"LIB R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVE.R.SITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 $17.381 
 7838 
 
 IIUNOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
 
 RECORD 
 
 i^lr 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN COUNTY, 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, 
 
 Together with Biographies of all the 
 
 lovernors nhe Itate, and f ie Iresidents 
 
 OF= THE UNITED STMTES. 
 
 LAKE CITY PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 1893
 
 97 T. 
 
 }HE greatest of English historians, MACAULAY, and one of the most brilliant writers ot 
 the present century, has said : "The history of a country is best told in a record of the 
 lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL 
 RECORD i0 f ^is county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and 
 taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, oui 
 corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by theii 
 enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those 
 comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life 
 struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelli- 
 gent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the 
 imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by 
 industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited 
 advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an 
 influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who 
 have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have 
 become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and 
 records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very 
 many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," content 
 to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy "they have done what 
 they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the 
 anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's 
 call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace 
 once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not 
 be lost upon those who follow after. 
 
 Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact 
 that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be 
 inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible 
 given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter them- 
 selves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograph 
 ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given. 
 
 The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the 
 publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the 
 information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of 
 the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested 
 one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made 
 at their residence or place of business. 
 
 November, 1893. LAKE CITY PUBLISHING Co. 
 
 775679
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 AND OF THE
 
 ft* Llbrirj 
 
 of th 
 I IMi

 
 FfJtST PRESIDENT. 
 
 HE Father of our Country was 
 born in Westmorland Co., Va., 
 Feb. 22, 1732. His parents 
 were Augustine and Mary 
 (Ball) Washington. The family 
 to which he belonged has not 
 been satisfactorily traced in 
 England. His great-grand- 
 father, John Washington, em- 
 igrated to Virginia about 1657, 
 and became a prosperous 
 planter. He had two sons, 
 Lawrence and John. The 
 former married Mildred Warner 
 and had three children, John, 
 Augustine and Mildred. Augus- 
 tine, the father of George, first 
 married Jane Butler, who bore 
 him four children, two of whom, 
 Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
 maturity. Of six children by his 
 second marriage, George was the 
 eldest, the others being Betty, 
 Samuel, John Augustine, Charles 
 and Mildred. 
 
 Augustine Washington, the father of George, died 
 in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his 
 eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on 
 the Patomac, afterwards known as Mount Vernon, 
 and to George he left the parental residence. George 
 received only such education as the neighborhood 
 schools afforded, save for a short time after he left 
 school, when he received private instruction in 
 mathematics. His spelling was rather defective 
 
 Remarkable stories are told of his great physica 
 strength and development at an early age. He was 
 an acknowledged leader among his companions, and 
 was early noted for that nobleness of character, fair- 
 ness and veracity which characterized his whole life. 
 
 When George was 1 4 years old he had a desire to go to 
 sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, 
 but through the opposition of his mother the idea was 
 abandoned. Two years later he was appointed 
 surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In 
 this business he spent three years in a rough frontier 
 life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
 essential to him. In 1751, though only 19 years of 
 age, he was appointed adjutant with the rank of 
 major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for 
 active service against the French and Indians. Soon 
 after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother 
 Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They 
 soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence 
 died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter 
 who did not long survive him. On her demise the 
 estate of Mount Vernon was given to George. 
 
 Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie, as Lieutcn- 
 ant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was 
 reorganized, and the province divided into four mili- 
 tary districts, of which the northern was assigned to 
 Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this 
 a very perilous mission was assigned him and ac- 
 cepted, which others had refused. This was to pro- 
 ceed to the French post near Lake Erie in North- 
 western Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed 
 was between 500 and 600 miles. Winter was at hand, 
 and the journey was to be made without military 
 escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 trip was a perilous one, and several times he came near 
 losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished 
 a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
 of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in com- 
 mand of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was 
 commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was 
 then begun against the French and Indians, in which 
 Washington took a most important part. In the 
 memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Brad- 
 dock's defeat, Washington was almost the only officer 
 of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
 day with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock 
 vere disabled early in the action, and Washington 
 alone was left in that capacity on the field. In a letter 
 to his brother he says : " I had four bullets through 
 my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped 
 unhurt, though death was leveling; my companions 
 on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was 
 not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken 
 direct aim at him seventeen times, and failed to hit 
 him. 
 
 After having been five years in the military service, 
 and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he 
 took advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the 
 expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, 
 to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the 
 Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an 
 active and important part. January 17, 1759, he 
 married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy 
 widow of John Parke Custis. 
 
 When the British Parliament had closed the port 
 of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces 
 that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." 
 It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Con- 
 gress of all the colonies was called to meet at Phila- 
 delphia,Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, 
 peaceably if possible. To this Congress Col. Wash- 
 ington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
 Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of 
 England were plainly apparent. The battles of Con- 
 cord and Lexington had been fought. Among the 
 first acts of this Congress was the election of a com- 
 mander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and 
 responsible office was conferred upon Washington, 
 who was still a member of the Congress. He accepted 
 it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he 
 receive no salary. He would keep an exact account 
 of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and 
 nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to 
 trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the 
 fortunes and liberties of the people of this country 
 were so long confided. The war was conducted by 
 him under every possible disadvantage, and while his 
 forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every 
 obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion 
 and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest 
 nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 1783, Washington, in 
 a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his 
 
 commission as Commander-in-chief of the army t< 
 to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. Hi 
 retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumec 
 his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all 
 connection with public life. 
 
 In February,i789, Washington was unanimously 
 elected President. In his presidential career he wa: 
 subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new 
 government ; trials from lack of confidence on the pan 
 of other governments ; trials from want of harmonj 
 between the different sections of our own country 
 trials from the impoverished condition of the country 
 owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the 
 beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. Hi; 
 clear judgment could discern the golden mean ; anc 
 while perhaps this alone kept our government front 
 sinking at the very outset, it left him exposed tc 
 attacks from both sides, which were often bitter anc 
 very annoying. 
 
 At the expiration of his first term he was unani 
 mously re-elected. At the end of this term mani 
 were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolute!) 
 refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March 
 1797, at the expiraton of his second term as Presi- 
 dent, he returned to his home, hoping to pass then 
 his few remaining years free from the annoyances o 
 public life. Later in the year, however, his repos( 
 seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France 
 At the prospect of such a war he was again urged t( 
 take command of the armies. He chose his sub. 
 ordinate officers and left to them the charge of mat 
 ters in the field, which he superintended from hi; 
 home. In accepting the command he made tht 
 reservation that he was not to be in the* field unti 
 it was necessary. In the midst of these preparation; 
 his life was suddenly cut off. December 1 2, he tool 
 a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling 
 in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminatec 
 fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eigh- 
 teenth his body was borne with military honors to it; 
 final resting place, and interred in the family vault at 
 Mount Vernon. 
 
 Of the character of Washington it is impossible tc 
 speak but in terms of the highest respect and ad- 
 miration. The more we see of the operations o; 
 our government, and the more deeply we feel the 
 difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest 
 the more highly we must estimate the force of his tal- 
 ent and character, which have be*n able to challenge 
 the reverence of all parties, and principles, and na- 
 tions, and to win a fame as extended as the limits 
 of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will 
 be as lasting as the existence of man. 
 
 The person of Washington was unusally tan, erect 
 and well proportioned. His muscular strength was 
 great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry, 
 He commanded respect without any appearance o) 
 haughtiness, and ever serious without V>*ingr dull.
 
 DM library 
 
 f tk 
 
 Wi
 
 SECON'D 'PRESIDENT. 
 
 OHN ADAMS, the second 
 President and the first Vice- 
 President of the United States, 
 was born in Braintree ( now 
 Quincy ),Mass., and about ten 
 miles from Boston, Oct. 19, 
 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry 
 Adams, emigrated from England 
 about 1640, with a family of eight 
 J> sons, and settled at Braintree. The 
 parents of John were John and 
 Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His 
 father was a farmer of limited 
 means, to which he added the bus- 
 iness of shoemaking. He gave his 
 eldest son, John, a classical educa- 
 tion at Harvard College. John 
 graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the 
 school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a 
 ''school of affliction," from which he endeavored to 
 gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
 study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
 under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He 
 had thought seriously of the clerical profession 
 but seems to have been turned from this by what he 
 termed " the frightful engines of ecclesiastical coun- 
 jils, of diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature,'" 
 of the operations of which he had been a witness in 
 his native town. He was well fitted for the legal 
 profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being 
 ready and fluent of speech, and having quick percep- 
 tive powers. He gradually gained practice, and in 
 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, 
 and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
 marriage, (1765), the attempt of Parliamentary taxa- 
 tion turned him from law to politics. He took initial 
 steps toward huldir. B a town meeting, and the resolu- 
 
 tions he offered on the subject became very populai 
 throughout the Province, and were adopted word for 
 word by over forty different towns. He moved to Bos 
 ton in 1768, and became one of the most courageous 
 and prominent advocates of the popular cause, and 
 was chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- 
 lislature) in 1770. 
 
 Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegates 
 from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congre&s, 
 which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himsell 
 by his capacity for business and for debate, and ad- 
 vocated the movement for independence against tb 
 majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved 
 and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies 
 should assume the duties of self-government. H$ 
 was a prominent member of the committee of vive 
 appointed June n, to prepare a declaration of inde- 
 pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but 
 on Adams devolved the task of battling it through 
 Congress in a three days debate. 
 
 On the day after the Declaration of Independence 
 was passed, while his soul was yet warm with ths 
 glow of excited feeling, he wrote a. letter to his wife 
 which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated 
 by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the 
 greatest question was decided that ever was debated 
 in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or wil 
 be decided among men. A resolution was passed 
 without one dissenting colony, ' that these United 
 States are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
 pendent states.' The day is passed. The fourth of 
 July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history 
 of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated 
 by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary 
 festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of 
 deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty 
 God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations 
 from one end of the continent to the other, from this 
 time forward for ever. You will think me transported 
 with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of 
 the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to 
 maintain this declaration, and support and defend 
 these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the 
 rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is 
 worth more than all the means; and that posterity 
 will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I 
 hope we shall not." 
 
 In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a 
 delegate to France^ and to co-operate with Bemjamin 
 Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in 
 the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money 
 from the French Government. This was a severe trial 
 to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, 
 compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and ex- 
 posed him to great peril of capture by the British cruis- 
 ers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
 1779. In September of the same year he was again 
 cliosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi- 
 ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce 
 with Great Britian, as soon as the British Cabinet 
 might be found willing to listen to such proposels. He 
 sailed for France in November, from there he went to 
 Holland, where he negotiated important loans and 
 formed important commercial treaties. 
 
 Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed 
 Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, 
 toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed 
 threw him into a fever. After suffering from a con- 
 tinued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he 
 was advised to goto England to drink the waters of 
 Bath. While in England, still drooping and despond- 
 ing, he received dispatches from his own government 
 urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to 
 negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was 
 delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through 
 storm, on sea, on horseback and foot,he made the trip. 
 
 February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams 
 envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face 
 to face the King of England, who had so long re- 
 garded him as a traitor. As England did not 
 condescend to appoint a minister to the United 
 States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accom- 
 plishing but little, he sought permission to return to 
 his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788. 
 
 When Washington was first chosen President, John 
 Adams, rendered illustiious by his signal services at 
 home and abroad, was chosen Vice President. Again 
 at the second election of Washington as President, 
 Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Wash- 
 ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was 
 elected President,though not without much opposition. 
 Serving in this office four years,he was succeeded by 
 Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 
 
 Wh\\e Mr. Adams was Vice President the great 
 
 French Revolution shook the continent of Europ 
 and it was upon this point which he was at issue wit 
 the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jeffersoi 
 Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French peopl 
 in their struggle, for he had no confidence in the 
 power of self-government, and he utterly abhored th 
 class of atheist philosophers who he claimed caused i 
 On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongl 
 enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence o 
 iginated the alienation between "these distinguishe 
 men, and two powerful parties were thus soon orgar 
 ized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathi 
 were with England and Jefferson led the other i 
 sympathy with France. 
 
 The world has seldom seen a spectacle of moi 
 moral beauty and grandeur, than was presented by th 
 old age of Mr. Adams. The violence of party feelin 
 had died away, and he had begun to receive that jui 
 appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded ti 
 after death. No one could look upon his venerabl 
 form, and think of what he had done and sufferec 
 and how he had given up all the prime and stren^t 
 of his life to the public good, without the deepe; 
 emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculij 
 good fortune to witness the complete success of th 
 institution which he had been so active in creating an 
 supporting. In r824, his cup of happiness was fille 
 to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highe; 
 station in the gift of the people. 
 
 The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the ha 
 century since the signing of the Declaration of Ind< 
 pendence, arrived, and there were but three of tb 
 signers of that immortal instrument left upon th 
 earth to hail its morning light. And, as it i 
 well known, on that day two of these finished the 
 earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable a 
 to seem miraculous. For a few days before M 
 Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the mornin 
 of the fourth he found himself too weak to rise froi 
 his bed. On being requested to name a toast for th 
 customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed " Ii> 
 DEPENDENCE FOREVER." When the day was ushere 
 in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon 
 he was asked by one of his attendants if he kne' 
 what day it was? He replied, "O yes; it is the glo: 
 ions fourth of July God bless it God bless you all 
 In the course of the day he said, "It is a great an 
 glorious day." The last words he uttered wer 
 "Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, r< 
 signed his spirit into the hands of his God. 
 
 The personal appearance and manners of M 
 Adams were not particularly prepossessing. Hisfaci 
 as his portrait manifests,was intellectual ard exprei 
 sive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and h> 
 manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteou! 
 He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, nc 
 the engaging elegance and gracefulness which marke 
 the manners and address of Jefferson.
 
 the
 
 THIRD PRESIDENT. 
 
 1P1I DMAS JEFFE IRS OK 
 
 HOMAS JEFFERSON was 
 born April 2, 1743, at Shad- 
 well, Albermarle county, Va. 
 His parents were Peter and 
 Jane ( Randolph) Jefferson, 
 the former a native of Wales, 
 and the latter born in Lon- 
 don. To them were born six 
 daughters and two sons, of 
 whom Thomas was the elder. 
 When 14 years of age his 
 father died. He received a 
 most liberal education, hav- 
 ing been kept diligently at school 
 from the time he was five years of 
 age. In 1760 he entered William 
 end Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat 
 of the Colonial Court, and it was the obode of fashion 
 and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 
 years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine 
 horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet he 
 was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproacha- 
 able in his morals. It is strange, however, under 
 such influences,that he was not ruined. In the sec- 
 ond year of his college course, moved by some un- 
 explained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, 
 society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had 
 previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen 
 hours a day to hard study, allowing himself for ex- 
 ercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out 
 of the city and back again. He thus attained very 
 high intellectual culture, alike excellence in philoso- 
 phy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and 
 Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished 
 scholar has seldom gone forth from college halls ; and 
 
 there was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a 
 more pureminded, upright, gentlemanly young man. 
 
 Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
 study of law. For the short time he continued in the 
 practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distin- 
 guished himself by his energy and accuteness as a 
 lawyer. But the times called for greater action. 
 The policy of England had awakened the spirit of 
 resistance of the American Colonies, and the enlarged 
 views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led 
 him into active political life. In 1769 he was chosen 
 a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In, 
 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beauti- 
 ful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow 
 
 Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shad well, there 
 was a majestic swell of land, called Monticello, which 
 commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and 
 beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected lor his new 
 home; and here he reared a mansion of modest yet 
 elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon 
 became the most distinguished resort in our land. 
 
 In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
 where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
 writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he 
 was placed upon a number of important committees, 
 and was chairman of the one appointed for the draw- 
 ing up of a declaration of independence. This com- 
 mittee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
 Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. 
 Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed 
 to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested 
 a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Con- 
 gress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made 
 in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 
 4, 1776. What must have been the feelings of that
 
 28 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 man what the emotions that swelled his breast 
 Who was charged with the preparation of that Dec- 
 laration, which, while it made known the wrongs of 
 America, was also to publish her to the world, free, 
 Boverign and independent. It is one of the most re- 
 markable papers ever written ; and did no other effort 
 of the mind of its author exist, that alone would be 
 sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. 
 
 In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
 Patrick Henry, as Governor of Virginia. At one time 
 the British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to 
 Moniicello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five 
 minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson and his family, ere his mansion was in posses- 
 sion of the British troops. His wife's health, never 
 very good, was much injured by this excitement, and 
 in the summer of 1782 she died. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
 Two yeirs later he was appointed Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary to France. Returning to the United States 
 in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State 
 in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned 
 Jan. i, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice Presi- 
 dent, and four years later was elected President over 
 Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 
 1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, 
 and George Clinton, Vice President. 
 
 The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second adminstra- 
 tion was disturbed by an event which threatened the 
 tranquility and peace of the Union; this was the con- 
 spiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election 
 to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled 
 ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a 
 military expedition into the Spanish territories on our 
 southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there 
 a new republic. This has been generally supposed 
 was a mere pretext ; and although it has not been 
 generally known what his real plans were, there is no 
 doubt that they were of a far more dangerous 
 character. 
 
 In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for 
 which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined 
 to retire from political life. For a period of nearly 
 forty years, he had been continually before the pub- 
 lic, and all that time had been employed in offices of 
 the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus de- 
 voted the best part of his life to the service of his 
 country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his 
 declining years required, and upon the organization of 
 the new administration, in March, r8og, he bid fare- 
 well forever to public life, and retired to Monticello. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole 
 families came in their coaches with their horses, 
 fathers and mothers, boys and girls, babies and 
 nurses, and remained three and even six months. 
 Life at Monticello, for years, resembled that at a 
 fashionable watering-place. 
 
 The fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniver- 
 
 sary of the Declaration of American Independenc 
 great preparations were made in every part of tl 
 Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, ar 
 the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemni 
 of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the frame 
 and one of the few surviving signers of the Declar; 
 tion, to participate in their festivities. But an il 
 ness, which had been of several weeks duration, ar 
 had been continually increasing, compelled him 
 decline the invitation. 
 
 On the second of July, the disease under whic 
 he was laboring left him, but in such a reduce 
 state that his medical attendants, entertained r 
 hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfect! 
 sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the ne; 
 day, which was Monday, he asked of those aroun 
 him, the day of the month, and on being told it w 
 the third of July, he expresied the earnest wish th; 
 he might be permitted to breathe the airof the fiftiet 
 anniversary. His prayer was heard that day, whos 
 dawn was hailed with such rapture through our lam 
 burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed fo 
 ever. And what a noble consummation of a nobl 
 life! To die on that day, the birthday of a nation,- 
 the day which his own name and his own act ha 
 rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings an 
 festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to hin 
 as the author, under God, of their greatest blessing 
 was all that was wanting to fill up the record his lifi 
 
 Almost at the same hour of his death, the kir 
 dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to be; 
 him company, left the scene of his earthly honor: 
 Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions ( 
 freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and despei 
 ate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered an 
 animated their desponding countrymen; for half 
 century they had labored together for the good c 
 the country; and now hand in hand they depar 
 In their lives they had been united in the same gres 
 cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were nc 
 divided. 
 
 In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rathe 
 above six feet in height, but well formed; his eye 
 were light, his hair originally red, in after life becam 
 white and silvery; his complexion was fair, his fore 
 head broad, and his whole countenance intelligent an 
 thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind a 
 well as personal courage ; and r.:s command of tem 
 per was such that his oldest and most intimate friend 
 never recollected to have seen him in a passior 
 His manners, though dignified, were simple and un 
 affected, and his hospitality was so unbounded tha 
 all found at his house a ready welcome. In convei 
 sation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic ; an 
 his language was remarkably pure and correct. H 
 was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings i 
 discernable the care with which he formed his styl 
 upon the best models of antiquity.
 
 if the 
 of I
 

 
 FOURTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 AMES MADISON, "Father 
 of the Constitution," and fourth 
 President of the United States, 
 was born March 16, 1757, and 
 died .at his home in Virginia, 
 June 28, 1836. The name of 
 James Madison is inseparably con- 
 nected with most of the important 
 events in that heroic period of our 
 country during which the founda- 
 tions of this great republic were 
 laid. He was the last of the founders 
 of the Constitution of the United 
 States to be called to his eternal 
 reward. 
 
 The Madison family were among 
 the early emigrants to the New World, 
 landing upon the shores of the Chesa- 
 peake but 15 years after the settle- 
 ment of Jamestown. The father of 
 James Madison was an opulent 
 planter, residing upon a very fine es- 
 tate called "Montpelier," Orange Co., 
 Va. The mansion was situated in 
 (i&jffl the midst of scenery highly pictur- 
 esque and romantic, on the west side 
 of South-west Mountain, at the foot of 
 Blue Ridge. It was but 25 miles from the home of 
 Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and 
 political attachment existed between these illustrious 
 men, from their early youth until death. 
 
 The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted 
 mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of 
 18 he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. 
 Here he applied himself to study with the most im- 
 
 prudent zeal ; allowing himself, for months, but three 
 hours' sleep out of the 24. His health thus became so 
 seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor 
 of constitution. He graduated in 1771, with a feeble 
 body, with a character of utmost purity, and with a 
 mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning 
 which embellished and gave proficiency to his subsf - 
 quent career. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of 
 law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. 
 This educational course, the spirit of the times in 
 which he lived, and the society with which he asso- 
 ciated, all combined to inspire him with a strong 
 love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work ot 
 a statesman. Being naturally of a religious turn of 
 mind, and his frail health leading him to think that 
 his life was not to be long, he directed especial atten- 
 tion to theological studies. Endowed with a mind 
 singularly free from passion and prejudice, and with 
 almost unequalled powers of reasoning, he weighed 
 all the arguments for and against revealed religion, 
 until his faith became so established as never to 
 be shaken. 
 
 In the spring of 1776, when 26 years of age, he 
 was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, to 
 frame the constitution of the State. The next year 
 (r777), he was a candidate for the General Assembly. 
 He refused to treat the whisky-loving voters, and 
 consequently lost his election ; but those who had 
 witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the 
 modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, 
 and he was appointed to the Executive Council. 
 
 Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
 Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained 
 member of the Council ; and their appreciation of his
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 intellectual, social and moral worth, contributed not 
 a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 
 1780, he was elected a member of the Continental 
 Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in 
 our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of 
 the most conspicuous positions among them. 
 
 For three years Mr. Madison continued in Con- 
 gress, one of its most active and influential members. 
 In the year 1784, his term having expired, he was 
 elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. 
 
 No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
 utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no na- 
 tional government, with no power to form treaties 
 which would be binding, or to enforce law. There 
 was not any State more prominent than Virginia in 
 the declaration, that an efficient national government 
 must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison 
 carried a resolution through the General Assembly of 
 Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commis- 
 sioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss 
 this subject. Five States only were represented. The 
 convention, however, issued another call, drawn up 
 by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
 delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft 
 a Constitution for the United States, to take the place 
 of that Confederate League. The delegates met at 
 the time appointed. Every State but Rhode Island 
 <*as represented. George Washington was chosen 
 president of the convention ; and the present Consti- 
 tution of the United States was then and there formed. 
 There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more ac- 
 tive in framing this immortal document than the mind 
 and the pen of James Madison. 
 
 The Constitution, adopted by a vote 81 to 79, was 
 to be presented to the several 'States for acceptance. 
 But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected 
 we should be left but a conglomeration of independent 
 States, with but little power at home and little respect 
 abroad, Mr. Madison was selected by the conven- 
 tion to draw up an address to the people of the United 
 States, expounding the principles of the Constitution, 
 and urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
 to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and 
 went into effect in 1789. 
 
 Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the 
 avowed leader of the Republican party. While in 
 New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a 
 young widow of remarkable power of fascination, 
 whom he married. She was in person and character 
 queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied 
 so prominent a position in the very peculiar society 
 which has constituted our republican court as Mrs. 
 Madison. 
 
 Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under 
 Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
 was chosen President. At this time tbe encroach- 
 ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. 
 
 British orders in council destioyed our commerce, and 
 our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison 
 was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring 
 in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the 
 meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood 
 boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought 
 to, upon the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. 
 A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
 crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- 
 ance he selects any number whom he may please to 
 designate as British subjects ; orders them down the 
 ship's side into his boat ; and places them on the gun- 
 deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the 
 battles of England. This right of search and im- 
 pressment, no efforts of our Government could induce 
 the British cabinet to relinquish. 
 
 On the 1 8th of June, 1812, President Madison gave 
 his approval to an act of Congress declaring war 
 against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter 
 hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country 
 in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th 
 of March, igi3> w as re-elected by a large majority, 
 and entered upon his second term of office. This is 
 not the place to describe the various adventures of 
 this war on the land and on the water. Our infan'. 
 navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grap- 
 pling with the most formidable power which ever 
 swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest 
 by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 
 1813, in'Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole 
 coast of the United States under blockade. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me 
 ditator. America accepted ; England refused. A Brit- 
 ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks 
 of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesa- 
 peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- 
 burg, upon Washington. 
 
 The straggling little city of Washington was thrown 
 into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict 
 at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the 
 metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. 
 The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White 
 House, with her carriage drawn up at the doer to 
 await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers 
 in a council of war. He met our troops utterly routed, 
 and he could not go back without danger of being 
 captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential 
 Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in 
 Washington were in flames. 
 
 The war closed after two years of fighting, and on 
 Feb. 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1817, his second term of 
 office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair 
 to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- 
 tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- 
 mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the 
 age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madi- 
 son died July 12, 1849.
 
 of (lib*.
 
 '* s
 
 'FIFTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 AMES MONROE, the fifth 
 Presidentof The United States, 
 was born in Westmoreland Co., 
 Va., April 28, 1758. His early 
 life was passed at the place of 
 nativity. His ancestors had for 
 many years resided in the prov- 
 ince in which he was born. When, 
 at 17 years of age, in the process 
 of completing his education at 
 William and Mary College, the Co- 
 lonial Congress assembled at Phila- 
 delphia to deliberate upon the un- 
 just and manifold oppressions of 
 Great Britian, declared the separa- 
 tion of the Colonies, and promul- 
 gated the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly 
 probable that he would have been one of the signers 
 of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left 
 school and enlisted among the patriots. 
 
 He joined the army when everything looked hope- 
 less and gloomy. The number of deserters increased 
 from day to day. The invading armies came pouring 
 in ; and the lories not only favored the cause of the 
 mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, 
 who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- 
 tending with an enemy whom they had been taught 
 to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James 
 Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through 
 difficulty and danger, the United States owe their 
 pclitical emancipation. The young cadet joined the 
 ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
 with a firm determination to live o. lie with her strife 
 
 for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the mel- 
 ancholy retreat from Harleam Heights and White 
 Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled 
 before its foes through New Jersey. In four months 
 after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots 
 had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of 
 Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- 
 ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left 
 shoulder. 
 
 As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro-| 
 moted a captain of infantry ; and, having recovered, 
 from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, 
 receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an 
 officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- 
 paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy 
 wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued 
 aid-de-camp ; but becoming desirous to regain his 
 position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a 
 regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed 
 owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon 
 this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
 that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable 
 ardor, the study of common law. He did not, however, 
 entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; 
 but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun 
 teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits. 
 
 In 1782, he was elected from King George county, 
 a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and by thai 
 body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive 
 Council. He was thus honored with the confidence 
 of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having 
 at this early period displayed some of that ability 
 and aptitude for legislation, which were afterwards 
 employed with unremitting energy for the public good,
 
 JAMES MONROE. 
 
 he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 Deeplyas Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old 
 Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, 
 ihinking, with many others of the Republican party, 
 that it gave too much power to the Central Government, 
 and not enough to the individual States. Still he re- 
 tained the esteem of his friends who were its warm 
 supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition 
 secured its adoption. In 1789, he became a member 
 of the United States Senate ; which office he held for 
 four years. Every month the line of distinction be- 
 tween the two great parties which divided the nation, 
 the Federal and the Republican, was growing more 
 distinct. The two prominent ideas which now sep- 
 arated them were, that the Republican party was in 
 sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a 
 strict construction of the Constitution as to give the 
 Central Government as little power, and the State 
 Governments as much power, as the Constitution would 
 warrant. The Federalists sympathized with England, 
 and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
 stitution, which would give as much power to the 
 Central Government as that document could possibly 
 authorize. 
 
 The leading Federalists and Republicans were 
 alike noble men, consecrating all their energies to the 
 good of the nation. Two more honest men or more 
 
 Jure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and 
 ames Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In 
 building up this majestic nation, which is destined 
 to eclipse all Grecian and Assyrian greatness,Jthe com- 
 bination of their antagonism was needed to create the 
 tight equilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- 
 nounced as almost a demon. 
 
 Washington was then President. England had es- 
 poused the cause of the Bourbons against the princi- 
 ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn 
 into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. 
 Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- 
 tween these contending powers. France had helped 
 us in the struggle for our liberties. All the despotisms 
 of Europe were now combined to prevent the French 
 from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse 
 than that which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more 
 magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
 whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
 their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous 
 and noble nature. He violently opposed the Pres- 
 ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in 
 magnanimity. 
 
 Washington, who could appreciate such a character, 
 developed his calm, serene, almost divine greatness, 
 by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- 
 nouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister 
 of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
 Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention 
 in France with the most enthusiastic demonstB^tions. 
 
 Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon 
 roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held th 
 office for three years. He was again sent to France t 
 co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtainin 
 the vast territory then known as the Province c 
 Louisiana, which France had but shortly before ob 
 tained from Spain. Their united efforts were sue 
 cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteei 
 millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans an< 
 district of Louisiana were added to the United States 
 This was probably the largest transfer of real estat 
 which was ever made in all the history of the world 
 
 From France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob 
 tain from that country some recognition of ou 
 rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate afiinst thos 
 odious impressments of our seamen. But Eng 
 land was unrelenting. He again returned to Eng 
 land on the same mission, but could receive n< 
 redress. He returned to his home and was agaii 
 chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resignet 
 to accept the position of Secretary of State unde 
 Madison. While in this office war with England wa 
 declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and durin] 
 these trying times, the duties of the War Departmen 
 were also put upon him. He was truly the armor 
 bearer of President Madison, and the most efficien 
 business man in his cabinet. Upon the return o 
 peace he resigned the Department of War, but con 
 tinned in the office of Secretary of State until the ex 
 piration of Mr. Madison's adminstration. At the elec 
 tion held the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself hac 
 been chosen President with but little opposition, anc 
 upon March 4, 1817, was inaugurated. Four year 
 later he was elected for a second term. 
 
 Among the important measures of his Presidenc] 
 were the cession of Florida to the United States ; th< 
 Missouri Compromise, and the " Monroe doctrine.' 
 
 This famous doctrine, since known as the " Monro< 
 doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At tha' 
 time the United States had recognized the independ 
 ence of the South American states, and did not wisl 
 to have European powers longer attempting to sub 
 due portions of the American Continent. The doctrim 
 is as follows : " That we should consider any attempl 
 on the part of European powers to extend their sys- 
 tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous 
 to our peace and safety," and "that we could noi 
 view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
 or controlling American governments or provinces in 
 any other light than as a manifestation by European 
 powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
 States." This doctrine immediately affected the course 
 of foreign governments, and has become the approved 
 sentiment of the United States. 
 
 At the end of his second term Mr. Monroe retired 
 to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830. 
 when he went to New York to live with his son-in- 
 law. In that city he died,on the 4th of July. 1831,
 
 SIXTH PRESIDRNT. 
 
 OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the 
 sixth President of the United 
 States, was born in the rural 
 home of his honored father, 
 John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., 
 on the nth cf July, 1767. His 
 mother, a woman of exalted 
 worth, watched over his childhood 
 
 during the almost constant ab- 
 sence of his father. When but 
 eight years of age, he stood with 
 his mother on an eminence, listen- 
 ing to the booming of the great bat- 
 tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on 
 upon the smoke and flames billow- 
 ing up from the conflagration of 
 Charlestown. 
 
 When but eleven years old he 
 took a tearful adieu of his mother, 
 to sail with his father for Europe, 
 through a fleet ot hostile British cruisers. The bright, 
 animated boy spent a year and a half in Paris, where 
 his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as 
 minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted 
 the notice of these distinguished men, and he received 
 from them flattering marks of attention. 
 
 Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
 country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again 
 Tohn Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he 
 applied himself with great diligence, for six months, 
 to :,tudy; then accompained his father to Holland, 
 where he entered, first a school in Amsterdam, then 
 the University at Leyden. About a year from this 
 time, in 1781, when the manly boy was but fourteen 
 yea-s of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our min- 
 ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary. 
 
 In this school of incessant labor and of enobling 
 culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned 
 to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and 
 Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the 
 winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed 
 MS studies, under a pri"*te tutor, at Hague. Thence, 
 
 in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father t; 
 Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance 
 with the most distinguished men on the Continent 
 examining architectural remains, galleries of j aintings 
 and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again 
 became associated with the most illustrious men ol 
 all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal 
 themes which can engross the human mind. After 
 a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and 
 consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, 
 when he returned to America. To a brilliant young 
 man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world, 
 and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a 
 residence with his father in London, under such cir- 
 cumstances, must have been extremely attractive 
 but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- 
 ferred to return to America to complete his education 
 in an American college. He wished then to study 
 law, that with an honorable profession, he might be 
 able to obtain an independent support. 
 
 Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty, 
 he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, be- 
 ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- 
 pointed by Washington, resident minister at the 
 Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached 
 London in October, where he was immediately admit- 
 ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pincknty, 
 assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with 
 Great Britian. After thus spending a fortnight ii, 
 London, he proceeded to the Hague. 
 
 In July, 1797, he left the Hague to go to Portugal as 
 minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, 
 upon arriving in London, he met with despatches 
 directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting 
 him to remain in London until he should receive his 
 instructions. While waiting he was married to as 
 American lady to whom he had been previously en- 
 gaged, Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter 
 of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in London 
 a lady endownd with that beauty and those accom- 
 plishment which eminently fitted her to move in tl{ 
 elevated sphere for which she w^s
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; 
 where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- 
 filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his 
 recall. 
 
 Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to 
 the Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then 
 was elected Senator of the United States for six years, 
 from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his 
 ability and his experience, placed him immediately 
 among the most prominent and influential members 
 of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- 
 ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- 
 ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- 
 sulting our flag. There was no man in America more 
 familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon 
 these points, and no one more resolved to present 
 a firm resistance. 
 
 In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- 
 idential chair, and he immediately nominated John 
 Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resign- 
 ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked 
 at Boston, in August, 1809. 
 
 While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense stu- 
 dent. He devoted his attention to the language and 
 history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the 
 European system of weights, measures, and coins ; to 
 the climate and astronomical observations ; while he 
 kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and 
 Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a 
 more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. 
 All through life the Bible constituted an important 
 part of his studies. It was his rule to read five 
 chapters every day. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the 
 Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. 
 Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- 
 erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he 
 sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 
 r8th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his 
 home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- 
 roe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 Some time before ;he close of Mr. Monroe's second 
 term of office, new candidates began to be presented 
 for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought 
 forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. 
 Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and 
 sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- 
 ceived ninety-nine; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; 
 William H. Crawford, forty -one ; Henry Clay, thirty- 
 seven. As there was no choice by the people, the 
 question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. 
 Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and 
 be was elected. 
 
 The friends of all the disappointed candidates now 
 :ombined in a venomous and persistent assault upon 
 Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in 
 he past history of our country than the abuse which 
 
 was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this 
 high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never wa; 
 an administration more pure in principles, more con- 
 scientiously devoted to the best interests of the coun 
 try, than that of John Quincy Adams ; and never, per 
 haps, was there an administration more unscrupu- 
 lously and outrageously assailed. 
 
 Mr. Adams was, to a very remarkable degree, ab- 
 stemious and temperate in his habits; always rising 
 early, and taking much exercise. When at his hcmeir 
 Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast 
 seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was saic 
 that he was the first man up in the city, lighting hi: 
 own fire and applying himself to work in his library 
 often long before dawn. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retiree 
 from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew 
 Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Presi- 
 dent. The slavery question now began to assume 
 portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned tc 
 Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- 
 abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- 
 main in retirement. In November, 1830, he was 
 elected representative to Congress. For seventeen 
 years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- 
 sentative, towering above all his peers, ever ready tc 
 do brave battle' for freedom, and winning the title ol 
 " the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in 
 the House, he announced that he should hold him- 
 self bound to no party. Probably there never was a 
 member more devoted to his duties. He was usually 
 the first in his place in the morning, and the last tc 
 leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could 
 be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The 
 battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against 
 the proslavery party in the Government, was sublime 
 in its moral daring and heroism. For persisting in 
 presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he 
 was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, 
 with expulsion from the House, with assassination , 
 but no threats could intimidate him, and his final 
 triumph was complete. 
 
 It has been said of President Adams, that when his 
 body was bent and his hair silvered by the lapse of 
 fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith of a little 
 child, he was accustomed to repeat every night, before 
 he slept, the prayer which his mother taught him in 
 his infant years. 
 
 On the 2 1 st of February, r848, he rose on the floor 
 of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the 
 speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paraly- 
 sis, and was caught in the arms of those around him. 
 For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to 
 the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- 
 ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and 
 said " This is the end of earth /'then after a moment's 
 pause he added, "/ am content" These were the 
 last words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent."
 
 f the 
 
 IIHlHM.
 
 ^z-
 
 SEVENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 NDREW JACKSON, the 
 seventh President of the 
 "United States, was born in 
 VVaxhaw settlement, N. C., 
 March 15, 1767, a few days 
 after his father's death. His 
 parents were poor emigrants 
 from Ireland, and took up 
 their abode in Waxhaw set- 
 tlement, where they lived in 
 deepest poverty. 
 Andrew, or Andy, as he was 
 universally called, grew up a very 
 rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
 features were coarse, his form un- 
 gainly; and there was but very 
 Httle in his character, made visible, which was at- 
 tractive. 
 
 When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- 
 teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 
 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and 
 imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer 
 ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am 
 a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of 
 the dauntless boy. 
 
 The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate 
 Dlow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. 
 Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- 
 ful gashes, one on the hand and the other upon the 
 head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert 
 with the same demand. He also refused, and re- 
 ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite 
 disabled him, and which probably soon after caused 
 his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and 
 were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their 
 mother was successful in obtaining their exchange, 
 
 and took her sick boys home. After a long illness. 
 Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon 
 left him entirely friendless. 
 
 Andrew supported himself in various ways, such as 
 working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and 
 clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he 
 entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, 
 gave more attention to the wild amusements of the 
 times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed 
 solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of 
 which Tennessee was then a part. This involved 
 many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of 
 every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, 
 and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish 
 with the Sharp Knife. 
 
 In I79T, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who 
 supposed herself divorced from her former husband. 
 Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, 
 to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been 
 definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage 
 ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- 
 rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. 
 Jackson into disfavor. 
 
 During these years he worked hard at his profes 
 sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, 
 one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- 
 ially disgraceful. 
 
 In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then 
 containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the 
 people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- 
 stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven 
 counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. 
 The new State was entitled to but one member in 
 the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jack- 
 son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he 
 rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then held its
 
 ANDRE W JACKSDN. 
 
 sessions, a distance of about eight hundred miles. 
 
 Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
 cratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired 
 Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. 
 Jackson took his seat, Gen. Washington, whose 
 second term of office was then expiring, delivered his 
 last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a 
 complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson 
 did not approve of the address, and was one of the 
 twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to 
 say that Gen. Washington's adminstration had been 
 " wise, firm and patriotic." 
 
 Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
 Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. 
 Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court 
 of his State, which position he held for six years. 
 
 When the war of 1812 with Great Britian com- 
 menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
 Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was 
 an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jackson, who 
 would do credit to a commission if one were con- 
 ferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson 
 offered his services and those of twenty-five hundred 
 volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops 
 were assembled at Nashville. 
 
 As the British were hourly expected to make an at- 
 tack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wilkinson was 
 in command, he was ordered to descend the river 
 with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The 
 expedition reached Natchez ; and after a delay of sev- 
 eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything, 
 the men were ordered back to their homes. But the 
 energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire 
 devotion to the comrfort of his soldiers, won him 
 golden opinions ; and he became the most popular 
 man in the State. It was in this expedition that his 
 toughness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory." 
 
 Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. 
 Thomas H. Benton, for a remark that gentleman 
 made about his taking a part as second in a duel, in 
 which a younger brother of Benton's was engaged, 
 he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was 
 lingering upon a bed of suffering news came that the 
 Indians, who had combined under Tecumseh from 
 Florida to the Lakes, to exterminate the white set- 
 tlers, were committing the most awful ravages. De- 
 cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with 
 his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in 
 a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- 
 tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
 army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Alabama. 
 
 The Creek Indians had established a strong fort on 
 one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the cen- 
 ter of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. 
 With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson 
 traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven 
 days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or 
 Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend 
 
 of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of 
 tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow 
 neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breast- 
 work of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, 
 with an ample suply of arms were assembled. 
 
 The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- 
 perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When 
 bleeding and dying, they would fight those who en- 
 deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- 
 ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was 
 awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the 
 river; but the unerring bullet struck their heads as 
 they swam. Nearly everyone of the nine hundred war- 
 rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam 
 the river and escaped. This ended the war. The 
 power of the Creeks was broken forever. This bold 
 plunge into the wilderness, with itsterriffic slaughter, 
 so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants 
 of the bands came, to the camp, begging for peace. 
 
 This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con- 
 centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the 
 allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will 
 than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian 
 campaign to so successful an issue Immediately he 
 was appointed major-general. 
 
 Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
 men, on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson came to 
 Mobile. A British fleet came from Pensacola, landed 
 a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, 
 and from both ship and shore commenced a furious 
 assault. The battle was long and doubtful. At length 
 one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired. 
 
 Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little 
 army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
 And the battle of New Orleans w hich soon ensued, 
 was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won 
 for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his 
 troops, which numbered about four thousand men, 
 won a signal victory over the Briiish army of about 
 nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the 
 loss of the British was two thousand six hundred. 
 
 The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be men- 
 tioned in connection with the Presidency, but, in 1824, 
 he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was, however, 
 successful in the election of 1828, and was re-elected 
 for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just before he 
 assumed the reins of the government, he met with 
 the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of 
 his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has 
 perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of 
 her death he never recovered. 
 
 His administration was one of the most nic-mcrabie 
 in the annals of our country; applauded oyone party, 
 condemned by the other. No man had more bitter 
 enemies or warmer friends. At the expiration of his 
 two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where 
 he died June 8, 1845. The last years of Mr. Jack- 
 son's life were that of a devoted Christian man.
 
 f the 
 
 y of IHIno,,
 

 
 EIGHTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 ARTIN VAN BUREN, the 
 ^eighth President of the 
 United States, was born at 
 Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 
 1782. He died at the same 
 place, July 24, 1862. His 
 body rests in the cemetery 
 at Kinderhook. Above it is 
 a plain granite shaft fifteen feet 
 high, bearing a simple inscription 
 about half way up on one face. 
 The lot is unfenced, unbordered 
 or unbounded by shrub or flower. 
 
 There U uut Utle in the life of Martin Van Buren 
 of roman! t interest. He fought no battles, engaged 
 in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in 
 political and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many 
 signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those 
 incidents which give zest to biography. His an- 
 cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, 
 and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland 
 to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, 
 residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, 
 also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
 ligence and exemplary piety. 
 
 ,-fe was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- 
 usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the 
 age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies 
 in his native village, and commenced the study of 
 law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven 
 years of study in a law-office were required of him 
 Before he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with 
 JL lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pur- 
 sued liis studies with indefatigable industry. After 
 spending six years in an office in his native village, 
 
 he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his 
 studies for the seventh year. 
 
 In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of 
 age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- 
 lage. The great conflict between the Federal and 
 Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van 
 Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, 
 perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the 
 many discussions which had been carried on in his 
 father's hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with) 
 Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the 
 cause of State Rights ; though at that time the Fed- 
 eral party held the supremacy both in his town 
 and State. 
 
 His success and increasing ruputation led him 
 after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, th/ 
 county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years, 
 constantly gaining strength by contending in th* 
 courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned 
 the bar of his State. 
 
 Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mi. 
 Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
 beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
 years she sank into the grave, the victim of consump. 
 tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep ovei 
 her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Buren was 
 an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record 
 of those years is barren in items of public interest. 
 In 1812, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to 
 the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to 
 Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 1815, he was ap-' 
 pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved 
 to Albany, the capital of the State. 
 
 While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
 piominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had
 
 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
 not require that '' universal suffrage" which admits 
 the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of 
 governing the State. In true consistency with his 
 democratic principles, he contended that, while the 
 path leading to the privilege of voting should be open 
 to every man without distinction, no one should be 
 invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were 
 in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue 
 and some property interests in the welfare of the 
 State. 
 
 In 1821 he was elected c. member of the United 
 States Senate; and in the same year, he took a seat 
 in the convention to revise the constitution of his 
 native State. His course in this convention secured 
 the approval of men of all parties. No one could 
 doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the 
 interests of all classes in the community. In the 
 Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a 
 Conspicuous position as an active and useful legislator. 
 
 In 1827, John Quincy Adams beirg then in the 
 Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to 
 the Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- 
 termined opposer of the Administration, adopting the 
 "State Rights " view in opposition to what was 
 Meemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 
 
 Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governorof 
 the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his 
 ^eat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United 
 States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. 
 \dams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it 
 Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether 
 entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- 
 garded throughout the United States as one of the 
 most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. 
 It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how 
 to touch the secret springs of action; how to pull all 
 the wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to 
 organize a political army which would, secretly and 
 stealthily accomplish the most gigantic results. By 
 these powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, 
 Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and secured results which 
 few thought then could be accomplished. 
 
 When Andrew Jackson was elected President he 
 appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This 
 position he resigned in iSjr, and was immediately 
 appointed Minister to England, where he went the 
 same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, 
 refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned 
 
 home, apparently untroubled ; was nominated Vi< 
 President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-electic 
 of President Jackson ; and with smiles for all an 
 frowns for none, he took his place at the head of th; 
 Senate which had refused to confirm his nominatic 
 as ambassador. 
 
 His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal < 
 President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favo 
 ite ; and this, probably more than any other caus 
 secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execi 
 tive. On the 2oth of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren n 
 ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gei 
 Jackson as President of the United States. He wj 
 elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of th 
 retiring President. " Leaving New York out of th 
 canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Va 
 Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gei 
 Jackson as though the Constitution had conferre 
 upon him the power to appoint a successor." 
 
 His administration was filled with exciting event 
 The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to ir 
 volve this country in war with England, the agitatio 
 of the slavery question, and finally the great comme: 
 cial panic which spread over the country, all wei 
 trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was a.' 
 tributed to the management of the Democratic part; 
 and brought the President into*such disfavor that h 
 failed of re-election. 
 
 With the exception of being nominated for th 
 Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats, in 184! 
 Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate unt 
 his death. 
 
 He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habit 
 and living within his income, had now fortunately 
 competence for his declining years. His unblemishe 
 character, his commanding abilities, his unquestione 
 patriotism, and the distinguished positions which h 
 had occupied in the government of our country, s< 
 cured to him not only the homage of his party, bi 
 the respect ot the whole community. It was on Ih 
 4th of March, 1841, that Mr. Van Buren retired frot 
 the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwak 
 he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politic 
 of the country. From this time until his death, o 
 the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, h 
 resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, c 
 culture and of wealth; enjoying in a healthy ol 
 age, probably far more happiness than he had befoi 
 experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active lift
 
 
 fe library 
 
 of tht 
 
 of II!!-
 
 tfTNTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 WJ&M&M mm* mmmsk 
 
 ILLIAM HENRY HARRI- 
 SON, the ninth President of 
 the United States, was born 
 at Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. 
 His father, Benjamin Harri- 
 son, was in comparatively op- 
 ulent circumstances, and was 
 one of the most distinguished 
 men of his day. He was an 
 intimate friend of George 
 Washington, vv as early elected 
 a member of the Continental 
 Congress, and was conspicuous 
 among the patriots of Virginia in 
 resisting the encroachments of the 
 British crown. In the celebrated 
 Congress of 1775, Benjamin Har- 
 rison and John Hancock were 
 both candidates for the office of 
 speaker. 
 
 Mr Harrison was subsequently 
 chosen Governor of Virginia, and 
 was twice re-elected. His son, 
 i William Henry, of course enjoyed 
 in childhood all the advantages which wealth and 
 intellectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
 ing received a thorough common-school education, he 
 entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated 
 with honor soon after the death of his father. He 
 then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under 
 the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of 
 Robert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, 
 ligners of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and not- 
 withstanding the 'emonstrances of his friends, he 
 abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, 
 .laving obtain^ a commission of Ensign from Presi- 
 
 dent Washington. He was then but 19 years old 
 From that time he passed gradually upward in rank 
 until he became aid to General Wayne, after whose 
 death he resigned his commission. He was then ap- 
 pointed Secretary of the North-western Territory. This 
 Territory was then entitled to but one member in 
 Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that 
 position. 
 
 In the spring of 1800 the North-western Territory 
 was divided by Congress into two portions. The 
 eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced 
 in the State of Ohio, was called " The Territory 
 north-west of the Ohio." The western portion, which 
 included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and 
 Wisconsin, was called the "Indiana Territory." Wil- 
 liam Henry Harrison, then 27 years of age, was ap- 
 pointed by John Adams, Governor of the Indiana 
 Territory, and immediately after, also Governor of 
 Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as 
 extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. He 
 was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was in- 
 vested with powers nearly dictatorial over the now 
 rapidly increasing white population. The ability and 
 fidelity with which he discharged these responsible 
 duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four 
 times appointed to this office first by John Adams, 
 twice by Thomas Jefferson and afterwards by Presu 
 dent Madison. 
 
 When he began his adminstration there were but 
 three white settlements in that almost boundless region, 
 now crowded with cities and resounding with all the 
 tumult of wealth and traffic. One of these settlements 
 was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; one at 
 Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the third a French 
 settlement. 
 
 The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrisoii 
 reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. Abou'
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers, 
 of the Shawnese tribe, rose among them. One of 
 these was called Tecumseh, or " The Crouching 
 Panther;" the other, Olliwacheca, or "The Prophet." 
 Tecumseh was not only an Indian warrior, but a man 
 of great sagacity, far-reaching foresight and indomit- 
 able perseverance in any enterprise in which he might 
 engage. He was inspired with the highest enthusiasm, 
 and had long regarded with dread and with hatred 
 the encroachment of the whites upon the hunting- 
 grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was 
 an orator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored 
 Indian as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath which 
 they dwelt. 
 
 But the Prophet was not merely an orator : he was, 
 in the superstitious minds of the Indians, invested 
 with the superhuman dignity of a medicine-man or a 
 magician. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter 
 the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went 
 from tribe to tribe, assuming that he was specially sent 
 by the Great Spirit. 
 
 Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate 
 the Indians, but at last the war came, and at Tippe- 
 canoe the Indians were routed with great slaughter. 
 October 28, 1812, his army began its march. When 
 near the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made 
 their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was 
 approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a 
 short conference, arrangements were made for a meet- 
 ing the next day, to agree upon terms of peace. 
 
 But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with 
 the Indian character to be deceived by such protes- 
 tations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- 
 campment, he took every precaution against surprise. 
 His troops were posted in a hollow square, and slept 
 upon their arms. 
 
 The troops threw themselves upon the ground for 
 rest; but every man had his accourtrements on, his 
 loaded musket by his side, and his bayonet fixed. The 
 wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in 
 the morning, had risen, and was sitting in conversa- 
 tion with his aids by the embers of a waning fire. It 
 was a chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. In 
 the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possi- 
 ble, and j'ist then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all 
 the desperation which superstition and passion most 
 highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
 little army. The savages had been amply provided 
 with guns and ammunition by the English. Their 
 war-whoop was accompained by a shower of bullets. 
 
 The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the 
 light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide- 
 ous yells, the Indian bands rushed on, not doubting a 
 speedy and an entire victory. But Gen. Harrison's 
 troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them 
 until day dawned : they then made a simultaneous 
 charge with the bayonet, and swept every thing be- 
 fore them, and completely routing the foe. 
 
 Gov. Harrison now had all his energies taski 
 to the utmost. The British descending from the Ca 
 adas, were of themselves a very formidable force ; b 
 with their savage allies, rushing like wolves from tl 
 forest, searching out every remote farm-house, bur 
 ing, plundering, scalping, torturing, the wide fronti 
 was plunged into a state of consternation which evi 
 the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceh 
 The war-whoop was resounding everywhere in ti 
 forest. The horizon was illuminated with the conflagi 
 tion of the cabins of the settlers. Gen Hull had ma 
 the ignominious surrender of his forces at Detro 
 Under these despairing circumstances, Gov. Harris 
 was appointed by President Madison commander-i 
 chief of the North-western army, with orders to reta 
 Detroit, and to protect the frontiers. 
 
 It would be difficult to place a man in a situati 
 demanding more energy, sagacity and courage; b 
 General Harrison was found equal to the positic 
 and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the i 
 sponsibilities. 
 
 He won the love of his soldiers by always shari 
 with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, whi 
 pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in 
 valise; and his bedding consisted of a single blank 
 lashed over his saddle. Thirty-five British office 
 his prisoners of war, supped with him after the batt 
 The only fare he could give them was beef roasti 
 before the fire, without bread or salt. 
 
 In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member 
 the National House of Representatives, to represe 
 the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved ; 
 active member; and whenever he spoke, it was wi 
 force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrest 
 the attention of all the members. 
 
 In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate 
 Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presidential electc 
 of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. T 
 same year he was chosen to the United States Senai 
 
 In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison brought hi 
 forward as a candidate for the Presidency again 
 Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close 
 Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by \ 
 party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominal* 
 by the Whigs, with John Tyler for the Vice Presidenc 
 The contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson ga^ 
 all his influence to prevent Harrison's election ; b 
 his triumph was signal. 
 
 The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webst 
 at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the mo 
 brilliant with which any President had ever bei 
 surrounded. Never were the prospects of an admi 
 istration more flattering, or the hopes of the count 
 more sanguine. In the midst of these bright at 
 joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison was seized by 
 pleurisy-fever and after a few days of violent sici 
 ness, died on the 4th of April ; just one month aft- 
 his inauguration as President of the United State
 
 of th 
 of
 
 a
 
 TENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 m 
 
 OHN TYLER, the tenth 
 Presidentof the United States. 
 He was born in Charles-city 
 Co., Va., March 29, 1790. He 
 was the favored child of af- 
 fluence and high social po- 
 ' sition. At the early age of 
 twelve, John entered William 
 and Mary College and grad- 
 uated with much honor when 
 but seventeen years old. After 
 graduating, he devoted him- 
 self with great assiduity to the 
 study of law, partly with his 
 father and partly with Edmund 
 Randolph, one of the most distin- 
 guished lawyers of Virginia. 
 
 At nineteen years of age, ne 
 commenced the practice of law. 
 His success was rapid and aston- 
 ishing. It is said that three 
 months had not elapsed ere there 
 was scarcely a case on the dock- 
 et of the court in which he was 
 iot retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he 
 was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the State 
 Legislature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
 cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of 
 Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he 
 wiis elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the 
 unanimous vote or his county. 
 
