Biography - FRANKLIN S. SHULTZ

Franklin S. Shultz, a well known and respected citizen of Shipman, has been successfully engaged for a number of years in the grain and elevator business. He is also identified with farming and banking interests and has shown an enterprise and ability which have produced substantial and gratifying returns. He was born at Petersburg, now known as Addison, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1860, and is a descendant of one of the old and highly respected families of the Keystone state. His parents were Meshach and Charlotte (Augustine) Shultz, both of whom were natives of Somerset county, the former of whom was born May 28, 1831, and the latter April 30, 1835.

Adam Shultz, grandfather of our subject on the paternal side, was born in Somerset county April 6, 1789. The first representative of the family came to America from Prussia about 1760, during the reign of Frederick the Great, when he was fifteen years of age, having been sent to this country by his parents. He spent the remainder of his life in Pennsylvania and reared a large family. Adam Shultz engaged in farming for a number of years in Somerset county, near the line of the state of Maryland. About 1837 he purchased a tract of one thousand acres or more at Grantsville, Maryland, and took up his home there. He built twelve or fourteen miles of the old National Road between Wheeling and Baltimore, his land lying along this noted highway. He became very prominent in that section, as were also other members of the family. He was twice married and by his first marriage four children were born, namely: Peter, now deceased, who was born July 19, 1812, and made his home in Garrett county, Maryland; Eliza, who married John Royer, of Garrett county, and died in 1910, being then in her ninety-seventh year; Lydia, who married a Mr. Wagner, of Michigan, and is deceased; and Judith, also deceased. The maiden name of the second wife of Mr. Shultz was Nancy Shockey and she was born in 1801. Fourteen children were born to this union: Matilda, who married Andrew Deahl, of Hickman, Nebraska, and is now deceased; Perry, who died of cholera in 1866 at St. Louis; Chauncey, now deceased, who was one of the prominent citizens of St. Louis, serving as county judge of St. Louis county about 1870 and also as subtreasurer of the United States at St. Louis under President Cleveland’s first administration; Bailey, now deceased, whose wife, Catharine (Shockey) Shultz, is now living at Shipman, Illinois, at the age of ninety-two years; Huldah, who married John Kite, of Shipman, and is also deceased; Alexander, who settled at Hutchinson, Kansas, and is now deceased; Meshach, the father of our subject; Mary Jane, now deceased, who married Andrew Arndt, of Maryland, and died in Shipman; Amanda, the wife of Rev. Isaac N. Augustine, of Grand Island, Nebraska; John A. ]., now deceased, who was president of the Shultz Belting Company of St. Louis and of the St. Louis Manufacturers’ Association; Van Buren, who made his home at Shipman, Illinois, and is also deceased; Sarah Ann, who became the wife of Samuel Brown, of Lexington, Missouri, and is now deceased; George M. D., now deceased, who was engaged in the real-estate business at Kansas City, Missouri; and Upton, who died at Denver, Colorado.

Nancy (Shockey) Shultz, the grandmother of our subject, was a daughter of Christian and Barbara Shockey and was a member of one of the old Pennsylvania Dutch families of Somerset county. Christian Shockey had six brothers and five sisters. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and participated most creditably in behalf of the patriot cause for six years and seven months, thus entitling his female descendants to membership in the Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Catharine (Shockey) Shultz, widow of Bailey Shultz, was a niece of Christian Shockey and often conversed with him concerning the war. Notwithstanding her advanced age she is possessed of a mind that is still clear and active.

Meshach Shultz removed with his parents to Grantsville, Maryland, at the age of six years and as he grew to manhood assisted in his father’s tannery and on the home farm. He was married to Charlotte Augustine March 20, 1853, and shortly afterwards began farming on his own account. Two years later he bought land, but disposed of his property shortly afterwards and purchased the tannery at Petersburg, Pennsylvania. He disposed of the tannery about 1861 and moved to' Grantsville, Maryland, where he bought about two hundred and eighty acres of the old homestead and also engaged in the general merchandise business. He lived there until 1869 when he sold out and came west with his family, settling in Shipman township, Macoupin county, Illinois. He acquired two hundred and forty acres of good land in sections 23 and 24 and for twenty-two years applied himself with marked success to agriculture and stock-raising. In 1891 he moved to the village of Shipman and continued there until his death which occurred December 3, 1907. He was unusually prosperous as a farmer and business man and invested in farming property in this county, being the owner at one time of about six hundred acres, a large part of which he improved. He served as township supervisor four or five terms and also assisted in the promotion of important business enterprises, being one of the organizers and the first president of the Shipman Banking Company. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Shultz: Marshall, who died at the age of four years; Alonzo Meshach, now living at Shipman; Nancy Jane, the wife of William A. Fischer, of St. Louis, Missouri; Franklin S., of this review; Cora May, who married Milton Dodson, of Jerseyville, Illinois; Herman Jacob, a resident of Shipman; Alice Charlotte, the wife of Chester Miller, of Carlinville; and Chesty Anna, who married Rev. Peter B. Fasold and is now deceased.

