entered and improved, continuing the cultivation and development of that property until 1853. There was There was a great deal of stone in the bluffs and with some of this he built a fine house. He had one of the most beautiful farms

for stock to be found anywhere.

In 1853, however, he left the farm and moved to Fulton, purchasing the ferry franchise across the Mississippi river, and, in company with his son-in-law, William Knight, putting on the first steam ferry that was ever operated on the Mississippi north of St. Louis. The boat was a nice sidewheeler called the "Sarah," named after his daughter, Sarah, the wife of William Knight, and was built for Mr. Johnson at the large steamboat yards at New Albany, Indiana. He brought her down the Ohio to Cairo and thence up the Mississippi to Fulton. After operating the ferry for two or three years, he invested his means in town lots, which rose continuously in value until Clinton was made the division town on the railroad.

Mr. Johnson resided in Fulton until his death, which occurred October 12, 1876. His widow died April 18, 1879. He was the father of twelve children, all of whom reached maturity with the exception of Cornelia P., who died in infancy. Five of the children are now living. Cornelia P. (second) is the widow of Richard Green, of Fulton, and is now living there; Henrietta, the widow of Charles A. Davidson, is now living in Kansas City, Missouri; Eliza N., the widow of Samuel Dennison, is also living in Kansas City, Missouri; Anna M., the widow of William Reed of Fulton, is now living with her son, George, in Louisiana; and Caleb C.

One son, Charles J. Johnson, went to Morrison, Illinois, about 1856, and practiced law there for a number of years, after which he went to Rock Island and later to Chicago, but eventually returned to Whiteside county and located in Sterling, where he formed a partnership with his brother, Caleb C., and continued in the practice of law until he had attained an advanced age. He died at the home of his sister, Mary Ware, near Fulton, in July, 1899. At one time he was judge of the county court of Whiteside county and was long regarded as a most powerful and eminent attorney.

Another son, Edward L. Johnson, served throughout the Civil war, enlisting in the First Nebraska Infantry as a private, but died before he reached home, while his regiment was at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Cornelia P. (second) and Harriet married brothers, Richard and William C. Green, respectively, both prominent residents of Fulton.

Caleb C. Johnson was reared in this county, spending the first eight years of his life on the home farm and then accompanying his parents on their removal to Fulton. He was educated in the common schools and at the Military Academy at Fulton, and entered from there into the life of the volunteer soldier, enlisting as a member of Company C, Sixty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He re-enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois Infantry, and served until the end of the war. The regiment was principally engaged in guarding railroads and was badly cut to pieces by guerrillas.

His military service ended, Mr. Johnson returned to Fulton, and in 1866 went to Morrison, Illinois, where he began reading law in his brother's

office. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he accepted a position as clerk on one of the large boats belonging to the Diamond Joe line and found this a very delightful occupation. But, in March, 1869, he came to Sterling, where he entered into partnership with Major Miles S. Henry. They opened a law office in the building where Mr. Johnson is now located and remained together until Mr. Henry's death in 1878. He was then joined by his brother in a partnership under the firm style of C. J. & C. C. Johnson, continuing together until 1893, at which time he went to North Dakota, having been appointed receiver of a national bank at Jamestown, North Dakota, by James H. Eckels, comptroller of the currency. In 1893, after settling up the affairs of the bank, he returned to Sterling and again became actively engaged in the practice of law.

His name is familiar to all those who are at all acquainted with the legal history of Whiteside county. He has been retained by either the defense or the prosecution in a great many of the important cases tried in the courts of the district. He never fails to prepare his cases thoroughly for trial, and the presentation of them indicates a mind trained in the severest school of investigation, and to which close reasoning has become habitual and easy. His deductions follow in logical sequence, and his marked ability is demonstrated by the many notable forensic victories he has won.

On the 15th of August, 1871, Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Josephine E. Worthington, a daughter of Eliphalet Bulkeley Worthington, long deputy clerk of Whiteside county circuit court, and Sarah (McShane) Worthington. They have one son, Jesse W., a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. He is now reading law in his father's office, having spent two years in the graduate Law School of the University of Chicago. He married Miss Jessie L. Sharpe, of Jacksonville, Illinois, and they have one son, William S.