 When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected 
 a member of Congress. Here he acted earnestly and 
 ably wuh the Democratic party, opposing a national 
 bank, intern-,! improvements by the General <^ovem- 
 
 ment, a protective tariff, and advocating a strict con- 
 struction of the Constitution, and the most careful 
 vigilance over State rights. His labors in Congress 
 were so arduous that before the close of his second 
 term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his 
 estate in Charles-city Co., to recruit his health. He. 
 however, soon after consented to take his seat in the 
 State Legislature, where his influence was powerful 
 in promoting public works of great utility. .With a 
 reputation thus canstantly increasing, he was chosen 
 by a very large majority of votes, Governor of his 
 native State. His administration was signally a suc- 
 cessful one. His popularity secured his re-election. 
 
 John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
 man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the 
 United States. A portion of the Democratic party 
 was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, 
 and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, 
 considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient 
 popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of 
 Roanoke. Mr. Tyler was the victor. 
 
 In accordance with his professions, upon taking his 
 seat in the Senate, he joined the ranks of the opposi- 
 tion. He opposed the tariff; he spoke against and 
 voted against the bank as unconstitutional ; he stren- 
 uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resist- 
 ing all projects of internal improvements by the Gen- 
 eral Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. 
 Calhoun's view of nullification; he declared that Gen. 
 Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had 
 abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. 
 Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress, a record 
 in perfect accordance with the principles which he 
 had always avowed. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of 
 his profession. There was a rplh in the Democratic
 
 JOHN TYLER. 
 
 (arty. His friends still regarded him as a true Jef- 
 fersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compli- 
 ments upon him. He had now attained the age of 
 forty-six. His career had been very brilliant. In con- 
 sequence of his devotion to public business, his pri- 
 vate affairs had fallen into some disorder; and it was 
 not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice 
 of law, and devoted himself to the culture of his plan- 
 tation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, 
 for the better education of his children ; and he again 
 took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 
 
 By the Southern Whigs, he was sent to the national 
 convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President in 
 '839. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Har- 
 rison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of 
 the South, who wished for Henry Clay. To concili- 
 ate the Southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the 
 convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice Pres- 
 ident. It was well known that he was not in sympa- 
 thy with the Whig party in the North : but the Vice 
 President has but very little power in the Govern- 
 ment, his main and almost only duty being to pre- 
 side over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it hap- 
 pened that a Whig President, and, in reality, a 
 Democratic Vice President were chosen. 
 
 In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice Presi- 
 Jent of the United States. In one short month from 
 that time, President Harrison died, and Mr.- Tyler 
 thus .cund himself, to his own surprise and that of 
 the whole Nation, an occupant of the Presidential 
 chair. This was a new test of the stability of our 
 institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our 
 country that such an event had occured. Mr. Tyler 
 was at home in Williamsburg when he received the 
 unexpected tidings of the death of President Harri- 
 son. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of 
 April was inaugurated to the high and responsible 
 office. He was placed in a position of exceeding 
 delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been 
 opposed tc the main principles of the party which had 
 brought him into power. He had ever been a con- 
 sistent, honest man, with an unblemished record. 
 Gen. Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet. Should 
 he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- 
 sellors whose views were antagonistic to his own ? or, 
 on the other hand, should he turn against the party 
 which had elected him and select a cabinet in har- 
 mony with himself, and which would oppose all those 
 views which the Whigs deemed essential to the pub- 
 lic welfare? This was his fearful dilemma. He in- 
 vited the cabinet which President Haorison had 
 Delected to retain their seats. He reccommended a 
 day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and 
 bless us. 
 
 The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the 
 incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. 
 The President, after ten days' delay, returned it with 
 his veto. He suggested, however, that he would 
 
 approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as 
 proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, 
 privately submitted to him. He gave it his appro 
 It was passed without alteration, and he sent it t 
 with his veto. Here commenced the open rupt 
 It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this m 
 ure by a published letter from the Hon. John 
 Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who seve 
 touched the pride of the President. 
 
 The opposition now exultingly received the Pi 
 dent into their arms. The party which elected 
 denounced him bitterly. All the members of 
 cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The W 
 of Congress, both the Senate and the House, hel 
 meeting and issued an address to the people of 
 United States, proclaiming that all political allia 
 between the Whigs and President Tyler were 
 an end. 
 
 Still the President attempted to conciliate, 
 appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs 
 Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong p 
 men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary tores 
 forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. T 
 the four years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate adminii 
 tion passed sadly away. No one was satisfied, 
 land wa,s filled with murmurs and vituperation. W 
 and Democrats alike assailed him. More and rr 
 however, he brought himself into sympathy with 
 old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his t> 
 he gave his whole influence to the support of 
 Polk, the Democratic candidate for his successor 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from 
 harassments of office, to the regret of neither party, 
 probably to his own unspeakable relief. His first i 
 Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in i! 
 and in June, 1844, President Tyler was again man 
 at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lac 
 many personal and intellectual accomplishments. 
 
 The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mi 
 in retirement at his beautiful home, Sherwood 
 est, Charles-city Co., Va. A polished gentlemai 
 his manners, richly furnished with information i 
 books and experience in the world, and posses 
 brilliant powers of conversation, his family circle 
 the scene of unnsual attractions. With suffic 
 means for the exercise of a generous hospitality 
 might have enjoyed a serene old age with the 
 friends who gathered around him, were it not for 
 storms of civil war which his own principles 
 policy had helped to introduce. 
 
 When the great Rebellion rose, which the Si 
 rights and nullifying doctrines of Mr. John C. ' 
 houn had inaugurated, President Tyler renounced 
 allegiance to the United States, and joined the Con 
 crates. He was chosen a member of their Congr 
 and while engaged in active measures to destroy 
 force of arms, the Government over which he 
 once presided, he was taken sick and soon d
 
 of tfci 
 of l
 
 ELE VENTff 'PRESTDEtfT. ' 
 
 AMES K. POLK, the eleventh 
 ^President of the United States, 
 was born in Mecklenburg Co., 
 N. C.,Nov. 2, 1795. His par- 
 ents were Samuel and Jane 
 (Knox) Polk, the former a son 
 
 of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
 at the above place, as one of the 
 first pioneers, in 1735. 
 
 In the year 1806, with his wife 
 and children, and soon after fol- 
 lowed by most of the members of 
 the Polk farnly, Samuel Polk emi- 
 grated some two or three hundred 
 miles farther west, to the rich valley 
 of the Duck River. Here in the 
 midst of the wilderness, in a region 
 which was subsequently called Mau- 
 ry Co., they reared their log huts, 
 and established their homes. In the 
 hard toil of a new farm in the wil- 
 derness, James K. Polk spent the 
 early years of his childhood and 
 youth. His father, adding the pur- 
 suit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, 
 gradually increased in wealth until 
 he became one of the leading men of the region. His 
 mother was a superior woman, of strong common 
 sense and earnest piety. 
 
 Very early in life, James developed a taste for 
 reading and expressed the strongest desire to obtain 
 a liberal education. His mother's training had made 
 him methodical in his habits, had taught him punct- 
 uality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty 
 principles of morality. His health was frail ; and his 
 father, fearing that be might not \>c able to endure a 
 
 ess than two and a half 
 sntered the sophomorel 
 h Carolina, at Chapell 
 
 sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the 
 counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits. 
 
 This was to James a bitter disappointment. He 
 had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks 
 were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
 uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when at his 
 earnest solicitation his father removed him, and made 
 arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon 
 after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With 
 ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed 
 forward in his studies, and in less than two and a half j 
 years, in the autumn of 1815, er 
 class in the University of North Ca 
 Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
 scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing 
 himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious 
 service. 
 
 He graduated in 1818, with the highest honors, be- 
 ing deemed the best scholar of his class, both in 
 mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty- 
 three years of age. Mr. Folk's health was at this 
 time much impaired by the assiduity with which he 
 had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of 
 relaxation he went to Nashville, and entered the 
 office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk 
 renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who 
 resided on his plantation, the Hermitage, but a few 
 miles from Nashville. They had probably been 
 slightly acquainted before. 
 
 Mr. Folk's father was a JefTersonian Republican, 
 and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same politi- 
 cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was 
 constantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
 party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that 
 he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. 
 He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and
 
 fAMES K. POLK. 
 
 courier us in his bearing, and with that sympathetic 
 nature in the joys and griefs of others which ever gave 
 him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected 
 to the Legislature of Tennessee. Here he gave his 
 strong influence towards the election of his friend, 
 Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
 'Childress, of Rutherford Co., Tenn. His bride was 
 altogether worthy of him, a lady of beauty and cul- 
 ture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a 
 member of Congress. The satisfaction which he gave 
 to his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that 
 for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was con- 
 tinued in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, 
 only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair 
 of Tennessee. In Congress he was a laborious 
 member, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was 
 always in his seat, always courteous ; and whenever 
 he spoke it was always to the point, and without any 
 ambitious rhetorical display. 
 
 During five sessions of Congress, Mr. Polk was 
 Speaker of the House. Strong passions were roused, 
 and stormy scenes were witnessed ; but Mr. Polk per- 
 formed his arduous duties to a very general satisfac- 
 tion, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was 
 passed by the House as he withdrew on the 4th of 
 March, 1839. 
 
 In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a 
 candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was 
 elected by a large majority, and on the 1 4th of Octo- 
 ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1841, 
 his term of office expired, and he was again the can- 
 didate of the Democratic party, but was defeated. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugur- 
 ated President of the United States. The verdict of 
 the countryin favor of the annexation of Texas, exerted 
 its influence upon Congress ; and the last act of the 
 administration of President Tyler was to affix his sig- 
 nature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 
 3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to 
 the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas 
 as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, 
 Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and 
 'Jaft the country, declaring the act of the annexation 
 lo be an act hostile to Mexico. 
 
 In his first message, President Polk urged that 
 Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be re- 
 ceived into the Union on the same footing with the 
 other States. In the meantime, Gen. Taylor was sent 
 
 with an army into Texas to hold the country. He w 
 sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was t 
 western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nea: 
 two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Gram 
 where he erected batteries which commanded t 
 Mexican city of Matamoras, which was situated 
 the western banks. 
 
 The anticipated collision soon took place, and fl 
 was declared against Mexico by President Polk. T 
 war was pushed forward by Mr. Folk's administrati 
 with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was fi 
 called one of " observation," then of " occupatioi 
 then of " in vasion, " was sent forward to Monterey. T 
 feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopeles; 
 ana awfully slaughtered. The day of judgeme 
 alone can reveal the misery which this war caus< 
 It was by the ingenuity of Mr. Folk's administrati 
 that the war was brought on. 
 
 'To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico w 
 prostrate before us. Her capital was in our ham 
 We now consented to peace upon the condition tli 
 Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Tex 
 all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower C 
 ifornia. This new demand embraced, exclusive 
 Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. Tl 
 was an extent of territory equal to nine States of t 
 size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighte 
 majestic States to be added to the Union. There w( 
 some Americans who thought it all right : there wt 
 others who thought it all wrong. In the prosecuti 
 of this war, we expended twenty thousand lives a: 
 more than a hundred million of dollars. Of tl 
 money fifteen millions were paid to Mexico. 
 
 On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired frc 
 office, having served one term. The next day w 
 Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugural 
 as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the Capitol in t 
 same carriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same eve 
 ing, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return 
 Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of aj 
 He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habi 
 and his health was good. With an ample fortur 
 a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ti 
 of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long yea 
 of tranquility and happiness were before him. But tl 
 cholera that fearful scourge was then sweeping i 
 the Valley of the Mississippi. This he contracte 
 and died on the 151)1 of June, 1849, in the fiftv-four 
 year of his age, greatly mourned by his countryme
 
 Tfc Library 
 of the 
 
 of HIM
 
 ff
 
 TWELFTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth 
 President of the United States, 
 was born on the 24th of Nov., 
 1784, in Orange Co., Va. His 
 father, Colonel Taylor, was 
 Virginian of note, and a dis- 
 tinguished patriot and soldier of 
 the Revolution. When Zachary 
 was an infant, his father with his 
 wife and two children, emigrated 
 to Kentucky, where he settled in 
 the pathless wilderness, a few 
 miles from Louisville. In this front- 
 ier home, away from civilization and 
 all its refinements, young Zachary 
 could enjoy but few social and educational advan- 
 tages. When six years of age he attended a common 
 school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
 rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- 
 acter He was strong, feailess and self-reliant, and 
 manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight 
 the Indians who were ravaging the frontiers. There 
 is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his 
 childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation. 
 In 1 808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him 
 the commission of lieutenant in the United States 
 army ; and he joined the troops which were stationed 
 at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after 
 this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady 
 from one of the first families of Maryland. 
 
 Immediately after the declaration of war with Eng- 
 land, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been 
 promoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort 
 Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above 
 Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilder- 
 ness by Gen. Harrison,on his march to Tippecanoe. 
 It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, 
 ;ed by Tecumseh. Its garrison consisted of a broken 
 
 company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of 
 whom were sick. 
 
 Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, stealthily, 
 and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Their 
 approach was first indicated by the murder of two 
 soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor 
 made every possible preparation to meet the antici- 
 pated assault. On the 4th of September, a band of 
 forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, 
 waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that 
 in the morning their chief would come to have a talk 
 with him. It was evident that their object was merely 
 to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
 Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept 
 them at a distance. 
 
 The sun went down ; the savages disappeared, the 
 garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before 
 midnight the war-whoop burst from a thousand lips 
 in the forest around, followed by the discharge of 
 musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick 
 and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that 
 defeat was not .merely death, but in the case of cap- 
 ture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged tor- 
 ture. No pen can describe, no immagination can 
 conceive the scenes which ensued. The savages suc- 
 ceeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses- 
 Until six o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict 
 continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, 
 and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. 
 Taylor, for this gallant defence, was promoted to the 
 rank of major by brevet. 
 
 Until the close of the war, Major Taylor was placed 
 in such situations that he saw but little more of active 
 service. He was sent far away into the depths of the 
 wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox River, which 
 empties into Green Bay. Here there was but little 
 to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as ono 
 best could. There were no books, no society, no in-
 
 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 
 
 tellectuai stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful 
 years rolled on Gradually ne rose to the rank of 
 colonel. In the Black-Hawk war, which resulted in 
 the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col Taylor 
 took a subordinate but a brave and efficient part. 
 
