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Message Board > This Week in Tampico Area History - Week of 7/20

This Week in Tampico Area History - Week of 7/20
The Tampico Area Historical Society encompasses parts of Whiteside County and Bureau County in Illinois. Focus is on Tampico, Hume Twp., Hahnaman/Deer Grove, & Prophetstown in Whiteside County & Yorktown & Thomas in Bureau County.

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LesN 209 posts Jul 22, 2008 9:37 AM	July 21, 1888 Hi McKENZIE says there are but two parties "the Republicans and the rebel." July 21, 1888 Joseph KEMP went to Spring Valley Monday to pay his money and get a deed of the business lot he lately bargained for. July 21, 1900 Marshal GREENMAN put the run on two hoboes last Tuesday who had made themselves obnoxious by unseemly actions and profane talk. July 21, 1900 E.A. EMMONS and family drove to Rock Falls Thursday morning, where they were to join with relatives and go camping. Now when it comes to camping out, it is Edward himself who can enjoy himself at that kind of sport and he generally makes it his business to see that all the others too have a good time. July 21, 1900 While in Joseph KEMP's carpenter shop Thursday, waiting for some work he was doing for us, we picked up a Ord. Valley County, Neb., paper the Quiz. This paper is published where his son Charles lives and Mr. KEMP receives it weekly in exchange for the Tornado he sends to his son. The paper is a newsy one and speaks in flattering terms of the prospects Nebraska has this year for large crops. July 21, 1900 Marquette, on Lake Superior, Is one of the most charming summer resorts reached via the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Its healthful location, beautiful scenery, good hotels and complete immunity from hay fever, make a summer outing at Marquette, Mich., very attractive from the standpoint of health, rest and comfort. For a copy of "The Lake Superior Country," containing a description of Marquette and the copper country , address, with four (4) cents in stamps to pay the postage, Geo. H. HEAFFORD, General Passenger Agent, Chicago, Ill.
LesN 210 posts Jul 22, 2008 9:50 AM	July 22, 1893 The firm of G.A. STILSON will be changed to STILSON & BADGLEY, September 1st, 1893. July 22, 1893 H.E. BROWN, editor of the LaMoille Gazette, has leased his office for one year to Joseph SHOWALTER, and will go to Rockford, where he will assume the management of the advertising department of the Daily Spectator. July 22, 1893 The band concerts on Saturday evening are getting to be very popular. The Tampico Band has been giving open air concerts for some time and they draw large audiences. Saturday evenings, B.D. GREENMAN hung out a large gasolene [sic] lamp in front of his drug store and chairs were placed in a circle around the lamp and the band boys occupied these. They enlivened the scenes for an hour or so with their music. July 22, 1893 While our citizens were enjoying the band concert Saturday night their attention was attracted by the bright streaks of light in the northern sky. The light seemed to be in waves and moved rapidly from east to west and formed a large light streak. There was great speculation as to what the phenomen [sic] was. Some said it was the aurora borealis, others the reflection of the search lights from the World's Fair and some of the knowing ones said it was the tail of a comet lately discovered, but we believe it was the aurora, nothing more. July 22, 1893 Theodore LEE, of the state of Washington, is now in science of a queer mission. Mr. LEE has the stumps of two erstwhile useful members and he hopes to so arrange matters with a skilled physician and a condemned criminal that the experiment of grafting arms upon these stumps may be tried. Mr. LEE hopes that the payment of money to the relatives of some condemned criminal may induce him to part with a member which he won't need long. A surgeon has been found who will attempt the operation. LEE's stump and the arm of a convict will be placed shoulder to shoulder and clamped in a cast. The sound arm will be cut squarely off, and at the same time the end of the stump will be cut to correspond. Only