The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BANQUET: Between 75-100 men and women of the county were present at the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce banquet held Wednesday evening in the Stronghurst Woman’s Community Room (I was told it is the building on Broadway owned by Delmar Jacob today). The greater part of the assemblage was made up of people living within a radius of a few miles of Stronghurst as the roads were almost impassable. However, there were delegations present from Raritan, Lomax, Oquawka, Media and Carman as well as other communities in the county. The menu, which was served by the Stronghurst Christian Church people consisted of roast beef with potatoes and gravy, stewed corn, cold slaw pickles, jelly, bread and butter, coffee and peach pie a-l-a-mode.
After justice had been done to this repast, E. G. Lewis, president, called on Mr. E. D. Walker to lead the assembled guests in a program of songs. President Lewis then gave a short talk on the purpose, aims and hopes of the organization concluding his remarks by introducing, Mr. Harvey T. Hill, secretary of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce…
ATTEND PRODUCERS MEETING: “This is the greatest and most enthusiastic meeting of livestock shippers I ever attended.” This voiced the sentiments of each member of the Henderson County delegation which attended the called meeting of the Chicago Producers Commission Association in Chicago on March 18th. C. E. Duke of Rozetta, A. A. Renwick of Biggsville, A. B. Gittings of Lomax, Frank Lant, Ernest D. Walker and C. E. Peasley of Stronghurst represented the county and all were of the opinion the county and all matter has been cleared up and that the county should now be stronger than ever behind the Producers. (The Chicago manager and board had disagreements.)
FREE BRIDGE??? Some of the merchants of Burlington are advocating the abolition of the toll charges now imposed on travelers crossing the McArthur bridge and a Hawkeye correspondent thinks they are being influenced by the complaints of Illinois people who find Burlington a convenient grading point, but who object to being taxed from 40-60 cents or more for each trip made to Burlington. (Burlington at one time had a revenue of over $40,000 derived annually from the mulet tax(?), but the city eliminated this so depended on the $60,000 derived from bridge tolls. The Hawkeye article did not mention the tax paid to Henderson County for its portion of the bridge. Elimination did not happen as Illinois residents were still paying 25 cents tolls until the new Great River Bridge was erected.)
LOCAL AND AREA NEWS: On account of bad roads and consequent scarcity of bidders, the public sale of hedge fence posts which was advertised by Chas. Nunn to be held here last Saturday afternoon was indefinitely postponed. (This would be a commodity most farmers would need as hedge posts were the best fencing for this period of time.) The voters of Blandinsville are to be allowed the privilege of deciding the question of public pool halls and Sunday picture shows at the village election. R. W. Marshall returned from a business trip to Oklahoma (land of opportunity at this time). A. S. McElhinney accompanied a shipment of cattle to Chicago. Miss Louise Rankin is a victim of the prevailing epidemic of “flu” and is quite ill at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. O. A. Rankin, north of Stronghurst. Rudyard Kershaw has accepted the job as lineman with the telegraph division of the C.B. & Q. and left for Burlington where he expected to be assigned to duty possibly at Knoxville, Ill. Although the weather has been balmy and springlike for the past two weeks, the rains last week left the dirt roads in this section in such a condition that they are still well nigh impassable for motor vehicles and most of the road traffic is confined to horse drawn vehicles.
LUTHERANS HELP: A fine example of the spirit of brotherly love which prevails among the members of the local Lutheran congregation is found in the fact that the men thereof have subscribed $153 dollars ($2,437+ in today’s values) for the Waring family who recently lost their personal belongings when the house in which they lived burned to the ground. The Dorcas Society jointly gave a miscellaneous shower in honor of Mrs. Waring at the parsonage. She received many useful gifts such s comforts, children’s dresses, silverware and kitchen utensils.