 For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in 
 the defence of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in 
 'employments so obscure, that his name was unknown 
 t>eyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. 
 Jn the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel 
 the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and re- 
 tire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty, 
 iiac 3 promised they should do. The services rendered 
 tieie secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
 ihe Government; and as a reward, he was elevated 
 ic ;he rank of brigadier-general by brevet ; and soon 
 ifter, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief com- 
 nand of the United States troops in Florida. 
 
 After two years of such wearisome employment 
 imidst the everglades of the peninsula, Gen. Taylor 
 obtained, at his own request, a change of command, 
 ;nd was stationed over the Department of the South- 
 west. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, 
 Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters 
 at Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, he removed his family 
 to a plantation which he purchased, near Baton Rogue. 
 Hi.-re he remained for five years, buried, as it were, 
 fiom the world, but faithfully discharging every duty 
 jnvposed upon him. 
 
 In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land 
 bolween the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river 
 being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed 
 "by the United States. Soon the war with Mexico 
 was brought on, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
 PaJma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the 
 Mexicans. The rank of major-general by brevet 
 was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name 
 was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in 
 the Nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
 E uena Vista in which he won signal victories over 
 5c jrces much larger than he commanded. 
 
 His careless habits of dress and his unaffected 
 simplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops, 
 ti/e sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready.' 
 
 The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista 
 El/read the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The 
 name of Gen. Taylor was on every one's lips. The 
 W hig party decided to take advantage of this wonder- 
 fu/ popularity in bringing forward the unpolished, un- 
 " -.''?red, honest soldier as their candidate for the 
 Pi esidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the an- 
 ncuncement, and for a time would not listen toil; de- 
 cbiring that he was not at all qualified for such an 
 oft ice. So little interest had he taken in politics that, 
 fot forty years, he had not cast a vote. It was not 
 wnhout chagrin that several distinguished statesmen 
 w'ho had been long years in the public service found 
 'l.:flr claims set aside in behalf of one whose name 
 
 had never been heard of, save in connection with Pa 
 Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buer 
 Vista. It is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste n 
 marked, " It is a nomination not fit to be made." 
 
 Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fir 
 writer His friends took possession of him, and pr< 
 pared such few communications as it was needfi 
 should be presented to the public. The popularity < 
 the successful warrior swept the land. He was tr 
 umphantly elected over two opposing candidates,- 
 Gen. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Burei 
 Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the goo 
 old man found himself in a very uncongenial positioi 
 and was, at times, sorely perplexed and harassec 
 His mental sufferings were very severe, and probabl 
 tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery part 
 was pushing its claims with tireless energy, exped 
 tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California wa 
 pleading for admission to the Union, while slaver 
 stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor foun 
 the political conflicts in Washington to be far moi 
 trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans c 
 Indians. 
 
 In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylo 
 after he had occupied the Presidential chair but littl 
 over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness < 
 but little over five days, died on the pth of July, 1851 
 His last words were, " I am not afraid to die. I ai 
 ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He die 
 universally respected and beloved. An honest, ur 
 pretending man, he had been steadily growing in th 
 affections of the people ; and the Nation bitterly h 
 mented his death. 
 
 Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted wit 
 Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic and truthfi 
 description of his character: " With a good store ( 
 common sense, Gen. Taylor's mind had not been er 
 larged and refreshed by reading, or much convers 
 with the world. Rigidity of ideas was the const 
 quence. The frontiers and small military posts ha 
 been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for hi 
 rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance. His sm 
 plicity was child-like, and with innumerable prejii 
 dices, amusing and incorrigible, well suited to th 
 tender age. Thus, if a man, however respectablt 
 chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his ha 
 a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leav 
 a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an out 
 side pocket, in any such case, this critic held th 
 offender to be a coxcomb (perhaps something worse' 
 whom he would not, to use his oft repeated phrase 
 'touch with a pair of tongs.' 
 
 "Any allusion to literature beyond good old Dil 
 worth's spelling-book, on the part of one wearing ; 
 sword, was evidence, with the same judge, of utte 
 unfitness for heavy marchings and combats. In short 
 few men have ever had a more comfortable, **+ 
 saving contempt for learning of every kind. 15
 
 Ffc. LltHr; 
 ( th

 
 THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 ILLARD FILLMORE, thir- 
 teenth President of the United 
 States, was born at Summer 
 Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y ., on 
 the 7th of January, 1800. His 
 'father was a farmer, and ow- 
 ing to misfortune, in humble cir- 
 cumstances. Of his mother, the 
 daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, 
 of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been 
 dd that she' possessed an intellect 
 of very high order, united with much 
 personal loveliness, sweetness of dis- 
 position, graceful manners and ex- 
 quisite sensibilities. She died in 
 1831 ; having lived to see her son a 
 1 young man of distinguished prom- 
 ise, though she was not permitted to witness the high 
 dignity which he finally attained. 
 
 In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
 means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender ad- 
 vantages for education in his early years. The com- 
 mon schools, which he occasionally attended were 
 very imperfect institutions; and books were scarce 
 and expensive. There was nothing then in his char- 
 acter to indicate the brilliant career upon which he 
 was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy ; 
 intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred 
 influences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, 
 and had laid the foundations of an upright character. 
 When fourteen years of age, his father sent him 
 some hundred miles from home, to the then wilds of 
 Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
 Neai the mi'l there was a small villiage, where some 
 
 enterprising man had commenced the collection of a 
 village library. This proved an inestimable blessing 
 to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in read- 
 ing. Soon every leisure moment was occupied with 
 books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate; 
 and the selections which he made were continually 
 more elevating and instructive. He read history; 
 biography, oratory, and thus gradually there was en- 
 kindled in his heart a desire to be something more 
 than a mere worker with his hands; and he was be' 
 coming, almost unknown to himself, a well-informed, 
 educated man. 
 
 The young clothier had now attained the age of 
 nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance 
 and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened thai 
 there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample 
 pecuniary means and of benevolence, Judge Walter 
 Wood, who was struck with the prepossessing ap- 
 pearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaint- 
 ance, and was so much impressed with his ability and 
 attainments that he advised him to abandon his 
 trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The 
 young man replied, that he had no means of his own, 
 no friends to help him and that his previous educa- 
 tion had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had 
 so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to 
 take him into his own office, and to loan him such 
 money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous 
 offer was accepted. 
 
 There is in many minds a strange delusion about)* 
 a collegiate education. A young man is supposed to 
 be liberally educated if he has graduated at some col- 
 lege. But many a boy loiters through university hul' > 
 <ind then enters a law office, who is by no means as
 
 MILLARD FILLMORE. 
 
 well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was 
 Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing- 
 mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during 
 which every leisure moment had been devoted to in- 
 tense mental culture. 
 
 In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he was 
 admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. He then 
 went to the village of Aurora, and commenced the 
 practice of law. In this secluded, peaceful region, 
 his practice of course was limited, and there was no 
 opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. 
 Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of great 
 moral worth, and one capable of adorning any station 
 she might be called to fill, Miss Abigail Powers. 
 
 His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
 his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, 
 gradually attracted attention ; and he was invited to 
 enter into partnership under highly advantageous 
 circumstances, with an elder member of the bar in 
 Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, 
 he took his seat in the House of Assembly, of the 
 State of New York, as a representative from Erie 
 County. Though he had never taken a very active 
 part in politics, his vote and his sympathies were with 
 the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, 
 and he found himself in a helpless minority in the 
 Legislature , still the testimony comes from all parties, 
 that his courtesy, ability and integrity, won, to a very 
 unusual degrc e the respect of his associates. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in 
 the United States Congress. He entered that troubled 
 arena in some of the most tumultuous hours of our 
 national history. The great conflict respecting the 
 national bank and the removal of the deposits, was 
 then raging. 
 
 His term of two years closed ; and he returned to 
 his profession, which he pursued with increasing rep- 
 utation and success. After a lapse of two years 
 he again became a candidate for Congress ; was re- 
 elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past expe- 
 rience as a representative gave him stength and 
 confidence. The first term of service in Congress to 
 any man can be but little more than an introduction. 
 He was now prepared for active duty. All his ener- 
 gies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every 
 measure received his impress. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and 
 his popularity filled the State, and in the year 1847, 
 he was elected Comptroller of the State. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore had attained the age of forty-seve 
 years. His labors at the bar, in the Legislature, i 
 Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very coi 
 siderable fame. The Whigs were casting about t 
 find suitable candidates for President and Vice-Pres 
 dent at the approaching election. Far away, on tl: 
 waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough ol 
 soldier, who had fought one or two successful battle 
 with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to h 
 proclaimed in tiumpet-tones all over the land. Bi 
 it was necessary to associate with him on the sarc 
 ticket some man of reputation as a statesman. 
 
 Under the influence of these considerations, tr 
 namesof Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore becarv 
 the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates fc 
 President and Vice-Peesident. The Whig ticket wj 
 signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1841 
 Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millai 
 Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States. 
 
 On the pth of July, 1850, President Taylor, bi 
 about one year and four months after his inaugur; 
 tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Coi 
 stitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became Pres 
 dent. He appointed a very able cabinet, of whic 
 the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of Stat 
 
 Mr. Fillmore had very serious difficulties to conten 
 with, since the opposition had a majority in bol 
 Houses. He did everything in his power to concilia 
 the South ; but the pro-slavery party in the South fe 
 the inadequacy of all measuresof transient conciliatio 
 The population of the free States was so rapidly ii 
 creasing over that of the slave States that it was ii 
 evitable that the power of the Government shoui 
 soon pass into the hands of the free States. Tr 
 famous compromise measures were adopted under M 
 Fillmcre's adminstration, and the Japan Expeditio 
 was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fil 
 more, having served one term, retired. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Pre; 
 idency by the " Know Nothing " party, but was beate 
 by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived i 
 retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil wa 
 he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed \\iz 
 his sympathies were rather with those who were en 
 deavoring to overthrow our institutions. Presides 
 Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without an 
 cordial words of cheer to the one party or the othei 
 He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a rip 
 old age, and died in Buffalo. N. Y., March 8, 1874
 
 Ik. Llbitry 
 
 f the 
 IMnratty of (life*
 
 FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 FIERCE 
 
 ^^*&&^*&&^<il^&^JMyb&bMiiMii*M 
 
 RANKLIN PIERCE, the 
 fourteenth President of the 
 United States, was born in 
 Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 
 23, 1804. His father was a 
 Revolutionary soldier, who, 
 with his own strong arm, 
 hewed out a home in the 
 wilderness. He was a man 
 of inflexible integrity; of 
 strong, though uncultivated 
 mind, and an uncompromis- 
 ing Democrat. The mother of 
 Franklin Pierce was all that a son 
 could desire, an intelligent, pru- 
 dent, affectionate, Christian wom- 
 an. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. 
 
 Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, gen- 
 erous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the 
 love of old and young. The boys on the play -ground 
 loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors 
 looked upon him with pride and affection. He was 
 by instinct a gentleman; always speaking kind words, 
 doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact 
 which taught him what was agreeable. Without de- 
 veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
 devotion to books, he was a good scholar ; in body, 
 in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy. 
 
 When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he 
 entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. He was 
 one of the most popular young men in the college. 
 The purity cf his moral character, the unvarying 
 courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and 
 
 genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. 
 There was something very peculiarly winning in his 
 address, and it was evidently not in the slightest de- 
 gree studied: it was the simple outgushing of his 
 own magnanimous and loving nature. 
 
 Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce 
 commenced the study of law in the office of Judge 
 Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of 
 the State, and a man of great private worth. The 
 eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his 
 father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant 
 political career into which Judge Woodbury was en' 
 tering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the faci- 
 nating yet perilous path of political life. With all 
 the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. 
 Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the 
 practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected 
 to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here 
 he served for four yeais. The last two years he was 
 chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote. 
 
 In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected 
 a member of Congress. Without taking an active 
 part in debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty 
 and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom 
 he was associatad. 
 
 In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, 
 he was elected to the Senate of the United States; 
 taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced 
 his administration. He was the youngest memberin 
 the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane 
 Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accom- 
 plishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn every 
 station with which her husband was honoied. Of the
 
 bRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 three sons who were born to them, all now sleep with 
 their parents in the grave. 
 
 In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame 
 and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his 
 residence in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. 
 President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed 
 Mr. Pierce attorney-general of the United States; but 
 the offer was declined, in consequence of numerous 
 professional engagements at home, and the precariuos 
 state of Mrs. Pierce 's health. He also, about the 
 same time declined the nomination for governor by the 
 Democratic party. The war with Mexico called Mr. 
 Pierce in the army. Receiving the appointment of 
 brigadier-general, he embarked, with a portion of his 
 troops, at Newport, R. I., on the ayth of May, 1847. 
 He took an important part in this war, proving him- 
 self a brave and true soldier. 
 
 When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native 
 State, he was received enthusiastically by the advo- 
 cates of the Mexican war, and coldly by his oppo- 
 nents. He resumed the practice of his profession, 
 very frequently taking an active part in political ques- 
 tions, giving his cordial support to the pro-slavery 
 wing of the Democratic party. The compromise 
 measures met cordially with his approval ; and he 
 Strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infa- 
 inous fugitive-slave law, which so shocked the religious 
 sensibilities of the North. He thus became distin- 
 guished as a "Northern man with Southern principles."' 
 The strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- 
 quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
 safely trust in office to carry out their plans. 
 
 On the I2th of June, 1852, the Democratic conven- 
 tion met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the 
 Presidency. For four days they continued in session, 
 and in thirty-five ballotings no one had obtained a 
 two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown 
 for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation 
 brought forward his name. There were fourteen 
 more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly 
 gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he 
 received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all 
 other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was 
 the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with 
 great unanimity. Only four States Vermont, Mas- 
 sachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee cast their 
 electoral votes against him Gen. Franklin Pierce 
 was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
 States en the 4th of March, 1853. 
 