two muscles, one main artery, and one nerve are to be united at this place. July 22, 1904 HORSE JUMPS ON AUTO DeWitt WEST has Exciting Time With His Automobile At Morrison DeWitt WEST had an exciting time in his automobile at Morrison Saturday which nearly resulted in the wrecking of his machine. He was riding around the city with ayoung lady relative and two fellows who wanted to accustome their colt to a puff machine followed the automobile. When Mr. WEST truned to go past the colt slowly, it reared high inot the ari above the automobiel and came down with a crash almost upon the machine. Mr. WEST had just time to run it into the curb and avode the worst of the blow. When he picked him-self up he was mixed up in the machinery but not hurt. The young lady jumped and was not injured. The rear axle of the automobile was bent, a glass broken, the dash bent ant the machine scratched but it ran alright after the accident. July 22, 1904 FOUR STORES CLOSE SUNDAY Merchants Shut Down Their Places of Business and Others Will Follow Example. The question of closing the stores here on Sunday may solve itself now without any ordinance being passed by the council as four merchants voluntarily shut their places of business last Sunday. They were H.C. PITNEY, W.H. HARRISON, John BACKLUND and E.S BENTLY. No special agreement was made. H.C. PITNEY posted a notice on his door stating that his store would close and others followed. It is understood three of four more stores will also close down next Sunday. It is safe to say that there is not a merchant here but who has wished to close his place of business on Sunday and take a much needed rest after six days of hard work lasting from 6 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. but the fact that competitors were open compelled him to keep open to protect his trade. The hard worked clerks are also entitled to their Sabbath. Two of the largest stores voluntarily closing has set a very good example for the rest and their closing voluntarily is being commented upon very favorably. Sunday morning in Tampico is one of the busiest times in this week, strangers commenting on the activity and bustle. If all the stores with the exception of drug stores, restaurants and liveriers close this will be changed entirely. Merchants who are in a position to know claim that people will get to town and trade Saturday and do not figure they will lose much provided the movement here becomes general. July 22, 1904 SCALED BY HOT MILK IN A RUNAWAY Earl FOY, a son of Morrell FOY who lives north of here and hauls milk to the Elgin creamery at Sterling had a runaway Monday after leaving the creamery. IN his attempt to stop the horses one of the lines broke pulling them into the gutter which caused the wagon with its steaming hot load of separated milk to tip over. Harry STAPLES who was on the wagon with FOY was thrown into the gutter and thirty cans of milk were thrown out, a part of them falling on him. He was pinned to the ground and the scalding milk poured over him, almost every portion of his body was scaled. July 22, 1904 JULE GIFFORD BURNS HIS HAND BADLY Jule GIFFORD's right hand was burned badly last Wednesday evening while he was lighting the gasoline stove and the valve failed to work when he tried to shut the supply of gasoline off. He gassed the stove and threw it out the front door and while he had hold of it flames burned his hand quite badly. The burns were so severe that he was compelled to go to bed and keep his hand in a bucket of cold water. July 22, 1904 The old ticket machines that have been used on the C.B.