Caleb C. Johnson is an exemplary member of Rock River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M.; Sterling Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M., and Sterling Commandery, No. 57, K. T., of which he was the first eminent commander, serving for two and one-half years. And he was also an officer in the grand commandery of Illinois.

Politically, he is a democrat and has been honored by a number of official positions. At one time he served on the board of supervisors and was a member of the building committee that had in charge the erection of the clerk's office at Morrison. He served as city attorney for a number of terms, first in 1869. In 1885 he was elected to the Illinois legislature and re-elected for the sessions of 1887, 1893, 1897 and of 1903, he being at that time the nestor of house democrats. He also served in one or two special sessions. He was at every session a leader, taking an active part in the proceedings at all times. His complete knowledge of parliamentary law and usages, together with his natural ability as a political tactician and party leader, won for him in the session of 1893 the position of temporary speaker and organizer of the house, and afterward the chairmanship of some of the most important committees in the house. Under Cleveland's first adminis

tration Mr. Johnson, was deputy collector of internal revenue, and in 1888 he was a delegate to the democratic national convention at St. Louis.

At present Mr. Johnson is out of politics, devoting himself entirely to his law practice, but performing faithfully the duties and demands made upon him incident to good citizenship. He is a member of the Wallace school board, president of the library board and a trustee of the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy. A few years ago he was associated with C. L. Sheldon in an attempt to induce the government to change the proposed line of the feeder for the Hennepin canal so that it would join Rock river at Sterling instead of at Dixon. These two gentlemen were sent to Washington for this purpose and succeeded in their mission, and Sterling is today consequently entering upon an industrial era of great promise.

Mr. Johnson has always been a close student of those questions which are to the statesman and to the man of practical affairs of deep interest. His labors and efforts have been an essential factor in promoting the best interests of Sterling and Whiteside county and have borne fruit, not only in legislative halls but through the wider contact and friendship with men of the state.

JOHN M. GOLTMAN.

John M. Goltman, who has earned the right to live retired, having for many years been a factor in Whiteside county's business activities now makes his home in Sterling. He was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1833. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war-a scout-during the operations near Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and a sharpshooter. He lost his wife when comparatively young, while he lived to an old age.

Their children included Thomas Goltman, a native of the Keystone state, who became a mechanic, building wagons, plows, and doing other mechanical work. The broad west with its limitless advantages and opportunities attracted him and about 1844 he arrived in Illinois, while in 1848 he took up his abode near Mount Carroll, in Carroll county, where he engaged in farming. He had wedded Mary Beck, also a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of George and Mary (Brenner) Beck, who were natives of Pennslyvania. The father was of Holland descent and was a carpenter by trade. The mother reached the advanced age of seventy-seven years. Her father was a wagonmaster in Washington's army in the Revolutionary war. The ancestral history of John M. Goltman thus entitles him to membership with the Sons of the American Revolution. Following the removal of his parents to Illinois the father continued farming in Carroll county until the health of his wife necessitated their return to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where the death of Mrs. Goltman occurred in 1856 when she was fifty-five years of age. The husband and father survived for only two years, passing away in 1858. Both were members of the Reformed church. They

had a large family of thirteen children, nine of whom reached adult age, while three are yet living: John M.; Sarah, the widow of Thomas Buck; and Benjamin, who is living near Center Point in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

John M. Goltman remained a resident of his native county until fifteen years of age and was reared to farm life. He attended the district schools and later continued his studies in the Covenanter Academy in Franklin county. When fifteen years of age he came to the west but because of his mother's ill health returned to Pennsylvania. When in his twenty-second year he began reading law in the office of Judge Nill at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. Soon after he was married and in 1860 he came again to Illinois, settling in Carroll county, where he lived until 1861, when he came to Whiteside county. For four years he followed farming in Genesee township and then took up his abode in Sterling, since which time he has been a resident of Sterling and Rock Falls, while through his active business career he continued a member of the bar and was accorded a good clientage.

On the 8th of March, 1860, Mr. Goltman was married to Miss Susan Keefer, a daughter of John and Maria (Grove) Keefer, who were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a son of Jacob and Barbara (Burkholder) Keefer, the former a farmer by occupation. The wife died when about forty years of age and Jacob Keefer afterward married Mrs. Anna Funk, while his death occurred when he was seventy-six years of age. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Goltman was George Grove, who was likewise born in the Keystone state and engaged in the tilling of the soil as a life work. He wedded Catharine Knoftzker and died at the age of sixty-eight years, while his wife died at the age of sixty-seven years. They had a family of eight children.

John Keefer, father of Mrs. Goltman, was born in Pennsylvania and was twice married. He first wedded Hannah Price and they had four children, all of whom reached adult age but only one is now living-John P. Keefer, who resides at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. After the death of his first wife he wedded Maria Grove. He followed farming throughout his entire life and died near Marion, Pennsylvania, in 1863. His widow still survives and is living in Sterling in her eighty-ninth year. They had a family of eleven children, of whom the following are living: Mrs. Goltman; George G. Keefer, of Sterling; Jacob F., who resides near Marshalltown, Iowa; Samuel S., of Muskegon, Michigan; Emma C., the wife of Benjamin Goltman, who makes her home near Center Point, Iowa; Anna M., who is the widow of William Manahan and resides in Sterling; David M., living in Marshalltown, Iowa; and Christian A., of Chicago.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Goltman have been born four sons and a daughter: Thomas Winchester, who married Jessie Rutland and is living in Los Angeles, California; John Keefer, who wedded Agnes Jackson and is a traveling salesman residing in Clinton, Iowa; Clarence Edward, who is general buyer and foreman of the John Harpham harness factory of Sterling and who married Elizabeth Williams, by whom he has three children, Susan E.,

Ruth J. and John T.; Anna Grace; and Harry Herbert, who is a civil engineer and is now superintending bridge building and dredging in northern Iowa. He was a member of Company I, Seventh Cavalry Regiment in the Spanish-American war.

The parents are members of the Baptist church and are prominent socially, their hospitable home at No. 412 Third avenue being a favorite resort with their many friends. Politically Mr. Goltman is a democrat and for twenty years served as police magistrate of Sterling and for four years as justice of the peace, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial, while his capablity is indicated by his long retention in office. He is now living retired at the age of seventy-five years, and a well spent life has gained him the uniform regard of those who know him.

STACY B. DIMOND, M. D.

Dr. Stacy B. Dimond, the leading physician and druggist of Albany, with a large and profitable business in both lines of undertaking, was born near Belvidere, Boone county, Illinois, January 5, 1864. His parents were Josiah and Fanny (Lytle) Dimond, the former a native of Canada and the latter of New Jersey, but lived in Canada a few years. They were married in Illinois, becoming pioneer settlers of Boone county. The Dimond family had removed from Canada across the country with teams, Richard Dimond, the grandfather, bringing his family in this way, while his son, Josiah Dimond, rode a horse all the way. While en route they passed through Chicago, which was then a very small place, giving little promise of the almost phenomenal growth which was to make the city one of the wonders of the world of the nineteenth century. Indians were still quite numerous in this state and many evidences of pioneer life were seen, indicating that the seeds of civilization had scarcely been planted. Josiah Dimond became a farmer and was reared to agricultural pursuits upon the old homestead in Boone county. He was one of a family of two sons and three daughters and like the others of the household pursued his education in the district schools. His brother, Stephen Dimond, at the time of the Civil war enlisted as a defender of the Union cause and served for three years and six months with official rank. About the time of the close of hostilities between the north and south Josiah Dimond removed to Iowa, settling there in the spring of 1865. He purchased an improved farm in Delaware county, where he made his home for thirty years and was one of the prominent and valued agriculturists of the community. For a long period he filled the office of school commissioner and advocated all progressive measures for the welfare and upbuilding of the community. In 1903 he retired from active farm life and located at Earlville, Iowa, where he still resides, but in 1901 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife. Their family numbered six children, who reached years of maturity: Richard, who is now living in Lincoln, Nebraska; Gertrude, the wife of W. S. Midland, of Hartley, Iowa; Stacy B.; Emma J.; Fannie; and Josiah, a druggist of Altoona, Iowa.