One of Rock Island’s most revered and honored ministers of the gospel, a man who has grown old in the service of his God and his church, is Rev. C. A. Mennicke, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Immanuels Congregation. He was born September 17, 1834, at Friedrichsschwerz, a small place near Halle, in Prussia, […]
One of Rock Island’s native sons, a man upon whom devolves to a large extent the management and control of a great and growing industry, is the subject of this sketch, Robert Wagner, president of the Rock Island Brewing Company. He is the son of George Wagner, the story of whose life and rise in
In considering the prominent legal firms in Rock Island County one’s mind instinctively turns to the firm of McEniry & McEniry, a firm composed of the two brothers, Hon. William McEniry and Matthew J. McEniry, having offices both in Rock Island and Moline. It is the life and character of the former of these two
Doctor James F. Myers, one of Rock Island County’s prominent physicians, was born December 29, 1856, at Hebron, Ohio, and was the son of Henry A. and Lavina Myers, both of whom are living in their eighties at Eureka, Illinois. Dr. Meyers’ father was a Baptist minister by vocation, but at an early age retired
A good mental and physical equipment, unflagging energy, and temperate habits have been leading factors in the elevation of Robert Ward Olmsted, from a poor boy, dependent upon his own resources, to the honored position of judge of Rock Island County. Born on a farm in Edgington Township, Rock Island County, Illinois, May 6, 1868,
Colonel George Davenport was the first white man to make a permanent settlement in what is now Rock Island County, arriving here in the spring of 1816. He was a native of England, born in Lincolnshire, in 1783. At the age of seventeen he enlisted as a sailor on a merchant vessel, and for the
Col. Charles Leander Walker, a member of one of the leading law firms of Rock Island County for more than a quarter of a century, is a native son of Illinois. He was born at Queen Ann, McHenry County, Illinois, December 27, 1851. He is a son of Reverend Leander Smith Walker and Miriam Lavilla
The subject of this sketch needs no introduction to the older generation of Rock Island County, the larger enterprises of which he was intimately associated with throughout the many years of his residence here. Benjamin Harper was born February 12, 1817, in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died April 3, 1887, in the City
Herbert B. Hayden, Superintendent of City Schools of Rock Island, is a native of Massachusetts. He was educated in the graded and high schools of his native state, and at Wesleyan University. Since 1883 he has been engaged in public school work, either as high school principal or superintendent of city schools, and has been
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
One of the old and respected citizen of Rock Island County, a man who stands high in the estimation of all who know him, is J. Silas Leas, who although now spending the closing years of his life in retirement, was at one time engaged in some of Rock Island County’s principal manufacturies. He was
A gentleman of education, refinement and culture, an Easterner who came to Rock Island in the early days, and who spent a busy and useful lifetime in this community, was George Mixter, deceased, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, April 28, 1835, and died in Rock Island April 20, 1897.
One of the most extensive business enterprises conducted in the City of Rock Island is the wholesale drug house of Hartz & Bahnsen Company. It is a business that, although modest in its inception, has attained immense proportions, until today it occupies a magnificent four-story building on Third Avenue and Nineteenth Street, and for its
Little would the visitor of today suspect that much of the western part of the City of Rock Island, now built up with modern homes, business houses and factories, was once an uninhabitable swamp; worse than that, it was covered with water to a great extent, and when the Mississippi was high a rapidly flowing
The old axiom which tells us that kind deeds and gentle words live forever is one which not only inspires the mind with its sublimity, but its truth is so often brought home to us, and so forcibly that it affords a solace we do not always feel. A noble life invariably begets its full
One of the earliest born residents of Rock Island County is Edwin B. Knox, of Moline. Since October 15, 1842, when he first saw the light of day at Rock Island, Mr. Knox has continuously made his home in one of these two cities or their immediate vicinity. At the time of his birth, Rock
One of the prominent citizens of Rock Island, and a man of high standing in the legal profession, was Colonel Henry Curtis, deceased. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, August 13, 1834, the home of his parents. Henry and Rebecca L. (Everett) Curtis, and in that city he spent his boyhood and received his preliminary