 His administration proved one of the most stormy 01 
 country had ever experienced. The controversy bi 
 tween slavery and freedom was then approaching i 
 culminating point. It became evident that there w< 
 an " irrepressible conflict " between them, and th; 
 this Nation could not long exist " half slave and ha 
 free." President Pierce, during the whole of his ac 
 ministration, did every thing he could to concilia! 
 the South ; but it was all in vain. The conflict evei 
 year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolutio 
 of the Union were borne to the North on every Soutl 
 ern breeze. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs when Presidei 
 Pierce approached the close of his four-years' ten 
 of office. The North had become thoroughly alier 
 ated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goade 
 by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; a 
 the intellectual ability and social worth of Presider 
 Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his ac 
 ministrative acts. The slaveholders of the South, alsi 
 unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advc 
 cated those measures of Government which they aj 
 proved, and perhaps, also, feeling that he ha 
 rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to b 
 able acceptably to serve them, ungratefully droppe 
 him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed hin 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce r< 
 tired to his home in Concord. Of three children, tw 
 had died, and his only surviving child had bee 
 killed before his eyes by a railroad accident ; and h: 
 wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished < 
 ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. Th 
 hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was le 
 alone in the world, without wife or child. 
 
 When the terrible Rebellion burst forth, which d 
 vided our country into two parties, and two only, M 
 Pierce remained steadfast in the principles which \ 
 had always cherished, and gave his sympathies 1 
 that pro-slavery party with which he had ever bee 
 allied. He declined to do anything, either by voi( 
 or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Go' 
 ernment. He continued to reside in Concord unt 
 the time of his death, which occurred in Octobe 
 1869. He was one of the most genial and social < 
 men, an honored communicant of the Episcop; 
 Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Ger 
 erous to a fault, he contributed liberally for the a 
 leviation of suffering and want, and many of his town 
 people were often gladened by his material bount
 
 to library 
 
 tf th<
 
 C 
 
 t m* J <
 
 FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 AMES BUCHANAN, the fif- 
 teenth President of the United 
 States, was born in a small 
 frontier town, at the foot of the 
 eastern ridge of the Allegha- 
 nies, in Franklin Co., Penn., on 
 the 23d of April, 1791. The place 
 where the humble cabin of his 
 father stood was called Stony 
 Batter. It was a wild and ro- 
 mantic spot in a gorge of the moun- 
 tains, with towering summits rising 
 grandly all around. His father 
 was a native of the north of Ireland ; 
 a poor man, who had emigrated in 
 1783, with little property save his 
 own strong arms. Five years afterwards he married 
 Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, 
 and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilder- 
 ness, staked his claim, reared his log-hut, opened a 
 clearing with his axe, and settled down there to per- 
 form his obscure part in the drama of life. In this se- 
 cluded home, where James was born, he remained 
 for eight years, enjoying but few social or intellectual 
 advantages. When James was eight years of age, his 
 father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where 
 his son was placed at school, and commenced a 
 course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His 
 progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen, he 
 entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he de- 
 veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand among 
 the first scholars in the institution. His application 
 to study was intense, and yet his native powers en- 
 
 abled him to master the most abstruse subjects wi " 
 facility. 
 
 In the year 1809, he graduated with the highest 
 honors of his clast. 1 . He was then eighteen years oi 
 age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of 
 athletic sport, an unerring shot, and enlivened with 
 an exuberant flow of animal spirits. He immediately 
 commenced the study of law in the city of Lancaster, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1812, when he was 
 but twenty-one years of age. Very rapidly he rose 
 in his profession, and at once took undisputed stand 
 with the ablest lawyers of the State. When but 
 twenty-six years of age, unaided by counsel, he suc- 
 cessfully defended before the State Senate ore of the 
 judges of the State, who was tried upon articles o) 
 impeachment. At the age of thirty it was generally 
 admitted that he stood at the head of the bar; and 
 there was no lawyer in the State who had a more lu- 
 crative practice. 
 
 In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a 
 candidate for Congress. He was elected, and foi 
 ten years he remained a member of the Lower House 
 During the vacations of Congress, he occasionally 
 tried some important case. In 1831, he retired 
 altogether from the toils of his profession, having ac- 
 quired an ample fortune. 
 
 Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presidency 
 appointed Mr. Buchanan minister to Russia. The 
 duties of his mission he performed with ability, whicl, 
 gave satisfaction to all parties. Upon his return, ir, 
 1833, he was elected to a seat in the United States 
 Senate. He there met, as his associates, Webster. 
 Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated the meas- 
 ures proposed by President Jackson, of mating repri-
 
 76 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN. 
 
 sals against France, to enforce the payment of our 
 claims against that country; and defended the 
 course of the President in his unprecedented and 
 wholesale removal from office of those who were 
 not the supporters of his administration. Upon 
 this question he was brought into direct collision 
 with Henry Clay. He also, with voice and vote, ad- 
 vocated expunging from the journal of the Senate 
 the vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for remov- 
 ing the deposits. Earnestly he opposed the aboli- 
 tion of slavery in the District of Columbia, and 
 urged the prohibition of the circulation of anti- 
 slavery documents by the United States mails. 
 
 As to petitions on the subject of slavery, he ad- 
 vocated that they should be respectfully received; 
 and that the reply should be returned, that Con- 
 gress had no power to legislate upon the subject. 
 "Congress," said he, "might as well undertake to 
 interfere with slavery under a foreign government 
 as in any of the States where it now exists." 
 
 Upon Mr. Folk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. 
 Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such, 
 took his share of the responsibility in the conduct 
 of the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed that cross- 
 ing the Nueces by the American troops into the 
 disputed territory was not wrong, but for the Mex- 
 icans to cross the Rio Grande into that territory 
 was a declaration of war. No candid man can read 
 with pleasure the account of the course our Gov- 
 ernment pursued in that movement. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly with 
 the party devoted to the perpetuation and extension 
 of slavery, and brought all the energies of his mind 
 to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. He gave his 
 cordial approval to the compromise measures of 
 1850, which included the fugitive slave law. Mr. 
 Pierce, upon his election to the Presidency, hon- 
 ored Mr. Buchanan with the mission to England. 
 
 In the year 1856, a national Democratic conven- 
 tion nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency. 
 The political conflict was one of the most severe 
 in which our country has ever engaged. All the 
 friends of slavery were on one side; all the advo- 
 cates of its restriction and final abolition on the 
 other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the enemies 
 of slavery, received 114 electoral votes. Mr. Bu- 
 chanan received 174, and was elected. The popular 
 vote stood 1,340,618 for Fremont, 1,224,750 for 
 Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was 
 inaugurated. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only 
 four years were wanting to fill up his three-score 
 years and ten. His own friends, those with whom 
 he had been allied in political principles and action 
 for years, were seeking the destruction of the Gov- 
 ernment, that they might rear upon the ruins of our 
 free institutions a nation whose corner-stone should 
 
 be human slavery. In this emergency, Mr. Bu- 
 chanan was hopelessly bewildered. He could not, 
 with his long-avowed principles, consistently op- 
 pose the State-rights party in their assumptions. As 
 President of the United States, bound by his oath 
 faithfully to administer the laws, he could not, 
 without perjury of the grossest kind, unite with 
 those endeavoring to overthrow the Republic. He 
 therefore did nothing. 
 
 The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administration 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln as their standard- 
 bearer in the next Presidential canvass. The pro- 
 slavery party declared that if he were elected and 
 the control of the Government were thus taken from 
 their hands they would secede from the Union, tak- 
 ing with them as they retired the National Capi- 
 tol at Washington and the lion 's share of the ter- 
 ritory of the United States. 
 
 As the storm increased in violence, the slave- 
 holders, claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Bu- 
 chanan avowing that Congress had no power to 
 prevent it, one of the most pitiable exhibitions of 
 governmental imbecility was exhibited the world 
 has ever seen. He declared that Congress had no 
 power to enforce its laws in any State which had 
 withdrawn, or which was attempting to withdraw, 
 from the Union. This was not the doctrine of An- 
 drew Jackson, when, with his hand upon his sword- 
 hilt, he exclaimed. "The Union must and shall be 
 preserved!" 
 
 South Carolina seceded in December, 1860, nearly 
 three months before the inauguration of President 
 Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless de- 
 spair. The rebel flag was raised in Charleston; Ft 
 Sumter was besieged; our forts, navy-yards and 
 arsenals were seized; our depots of military stores 
 were plundered; and our custom-houses and post- 
 offices were appropriated by the rebels. 
 
 The energy of the rebels and the imbecility of 
 our Executive were alike marvelous. The nation 
 looked on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to 
 glide away and close the administration, so ter- 
 rible in its weakness. At length the long-looked- 
 for hour of deliverance came, when Abraham Lin- 
 coln was to receive the scepter. 
 
 The administration of President Buchanan was 
 certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- 
 perienced. His best friends cannot recall it with 
 pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his 
 fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled its 
 billows of flame and blood over our whole land, no 
 word came from his lips to indicate his wish that 
 our country's banner should triumph over the flag 
 of the Rebellion. He died at his Wheatland re- 
 treat, June 1, 1868.
 
 of th
 
 SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 BRAHAM LINCOLN, the 
 sixteenth President of the 
 United States, was born in 
 Hardin Co., Ky., Feb. 12, 
 1 809. About the year 1 7 80, a 
 |. man by the name of Abraham 
 Lincoln left Virginia with his 
 family and moved into the then 
 wilds of Kentucky. Only two years 
 after this emigration, still a young 
 man, while working one day in a 
 field, was stealthily approached by 
 an Indian and shot dead. His widow 
 was left in extreme poverty with five 
 little children, three boys and two 
 girls. Thomas, the youngest of the 
 boys, was four years of age at his 
 father's death. This Thomas was 
 the father of Abraham Lincoln, the 
 President of the United States 
 whose name must henceforth forever be enrolled 
 with the most prominent in the annals of our world. 
 Of course no record has been kept of the life 
 of one so lowly as Thomas Lincoln. He was among 
 the poorest of the poor. His home was a wretched 
 log-cabin; his food the coarsest and the meanest. 
 Education he had none; he could never either read 
 or write. As soon as he was able to do anything for 
 himself, he was compelled to leave the cabin of his 
 starving mother, and push out into the world, a friend- 
 Jess, wandering boy, seeking work. He hired him- 
 self out, and thus spent the whole of his youth as a 
 Tiborer in the fields of others. 
 
 When twenty-eight years of age he built a log- 
 (abin of his own, and married Nancy Hanks, the 
 daughter of another family of poor Kentucky emi- 
 grants, who had also come from Virginia. Their 
 second child was Abraham Lincoln, the subject of 
 this sketch. The mother of Abraham was a noble 
 woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created to adorn 
 .1 palace, doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. 
 ''All that I am, or hope to be," exclaims the grate- 
 ful son "I owe to my angel-mother. " 
 
 When he was eight years of age, his father sold his 
 
 cabin and small farm, and moved to Indiana, Wher 
 two years later his mother died. 
 
 Abraham soon became the scribe of the uneducated 
 community around him. He could not have had a 
 better school than this to teach him to put thoughts 
 into words. He also became an eager reader. The 
 books he could obtain were few ; but these he "cad 
 and re-read until they were almost committed to 
 memory. 
 
 As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family 
 was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and 
 griefs, weddings and funerals. Abraham's sisto 
 Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was mai 
 ried when a child of but fourteen years of age, and 
 soon died. The family was gradually scattered. Mr 
 Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim ; n 1830 
 and emigrated to Macon Co., 111. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age^ 
 With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing 
 another log-cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this 
 until he saw the family comfortably settled, and theii 
 small lot of enclosed prairie planted with corn, when 
 he announced to his father his intention to leave 
 home, and to go out into the world and seek his for- 
 tune. Little did he or his friends imagine how bril- 
 liant that fortune was to be. He saw the value ol 
 education, and was intensely earnest to improve his 
 mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the ruin 
 which ardent spirits were causing, and became 
 strictly temperate; refusing to allow a drop of intoxi- 
 cating liquor to pass his lips. And he had read in 
 God's word, "Thou shall not take the name of th 
 Lord thy God in v a r. ;" and a profane expression ha 
 was never heard to utter. Religion he revered. Hi 
 morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a 
 single vice. 
 
 Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired labore 
 among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield 
 where he was employed in building a large flat-boat 
 In this he took a herd of swine, floated them dowi 
 the Sangamon to the Illinois, and thence by the Mia 
 sissippi to New Orleans. Whatever Abraham Lin 
 coin undertook, he performed so faithfully as to givt 
 great satisfaction to his employers. In this adven
 
 So 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ture his employers were so well pleased, that upon 
 his return they placed a store and mill under his care. 
 
 In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, he 
 enlisted and was chosen captain of a company. He 
 returned to Sangamon County, and although only 23 
 years of age, was a candidate for the Legislature, but 
 was defeated. He soon after received, from Andrew 
 Jackson the appointment of Postmaster of New Salem, 
 His only post-office was his hat. All the letters he 
 received he carried there ready to deliver to those 
 he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and soon 
 made this his business. In 1834 he again became a 
 candidate for the Legislature, and was elected. Mr. 
 Stuart, of Springfield, advised him to study law. He 
 walked from New Salem to Springfield, borrowed of 
 Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried them back and 
 began his legal studies. When the Legislature as- 
 sembled he trudged on foot with his pack on his back 
 one hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 
 1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here it 
 was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he re- 
 moved to Springfield and began the practice of law. 
 His success with the jury was so great that he was 
 soon engaged in almost every noted case in the circuit. 
 
 In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. 
 Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, on the slavery question. 
 In the organization of the Republican party in Illinois, 
 in 1856, he took an active part, and at once became 
 one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's 
 speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the con- 
 test in. 1858 for a seat in the Senate, form a most 
 notable part of his history. The issue was on the 
 slavery question, and he took the broad ground of 
 ihe Declaration of Independence, that all men are 
 created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this con- 
 test, but won a far higher prize. 
 
