Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Schoonmaker, Moncena 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com December 3, 2007, 5:42 am

Author: Past & Present, 1907

Moncena Schoonmaker owns and cultivates a valuable farm of two hundred and 
forty acres on section 10, Crete township, and in connection with the tilling 
of the soil he feeds and ships cattle and hogs on an extensive scale, being 
one of the leading business men of the township. He was born in Kingston, New 
York, in 1849, a son of Jacob Schoonmaker, whose birth occurred in the Empire 
state. The grandfather was a native of the same state, but his great-
grandfather came from Holland. Jacob Schoonmaker was a merchant and in 1856 
came to Illinois, settling on the Kankakee river in Will county, where he 
bought a tract of land upon which he resided until about three months prior to 
his death, when he removed to Channahon township. He died in April, 1864. In 
the meantime his father, Peter Schoonmaker, had come to Illinois and spent his 
remaining days in Will county, dying in 1875, when past the age of seventy 
years. Jacob Schoonmaker was thirty-six years of age at the time of his 
demise. His brother, George Schoonmaker, was a soldier of the Civil war, 
enlisting in the One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, and was killed at the siege 
of Atlanta, Georgia. Patience Smith Schoonmaker, the mother of our subject, 
was born in New York and traced her ancestry back to the celebrated Captain 
John Smith. She was married in the Empire state and died in 1902 at the 
advanced age of seventy-eight years. She held membership in the Methodist 
Episcopal church and was a lady of strong religious convictions, who 
throughout her entire life was most loyal to her professions. In the family 
were nine children. Dora became the wife of Henry Soper, founder of and 
president of the Soper School of Oratory in Chicago. Before her marriage, in 
1873, she was sent by the Methodist-church as a missionary to Japan, where she 
spent four years. Rodney, the second surviving member of the family, is 
postmaster of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and has extensive business interests 
there. Wilbur, formerly a locomotive engineer, is now a farmer in Kansas. Ida 
became the wife of George Wignall, a contractor of Chicago, and died in 1889. 
Four of the children died in early life. Moncena Schoonmaker was educated in 
the country schools, having but meager opportunities, however, owing to the 
pioneer condition that here existed and also owing to the fact that his father 
died when the son was but fifteen years of age, and being the eldest of the 
family the burden of carrying on the farm devolved upon him. With courageous 
spirit he took up the task and faithfully discharged his duties toward the 
younger members of the family. All of his life he has been largely interested 
in cattle and has won the greater measure of his prosperity through his 
dealings in live-stock. At the time of the establishment of the town of 
Pullman in 1886 he went there and opened a store, which he conducted until 
1895. He then removed to Chicago Heights, where for five years he carried on a 
grocery store. On the expiration of that period he came to Crete township, 
where he owned a farm of one hundred and eighty-five acres on section 10. To 
this he has added enough to make the farm two hundred and forty acres and it 
is a valuable property, lacking in none of the equipments and accessories of a 
model farm of the twentieth century. He feeds and ships cattle and hogs on an 
extensive scale and this branch of his business is proving very profitable. 
Mr. Schoonmaker was married June 13, 1870, to Miss Leni Sage, who was born in 
this county in 1852, a daughter of Elizur W. Sage, whose birth occurred in 
Oneida county, New York, in 1812 and who died in 1884. His father was Elisha 
Sage, of Welsh ancestry. Elizur Sage was one of seven children, including 
Russell Sage, the great New York financier, who was four years his junior. 
Elizur Sage married Miss Mary Willard, a native of New York, and they became 
the parents of nine children, five of whom reached years of maturity. In 1838 
they removed to Illinois, settling in Channahon township, where Mr. Sage 
resided until his death, which occurred in 1884, when he was seventy-two years 
of age. He was a carpenter by trade, became well-to-do and always owned a 
farm, but never lived upon it, having considerable property in town, including 
a comfortable residence. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist 
church. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Schoonmaker has been blessed with six 
children. Mary, the eldest, is the wife of F. C. Bendie, a real-estate dealer 
of Chicago, and they have two children. Hattie married Charles Rheutan, a 
glassfitter of Pullman, and died in 1897, at the age of twenty-four years, 
leaving a daughter, Beatrice, who was then twenty months old and is now living 
with her grandparents. Dora died at the age of six years. Jennie is the wife 
of Walter H. Clayton, a mail clerk of St. Paul, and they have two children. 
Elsie is the wife of Robert J. Johnston, who is with Montgomery Ward & 
Company, of Chicago, and they have two children. Dale, a resident farmer of 
Crete township, wedded Susie Weishaar and has one child. There are now eight 
grandchildren. In his political views Mr. Schoonmaker has always been a 
republican, stanchly advocating the principles of the party, yet never seeking 
office for himself. He has lived in this part of Illinois for fifty-one years 
and is therefore familiar with the events which constitute its history. What 
to others is a matter of record is largely to him a matter of personal 
observation or experience, for he has witnessed the great changes that have 
occurred and transformed Will county from a frontier district into a region of 
much industrial, commercial and agricultural importance. As the years have 
passed he has carefully managed his business interests and is now a 
substantial resident of Crete township. 

Additional Comments:
Past and Present of Will County, Illinois, by W. W. Stevens, President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907.

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