McDonough ILGenWeb

SCHEIFLEY, George, a well-known railway mail clerk, whose home is in Tennessee, McDonough County, Ill., was born in Tennessee Township, February 16, 1867, a son of Christian G. and Caroline (Holoch) Scheifley, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany. Christian G. Scheifley was born in 1823, and at the age of fourteen years was a soldier in the Germany army, in which he remained until 1856. He then came to the United States and lived in the East until April, 1861, then enlisting in the Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three months. At the end of that period he re-enlisted in Company B, One Hundred Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served as Lieutenant until the close of the war. He was wounded in the heel by a piece of shell. Returning to Ohio, he shortly afterward moved to Nauvoo, Ill., where he remained two years. He then engaged in farming in McDonough County until 1874, when he moved to Augusta, Ill. He died in Leavenworth, Kans., in 1902.

George Scheifley started out for himself at an early period in life, and worked on a farm until he was twenty years old. He had studied and tried in different ways to educate himself, and procured a certificate to teach school in Hancock County, Ill., being thus employed there and in McDonough County. In the spring of 1893 he secured a position as Railway Mail Clerk on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway between Chicago and Kansas City. In 1890 he purchased 160 acres of land on the border of McDonough and Hancock Counties, to which he has made additions until he is now the owner of 170 acres in Tennessee Township, McDonough County, and 425 acres in Hancock Township, Hancock County.

In April, 1896, Mr. Scheifley was married to Eliza Bowman, who was born and schooled in Tennessee Township. One child has resulted from this union, Eugene, born in February, 1897. Mrs. Scheifley is a daughter of Charles N. and Mary R. (Lincoln) Bowman. Her father was born in Madison County, Tenn., and her mother was a native of Kentucky. Mrs. Bowman's father was a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Scheifley is a member of the Catholic Church. Politically, he gives his support to the Democratic party.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, pages 996-997, extracted 30 Jul 2020 by Norma Hass.