McDonough County Genealogical Society
STEPHEN A. HENDEE
A large granite monument in the Bushnell cemetery marks the grave of Stephen A. Hendee, one of the community’s most successful early businessmen. His life carried him from the hills of Connecticut to the California Gold Rush and back again to western Illinois, where he built a business empire that helped shape Bushnell’s growth.
Stephen was born in Windham County, Connecticut, the son of Amasa Hendee. In 1838, his father and stepmother settled near Halkental’s Bridge on Spoon River. There Stephen learned the trade of milling before moving to Lewistown by 1850, where he clerked in the mercantile store of Joel Solomon.
Like many ambitious young men of his generation, Hendee headed west during the California Gold Rush in 1852. During his years away, he worked for Wells Fargo Express and reportedly spent several months in Central America before returning to Illinois. Back in Lewistown, he purchased the mercantile stock of Nathan Beadles, a man whose influence on Hendee’s life was later reflected in the names of several of his children.
Hendee opened stores in Marietta and Bardolph before marrying Sarah Groendyke in 1858. Two years later, the couple settled in Bushnell, where Stephen joined Wilson & Company Mercantile and rapidly expanded his business interests. By 1870, census records valued his real estate holdings at $20,000, with another $15,000 in personal property.
An 1878 county history credited Hendee with ownership in numerous Bushnell enterprises, including grain elevators, stores, and the wellknown Hendee House hotel on West Main Street. A downtown “Hendee Block” also carried his name.
Stephen and Sarah raised six children in Bushnell. Sarah died in 1893, and Stephen followed in 1909 after a long illness. Newspaper reports valued his estate at $125,000, including farms, grain elevators, and thousands of acres in Nebraska.
Stephen A. Hendee represented the energetic Yankee entrepreneurs who helped transform western Illinois from frontier settlements into thriving towns. Bushnell still bears traces of the success he built more than a century ago.
Pioneers of the Past by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs, www. mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/