&Q. railroad for some many years were disposed of July 1. The tickets that are now in use are already cut and with the names of the towns on them. Along this branch the agents claim that they are not as handy as the machines as they have so many of another form on account of not having a variety enough of the new tickets. July 22, 1904 H.A. BROWN of Sterling and formerly editor of Rural Life and once a residence of Tampico, is progressing nicely on his type setting machine at Chicago according to his father Elery BROWN who resides here. The first slugs have been cast by the machine and are said to be the best ever made by a machine. It cost $6,000 so far to build the first machine and will take $4,000 to complete it. July 22, 1904 Mr. and Mrs. B.D. GREENMAN went to Sterling Sunday in Mr. GREENMAN's automobile. The trip there was made in just an hour. July 22, 1915 Enjoyed Their Overland Trip George and Will NEEDHAM who resided southwest of Tampico some thirty years ago and are brothers of John NEEDHAM who now lives on the old home place southwest of Tampico were in Tampico Tuesday visiting their old school mates Morrell FOY and other old friends. The two gentlemen just recently completed a somewhat remarkable trip from Turlock, California to Tampico in a Ford touring car making the 2500 miles in thirty days stopping at many points to visit relatives and using only 20 running days. The first part of the trip up in the mountains near famous Tahoe Lake, two and a half days were spent shoveling snow after which a team pulled them out with several other machines. The trip was then made eastward through Wyo., Col., and Neb., the latter where they found worse roads and while asleep in their car were visited with a hail storm the stones of which were large enough to leave dents in the radiator, hood, lamps and other parts of the machine. The car in which the gentlemen travel is arranged so that the front seat lets down and can be made into a bed. A tent covers the entire machine and a box arrangement on one side opens into a table where the gentlemen enjoyed meals of their own serving. They experienced no tire difficulty only having five punctures and the tires show little wear considering all manner and sorts of roads traversed and the fact that in one place they went down a thirty-two percent grade. A contrivance on the rear of the machine let down and dragged and acted as a brake if anything went wrong when mounting steep hills. The entire trip cost about $70 including $29 for gasoline which ranged in price from 10c to 35c per gallon and 150 gallons of gasoline were used. After visiting here until August 1 the gentlemen expect to return home being further north to visit other relatives enroute and expect to arrive home safely having had the trip of their lives and seen enough interesting sights along the route to fill a book and make interesting matters of recall for years to come. July 22, 1920 REFRIGERATING PLANT COMPLETED The fine new refrigerating plant at L.E. CHAPIN's poultry and egg plant has been completed and was in operation for the first time this week. Mr. CHAPIN says that he has ample storage and cooling room for four car loads of eggs or some 576,000 eggs. He will be able to hold eggs until they hold them during market declines. His plant is in good shape now to handle any amount of poultry, eggs and cream and to pay top prices for it because of the improved facilities for marketing. July 22, 1920 Mrs. RUSH and Mrs. HUNT, sisters of Mrs. Jack REAGAN went to Aurora Tuesday and Wednesday mornings after a pleasant visit here. July 22, 1920 Mr. and Mrs. O.R. BONNER of Dallas, Texas, are here visiting Mr. and Mrs. John H. COOLEY. Mrs. BONNER is a daughter of Mr. COOLEY. Mr. BONNER states that the oil boom has put many towns in Texas on the map, made lots of people rich and made an abundance of money which is spent liberally. July 22, 1920 J.W. HIXSON, one of Tampico's oldest and best known citizens who has been kept at home for the past seven weeks with blood poison in his foot, has so far recovered that he was able to walk down town Monday and visit his many friends and give them his old accustomed cheery hand shake. He is planning on going to Chicago this week to visit his daughters before they go to northern Wisconsin. July 22, 1920 Herman MILLER who lives southeast of town near the county line is just completing a set of improvements on his farm which will cost about $20,000. Among them is a fine new house with all modern improvements including furnace, bath, sleeping porch, eletric lights, etc. and which will cost when complete nearly $10,000. A large new barn costing $3,000, a garage and shed, chicken and hog houses when all completed will place his farm in the front rank of any around here in the matter of improvements.
