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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of Hon. W. H. HEMENOVER 

Pages 857-858, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin 

[Surnames: ALLEN, BARTON, HEMENOVER] 

    
HON. W. H. HEMENOVER. This name will be recognized as that of a resident of Canton, who has been identified with various interests of the county for thirty years. He was born in Byron, Sussex County, N. J., on Independence Day, 1822. He is of German descent in the paternal line, his grandfather, Anthony H. Hemenover, having emigrated from Moravia, Germany to America prior to the Revolutionary War. The father of our subject was George Hemenover, who married Phebe Angeline Allen, a descendant of the noted Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame. The father was a merchant in Byron for many years and the son was given every opportunity that the town afforded to acquire knowledge. 
    
At a very early period in his life our subject manifested an interest in political affairs and at the age of twelve years gained the sobriquet of the boy politician. He had scarcely passed that age ere he began to make speeches in favor of Democracy. During his teens he learned the printer's trade in the office of the Sussex County Herald and became foreman. He was subsequently editor during a period of three years, after which he became proprietor of the Warren County Journal, published at Belvidere. His sturdy character and interest in the progress of the community led to his election to the Mayoralty and he occupied the Mayor's chair two terms. He next served as State Printer one term, after which he became the proprietor of the Hudson County Democrat, the leading Democratic sheet in Southern New Jersey and the first paper in the United States to suggest the name of James Buchanan for the Presidency - which act was personally recognized by an invitation from the President to meet himself and niece at the White House. 
    
The Democrat was published at Hoboken and after living there for a time Mr. Hemenover was elected Police Magistrate, and later represented the district in the State Legislature. Again he was appointed State Printer, and then, in 1858, came West and reported the speeches of Lincoln and Douglas. This section of the Mississippi Valley attracted him by its promise, and he removed with his family to McDonough County, settling on a farm not far from Prairie City. In 1860 he changed his residence to this county, where he has been variously engaged in farming, coal mining, the sale of merchandise and the keeping of a hotel. He is now proprietor and landlord of the new Canton House. He was a prime mover in securing the prompt completion of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad through this section. 
    
The wife of Mr. Hemenover bore the maiden name of Julia D. Barton, is a native of Stockholm, N. J., and was joined in wedlock to our subject August 24, 1845. She is of Irish ancestry, but her father, Andrew D. Barton, was a native of the same State as herself.