[Page 17]
The house at 1204 Third Street in Henry has been owned and occupied by
members of the Bickennan family since it was built in the 1860's.
The present owner is Mattie Bickerman Bogner (Mrs. Edward Bogner), 93, who
is a granddaughter of Adam and Gertrude Dannanhold Bickerman, pioneer
settlers of Henry Township.
The house was built by Theodore Bickerman for his mother, Mrs. Adam
Bickerman, about 110 years ago.
The Adam Bickermans came to Marshall County around 1850 from Kentucky. He
bought 80 acres in Henry Township, three miles south and west of the village
of Henry, and eventually purchased a considerable amount of additional
acreage. Adam was fatally injured by a team of runaway horses and died June
5, 1863, in his farm home at the age of 51 years.
Theodore was one of his six children. After Adam's death he operated the
farm, his mother continuing to live there until he built the new house in
Henry for her. She lived there until her death November 25, 1873.
The house was then bought by Joseph Schick and his wife, the former Veronica
Bickerman, one of the other children of Adam and Gertrude Bickerman. Joseph
and Veronica were married in 1866. Schick was an early grocer in Henry and
later a cement contractor. He died in 1904. Veronica and her family occupied
the house until they moved to California in 1927. She later died there.
Mrs. Schick sold the house in 1927 to Edward and Mattie Bogner. Edward died
in 1969. Mattie, Theodore's daughter and granddaughter of Adam and Gertrude,
continues to live in the house. She does her own work and also carries on as
a partner in the Bogner Machine and Parts Company, going daily to the office
for a few hours of work on the books.
Although the house has been remodeled several times over the years and a new
wing added, its original design is still recognizable. The interior has a
walnut staircase leading from a front hall to the four-bedroom second floor.
Miss Florence Merdian
(Niece)
[Page 19]
The land on which this house sits was purchased for $50.00 in 1834 but it is
believed that the house was built in 1854. The story is that two maiden
ladies from North Carolina wanted to escape the Civil War by moving North.
Mr. Asa O. Hutchins, owner of a Henry clothing store, purchased the house in
1875. It was Mr. Hutchins who added the third floor game and billiard room
and mansard roof and additions to the first and second floors.
After the death of Mr. Hutchins, Ella Jenness became the owner. She sold it
to Robert O. Green on March 30, 1939 at which time it became a funeral home.
Upon his death, the house was sold to Robert B. Child, also a funeral
director, and grandson of Mr. Green. Robert Child was killed in July of 1973
at which time, Joseph R. Child purchased the house and business. It is
located at 5l6 Market Street, Henry, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Child
[Page 20]
The twelve-room Victorian mansion located at 906 College Street, Henry, is
pictured as it appeared in the 1873 Plat Book. Few structural changes have
been made since its construction in i860 by Alexander Hoagland, a wealthy
mill owner.
Mr, Hoagland spared no expense in building his fine home. It was necessary,
however, to use domestic marble since the Civil War prevented the
importation of Italian marble. The mansion originally contained six
fireplaces. Only the kitchen fireplace has been closed over the years.
The lower floor consists of two large double parlors, a dining room, master
bedroom, kitchen and pantry. A beautiful railed cherry banister leads to the
spacious second story.
The upstairs contains three bedrooms and a bath as well as three rooms for
servants. The water of the upstairs bath was hand pumped to the second
floor.
The property has been owned by a number of landlords since the time of Mr.
Hoagland; Dr, Baker, the Jones family, Mrs. Josephine Townsend, and in the
early 1900's it was acquired by the Brown family. After Mrs. Brown's death,
in the early 1940's, the home was purchased by Mr. Paul Burkhart, the
present owner.
This house was built between the years 1888 and 1890 by Hiram Hunter who
purchased the lot in 1888.
Two rooms were added to the back of the original house about l5 years later.
The front porch was enlarged to its present size at that time.
The house has been occupied by two families. The Hiram Hunter family lived
in the house until 1921, and the Lloyd Jones family since January, 1922.
The home is located at 8l3 Richard Street, Henry, Illinois.
The drawing below was made from an early photograph of the home.