Charlotte (Augustine) Shultz is a daughter of Jacob F. R. and Jusdinah (Null) Augustine and a granddaughter of Frederick and Catharine (Myers) Augustine. The Augustine family has been prominent in Pennsylvania many years, Frederick Augustine having been at one time the owner of most of the land around Petersburg, Pennsylvania. Jacob F. R. Augustine died at the age of forty-one years from injuries received by being kicked by a horse. In his family were ten children: Elizabeth, who married William Starner, of St. Paul, Minnesota, and is now deceased; Isaac, who lives at Grand Island, Nebraska; Charlotte, who married Meshach Shultz; Rebecca, who became the wife of Michael Hoy, of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and is now deceased; Catharine, the wife of Andrew Kramer, of Somerset county; Joseph, who lives in Wisconsin, near St. Paul, Minnesota; Jacob L., of Grantsville, Maryland; Matilda, who married James Arndt, of Litchfield, Illinois, and is now deceased; Diana, the wife of Fred Gorman, who is engaged in the manufacture of tile in Oklahoma; and Cornelia, who married John Mitchell, of Moberly, Missouri.

Franklin S. Shultz, whose name introduces this sketch, came to Illinois with his parents at the age of nine years. He received his preliminary education in the public schools and later attended Carthage College at Carthage, Illinois. He continued to assist upon the home farm until twenty-three years of age and then began renting land upon his own account. At the age of twenty-five he went to Independence, Missouri, and entered the coal, ice and feed business with an uncle, George Shultz, continuing for four years in that place. He then sold out and in December, 1888, went to Yuma, Arizona, and for two years engaged in the general store business. At the close of the time named he returned home and purchased a part of his father’s farm which he cultivated from 1891 until 1904, devoting his attention especially to stock-feeding and dairy farming. Seven years ago he rented his farm and took up his residence in Shipman, buying- out the grain elevator business of Joseph Dodson, which he conducted with marked success. He added a feed department to his business and built a large warehouse alongside of the elevator. He also purchased the C. H. Adams elevator at Medora in April, 1908, and ever since its incorporation has been a member of the board of directors of the Shipman Banking Company.

In June, 1885, Mr. Shultz was married to Miss Jessie Talley, a daughter of William Talley, of Shipman. Mrs. Shultz died in June, 1894, and in October, 1899, Mr. Shultz was again married, his second union being with Miss Maud Blankenship, a daughter of Charles S. and Sarah Blankenship, of Independence, Missouri. This union has been blessed by the birth of one child, Helen, who is living at home. The Blankenships are of English descent, the first representative of the family in America settling at Marion, Indiana. Charles S. Blankenship moved to Missouri in 1884 and engaged in building and contracting. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the call of President Lincoln and served for three years as a member of an Indiana cavalry regiment. In his family were four children: Florence, who married Clarence Davies, of the Chicago Title and Trust Company, and lives at Maywood, Illinois; Ida, who is the wife of Arthur N. Burke, senior member of the Burke-Nelson Engraving Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; Maud, who is now Mrs. Franklin S. Shultz; and Harry, a machinist of Kansas City, Missouri.

Fraternally Mr. Shultz is identified with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and religiously he is connected with the Lutheran church of Shipman. He gives his support to the democratic party and has been an active worker in its behalf, having served as a member of the county central committee. He also very acceptably occupied the office of school director a number of years. He is a firm believer in the importance and efficacy of labor and is known as one of the most diligent business men in the community. His prosperity is the legitimate result of wisely applied effort and no one grudges him his good fortune as he has never sought to advance his personal interests to the injury of others.

Extracted 20 Oct 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 192-195.