Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Eberhart, Fred 1856 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 8, 2007, 11:27 pm

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

FRED EBERHART. It does not take a visitor long to determine the status of the 
business houses which line the streets of any town, and to decide who among 
the trades-men are popular, as well as of good repute in financial circles. A 
cursory view of the business houses of Manhattan would lead to the opinion 
that the gentleman above named occupies the front rank among the dealers in 
that flourishing corporation. He is engaged in the sale of lumber, coal, 
paints and oils, and general building material, and also does a good business 
as a contractor and builder. In fact, during the last few years he has put up 
the most of the houses which have been built. The immediate progenitors of 
this gentleman are Benedict and Anna (Palmer) Eberhart, both natives of 
Switzerland. The father was born in Canton Berne, and reared upon a farm 
there. He emigrated to America when twenty-one years old, immediately after 
his marriage, and settled near Frankfort, this county. For a time he rented 
land but finally purchased a good farm in the same township upon which he 
resided until 1877. He then sold it and buying one hundred and sixty acres of 
improved land on section 11, Manhattan Township, changed his place of abode to 
that which he is now occupying. Although sixty years of age he is still active 
and able to continue the control of his estate. Politically, he is a Democrat, 
and religiously, a Presbyterian. His father in-law, Jacob A. Palmer, also came 
to America in 1851, and after living in Frankfort Township for a time, removed 
to LaPorte, Ind., where his comfortable circumstances enabled him to live in 
retirement until his death. The parental family, of which our subject is the 
oldest member, also includes John, whose home is at Ft. Sidney, Neb.; Charles, 
who resides in Joliet; Louis, who is at home; Henry, with our subject; Albert 
and Mary, at home; Anna, a milliner and dressmaker in Manhattan; and Mrs. Rosa 
Morse, who lives in Manhattan Township. The natal day of our subject was 
February 29, 1856, and his birthplace a farm in Frankfort Township. He enjoyed 
the privileges afforded by the common schools and the Frankfort graded school, 
and like most lads reared upon a farm, began to lend a hand while still quite 
young. He divided his time between his school and farm labors until the age of 
twenty-five, when he became a clerk in a grocery store in Spencer. After a 
time he went to Chicago, where he officiated as scaleman at the Kinzie Street 
Station. The next change of Mr. Eberhart was to Manhattan, this county, in 
1879. Here he became a clerk for J. Cockle, the first merchant here, and sold 
the first groceries over a counter in the village. After clerking a year the 
young man returned to Chicago and began speculating in the bucket-shop 
adjoining the Board of Trade on LaSalle Street, getting his real start in life 
there as a successful broker in every article of trade. In the fall of 1882, 
he came again to Manhattan, bought out A. H. King, a lumber dealer, and has 
since conducted a very successful business in that line. Manhattan is a good 
business point, with a rapidly increasing trade, and the various articles in 
which Mr. Eberhart now deals are in constant demand. He owns block 3, where 
the sheds for lumber, coal, etc., are located. He also owns several town lots 
here and in the West, together, with three hundred and twenty acres of farming 
land in Cheyenne County, Neb., near Ft. Sidney. After having lived in single 
blessedness until the age of thirty-two years, Mr. Eberhart contracted a 
matrimonial alliance on February 2d, 1889. His chosen companion was Miss 
Minnie Jacobs, who was born in Green Garden Township, comes of respected 
parents and is herself a fine specimen of noble womanhood. She is the daughter 
of Cornelius Jacobs, a farmer. Mr. Eberhart helped to incorporate the village 
of Manhattan and was elected a member of its first Board of Trustees, holding 
the office until 1890. He was Township Clerk for eight years, resigning all 
public office in 1890, and retiring to private life. Mr. Eberhart, as will be 
seen from the above notes, is personally responsible for his substantial 
finances and the high position which he occupies as a business man and 
citizen. He is one of those zealous men who devote much time and ability to 
the improvement of the town with whose citizens they have cast in their lot, 
and to whom is due in a large measure the prosperity of the entire community. 
He is a Democrat and has served as a delegate to county conventions. He is a 
social man of jovial and kindly nature and a popular member of society.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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