In the Bushnell cemetery, a large gray granite stone marks the resting place of
Stephen A. Hendee. Stephen’s life reads like an adventure book full of
interesting places and people and business success. His story starts in what
is known as the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut – Windham County.
Stephen A. Hendee, son of Amasa Hendee and an unknown wife. Stephen’s
father and stepmother came to the area in 1838 when they settled at
Halkental’s bridge on the Spoon River. It’s here where Stephen learned his
first trade of a miller. By 1850, new occupations called and Stephen moved to
Lewistown and lived with the Joel Solomon family and worked as a clerk in his
mercantile store.

As an adventurous young man, Stephen had no doubt read about the great
Gold Rush in California. He set oƯ in 1852 ready to make his fortune. During
his years in California, he eventually worked for Wells Fargo Express for a year.
According to a county history, he then went to Central America where he
stayed for four months. Whatever it was he was looking for, he didn’t find it
and return to Lewistown where he bought out the stock of Nathan Beadles
mercantile. Beadles became an important person in his life as evidenced by
the fact that three of his children had Beadles in their own name.

Hendee opened a mercantile in Marietta in 1854, then Bardolph in 1856. In
1858, he began a new business operation when he married Sarah Groendyke.
Just two years later, the Hendees had moved to Bushnell and he joined Wilson
& Company Mercantile. By the age of 29, Stephan A. Hendee was worth
$3,500 in real estate alone. He ran for county judge in 1861 as a Republican
and his business success continued as he branched out of the mercantile.

The 1870 US Federal Census show Stephan A. Hendee with real estate worth
$20,000 and personal property worth $15,000. His businesses had grown
considerably in just ten years. As their children were born, Sarah’s parents
moved in next door to them and Stephen and Sarah’s daughter, Adrianna, was
named after her grandmother, Adriana Nevius Groendke.

An 1878 county history names several businesses and buildings with
Hendee’s name on them. Hendee House on West Main Street in Bushnell was
listed as one of the finest hotels in the area. There were nine grain elevators
Stephan A. Hendee and his business partner, D. F. Chidester owned. Hendee
owned a grocery store, a dry goods store, and there was a city block named
“Hendee Block” which housed several attorneys and at least one dentist in
Bushnell.

The Hendees had six children: Luan Beadles Hendee – Mrs. Clarence Clarke;
Adrianna G. Hendee Hicks – Mrs. Fred Hicks, Leo Nathan Hendee, Nathan
“Nick” Beadles Hendee, Edgar Hendee, and Fanny Grey Hendee Roach – Mrs.
Albert “Bert” Roach. Sarah Groendyke Hendee died in 1893 and Stephen
followed in 1910.

Sarah died in 1893 and Stephen in 1909 at the age of 81 after being bedridden
for 15 months. The Macomb Daily Journal ran a story that his will had been
filed and his estate was valued at $125,000 which included several grain
elevators, farms and 3,600 acres of land in Dawson County, Nebraska.

Stephen A. Hendee was a Yankee entrepreneur of his day and he left quite a
mark on Bushnell, Illinois.

Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County
Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs.