Monthly Archives: November 2011
Caroline Fleming
Caroline Fleming (B: 1832) The only female Belleville resident to receive a U.S. Patent in the 19th Century. In 1868 she was awarded a patent on her improvement of an agitating clothes washing machine. Share and Enjoy Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Google Buzz StumbleUpon Add to favorites Email RSS
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Molly Bunsen
Molly Bunsen - President of the Ladies Union of Belleville in 1851 and a member of the Committee on Teachers of the Belleville School Association in 1850. Molly shared the Bunsen family interest in education and reform. Share and Enjoy Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Google Buzz StumbleUpon Add to favorites Email RSS
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Carrie Bahrenberg
Carrie Bahrenberg (1861-1929) Received national recognition for her social activism. Her activities in the Women’s Relief Corp and the women’s suffrage movement made her a close friend of Jane Addams, the famous Chicago suffragette. Bahrenberg was elected a Univ. of Illinois trustee in 1900. She served 12 years. In 1915, she was elected national president of the WRC and in 1919 Chairman of the Civic League which replace the Equal Suffrage Assoc. of Illinois. Share and Enjoy Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg [...]
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Henry Dietrich
Henry Dietrich was born at Belleville in 1872 and at the age of 13 he was on his own. His father was a coal miner from Germany. Henry’s working career began with a printing apprenticeship to Hans Schwarz, Editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung. Schwarz, a spirited and vigorous editor of the German language newspaper was continually involved in the controversial labor issues of the time and active in the Illinois Association of German-American Press. Dietrich, also a labor activist was elected President [...]
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Colonel John Thomas
Colonel John Thomas - The Thomas family emigrated from Wales to Virginia and arrived in Illinois by 1807. The family constructed a portion of the old stage-coach road from Vincennes, IL to St. Louis, MO (known as the Great Western Mail Route and later the National Road). Thomas participated in formulating the first State of Illinois Constitution and in the formation of the Republican Party. Three generation of the Thomas family were capitalists who were influential in the manufacturing and business [...]
