In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1892) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1835
From History of Cass County, Illinois (1882), Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown counties, Illinois. Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens .. (1892)
ADOLPH H. SIELSCHOTT, sheriff elect, of Cass County, was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, on June 3, 1835. In 1854 he came to this country. He first did farm labor for about two years in the vicinity of Beardstown, after which he learned the carpenter trade. He followed his trade until 1862, when he engaged in merchandising until 1870. In 1868, he, in company with Robert Schmoldt, purchased a saw mill, located in the upper part of the City of Beardstown, which business the firm conducted with success until 1875. In the year 1876, Mr, Sielschott was elected to the office of Sheriff of Cass County, and has acceptably filled this responsible office si [ice that time. During the years 1871 to 1874, Mr. Seilschott filled the office of Mayor of Beardstown, with the entire api)royal of the citizens of that prosperous and enterprising ciiy. In 1862, Mr. Sielschott married Miss Ellen Peeper, a native of Hanover, who emigrated to this country with her parents when quite young. They have three children: Adolph F., Alice A., and Martha M.
EDWARD \V. TURNER, deceased. Edward W. Turner was a native of Bourbon County, Ky. — a wagon maker by trade, which business he followed for many years of his early manhood. His father was one of the pioneers of Kentucky. Our subject left his native State, came to Illinois in 1825, and became one of the prosperous pioneers of Cass County. He was energetic, thrifty, and public-spirited. He represented his county in the State Legislature of 1840 and 1848. He made farming his business after coming to Illinois, but erected and run a wagon shop for a time upon his farm, near Virginia, soon after locating. He married in Fayette County, Ky., Miss America Morrow. Her father's farm joined the Ashland home of the lamented Henry Clay, near Lexington. They raised a family of eight children, all living to mature years but one, Thomas B. Sarah, the oldest, is now deceased; lived to marry W. W. Ward, a farmer of Cass County; Elizabeth J., is now Mrs. B. G. Troutman, of Cass County; James E. is a merchant of Virginia; John "W., a farmer of Oregon Precinct; William A., a farmer in Kansas; David S., R. R. Express Messenger; Henry H., Express Agent, Virginia; and Charles is out of business. James E. was born Dec. 13, 1843, and has for several years been engaged in the mercantile business in Virginia, and is at present; has one of the most extensive furniture stores in Cass County. He married, Feb. 35, 1803, Miss Henrietta Conover, daughter of John Conover, of whom see extended mention elsewhere in this volume. They have live children: Anna L., Linna M., Katie, James A., and Fred. They are both members of the Christian Church, and Mr. Turner is member of the A. O. U. W. and I. O. M. A. William
A., a farmer in Kansas, furnishes us the following data: He was born 1845, in the month of August, on the Turner homestead, in Cass County. He commenced business as a farmer in Princeton Precinct, and later, farmer at Walnut Grove. He built and run the only ilaining mill ever run in Virginia, in 1871). The venture was not a success, however, and he closed out the business and returned to farming on the old Downing farm, which he sold and went to Wichita, Kansas, in 1870. He married March 6, 1806, Mira Berry, daughter of William M. Berry, a farmer of Morgan County. They have three children, Nellie, Nina, and David. H. H. Turner, the sixth son, was born Nov. 23, 1850, in Cass County. He attended the Kentucky University at Lexington, during 1868-9, and afterward engaged in the dry goods business in Virginia, and later, the grocery trade, having at times been associated with W. W. Early, Bowman Craft, and M. J. Oliver. He al)nndoned the mercantile business in 1874, and since that time has been acting as agent for the American and United States Express Companies, and also engaged in insurance business. He married Dec. 3, 1871, Miss Alice R. Buckley, daughter of Mark Buckley, a pioneer of Cass County. They have three children: Olive, Coral, and Ralph. Mr. Turner is a member of the I. O. O. F., Saxon Lodge, No. 68.
H. C. THOMPSON was born Aug. 6, 1848, in Virginia, Cass County, and is the third son of N. B. Thompson, now of St. Louis, Mo., and for many years one of the foremost and successful business men of Cass County. He first came to Virginia as Clerk and Recorder of Cass County, upon the first removal of the county seat from Beardstown, and was the first Clerk of the county, receiving his appointment from Judge Jesse B. Thomas, the first County Judge. He commenced merchandising in Virginia and continued until the year 1867, when he removed to St. Louis, where he lives in retirement. He was married March 30, 1837, to Miss Louise Dutch, daughter of Israel J. Dutch, of Morgan County. He was a native of Massachusetts; married Miss Caroline C. Thorington, of New York City. He is of French descent, and Mrs. Dutch of English. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have raised a large family, all of whom are still living in independence, being successful in their several undertakings, and, as will be seen from the following, are filling honorable positions, both of a business and professional nature. Louise A., wife of Abrara Bergen, a prosperous lawyer, of the State of Kansas; Josephine married John Anderson, a farmer of Saint Clair County, of this State; Eliza, wife of Mr. G. Polland, an able attorney of St. Louis, Mo.; the Honorable W. B. Thompson is also an attorney of Saint Louis, Mo., and represented the Twenty-eighth Senatorial district of that State in the Forty-sixth General Assembly; L. C Thompson is a merchant of Mount Vernon, Jefferson County, Ill.; Harry C, our subject, is a thrifty farmer and a stock-dealer, of Cass County; he married Miss Lila Hall, daughter of Robert Hall, one of the wealthiest and extensive agriculturists of Cass County, of whom see sketch in another chapter of this work; Harry C. is an enterprising, public spirited and go-ahead man of business, and quick to see the business bent of a transaction. Mr. Thompson is the oldest of his father's family, and was born Oct. 14, 1861; Mary, wife of Mr. J. A..johnston, head sales. man for Mermod, Jaccard & Co., No. 4 Locust St., St. Louis; Frank P. is a resident of Cass County, Mo.; George D. is a physician and surgeon at the Marine Hospital, St. Louis; and Ella B. is at home with her parents, in St. Louis. The Thompson property interests in Cass County and Virginia are large, and as yet have not l)een divided.
