Harm J. Eggen, born August 13, 1805, died January 4, 1889
Trientje W. Eggen, April 16, 1810 to February 7, 1895

Harm J. Eggen, with his wife and two small daughters, Eltje, age 13, and Volke, age 3 years, left East Fresia, Germany to seek a new home in the USA in September 1850, because they were dissatisfied with conditions there. They travelled from Bremen Harbor, Germany to New Orleans by sailboat, then up the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois. In December 1854 they bought a farm from Wm. Hughes and his wife Sarah. The farm is now owned by Harbo Osterman. They first lived in a log house at the North end of the farm but later built a two room frame house near the site of Mr. Osterman's present home.
The parents of August Clemens Schwanke were citizen Gottlieg Schwanke and his wife Sophia Charlotte Meyhoffen.
August Clemens Schwanke, born, January 1823, in Bromberg Province, Posen, Prussia, died June 27, 1890 at LaPrairie, Illinois.

Eltje Harms Schwanke, nee Eggen, born April 6, 1841 at Wiesens Amt Aurich Konig Reich Hanover, Ostfriesland, died March 23 1905 at LaPrairie, Illinois

In 1851, August Clemens Schwanke a shoemaker by trade, left Berlin, Germany for the USA and settled in LaPrairie, Illinois. At the time the railroad was being built and there was only one house in LaPrairie, a two story frame building used as a boarding house for transients and railroad men.

In March 1858, August Clemens Schwanke and Miss Eltje Eggen were married by the Lutheran pastor from the South LaPrairie church. They later joined the Lutheran Church at Junction, now Golden, IL. After his
.                                                                                      marriage Mr. Schwanke built a house on Blocks 6 & 7 which he had acquired. He added a room to serve as his shop.

To this union eight children were born, four boys and four girls. Two of the children, one boy and one girl, died in infancy. Six grew to manhood and womanhood in this home. The last to marry, Theodore, purchased the house after his mother, Eltje, died and lived there until his death in June, 1930. His wife, Ovelle Gillespie Schwanke lived there until her death on May 30, 1943.
Note: The house no longer exists but has not been gone too many years as of this time, 2002.
Note: At their marriage Mr. Schwanke was a 35 and Miss Eltje was 1 month shy of 17.

The children of August and Eltje Schwanke:
Christine Wilhelmine (Aunt Tena).......Dec. 25, 1860 to Feb. 14, 1930
Herman Carl August  (Uncle Herman)  Nov. 8, 1863 to Feb. 14, 1949
Maria Louisa ...................................... Feb. 25, 1867 died in infancy
Theodore Adolf (Uncle Theodore)........Feb. 16, 1868 to June 21, 1930
Carl Frederick (Uncle Charley to Lois,
                                          Grandpa to me) Nov. 14, 1870 to Sept. 27, 1954
Johann Wilhelm................................... Sept. 1, 1873 died an infant
Marie Louise (Aunt Mary)...................... June 4, 1876 to Jan. 15, 1957
Johanna Charlotte ( Aunt Hannah to me
                                         Granny G. to Lois) Oct. 22, 1879 to Oct. 3, 1947

Obituary:
August Schwanke, of LaPrairie, died last Friday after a lingering illness of six months or more, supposed to be the effects of an attack of la grippe. He was born in the Kingdom of Prussia in 1823 and emigrated to the United States after having served a regular term of service in the Prussian Army. He located in LaPrairie in 1857 where he married a daughter of H. Johnson Eggen and reared a large family of children who, with his widow, survive. The deceased was of an unassuming and modest disposition, a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and was much respected by his fellow citizens.







On October 13, 1845, .Henry Custer, 1821 - 1910, married one Eleanor Dickey in Bottetort County, Virginia where both were living. They had seven children, one of whom was Margaret Ann Custer.


Reese Gillespie of Smyth County, VA
married Sally Hanshew on November
29, 1848 by S. Rudy, Minister in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church. Of this
union a son, William R. Gillespie was born. The family moved to Southern
Missouri where no records of them have been found but after the death of their parents the sons returned to Virginia and apparently settled once again in Smyth County.
Margaret Ann Custer
William R. Gillespie
William R. Gillespie, born January 4, 1851 in Smyth County, Virginia, married Margaret Ann Custer who was born March 31, 1848 in Botetourt County, Virginia. He died June 2, 1888 an she on April 13, 1892, both in Schuyler County, Illinois. They had six children.
Children of William R. and Margret Ann Gillespie:

Sarah Ovelle Gillespie......................born October 16, 1875, Smyth County, Virginia
                                                         died May 30, 1943, LaPrairie, Illinois

Henry Smith Gillespie.......................born November 2, 1877, Smyth County, Virginia
    died September 12, 1965, Augusta, Illinois

George Everett Madon Gillespie.......born September 6, 1879, Smyth County, Virginia
                                                         died 1892 - crippled from birth.