LesN 211 posts Jul 23, 2008 5:38 AM	July 23, 1898 FROM JIM KEREVAN - The following letter from Corporal Jim KEREVAN, Co., C, 22 United States Infantry, was on Monday received by the writer's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Phil KEREVAN. It is the first letter to reach Sterling from Cuba since the fighting began there, and it will be read with great interest by all Sterling. Before Santiago, July 5, 1898 Dear Mother; Well, we have been in Cuba since the 22nd of June and have been in two battles. I never got touched in either one of them, but I don't want to come any closer than I did in the first one. We had our first battle on July 1. We started at 6 o'clock and at 5 that night we had the town of Caney and between five and six hundred dead Spaniards and forty prisoners. The officers who had been in the last war said the battle of Caney was the hardest fought battle that was ever heard of. We just had to lay out n the open and the Spaniards had block houses and breast works. But we hung on until we won. We lost only ten killed and sixty-five wounded out of our regiment. I don't know how many the other five regiments lost, but not very many. After the battle of Caney we marched all night to reinforce the First division in front of Santiago, and here we are yet, under the flag of truce, while the women and children leave the town. We thing they will surrender before morning, for we have driven them about four miles back into the city and we lay just a thousand yards from the Spanish batteries and can destroy them in almost an hour. I thought my time had come for awhile during the first battle, for there were three men shot down right beside me in less than five minutes. Well, I will have to close now, hoping to hear from you soon. With love to all. Your loving son. Jim July 23, 1898 The 6th Illinois regiment, the one our Tampico boys are in, will leave Santiago for Puerto Rico. They are getting to see a good share of the country, and thus far but little fighting. Had a fight been made a second time at Santiago they would have been at the front and in the thickest of the battle. It is hoped that they will be as fortunate at Puerto Rico and that they will capture the island without bloodshed. July 23, 1898 H.A. KEMP, the contractor, has his hands more than full of work this session. At the present he is working on C.R. ALDRICH's new house, Geo. HOWLETT's new house, C BURDEN's new buildings, MAMMEN and FUNK's new addition to their elevator, and, has the contract for building John RAYNOR's new house and the J.J. BLEITZ's new store building. July 23, 1898 Wallace McKENZIE says the wind canted his barn 2 1/2 feet at the top. July 23, 1898 There has been considerable talk here of organizing a drum corps and the agitation of the question has been instrumental in bringing the fact to the notice of our people that Tampico has at least five persons who can manipulate the fife. They are Moses SMITH, Jesse VAN BIBBER, Dr. LEONARD, Joel M. BALDWIN and Herbert A. STILLSON. There seems to be a lack of drummers, yet we notice that Ed ALDRICH , Newton DENNISON, Irving STEWART and Eleary BROWN handle the stick pretty well, and Haney CAIN and Charles SEYMOUR are willing to learn, and, on the night of the Santiago jubilee here worked hard to keep time with the fifers. July 23, 1898 The storm of Tuesday evening was accompanied with a strong wind, which broke many limbs from trees also blew down trees. A fine peach tree loaded with fruit was broken off in A.L. FORWARD's yard, and several places about town the trees were damaged. The judges' stand at the race track was blown down. A strip of sidewalk on north Main street was taken out place (sic) and thrown across the street and Wallace McKENZIE's barn was slightly moved. After the first blast of wind the rain began to fall and a good shower followed. The rain was much needed and the growing corn has been greatly benefited (sic). Everybody seems to be thankful for the rain and the damage was very insignificant in comparison to the benefits. July 23, 1898 Frank LANDWAIR is wrestling with a boil on his chin. July 23, 1898 The party at Clarence SHERE's was well attended. Games and various other amusements were indulged in until quite late and then all did justice to ice cream and cake, after which the guests departed for their homes, having spent a very pleasant evening.
LesN 212 posts Jul 24, 2008 5:39 AM	July 24, 1886 Mrs. MILLER, of Chicago, mother of Mrs. T.S. BEACH, of this city fell dead Saturday afternoon, while playing croquet with her granddaughter Mary BEACH. Mrs. MILLER had arrived in Morriosn but a few days previous and what promised to be a pleasant visit was brought to a sad termination by her untimely taking off without a moment's notice. Apoplexy is supposed to have been the cause. The remains were taken to Chicago Sunday for burial, Sheriff BEACH and family accompaning them. Whiteside Herald. July 24, 1886 The Tampico Creamery looks much improved since the grass has been cut. Now if the weeds were cut down and the hedge trimmed along the sidewalk leading to it there would be more cause for praise. As an old writer says, "We are thankful for large favors, small ones in proportion." July 24, 1886 Oliver OLSSON, our efficient and worthy Commissioner, met us upon the street last Saturday and haniding us $1.50 told us he had threshed his cats and wished us to give him credit for another year's subscription. We appreciate Oliver's pun and his cash also. July 24, 1886 LOST - A nickle plated open face watch between STEADMAN's elevator and BURROUGH's crossing. Finder will be suitably rewarded by calling upon the owner, John BRECKENRIDGE. July 24, 1886 DUDLEY - In Lyndon, Ill., Tuesday, July 13, 1886, Mrs. TRYPHCULA DUDLEY, Aged 91 years. July 24, 1886 HOLT-At his home in Lyndon Sunday, July 11, 1886, of inflamation of the bowels, Arthur H. HOLT, aged 22 years.
