Biographies for Dekalb County, IL

Dekalb County, Illinois
Biographies

John Andres.
A leading and important enterprise of Evansville. and one which contributes to the prestige of this city as a point of manufacture, is the Standard Brick Manufacturing Company. Since 1903, the office of secretary-treasurer of this concern has rested in the hands of John Andres, who, in addition, is largely interested in civic affairs and has been active in various ways in the development of the city's welfare. Mr. Andres was born not far from Chicago, at Somonauk, DeKalb county, Illinois, January 13, 1870, and is a son of Rev. John and Magdalina (Schoepflin) Andres. His father, born August 31, 1840, in Switzerland, was a graduate of a theological seminary at Basle, Switzerland, and was sent by the Church of England to Argentine, South America, and Patagonia territory, in the same country, and was engaged in missionary work there for five years. Returning then to Switzerland, he married Magdalina Schoepflin, who was born May 22, 1839, in the province of Baden, Germany, and attended a college at Carlsruhe near Strassburg. Shortly after their marriage they emigrated to the United States, in 1866, and here Reverend Andres held various charges. He died in 1896, at Henderson, Kentucky, where for five years he had been pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church. Mrs. Andres survived her husband until May 2, 1902, when she passed away at Henderson. There were four children in the family: John, of this review; Gottlieb, employed by the Parson-Scoville Grocery Company; Rev. Benjamin, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Bardstown, Kentucky; and Obed, a locomotive engineer with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The public school education of John Andres was acquired in different points in Ohio and Michigan, but the greater part of his schooling was obtained at Cleveland, Ohio, where his father had charge of the oldest Evangelical Church of the city for eight years. The family income was not large, and John, the second eldest of the brothers, entered the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company, January 10, 1884, at Cleveland. He started as a messenger boy, but before leaving had worked his way up to operator and had worked every wire with the exception of the Associated Press wire. Mr. Andres then went to Henderson, Kentucky, with his father, and took a clerical position with the Hodge Tobacco Company, a concern with which he was identified for three years, after which he connected himself with the Planters State Bank at Henderson, where he remained for eight years. He embarked in the brick manufacturing business through the invitation of H. C. Kleymeyer, joining the Standard Brick Manufacturing Company as secretary and treasurer in 1903. These positions he has retained to the present, with offices in the Furniture Building. Mr. Andres has been a member of the water works board of Evansville for eight years, and, having previously been president, was again chosen to hold that office in 1923 and still retains it. In politics he is a republican, and is minority member of the water works board. He belongs also to the board of the Evansville Rescue Mission; is a director of the Indiana State Sunday School Association; was formerly treasurer of the Henderson (Kentucky) Young Men's Christian Association for seven years; was formerly on the Boys' Work Committee of the Y. M. C. A. for ten years; is past president of the Rotary Club; is serving his third term as treasurer of the Manufacturers' Association; and has been an associate member of the Real Estate Board practically since its organization. During the past fourteen years Mr. Andres has been superintendent of St. Luke's Evangelical Church Sunday School, and for ten years was a member of the executive board of the Vanderburgh County Sunday School Association. November 24, 1897, Mr. Andres married Miss Caroline Kleymeyer, of Henderson, Kentucky, daughter of Henry and Louise (Bruning) Kleymeyer, and to this union there have come three daughters: Louise M., Adele W. and Marianna.
["History of Indiana", Vol. 3 - transcribed by Amanda Jowers]