Maude May Gillespie.........................born March 1, 1882, Smyth County, Virginia
                                                         died April 6, 1924, Huntsville, Illinois

Edna Virginia Gillespie......................born September 101884, Huntsville, Illinois
     died September 11, 1963, Los Angeles, CA

William Edgar Gillespie.....................born August 8, 1888, Huntsville, Illinois
     died August 14, 1900, Rushville, Illinois
Maude McWilliams
Edna Milligan
Ovelle Schwanke
Henry Smith
William Edgar
John Redd, father of James B. Redd, was born in 1776 in Virginia and died in 1850 in Marion County, Missouri, near Palmyra.

He married Ann Bullock, who was born in 1774, also in Virginia.

They were married in Kentucky and lived there until 1834 when they moved to Marion County, Missouri. They settled on a farm in the Todd Spring area, approximately four miles North of Palmyra and spent the remainder of their lives there. The marker of their grave can be found just inside the South entrance to the old portion of the cemetery at Palmyra.

They were thought to have had five children:

James B. Redd (Judge)1806 - ?

John T. Redd (Judge)                                         1816 - ?
Studied law at home for three years, was admitted
to the bar in 1844 and in 1856 was alected Judge of
the 16th Judicial Circuit of Missouri.

Elizabeth Redd

Caroline Redd

Maria B. Redd

No records of dates of birth and death of the girls are available.
Judge James B. Redd, born in Jefferson Cty,
Kentucky, Decenber 1, 1806. His parents, John and Ann (Bullock) Redd, moved to Marion County, Missouri in the Fall of 1834 and remained there for the remainder of their lives. James B. grew up on his parents farm and at the age of 21 engaged in teaching in his own neighborhood for a time.
In 1829 he moved to Louisville, KY and engaged in contracting, paving and etc.for a period of some 20 years.
He married Agatha M. Berry (nee Redd) who was born February 25, 1815, in Woodford County, Kentucky, a daughter of Thomas M. and Elizabeth (Bullock) Redd, both of Virginia. In 1849 he left the contracting business and purchased a farm. In 1851 he sold that farm and moved to Marion County, Missouri where he purchased the homestead of his father, then deceased. He spent the remainder of his life on the farm about four miles North of Palmyra and during that time served four years as a county judge. On March 8, 1881 he was left a widower wth seven children:
Theodore, James, Archibald, David Layton, Martha Belle, and Caroline. One name unknown.
He was a member of the Christian Church.
David Layton Redd was born in Louisville, KY on March 16, 1850 and was brought to Missouri in 1851 when his family settled on the Redd farm about four miles North of Palmyra. He grew up and lived there on the farm until shortly after his marriage to Elizabeth Utterback of Woodford County, Kentucky. They were married on February 5, 1884 in Woodford County where she was born and raised. Shortly after returning to Missouri they purchased what is now known as the Pennewell farm, across the highway from the Redd farm. (The Pennewell farm has recently been deeded to the University of Missouri for use in agricultural research.) They lived there for some twenty years.  At his father's death they purchased the Redd farm from the estate and lived there until they retired from active farming, eleven years prior to his death in 1938, at 86 years of age. Mrs. Redd lived another six years until 1944.

They were the parents of eight children, two of which died in infancy.
The picture of the Redd family is thought to have been taken about 1917.
Standing, from the left: Mrs. Lee (Fannie) Thornburg, William Redd, John Redd, Mrs. Carl (Elizabeth) Gillespie, David Redd, Mrs. Irl (Carrie) Lovelace.
Seated are Mr. and Mrs. David Layton Redd
This photo, taken on the same date, shows the spouses of the married members and their children.
L to R:  Aunt Fan, holding Lucille, Uncle Lee, Uncle Bill (single), Uncle John (single), Mom (Elizabeth, single), Aunt Vera, wife of Uncle David, Uncle Irl and Aunt Carrie Lovelace.