As printed in History of Cass County, Illinois (1882). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
H. SIELSCHOTT, Beardstown, Illinois.— The United States, the grand- est government that shelters a people, possesses alone of all the governments of the world, the privilege which makes it possible for each individual to force his way through the ranks of the many and become one of the few. Emerson says " it is purpose that differences men," and the man who, by birth or its equivalent, enjoys the possibilities of a high and noble purpose, under such a government, and who through energy, tact, and strict integrity overcomes the obstacles that engulf smaller men, who levels the impossibilities of other men to his own convenience and makes them his opportunities, is that man of purpose, and is by the law of natural selection a leader. It is to such men that society and progression owes its highest attainments; and it is of one of those whose straightforward career has made his name worthy the pages of history, that this sketch is written.
A. H. Sielschott was born in the busy province of Hanover, Germany, in 1835. He is a son of Frederick and Amelia Sielschott, who were also natives of Hanover. His parents were of that sturdy conservative element that has enriched the great Empire of Germany and advanced it to the front rank in the world's history of great soldiers and statesmen, and placed it in close touch with the advance of civilization and the fellowship of men. They were farmers owning their land, and as is characteristic of that eminently worthy husbandry, were given entirely to the cultivation of their land, leaving travel to those who were less inspired with the habits of their forefathers. They were never outside the borders of their loved fatherland, but lived out their allotted time, happy, and contented, with the pleasures and prosperity their home life and patriotism afforded them. They each attained the good age of three score years and ten.
The boyhood of A. H. Sielschott was practically the same as that of other boys whose parents were devoted to labor and frugality. At the age customary in his native land, Mr. Sielschott entered the public schools and acquired a classical education in his native tongue. After leaving school and being of a decidedly progressive temperament and endowed with a full share of native pluck, he decided to leave his home and try for his fortune in the broader fields of America. In the early part of 1854 he left Eremen on the steamer Hansa, ticketed for New York. Arriving there he soon pushed boldly westward and reached Beardstown in the fall of that year. Here he decided to remain, and here with but a five-dollar gold piece in his pocket he began the life that has been so full of good for himself and also for the commamity. Mr. Sielschott did not waste any time looking for an easy job, but with determination and energy tools hold of the first honest work that presented itself. He was familiar with farm work and naturally bent his energies in that direction. He engaged to work on a farm, and went at it with a will. While working and while resting he kept his brain busy revolving plans for the future, and speculating honestly, and with a method well worked out, he advanced stee by step in popularity and position until he had acquired not only a comfortable income but the higher victory, namely, the confidence and respect of all who knew him. In 1876 he was elected by a large majority to the office of Sheriff, and so satisfactorily did he discharge the duties of his office that he was repeatedly re-elected until he had held the office for an unbroken period of ten years. After ten years in office Mr. Sielschott had reason to hope for a rest from public service, but he was almost immediately elected to the office of County Treasurer, and held that important office until 1890, a period of four years. In 1889 the First State Bank of Beardstown was organized and Mr. Sielschott was elected its president, an office which he has continued to hold ever since. Under his wise direction the bank has prospered, and is to-day one of the richest banking organizations in the State. Its principles are sound, and it enjoys a financial solidity far beyond any possible event or turn in values. Mr. Sielschott's record in the government affairs in the city and county is a most unusual and remarkable one. In addition to the fourteen years in which he discharged the important duties of Sheriff and Treasurer of the county, he has served five terms as Mayor of the city of Beardstown. A single term in any office, no matter how important, seldom determines a man's fitness for high commendation. It is the repeated voice of the people in recalling a man to public office — in making him his own successor year after year — that establishes beyond question that man's ability and worthiness.
Mr. Sielschott has also served many times as delegate to County and Congressional conventions. He is a Democrat, believing the principles of that great party to be in closer touch with the needs of the people, and in greater harmony with the progress of the age than all the planks, principles and platforms of all other political parties combined. In a word he believes Democratic doctrine everlastingly right, and all opposition thereto everlastingly wrong. He has always supported these principles fully and faithfully, and has done more than one man's share to establish purity in office and the great truth that public office is a public trust.
In business life Mr. Sielschott has been a promoter of many important enterprises, one of the most important of which was the construction of the fine bridge that spans the Illinois river at Beardstown. He is, also, identified with many other worthy and prosperous enterprises.
In March, 1862, Mr. Sielschott was married to Miss Ellen Piper, of Beardstown, a native of Hanover, Germany, who at the age of seven accompanied her parents to the United States and settled in Beardstown. They were worthy and consistent members of the Lutheran Church. They died after having attained the good old age of four-score years.
Mr. and Mrs. Sielschott have three children: A. F. Sielschott, of the firm of Spring & Sielschott, of Beardstown; Alice A. and Martha M. are still members of the family home. Both of the young ladies have received a splendid education, and both are prominent in social matters. The family worship at the Congregational Church.
Socially Mr. Sielschott is a leading member of the Masonic fraternity. Personally he is kind, courteous and affable. In a word, he possesses just such a personality as the intelligent reader would expect to find in conjunction with such an admirable record.
As printed in Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown counties, Illinois. Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens .. (1892). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Mark Buckley (b. 1815) Robert Schmoldt (b. 1830)
The printed record stops around 1882. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.