History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY 255
being improvements on anything bitherto known. The Clipper
mower does not roll down the grass preparatory to cutting it;
on the contrary the linger bars and lingers of the mower, as it
progresses, gather in the grass with a degree of uniformity in
nearly an upright position, and the knives cut it most evenly.
High testimonials of the superior ehiciency of this mower to others
upon the market have been received by Mr. Ortt from all parts of
the country, east and west, north and south. The factory is today,
equipped with the latest improved machinery for the manufac-
ture of both the mower and engine. Mr. Ortt claims, and his
claim is substantiated in results, that the Clipper engine has more
power than any engine made and sold for the same horse power.
The best material and the most efficient workmanship is used in
the construction of engines and mowers and the durability of
both is one of the recommendations for its I'eady sale. Mr. Ortt
now owns a strip of ground two IjIocIvS long, one lumdred feet
deep at one end and sixty-eight feet wide at the other end, to-
gether with four other building lots, providing space for factory
enlargement. Already his output is four thousand machines a
year and the demand is constantly growing.
In 1882 Mr. Ortt was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Mc-
Grevey, who died in 1888 and four years later he was married
again, Miss Rachel P. Flint of Norristown, Pennsylvania, becoming
his wife in 1892. There were two sons of the first marriage
and one of the second marriage. Mr. Ortt votes with the republican
party and finds pleasurable recreation through his membership
in the Elks lodge. He has wisely used the talents with which
nature has endowed him and thi-ough the exercise of effort his
ability has increased and he is today one of the leading representatives
of industrial activity in Dixon, mdely and favorably known
as inventor and manufacturer.
H. O. SHOEMAKER.
H. O. Shoemaker, an enterprising and prosperous young agri-
culturist of Amboy township, operating a farm of seventy-five
acres on section 6. is a wo7'thy representative of one of the honored
pioneer families of Lee county. His birth occurred in this county
in 1882. his parents being Jacob and Cora E. Shoemaker. The
father, long a prominent and respected citizen of Lee county,