In considering those among Rock Island’s citizens whose activities have been directed toward developing that City’s industries, and whose foresight has been rewarded in a most substantial manner, one’s mind instinctively turns to the subject of our present sketch, Samuel Sharpe Davis. He was born February 1, 1858, at Covington, Kentucky, his parents being John […]
There are few business men in Rock Island or Moline who do not enjoy a personal acquaintance with the genial Julius Junge, vice-president of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a man who, though deeply engrossed in the concerns of a large and growing industry, has found time to cultivate his social nature and to enjoy
The history of the United States Government Arsenal located upon Rock Island is exhaustively narrated from its inception in another portion of this work. Consequently it is not the intention of the writer of this sketch to touch upon any phase of that history except the period covered by the regime of the present Commandant
A man whose perseverance, industry and business sagacity has been largely instrumental in the establishment of one of Rock Island’s largest industries was George Wagner, one of the founders of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a man in whom those potential elements that are essential in every successful career, seemed to center. George Wagner was
June 17, 1830, near Belfast, Ireland, the subject of this sketch was born. He was the son of Archibald and Mary (McMaster) Owens, both lifelong residents of the Emerald Isle. Their children were Jane, Mary, Alexander, Margaret, Anna, William and Jennie, all of whom became citizens of the United States, and all of whom, with
Much has been written in this historical work of the banks and bankers of Rock Island and Moline. However, in estimating the financial strength of Rock Island County the banks and bankers of its smaller municipalities are deserving of very prominent mention, for they are the tributaries of larger financial institutions and have an important
Born in Rock Island in 1875, the above named gentleman, young though he is, has, by persistency and application to his chosen vocation, forged to the front until he is now one of the best known and capable contractors and builders in the City. Many structures throughout the City attest his mastery of the building
One of the most brilliant and astute attorneys practising at the Rock Island County Bar is Mansfield M. Sturgeon, senior member of the legal firm of Sturgeon. Stelck & Sturgeon, a man whose great ability and profound learning as an attorney has been demonstrated in the trial of many important suits, as well as in
The life of a good and just man, and the memory of his noble, kindly deeds, are in themselves his true biography. In the life of such an individual the observer of human character may find both precept and example. He may find in such a life sermons that speak more eloquently and leave a
The City of Moline owes its prominence throughout the United States, and in fact, throughout the entire civilized world, chiefly to its manufactories. And to Stephen Henry Velie, deceased, who, during his life, was conspicuously identified with several of that city’s leading manufacturing establishments, Moline is greatly indebted for the preeminence she now maintains in
Man whose personality was strongly A impressed on Rock Island County, was Peter Fries, distiller, banker, and man of affairs. Mr. Fries was born May 4, 1822, on the family estate known as “Guss-Hof,” situated on the River Main, in Bavaria, Germany. He died July 20, 1902, in Rock Island, Illinois. His father’s name was
James Brackett, a prominent lawyer of Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, who graduated in the class with Daniel Webster, at Dartsmouth College, came to Rock Island in 1847 to spend the last years of a long and useful life. John Ely Brackett, eldest son of James Brackett, graduated from West Point and later was
Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson was the founder and chief upbuilder of Bethany College, the institution around which cluster the best and most noteworthy distinctions of Lindsborg as a community and from which have gone influences that now permeate and give character to many localities through the useful men and women educated there. In an
Born in Germany and brought to America by his parents at a tender age, the subject of this sketch is one of the many German-Americans who has made his mark in Rock Island County. His birth and early training started him aright and he has hewed to the line and become one of the most
Almost the only living individual among those earliest settlers who came to Rock Island County in the thirties and forties, when the present City of Rock Island was a small village, known as Stephenson, is Sylvester Washington McMaster, a man whom nearly every man, woman and child throughout Rock Island County knows, either personally or
An able lawyer, a successful financier, and a man recognized as a state leader in Illinois Democracy, is Elmore W. Hurst, of Rock Island, one of the senior members of the legal firm of Jackson, Hurst & Stafford. Mr. Hurst was born December 6, 1851, in Rock Island, which city has ever since been his
Harry P. Simpson, editor of the Rock Island Argues, was born in Davenport, Iowa, on July 6, 1863, and moved to Rock Island in 1887. He attended the public schools in his native city, and while yet in high school he developed a decided taste for newspaper work, serving as reporter on a society paper
Should a search be made throughout the length and breadth of the United States, no fairer or finer example of the selfmade American could be found than Frederick Weyerhaeuser, lumberman. Brought by chance, in early manhood, in touch with the making of lumber he seized upon this accidental circumstance as upon an opportunity, mastered the
The City of Rock Island has several contractors and builders whose operations are upon a very extensive scale, and whose work is known, not only in the immediate vicinity of their home city, but throughout the entire western part of the United States, where they have been engaged to erect large public buildings, manufacturing plants,
Mr. Maurice A. Hollingsworth, a veterinary surgeon, now practicing his profession in the City of Rock Island, was born December 10, 1872, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been a resident of Rock Island for a number of years. He is the son of Abraham and Celestia S. Hollingsworth, who gave him an education in the