[Page 22]
This house at 503 Richard Street, Henry, Illinois was built of white pine
about 98 years ago by Henry W. and Theresa Deboe Watercott.
Henry died in his thirties and Mrs. Watercott continued to live there after
his death.
Upon her death, the house was sold to Charles Helmendollar, who lived in the
house only a few years.
It was sold to Edwin Wiedman who occupied the home until 1969, when it was
purchased by Mr. Henry Watercott's great-niece, Mrs. Louise Koehler and her
husband, George.
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Koehler
[Page 23]
In 1886, Julius and Elizabeth Watercott built this white frame Victorian
home at 603 Richard Street, Henry, Illinois. It originally had one-story,
the second floor was added in 1919.
Although Julius Watercott lived in this home until his death in 1924, his
wife, Elizabeth, died before the house was completed. Julius never
remarried, Julius's parents moved in with him to care for his only child,
Edith. However, soon after the elder Watercotts moved into the home, Mrs.
Watercott fell on the basement steps and was killed. Julius Watercott
continued to live alone in the house until 1919, when Edith, now married to
Edward Hoscheidt, and their family moved in with him. Edward and Edith
Hoscheidt raised two children, Julius and Louise, in the home.
Julius Hoscheidt and his wife, Amelda, lived many years in a house directly
across the street.
In 1941, daughter, Louise, her husband, George Koehler, and their four sons,
George, Jr., Tom, Jim, and Jerry, moved into the family home. Mr. and Mrs.
Koehler lived in the home until 1969, vjhen Mr. Koehler retired from
Watercott's Department Store, and son, Jim, returned to Henry to work at
Watercott 's. George and Louise then moved into the original Henry Watercott
residence.
Their son, Jim, his wife, Judy, and two children, Ted and Julie, now live in
the family residence at 603 Richard Street, which has been occupied for 90
years by Julius Watercott and his descendants.
Mr. and Mrs. James P. Koehler.
[Page 24]
Frederick Story Potter, attorney, and his wife, Isabel House Potter planned
this house to include the smaller house located on the south lot at 506
Carroll Street. Mr. Potter's father, Frederick Potter, was a retired
shipbuilder from New London, Connecticut who enjoyed working with wood and
he personally selected each board and supervised delivery. He designed the
woodwork and each piece was numbered, as was each piece of lumber
incorporated in the sixteen-room house. The entire frame has been assembled
with wooden pegs. Not a single nail is used in the construction of the
frame.
There were five bedrooms on the second floor, and a master bedroom on the
first floor. Servants' quarters were on the third floor. Each bedroom had a
marble topped lavatory and the master bedroom had a lead lined bathtub. The
water supplied to those moden comforts had to be pumped by hand to a huge
water tank on the third floor. The water to the bathtub passed through a
stove that had to be started even in the summer. The water supply came from
five cisterns that surrounded the old house. The Potter mansion boasted the
first central heating system in the city of Henry. A large brick furnace
supplied the steam for the radiators which are still in use today.
Five generations of the Potter family lived in the house from the time it
was built in 1881 until 1962.
Mrs. Helen Potter Johnson.
[Page 25]
The stately Victorian dwelling located at 513 Carroll Street, Henry,
Illinois was built in 1860 by John and Elizabeth Purple. They owned the home
until 1871 when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kleinhenz. They lived here
until the death of Mrs. Kleinhenz on August 25, 1880.
In 1890 the real estate was sold to John D. McVickers and wife. Mr.
McVickers departed this life on June 20, 1912. After this Mr. and Mrs. Carl
T. Eisen occupied the home until it was sold again to Thomas and Marie
Seagraves during the early 1930's.
In 1938 it was again sold to James Brennan and his wife and son, James
Edward Brennan. Mr. Brennan was a graduate of Worshom College of Mortuary
Science in Chicago and he opened the Brennan Funeral Home in 1938. The
funeral home was in operation at the time of Edward Brennan' s sudden death
on April 2, 1956. His wife, Margaret operated the business for a short time
when she sold it to Gordon J. Ries, Mr, Ries, the son of the late John and
Corriene Hofer Ries, a graduate of the Worshan College in Chicago, operates
the business now known as the Ries Mortuary.
