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HELD, Peter

Peter HELD, residing on section 25, Hopewell township, has been a life long resident of the township, being born on section 11, on the old homestead of his parents, Conrad and Apalona (FREEZE) HELD, July 28, 1849. He was reared on the farm, and received his primary education in the district schools, after which he attended Henry college, and completed his course at Northwestern college at Plainfield, Illinois.

On returning home from school, he resumed his place upon the farm and worked for his father until his marriage in 1872, with Miss Tillie C. HOFFERT, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, and who is a daughter of Isaac and Mary Ursula (ESHER) HOFFERT, the former a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, born in 1811. Her father was educated at Columbus, Ohio, and was ordained to the ministry in the Evangelical Association and was an itinerant preacher through Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin. He subsequently located in the suburbs of Chicago on a farm, which he operated, in the meantime preaching on Sundays in the surrounding neighborhood. He was a man of considerable pulpit ability, and his services as a minister were generally in demand. The mother of Mrs. HELD was born in France, from which country she emigrated to Warren, Pennsylvania, and after her marriage with Mr. HOFFERT they moved to Wheeling, Illinois, and later to Chicago, where the father died in 1876. The mother still survives and yet makes her home in Chicago. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: Mrs. Mary U. NEIBERTGALL, living in Chicago; Isaac, residing in Chicago; Mrs. Caroline KNOFF, of the same city; Tillie C., wife of our subject; Mrs. Sarah E. SNYDER, of Chicago; George, also of that city; Alfred E., residing in Roberts township, Marshall county; Jesse R., deceased, and John Jacob, also deceased. The great-grandfather of Mrs. HELD, on her father’s side, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mrs. HELD was the fourth child in the family, and after attending the district schools entered Northwestern college at Plainfield, Illinois, and when it was removed to Naperville continued with it and completed the course at that place.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. HELD located upon a farm one mile north of their present home, where they remained until 1886, and then moved to their present place of residence on section 25, where they have a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres, all of which is under excellent improvement. Mr. HELD has followed farming during his entire life, and has been quite successful, having at the present time a farm well stocked with the best breeds of horses, cattle and swine to be found in this section of the country.

To Mr. and Mrs. HELD three children have been born – S. Loretta, now the wife of John J. MYERS, living in Roberts township; C. Olive and Mamie A. living at home. All have received good educations, the eldest having been a student in one of the educational institutions of Chicago. The family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Varna, of which Mr. HELD is a trustee. His wife and her two eldest daughters are teachers in the Sunday school. In the work of the church and the Sunday school they have ever taken the greatest interest, and have always done their part in promoting the Lord’s cause. Politically, Mr. HELD is a stanch republican. For nine years he has been road commissioner and has served as school director for district No. 2 for a number of years. The family live in an elegant home on section 36, which is well furnished with every convenience found in a modern home. The daughters are well educated in music and have had the best musical training possible. The mother herself is a musician of no ordinary ability, and in her younger days was a teacher of music. Their fine library is in constant use by every member of the family and all keep well posted on the current literature of the day.

Extracted March 2011 by Norma Hass from The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.


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