Two of them were surgeons, two owned cigar companies, one was a race car driver. The youngest elected was 22, while the oldest elected was 64. One later served in the State Legislature, while another was appointed Assistant Secretary of State, and five received numerous United States Presidential Appointments to positions within the Federal Government.

Each month on the 10th as we approach the Bicentennial we will be placing a floral wreath from The Greenhouse Flower Shoppe in Pekin at the gravesite of these 22 individuals. This is the eleventh in this series of twenty-two recognitions. Additionally, we will share the biographies and signatures of these county government leaders, thanks to the research to Susan Rynerson of the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society and Jared Olar of the Pekin Public Library. Please join us as we build momentum for the historic Tazewell County Bicentennial by honoring and recognizing these tremendous individuals.

This month we recognize lifelong Pekin Civic Leader Adolph Fehrman, 1890 – 1898, of the Republican Political Party. Adolph Fehrman holds the distinction of being a candidate during two of the narrowest margin Tazewell County Clerk elections in our county’s history, 1890 and 1898.

Adolph Fehrman was born March 31st, 1856, in Pekin, Illinois, to Gottlieb and Pauline Weimer Fehrman. His parents were from Mecklenburg and Stuttgart, Germany. He married Eva May VanDeusen (1864 – 1913) on October 1st, 1891, in Spring Lake Township. Adolph and Eva had three children; Clarabelle (1892 – 1984), Florence Gurney (1894 – 1977), and Edwin (1898 – 1977).

Adolph Fehrman worked as a bookkeeper for the City of Pekin in 1880. He served as Pekin City Clerk from 1881 till 1884. He then served as Tazewell County Deputy Clerk from 1886 to 1890.

Adolph Fehrman was elected by the narrowest margins of only 43 votes in 1890, defeating Democrat Party Candidate R.V. Howe and Progressive Party Candidate H.M. Smith by a vote total of 2986 to 2943. He was 34 years old when first elected Tazewell County Clerk. He won reelection in 1894 in another close election by 261 votes against a Democrat Candidate A. Swartz and Peoples Party Candidate Samuel Meeker. He campaigned for a third term in 1898 but lost to Democrat Candidate Lot Bergstresser by 74 votes. The elections of 1890 and 1898 remain the closest County Clerk Elections in Tazewell County history.

Following his years as Tazewell County Clerk, he was employed as a real estate broker. He was an Internal Revenue District Deputy Collector in 1902 till 1905. He was appointed Postmaster of Pekin for several years around 1910.

He was active in community affairs and with the Presbyterian Church. In 1899 he raised over $2,000 for the Pekin Street Faire and in 1901 he was on the committee to memorialize President William McKinley. He had also served on the board of the Mutual Building and Loan Association.

Adolph Fehrman died on March 23rd, 1951, at 94 years old at his home in Pekin. He was buried in Lakeside Cemetery.