HON. ARCHIE G. KENNEDY. For many years an honored member of the bench and bar of DeKalb County, Judge Archie G. Kennedy has been engaged in the practice of his profession continuously at DeKalb since 1894. During this long period he has been identified with much of the important litigation that has come before the courts, and it has been his fortune to win success and position with honor and without animosity. Judge Kennedy was born August 24, 1866, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Rev. David S. and Nancy W. (Kelly) Kennedy, and a grandson of natives of Ohio who spent their lives as farming people in the Buckeye State. Rev. David S. Kennedy was born in Ohio, where he was reared in Mahoning County, and was given good educational advantages, graduating from Westminster College, Wilmington, Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife, a native of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the same institution. Reverend Kennedy was for many years a preacher of the United Presbyterian faith and during the war between the states went to the front with the Union army and engaged in religious work with the fighting forces. In 1878 he came to Illinois and settled in Somonauk Township, DeKalb County, where he passed the remainder of his life as a farmer and a minister. Mrs. Kennedy, who is also deceased, was a daughter of John Kelly, a native of Pennsylvania, who passed his entire life in farming in that state. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters, of whom three sons and three daughters survive. Reverend Kennedy was a Republican in politics, but took only a good citizen's part in public affairs. He passed away in May, 1898 and Mrs. Kennedy in January, 1921.
The fifth in order of birth of his parents' children, Archie G. Kennedy attended public schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois, including the high school at Sandwich and the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois. Subsequently he pursued a course at Monmouth (Illinois) College and then began to read law under the preceptorship of Judge Carens, at DeKalb, was admitted to the bar and in the same year commenced practice at DeKalb, which town has since been his home and the scene of his professional success, he having attracted to himself a large and representative clientage. After admission he continued his legal studies in the Chicago Law School and graduated as a member of the class of 1899. A Republican in his political attachment, Judge Kennedy served as a city attorney of DeKalb and as a state's attorney for DeKalb County from 1900 to 1904. Under appointment of Governor Deenan he served as judge of the Court of Claims, and for ten or twelve years was president of the high school board. He belongs to the DeKalb County Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and at this time devotes himself to his practice. He is a member of the Benevolent and rotective Order of Elks and the Chamber of Commerce, and has always been a constructive supporter of movements for the benefit of the community and its people.
On January 16, 1899, Judge Kennedy was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Fuller, who was born in DeKalb County, Illinois, a daughter of Willkaim Fuller, who was for years a prominent farmer of this locality, but is now deceased. No children have been born to this union. By a former marriage, to Bert Lindsey, Mrs. Kennedy had one daughter, who married J. B. Abernathy and has one son and two daughters: Elizabeth Kennedy and Janet. Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy now make their home in Springfield, Vermont, where Mr. Abernathy is successfully engaged in the drug business and is also active in Republican politics. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Abernathy made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, by whom she was the most carefully reared and educated. [Source: "ILLINOIS, The Heart of the Nation" by Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Volume IV, 1933 - Transcribed by Kim Torp]

JOHN O. STRAND.
John O. Strand is conducting an abstract office in Howard and has won a reputation for accurate and thorough work in that connection. He has also been closely identified with public affairs, having held a number of local offices. He was born in Norway, on the 1st of February, 1858, a son of T. O. Strand, whose birth occurred in Norway on the 25th of March, 1824. The mother, likewise a native of the land of the midnight sun, was in her maidenhood Bergit Ashland. The parents came to De Kalb county, Illinois, in 1861 and remained there upon a farm for five years, subsequently removing to Freeborn county, Minnesota, where they continued to reside for fifteen years. In 1881 they came to Miner county, South Dakota, and homesteaded land. The father passed away upon his farm in Miner county, January 14, 1889, and his demise was much regretted by his many friends and neighbors.

John O. Strand completed the course in the common schools of Freeborn county, Minnesota, and attended the Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1878 until 1881. He subsequently took up a homestead in Miner county in his own name and remained upon the farm until 1888, when he was elected county treasurer and held the office for two years. When his term expired he engaged in mercantile business at Carthage, continuing in that line for eight years. At the end of that time his business was destroyed by fire and, as he was appointed clerk of the commissioners court of the public land office, he did not continue his mercantile enterprise. He held the office to which he was appointed for two years, making his residence during that time in Pierre. After resigning the position he opened an abstract office in Howard and has since devoted his time to its conduct. He has a large clientage and his abstracts are all prepared with great care so that they are in fact an accurate record of all transactions recorded affecting the property concerned. He has had some banking experience, as he was cashier of the Merchants Bank at Carthage for two years, proving himself an efficient and popular official.

Mr. Strand was married June 25, 1896, to Miss Lilly Johnson, a daughter of Bernt Johnson. Seven children have been born to this union as follows: Tansea J., whose birth occurred January 7, 1898; Agnes B., who was born March 26, 1899; John R., May 26, 1901; Lilah, January 4, 1903; Norman V., September, 1908; Vivian E., whose birth occurred in February, 1910; and Fern Iris, who was born November 11, 1912. The children are all attending the public and high schools of Howard. Mr. Strand is a prominent member of the Lutheran church, of which he is a trustee and also superintendent of the Sunday-school. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is now serving his second term as alderman. Fraternally he is a Mason and has many friends in that organization and in the community at large.
"History of Dakota Territory",
By George Washington Kingsbury, George Martin Smith
Published by The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915
Submitted by K. Torp (no relation)

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