History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

48 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Couunandeiy No. 21, K. T., aud a member of Grreen River Lodge,
No. 999, 1. O. O. F.
Aside from iiis professional work, Mr. James has always taken
a deep interest in all matters pertaining to the development and
betterment of his adopted city. He has never aspii'ed for social
honors but can always be found among the workers in all efforts
for improvement and higher standards in politics, morality, and
education and he believes that thorough preparation is the best
equipment of the yoimg for the duties of life.
BELA RHEA HALDERMAN.
The career of Bela Rhea Haldeiman furnishes a splendid
example of the value of energy and perseverance in the accomplishment
of success, for although he has been in the printing business
only five years he has risen in it from a comparatively humble
p(»sition to be editor and proprietor of the Franklin Reporter. He
was born in Kansas City, Missouri, May 2, 1889, and is a son of
Isaac and Jennie Olive (Oruer) Halderman, the latter born at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, February 3, 1860. The father enlisted
for service in the Spanish-American war in 1898 and never
returned. The maternal branch t)f this family is of German-Swiss
extraction and was founded in America by the grandparents of the
subject of this review, Jonas B. and Susan (Baker) Orner, the
latter a direct descendant of William Penn. Consequently Mr.
Halderman of this review is a legal heir to the great Penn estate
in Germany and Philadelphia, amounting to over one hundred and
fifty million dollars. This estate remains unsettled, the case being
now in litigation.
Bela R. Halderman acquired his education in the public schools
of Fraidvlin Grove, graduating from the high school June 4, 1907.
He then secured a position as clerk in a clothing store in Franklin
Grove. He afterward turned his attention to the printing business.
In this he made rapid and steady advancement, rising from the
position of compositor to that of assistant manager of the Franklin
Reporter and becoming at the age of twenty-three, editor and pro-
prietor of this paper. This responsible position he has since filled
and his success in the management of the journal affords the best
proof of Ms capabilities.