember, who had driven over Pekin’s old bridge ahead of the mayor to be the first to cross, and make a joke of the opening ceremony.”Jump ahead another 50 years or so, and Pekin celebrated the opening of the new John T. McNaughton Bridge. Holland had died long before, of course, but one of the leader dignitaries at the 1930 festivities, Martin Lohmann, was there for the bridge dedication in 1982.Lohmann’s name is attached to another bridge across the Illinois River: the Shade-Lohmann Bridge at Creve Coeur, named in joint honor of Lohmann and former Pekin Mayor J. Norman Shade.NOTE: Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County, Illinois,” page 1083, mentions that John L. Smith sold his distillery to H. P. Westerman, which may be how Westerman first got into the distilling business.
Former site of Steinmetz Memorial Chapel
At the northeast corner of Section 11 of Lakeside Cemetery is a large marble monument depicting the Last Supper. Incorporated into that monument is a cornerstone with this inscription: "In memory of Peter & Fredericka Steinmetz. This chapel was builded in the year 1909 by George A. Steinmetz, Henry Steinmetz, Lena L. Smith, Anna S, Kaylor, Louise Albertsen, and Emma Schenck." The chapel from which the cornerstone came formerly stood on the site of the Last Supper monument, but the chapel had fallen into disrepair by the 1950s and had to demolished around 1958. Two large pillars topped with copper spheres mark the road leading to the former site of the chapel. (Note: as of April 2023, one of the copper spheres is missing.)
Lakeside Memorial Mausoleum
Lakeside Memorial Mausoleum was erected at a cost of $252,000 and was dedicated 23 June 1929. The mausoleum has 11 private family chambers, 944 single crypts, and a columbarium containing 90 niches for cremation urns. An electronic system was installed in Dec. 1948, donated in memory of P. J. Kriesgman by his family.
