There is no foreign element in our American nationality more valuable
than that which comes from Norway. The land of the midnight sun has
furnished to the United States many of its most prominent citizens, and its
representatives are found in all the useful walks and vocations of life. The
gentleman whose name heads this biographical record belongs to a worthy
Norwegian family, although he is a native son of LaSalle county. He is now
occupying a leading position in business circles, being a merchant and
banker of Sheridan, where he exerts a wide and beneficent influence upon the
commercial affairs of the place.
Born on a farm in Mission township,
May 24, 1854, he is a son of Ole A. and Gertrude (Osmunson) Quam, both of
whom were natives of Norway. When thirteen years of age the former came to
the United States with his parents, in 1843, the family settling in Mission
township, LaSalle county, where John Arneson Quam, the grandfather of our
subject, spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1880, when
he had reached the age of eighty years. His wife, Rachel Quam, has also
passed away. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters, but one
son and two daughters are now deceased. Ole A. Quam and Gertrude Osmunson
were married in LaSalle county. The latter came to the United States in
1839, when five years of age. Her father died in Chicago soon after the
arrival of the family in this country, and the mother moved to the town of
Mission, LaSalle county, where she passed away six months later, leaving two
little daughters, alone in a strange land, and without a known relative in
the world! Here they grew to womanhood, and Gertrude married as above
mentioned. By the union were born eight children, namely: Rebecca, John
Arthur, Rachel, Isabelle, Bertha, Emma, Clara and Victor J. The parents
continued to reside in LaSalle county until 1879 and then removed to Norway,
Iowa, where they remained until 1896, since which time they have made their
home in Ashland, Wisconsin.
John Arthur Quam, the subject of this
review, was reared in LaSalle county, and has here spent his entire life. He
acquired his elementary education in the common schools and later pursued
his studies in the schools of Aurora and in the Fowler Institute at Newark,
Illinois. He left the farm at the age of twenty-one years and came to
Sheridan, where he entered upon his business career as a general merchant,
in partnership with Peter C. Berkland. This connection was continued for
three years, when Mr. Quam bought out his partner's interest, and since that
time he has dealt exclusively in clothing and men's furnishing goods. His
store is filled with a large and well selected stock of everything found in
his line and he receives a liberal patronage. In 1884 he established a
private banking business and in 1887 Robert Knapp became his partner in both
branches, since which time operations have been carried on under the firm
style of Quam & Knapp, merchants and bankers.
In 1875 the subject of
this review was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Nelson, a daughter of
Peter C. and Sygne (Danielson) Nelson. Her father was born in New York and
was a son of Cornelius Nelson, a native of Norway and one of the owners of
and passenger on the "Norwegian Mayflower," the sloop Restoration, which
weighed anchor from Stavanger. Norway, on July 4, 1825, with fifty-two
emigrants, and landed in New York, October 9, with fifty-three passengers.
Cornelius Nelson settled in that city and his son was born in the Empire
state. After the death of the grandfather of Mrs. Quam, his widow and her
children came west to LaSalle county, Illinois, in 1836, casting in their
lot with the early settlers here. Mrs. Nelson's death occurred in this
county, at a ripe old age. Her son, Peter C. Nelson, was born January 20,
1830, and is believed to be the oldest living Norwegian born in America. He
is now residing at Larned, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Quam have been born three
children: Mabel, wife of Rev. J. M. Hibbish, of California; Vida and Hila.
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are
numbered among the most prominent citizens of Sheridan. In politics Mr. Quam
is a stalwart Republican and for the past ten years has held the office of
supervisor for Mission township. As a citizen he is progressive and gives a
generous support to all measures calculated to prove of public benefit. In
business he has been successful, and his reputation is unassailable, for his
honesty is proverbial, and in all transactions he fully merits the
confidence reposed in him.
Extracted 13 Jun 2019 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 633-634.
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