Seated, L to R: Grandpa Redd, with Nelson Thornburg and David Lovelace,
Grandma Redd with Frances and Benjamin Lovelace.
Date not known.
50th Wedding Anniversary
Grandpa & Grandma Redd with Lois
probably late summer 1927.
Wm. Utterback, Uncle of Elizabeth
Utterbck Redd (Grandma Redd)
Grandpa Redd with a bundle of
wheat, ready for threshing.
Mother, Mrs. Orin F. Schwanke, Sr., as a baby being held by her mother,
Helen Isadore (Briggs) Huston, or "Mother Helen" as my mother always called her, six months to one year old.

Very little information is known to me concerning Helen Isadore (Briggs)
Huston, or "Mother Helen".  Mother was adopted at an early age by a family named Bennett which may account for the almost sad expression on the face of "Mother Helen". Mother always considered the Huston family as being her family. She had three sisters that I can remember, Helen Huston Longnecker (Aunt Lesta), Naomi Huston (Aunt Dinkus), Veda Englehart (Aunt Veda) and a brother, Norman Huston. There is another sister listed in the following obituary, Leah Mae, that I was not aware of. We visited them several times when they lived in Davenport, Iowa. Grandpa Huston had a veterinary practice there.

Obituary:
Funeral services will be held this afternoon at 2:00 o'clock at the Slininger
Chapel for Mrs. S. S. Huston, 47, who died at her home in Jefferson Monday, August 13, after an illness of two years. The Reverend L. R. Gans,
Pastor of the Christian Church will be in charge. Burial will be in Dodge Cemetery near Bagley.

Helen I. Briggs was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Briggs, born in Beverly, Illinois, February 3, 1881. She was married to S. S. Huston on October 12, 1904 and to this union six children were born, five girls and one boy. For the past ten years she has made her home in Jefferson, living before that time near Bagley and also in Macksburg.

She united with the Methodist Church at Quincy, Illinois and belonged to that faith until the time of her death.

She is survived by her widower, five daughters, Mrs. Hazel Schwanke of Burlington, Iowa, Mrs. Helen Longnecker of Emerson, Nebraska, Bernice Naomi, Veda Irene, and Leah Mae, who live at home, and one son, Norman, at home; three sisters, Mrs. George Burns (Aunt Molly) of Cooper, Iowa, Mrs. John Fishback of St. Louis, Mrs. Fred Creswick of Alta, Illinois.

The obituary does not so state but the year of her death was 1928.
This may be jumping the gun a bit, putting O. F. (Bill) Jr. in here this early but this is the only picture that we have of Daniel M. Worman, seated. He died at home in Augusta, Illinois on December 7, 1926 at the age of 98 years, 7 months and 19 days. ( You mathematicians can reckon his birthdate.) It goes back well into 1827.

His son, John W. Worman (Grandpa Pete) died on November 7, 1929 at age 74. He had lost his left arm and right leg in an accident working as a brakeman for the railroad.

His daughter, Lula W. Schwanke was married to Carl Frederick (Charles) Schwanke. She died on October 29, 1929, at age 51, in Plymouth, Illinois.

Her son, Orin F. Schwanke, born August 16, 1902, near Augusta, Illinois and died at Mason, Texas on March 5, 1979 at 77 years of age.

His son, Orin F. Schwanke, Jr. (Bill) was born September 2, 1924 on a dairy farm near Macomb, Illinois.

This picture must have been taken in the fall of 1924, October or November.
John W. Worman Family
I'm sorry, I don't know all of these people and I don't know anyone alive who does. John W. Worman is the gentleman standing in the center of the back row and his wife is the lady seated in front of him. I know my Grandmother Lu is seated on the left as we face the picture. The young boy standing to her immediate left is Uncle Paul Schwanke, Dad's older brother.
Dad, Orin F. Schwanke, is the boy seated on the extreme right of the picture as we face it.  Dad looks about six so I would guess the picture was taken in about 1908.
John W. Worman and his great-grandchildren
L. to R. : Orin Schwanke, standing by the horse, girl on the horse not known,
Paul Schwanke, seated in the surrey,  It just happens to be a "surrey with a fringe on the top".


Carl & Leslie
Ray & Patricia
Alan & Sharon
Pete & Sharon
Dan& Brandy
Curt & Jenny
The Palmers
Jesse & Diana
C. F. Schwanke
H. S. Gillespie
O. F. Schwanke
C. E. Gillespie
Lois & Bill
History II
S. S. Huston
J.M. Bennett
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