LesN 213 posts Jul 25, 2008 5:39 AM	July 25, 1891 Oliver McKENZIE died at his residence in Yorktown, Wednesday morning at eleven o'clock, of cancer to his lungs. Mr. McKENZIE had been sick for two years, and for the last eight months been confined to his bed. He had lived in Yorktown some forty years, was one of the wealthiest farmers of that vicinity, was widely and well known, and his death though not sudden, is felt deeply by relatives and friends. Mr. McKENZIE was about sixty years of age. July 25, 1891 Mr. and Mrs. Charles BROWN together with their children entertained a number of friends last Wednesday evening. A good such time was enjoyed and some nice instrumental music on the organ was listened to and a repast of choice cake and delicious ice cream refreshed old as well as the young. The following persons, besides the family were present: Mrs. Fred ALLEN and two daughters, Mr. and Mrs. John A. TEACH, Mr. and Mrs. John VanBIBBER, Mrs. Joe TEACH and three children, and Carrie Bell TEACH, of Rock Falls. July 25, 1891 Frank COLLINS received word from E.L. FREGO, of Princeton, to come there immediately as he had a foot race for him to take part in. Frank left for Princeton Wednesday. July 25, 1891 Ethel M., wife of James C. WINTERS, died of typhoid fever, at Rock Falls, Wednesday morning at 12:30. July 25, 1891 Jewett BUELL and wife made a short call here Thursday. They had a few minutes talk with brother Fred. July 25, 1891 A.L. FERGUSON, father of Senator FERGUSON, died at his home in Sterling, Tuesday afternoon. Aged near seventy years. July 25, 1896 Ambrose SHERE, of Yorktown, is the proud and happy father of a handsome young daughter, who arrived at his home last Tuesday. July 25, 1896 Mrs. E.L WROTEN, who has been quite sick for the past two weeks, is now improving nicely and she is expected soon to be wholly recovered. July 25, 1896 J.M. BALDWIN dropped in to see us last Tuesday and planked down $1.50 to have the Tornado continued to his son William, of Black River, N.Y. He says his son gets all news from the paper and is appreciated about as well as a letter from home. July 25, 1896 Dr. WAHL moved into his new house on the corner of Third and Joy street last Monday. The Doctor's new house is one of the nicest furnished and apportioned houses on the inside that con be found in our city. July 25, 1896 A Shrewd Trick Marquette, Mich., July 18 - It has developed at the custom house here that this country is being flooded with low grade teas through the ports of Sault Ste. Marie and Port Huron. These teas had all been rejected at New York and Boston on account of their inferior grade, but were promptly repackaged and worked into the country through the above named ports, where there are no expert testers and appraisers.
LesN 214 posts Jul 26, 2008 2:48 PM	July 26, 1917 21 FROM TAMPICO IN FIRST DRAFT CALL Twenty-one Tampico Men Will Be Among The First To Report in Army Draft Every Tampico man who registered has been drawn in the army draft as well as every other man in every other community. Every man registered has been drawn and assigned in a "turn" number in which order he will be called to report to the exemption boards for examination, rejection or acceptance. If the numbers are called consecutively then thos notification to the men called for examination, and they must appear within three days. The men summoned for the physical examination will be divided into three sections, one appearing each day for three days. The men will probably be asked to report about the last of this week.
Kimmel 2 posts Dec 03, 2008 10:04 AM	Les, I really enjoy reading your This Week In Tampico History. The first one you posted in this weeks was of Will J. Love - a relative of my husband. I put these little excerpts in each of their Family Notes in my Genealogy program. Thanks again, ---------- Joyce A. Kimmel
LesN 372 posts Dec 03, 2008 7:02 PM	Joyce, Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you enjoy them and that the provide a little extra "life" to your ancestors. Best Regards, Les

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