Tazewell County Bicentennial Recognizing Tazewell County Clerks – Part 10
Tazewell County Bicentennial - Recognizing Tazewell County Clerks – Part 10 [2 Images]
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As Tazewell County approaches our Bicentennial in April of 2027, current Tazewell County Clerk & Recorder of Deeds John C. Ackerman and former County Clerk Christie A. Webb will be honoring and recognizing the previous community leaders to hold this position. The office of Tazewell County Clerk was the first Countywide Office established on April 10th, 1827. Since then, only 22 individuals have served in this vital County Government position. 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 tenth 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 the only Tazewell County Clerk born outside of the United States, Louis Schurman of Pekin, 1886 – 1890, of the Republican Political Party.
C.H. Louis Schurman was born February 20th, 1848, in Buer, Germany, to Conrad and Margarethe Emilie Schurman. He immigrated to the United States in 1864 and settled in Pekin, which became his home for the rest of his life. In 1869 Louis took his final oath and became an American citizen. He married Hermine “Minnie” Hippen (1851 – 1930) on April 27th, 1870, in Pekin. They would have six children; Carl (1870 – 1892), William (1873 – 1961), Minnie (1875 – 1968), Henry (1878 – 1964), Louis (1881 – 1952), and Dora (1883 – 1895).
He established Schurman Brothers Tobacco with his brother Herman Schurman, manufacturing cigars and dealing chewing and smoking tobacco and pipes at the intersection of Court and Fourth Street, across the street from the current Tazewell County Clerk’s Office in the McKenzie Building in Downtown Pekin.
Louis Schurman served as a City of Pekin Alderman from 1883 – 1886. He was elected Tazewell County Clerk in 1886 and served until 1890. He was 38 years old when elected Tazewell County Clerk.
Following his years as Tazewell County Clerk, Louis Schurman then worked as the bookkeeper for Smith, Hippen, & Company and later for American Distilling Company.
Louis Schurman died from throat cancer on January 20th, 1906, and was interred in the Lakeside Mausoleum in Pekin, Illinois.