BIGGSVILLE BRIEFS: Work on the Woolsley and Dixon buildings is progressing rapidly and it being pushed as fast as the weather will permit; both will be up to date, modern buildings. The adult class of the Presbyterian Church Sabbath School were entertained at a St. Patrick’s social at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arch Griffith, which was arranged by a committee of Mrs. T. W. Everett, Mrs. Will Stevenson, Mrs. Ernest Moore and Mrs. Griffith. (They held a mock wedding with music furnished by the victrola.) The trustees of the cemetery association met at Kelly’s store to consider several matters. Two additional trustees were elected: Arthur Bergren and Guy Renstrom making a board of seven; the others being George Kelly, R. M. Hutchinson, J. E. Pearson, Wm. Wiegand, Sr. and John Rezner, secretary. Fred Peterson was again employed as caretaker. Miss Ethel Westlake of Hutchinson, Kansas has been at the home of her sister, Mrs. Ponjos caring for their father. Miss Margaret Bell of Tarkio, Mo. who is on a furlough from the mission work in Egypt and spending the winter in Chicago, visited with her cousins, Dr. Alvina Mekemson and Viola McClinton. Ida May Bruner fell from a buggy while on the way home from school; she was taken to the Monmouth Hospital. E. L. Claybaugh is confined to his home with rheumatism. Miss Helen Cook is seriously ill with heart trouble. Mr. and Mrs. Norm Wiegand are now at their home in the north part of town. Norm has a bad case of the flu. The division that was to give the cemetery supper next week expect to just each gave the dollar instead.
LOMAX LINGERINGS: Mrs. Clyde Gittings went to Chicago to visit her son Chalmer who is working there. Mrs. John Clark is on the sick list. Harry Waterman and family of Minnesota have been visiting relatives and friends. The little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Welch who is sick with pneumonia is improving. Many friends will be pained to learn that Grandma Green, so favorably known at the hotel, passed away Sunday evening. Services were held at the Christian Church with burial at Pontoosuc. The series of meeting at the Nazarene Church in charge of Rev. Mitchell is still continuing.
LOCAL AND AREA NEWS: Grandma Trimmer is reported amongst those who are quite seriously ill. An 8 ½ lb. son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Art Mesecher of the neighborhood east of Stronghurst last Tuesday night. Mrs. Edgar Hartquist and daughter, Helen Louise, arrived home from Macomb where the mother spent several weeks taking treatment at the hospital. Page Randall and his daughter, Freda, are moving into the Dowell property just vacated by Walter Gould and family. The Gould family are moving to Mendon, Illinois. Waldo Johnson and family have moved from the former R. M. Billips property is the east part of town to the Mrs. Nan Starkey house in the west part. Mrs. Mary McGaw of the north neighborhood celebrated her 80th birthday last Saturday with her son, Bower McGaw and family of Biggsville; they spent the day with her. Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Gibb were at Batavia, Iowa attending the funeral of Charles Spade, a nephew of Mrs. Gibb who died very suddenly in a court room in Kansas City. James Hudnut and family and Jess Denum and daughters, Roberta and Hazel, were called to Knox, Mo. by the death of Mrs. Elijah Hudnut, the mother of James and the late Mrs. Denum. Charles K. Pendarvis holds a position as special income tax agent headquartered at Peoria, Ill. Miss Lucile Butler, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Butler, received some severe burns on one arm and one side of her face last Sunday morning when she attempted to throw some grease on the fire in the kitchen stove at her home. The burns prevented her from attending school. Mrs. J. Baker says that permission was recently granted for the removal of Paul Baker from the institution at Lincoln, Ill. to which he was recently committed and that he is now at Grand Island, Neb. with his father and step-mother.
OBITUARY-GARRET BROOKS: Garret Brooks was born on a farm in McDonough County, Ill. near Macomb. His parents were Sheridan Brooks and Mary Rezner Brooks. He came with his parents here when still quite a small child and this has been his home ever since. Two brothers and sister, his father and mother preceded him in death leaving only two sisters, Miss Eva at home and Mrs. J. D. Clayton of Bloomfield, Iowa, who makes her home with her son.
Funeral services were held at his home on Thursday with Rev. F. M. Caughey in charge. Song service was by the male quartette composed of Will Stevenson, Tom Glenn, Walter Cochran and Chas. Graham with Miss Emma Folmer at the piano. Casket bearers were Tom Nolan, Robt. Boyd, James Wilson, Clyde Dixon Fred Burrus and Ralph Dyson.