The graceful, curving staircase is located just inside the front entrance
and each high ceilinged room was originally heated from marble fireplaces
which are still in the original structure. A large chapel has been added to
the original structure which can seat a host of visitors. The original
structure has been decorated in impeccably good taste and you may find the
finest of antiques throughout the funeral home.
[Page 26]
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Deryl Schertz was built in l854 by Benjamin Lombard
at the cost of $75,000. Several families of carpenters and brickmasons came
from the East to build the house. They built several more homes in Henry and
some of the families settled in this area. Lombard, often referred to as a
"land shark" lived in the home but ten years. He reportedly owned 30,000
acres of land in this part of Illinois.
The bricks for the 18-inch walls in the Lombard home came from a brick
plant, two and one-half miles west of Henry. Twelve fireplaces were used in
the fourteen room house, which had seven chimneys on the roof in addition to
a widow's walk. The nine foot French windows have cherry frames and
thresholds. All other doors, windows, and trim are made of pine. The 13 foot
ceilings in the living rooms have plaster of Paris open filigree flower
designs as a border. Each living room has a four foot floral medallion in
the center of the ceiling with a hook for the chandelier. The original
floors were six inch fir with carpet used in several rooms and on the curved
walnut staircase.
The line drawing accompanying the story is the way the Lombard mansion,
Rexhurst, appeared around 19l4 before several structural changes were made.
After the Civil War, the property was sold a number of times and in the
early 1900 's it was purchased by a member of the Law family for his
newlywed son and wife. At that time it was completely redecorated.
It was soon sold again and the owners in 1914 had a fire, reported to be
arson, and the walnut staircase was ruined and considerable damage was done
to the second story. After the fire the front curved staircase was closed
off, leaving the servants' stairs from the kitchen area as the only access
to the remaining second story rooms.
In 1919 the farm was purchased by John and Grover Kirby. John took the
tenant house and most of the land; Grover, the Lombard House and about 36
acres of land. In 1945 the second fire invaded the home, starting in the
eaves, partially destroying the roof on the main part of the house. The
excellent work of the Henry Fire Department with the help of neighbors
hauling water in milk cans, saved the home. At this time the roof was
redesigned, the widow's walk was removed along with the fancy roof brackets.
The pillard porch which encircled three sides of the house was also removed.
In 1951 the Kirbys retired and moved to Henry, selling the property to Mr.
and Mrs. Harold Daly. The present owners purchased the home and acreage in
1958. They and their five children have spent many happy hours in the
repair, remodeling and restoration of this home.
Mr. and Mrs. Deryl Schertz
[Page 28]
St. Joseph's Parish House
The old brick home at 1011 School Street, Henry, Illinois, and presently
unoccupied, dates from the early 1870's.
In 1869, Father Heafy organized a new parish from the congregation at St.
Mary's Church. The new church, St. Joseph's, was erected in 1872. Father
Heafy lived for a while in a rented house until a brick rectory on the west
side of School Street was bought.
Apparently the house was erected in the early l870's. It is a stately
Federal structure.
Today this handsome old brick house stands empty and pitifully down-at-
the-heels. Bushes and brambles almost completely hide the beauty that once
so proudly greeted the passerby.
[Page 29]
Mrs. Roland Mosely became the owner of the lot at 909 Second Street, Henry,
Illinois in 1834.
It is believed the house standing today was built in the middle or late
1850's.
Elizabeth Fosbenner was an early owner of the home (1892).
The sturdy original solid brick walls have remained intact as the years have
passed on. One of the few changes made to the over 100 year old structure
was the addition of a corner sun porch about 1920.
In 1972, the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stowe purchased the home.
[Page 30]
The house at 927 Warren Street, Henry, Illinois was commissioned to be built
by Thomas Waterous, a lawyer. He bought the land on March 24, 1913.
The next owners were Theodore and Agnes Waterous who owned it from
1947-1965.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Shearer owned it from 1965-1972 until it was purchased
by Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Henderson on February 22, 1972.
Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Henderson
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