Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Schoonmaker, Moncena ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: 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. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/schoonma1909nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb