Trusting you all had a pleasant holiday. Someone on one of the lists which I receive asked about the Albertsens of Pekin, Illinois, maybe two to three months ago. And, I do not remember which list, thus sorry for this mail to the other lists. (Also sorr that my return key just quit on me!) A new book just published: "Pekin, A Pictorial History" (G. Bradley Publishing, St. Louis, Missouri 63131) provides three separate Albertsen listings: Page 130: Lambert Albertsen was a prominent merchant living in Pekin for 73 years as! one of Pekin's "oldest and most highly esteemed residents." For 43 years he was a leading grocer, merchant and the owner/organizer of the independent Biscuit & Cracker Company. His father had come to America from Germany in 1858, (after a trans-Atlantic voyage of 63 days). Son, Lambert, initially apprenticed as a buggy painter for the flourishing T. & H. Smith Wagon Company. He took over his father's grocery trade at North 4th and Margaret in 1873 after his father's untimely death. A faithful member of Grace M. E. Church, he also served for 14 years on the Pekin School Board. Page 132: Ubbo Albertsen, eminent Pekin businessman and statesman, was born in Emden, Germany in 1845. He sailed with his family to America when he was 11 years old. As a young man in Pekin, he painted wagons for the Teis Smith Wagon Works. By 1885 he had bought out John! L. Hinners' other partners and, with Hinners went on to run one o manufacturers. A Hinners' organ and piano was a valued musical instrument in churches, homes and concert halls throughout America. He next became stockholder and supervisor in the newly reorganized Pekin Wagon Company. In civic service, he was both state senator and legislator, as well as Pekin tax collector, board of education member and city alderman. He married Sophia Koch who bore him ten children. At the time of his death in 1926, he resided at 714 North Capitol and is buried at Lakeside Cemetery. Grace Methodist Church served as his house of worship. Page 169: (Picture of a house) The residence at 418 South Sixth Street was built late in the 19th century by Albert Albertsen, a prominent Pekin businessman. A native of Germany, he moved to Pekin in 1858. In 1884, he and Henry Koch established a paint and wallpaper business with funeral arrangements as a sideline. His house ! and business subsequently were the property of his son, Frederick, who with his wife, Edith Wilson Albertsen, and their son, Wilson F., occupied the home until 1929. In 1930, the home was sold to---Eugene F. Lohnes,----(later) to Dale Sarver.---The residence was unique with its bay windows, decorative wrought-iron work on the roof and a stairway "bubble" with curved windows. To the rear of the home was a carriage house which included a tack room. Hope this reaches the correct person, Tom Dirksen