 The great Republican Convention met at Chicago 
 on the i6th of June, 1860. The delegates and 
 strangers who crowded the city amounted to twenty- 
 five thousand. An immense building called " The 
 Wigwam," was reared to accommodate the Conven- 
 tion. There were eleven candidates for whom votes 
 were thrown. William H. Seward, a man whose fame 
 as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most 
 prominent. It was generally supposed he would be 
 the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received 
 the nomination on the third ballot. Little did he then 
 dream of the weary years of toil and care, and the 
 bloody death, to which that nomination doomed him : 
 and as little did he dream that he was to render services 
 to his country, which would fix upon him the eyes of 
 the whole civilized world, and which would give him 
 a place in the affections of his countrymen, second 
 cnly, if second, to that of Washington. 
 
 Election day came and Mr. Lincoln received 180 
 electoral votes out of 203 cast, and was, therefore, 
 constitutionally elected President of the United States. 
 The tirade of abuse that vas poured upon this good 
 
 and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was 
 greater than upon any other man ever elected to this 
 high position. In February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln started 
 for Washington, stopping in all the large cities on his 
 way making speeches. The whole journey was fraught 
 with much danger. Many of the Southern States had 
 already seceded, and several attempts at assassination 
 were afterwards brought to light. A gang in Balti- 
 more had arranged, upon his arrival to " get up a row," 
 and in the confusion to make sure of his death with 
 revolvers and hand-grenades. A detective unravelled 
 the plot. A secret and special train was p-ovided to 
 take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an 
 unexpected hour of the night. The train sorted at 
 half-past ten ; and to prevent any possible communi- 
 cation on the part ot the Secessionists with their Con- 
 federate gang in Barltimore, as soon as the train had 
 started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln 
 reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated, 
 although great anxiety was felt by all loyal people 
 
 In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave 
 to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to other 
 prominent opponents before the convention he gave 
 important positions. 
 
 During no other administration have the duties 
 devolving upon the President been so manifold, and 
 the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to 
 the lot of President Lincoln. Knowing this, and 
 feeling his own weakness and inability to meet, and in 
 his own strength to cope with, the difficulties, he 
 learned early to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in 
 determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his 
 trials, both personal and national. Contrary to his 
 own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the 
 most courageous of men. He went directly into the 
 rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, 
 with no guard but a few sailors. From the time he 
 had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been 
 made for his assassination.and he at last fell a victim 
 to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, with Gen. Grant, 
 was urgently invited to attend Fords' Theater. It 
 was announced that they would be present. Gen. 
 Grant, however, left the city. President Lincoln, feel- 
 ing, wiili his characteristic kindliness of heart, that 
 it would be a disappointment if he should fail them, 
 very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to 
 the play an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth 
 entered the box where the President and family were 
 seated, and fired a bullet into his brains. He died the 
 next morning at seven o'clock. 
 
 Never before, in the history of the world was a nation 
 plunged into such deep grief by the death of its ruler. 
 Strong men met in the streets and wept in speechless 
 anguish. It is not too much to say that a nation was 
 in tears. His was a life which will fitly become a 
 model. His name as the savior of his country w:M 
 live with that of Washington's, its father; his c^untry- 
 mer. being unable to decide which is t^e greater.
 
 of the 
 of

 
 SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 NDREW JOHNSON, seven- 
 teenth President of the United 
 "States. The early life of 
 Andrew Johnson contains but 
 the record of poverty, destitu- 
 tion and friendlessness. He 
 / was born December 29, 1808, 
 in Raleigh, N. C. His parents, 
 belonging to the class of the 
 "poor whites " of the South, were 
 in such circumstances, that they 
 could not confer ;_,'ei\ the slight- 
 est advantages of education upon 
 their child. When Andrew was five 
 I years of age, his father accidentally 
 lost his life while herorically endeavoring to save a 
 friend from drowning. TT ruil teri /ears of age, Andrew 
 was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by the 
 labor of his mother, who obtained her living with 
 her own hands. 
 
 He then, having never attended a school one day, 
 and being unable either to read or write, was ap- 
 prenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman 
 was in the habit of going to the tailor's shop occasion- 
 ally, and reading to the boys at work there. He often 
 read from the speeches of distinguished British states- 
 men. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more 
 than ordinary native ability, became much interested 
 in these speeches; his ambition was roused, and he 
 was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read. 
 
 He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and 
 with the assistance of some of his fellow-workmen, 
 iearned his letters. He then called upon the gentle- 
 man to borrow the book of speeches. The owner, 
 
 pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the booK ; 
 but assisted him in learning to combine the letters 
 into words. Under such difficulties he pressed oi- 
 ward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours 
 at work in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest 
 and recreatior to devote such time as he could to 
 reading. 
 
 He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located at. 
 Greenville, where he married a young lady who pos 
 sessed some education. Under her instructions he 
 learned to write and cipher. He became prominer.; 
 in the village debating society, and a favorite with 
 the students of Greenville College. In 1828, he or- 
 ganized a working man's party, which elected him 
 alderman, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which 
 position he held three years. 
 
 He now began to take a lively interest in political 
 affairs ; identifying himself with the working-classes, 
 to which he belonged. In 1835, he was elected a 
 member of the House of Representatives of Tennes- 
 see. He was then just twenty-seven years of age. 
 He became a very active member of the legislature 
 gave his adhesion to the Democratic party, and in 
 1840 "stumped the State," advocating Martin Tan 
 Buren's claims to the Presidency, in opposition to thosv 
 of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much 
 readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased 
 his reputation. 
 
 In 1841, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, he 
 was elected a member of Congress, and by successive 
 elections, held that important post for ten years. In 
 1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and' 
 was re-elected in 1855. In all these responsible posi- 
 tions, he discharged his duties with distinguished abi.
 
 ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 ity, and proved himself the warm friend of the work- 
 ing classes. In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected 
 United States Senator. 
 
 Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated 
 the annexation of Texas, stating however, as his 
 reason, that he thought this annexation would prob- 
 ably prove " to be the gateway out of which the sable 
 sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, 
 and become merged in a population congenial to 
 themselves." In 1850, he also supported the com- 
 promise measures, the two essential features of which 
 were, that the white people of the Territories should 
 oe permitted to decide for themselves whether they 
 would enslave the colored people or not, and that 
 the ^ree States of the North should return to the 
 South persons who attempted to escape from slavery. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly origin: 
 on the contrary, he often took pride in avowing that 
 he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir,"' 
 said he on the floor of the Senate, " I do not forget 
 that I am a mechanic ; neither do I forget that Adam 
 was a tailor and sewed fig-leaves, and that our Sav- 
 ior was the son of a carpenter." 
 
 In the Charleston- Baltimore convention of i8bo, ne 
 .was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the 
 Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the South- 
 ern Democracy became apparent, he took a decided 
 stand in favor of the Union, and held that " slavery 
 must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever 
 cost." He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly 
 imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of 
 Tennesee. Tennessee having seceded from the 
 Union, President Lincoln, on March 4th, 1862, ap- 
 pointed him Military Governor of the State, and he 
 established the most stringent military rule. His 
 numerous proclamations attracted wide attention. In 
 
 1864, he was elected Vice-President of the United 
 States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 
 
 1865, became President. In a speech two days later 
 he said, " The American people must be taught, if 
 they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and 
 must be punished ; that the Government will not 
 always bear with its enemies ; that it is strong not 
 only to protect, but to punish. * * The people 
 must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of 
 crimes, and will surely be punished." Yet his whole 
 administration, the history of which is so well known, 
 was in utter inconsistency with, and the most violent 
 
 opposition to. the principles laid down in that spec 
 In his loose policy of reconstruction and gem 
 amnesty, he was opposed by Congress ; and he cl 
 acterized Congress as a new rebellion, and Jawlei 
 defied it, in everything possible, to the utmost, 
 the beginning of 1868, on account of "high crii 
 and misdemeanors," the principal of which was 
 removal of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the T 
 ure of Office Act, articles of impeachment were ] 
 ferred against him, and the trial began March 
 
 It was very tedious, continuing for nearly th 
 months. A test article of the impeachment was 
 length submitted to the court for its action. It 
 certain that as the court voted upon that article 
 would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronoun 
 the President guilty. As a two-thirds vote was r.e< 
 sary to his condemnation, he was pronounced 
 quitted, notwithstanding the great majority aga 
 him. The change of one vote from the not gu 
 side would have sustained the impeachment. 
 
 The President, for the remainder of his term, 
 but little regarded. He continued, though impoten 
 his conflict with Congress. His own party did 
 think it expedient to renominate him for the Pr 
 dency. The Nation rallied, with enthusiasm unj 
 alleled since the days of Washington, around the n 
 of Gen. Grant. Andrew Johnson was forgotl 
 The bullet of the assassin introduced him to 
 President's chair. Notwithstanding this, never ' 
 there presented to a man a better opportunity to 
 mortalize his name, and to win the gratitude o 
 nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his he 
 in Greenville, Tenn., taking no very active part 
 politics until 1875. On Jan. 26, after an excit 
 struggle, he was chosen by the Legislature of T 
 nessee, United States Senator in the forty-fourth C 
 gress, and took his seat in that body, at the spei 
 session convened by President Grant, on the 5th 
 March. On the 27th of July, 1875, the ex-Presid 
 made a visit to his daughter's home, near Ca 
 Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey, he i 
 apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on rea 
 ing the residence of his child the following day, i 
 stricken with paralysis, rendering him unconscic 
 He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away 
 2 A.M., July 31, aged sixty-seven years. His f 
 eral was attended at Geenville, on the 3d of Augi 
 with every demonstration of respect.
 
 TfeUbruy 
 
 f the
 
 EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 LYSSES S. GRANT, the 
 eighteenth President of the 
 United States, was born on 
 the 29th of April, 1822, of 
 Christian parents, in a humble 
 home, at Point Pleasant, on the 
 banks of the Ohio. Shortly after 
 his father moved to George- 
 town, Brown Co., O. In this re- 
 mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses 
 received a common-school edu- 
 ~ cation. At the age of seven- 
 teen, in the year 1839, he entered 
 the Military Academy at West 
 Point. Here he was regarded as a 
 solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of 
 sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank 
 as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the 
 middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of in- 
 fantry to one of the distant military posts in the Mis- 
 souri Territory. Two years he past in these dreary 
 solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating 
 Indians. 
 
 The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was 
 sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first 
 battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here 
 for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at 
 Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle 
 of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that 
 he performed a signal service of daring and skillful 
 horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its am- 
 munition. A messenger must be sent for more, along 
 a. route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. 
 Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, 
 grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one 
 side of the anir>vil ran the gauntlet in entire safety. 
 
 From Monterey he was sent, with the fourth infantty, 
 to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In 
 preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he 
 was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the 
 battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a 
 first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Cha- 
 pultepec. 
 
 At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- 
 turned with his regiment to New York, and was again 
 sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The 
 discovery of gold in California causing an immense 
 tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. 
 Grant was sent with a battalion to Fort Dallas, in 
 Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the im- 
 migrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. 
 Grant resigned his commission and returned to the 
 States; and having married, entered upon the cultiva- 
 tion of a small farm near St. Louis, Mo. He had but 
 little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not re- 
 munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into 
 the leather business, with a younger brother, at Ga- 
 lena, 111. This was in the year 1860. As the tidings 
 of the rebels firing on Fort Sumpter reached the ears 
 of Capt. Grant in his counting-room, he said, 
 "Uncle Sam has educated me for the army: though 
 I have served him through one war, I do not feel that 
 I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge 
 my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my tword 
 and see Uncle Sam through this war too." 
 
 He went into the streets, raised a cempany of vol- 
 unteers, and led them as their captain to Springfield, 
 the capital of the State, where their services were 
 offered to Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by 
 the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Capt. 
 Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the, 
 volunteer organization that was being formed in the 
 State in behalf of the Government. On the 15'^ ol
 
 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 June, 1 86 1, Capt. Grant received a commission as 
 Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Vol- 
 unteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who 
 had served for 15 years in the regular army, were such 
 that he was soon promoted to the rank of Brigadier- 
 'General and was placed in command at Cairo. The 
 rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth 
 of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds ap- 
 peared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was there. The 
 rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the star and 
 stripes were unfurled in its stead. 
 
 He entered the service with great determination 
 and immediately began active duty. This was the be- 
 ginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond 
 he was ever pushing the enemy with great vigor and 
 effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- 
 prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry 
 won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight 
 at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the 
 victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was 
 immediately made a Major-General, and the military 
 District of Tennessee was assigned to him. 
 
 Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how 
 to secure the results of victory. He immediately 
 pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then came the 
 terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the 
 siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an 
 unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty 
 thousand men and one-hundred and seventy-two can- 
 non. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most 
 severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, 
 and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. 
 
 Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with 
 Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- 
 ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from 
 his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he 
 was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid 
 jf Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and 
 by a wonderful series of strategic and technical meas- 
 ures put the Union Army in fighting condition. Then 
 followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout 
 Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels 
 were routed with great loss. This won for him un- 
 bounded praise in the North. On the 4th of Febru- 
 ary, 1864, Congress revived the grade of lieutenant- 
 general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. 
 He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials 
 and enter upon th duties of his new office 
 
 Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge 
 the army to concentrate the widely-dispersed Nation 
 troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nomin 
 capital of the Rebellion, and endeavor there to d 
 stroy the rebel armies which would be promptly 
 sembled from all quarters for its defence. The whc 
 continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of the 
 majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle fiel 
 Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trai 
 were burdened vith closely packed thousands. I: 
 plans were comprehensive and involved a series 
 campaigns, which were executed with remarkable e 
 ergy and ability, and were consummated at the si 
 render of Lee, April 9, 1865. 
 
 The war was ended. The Union was saved. T 
 almost unanimous voice of the Nation declared Ge 
 Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its si 
 vation. The eminent services he had thus render 
 the country brought him conspicuously forward as t 
 Republican candidate for the Presidential chair. 
 
 At the Republican Convention held at Chicaj, 
 May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for t! 
 Presidency, and at the autumn election received 
 majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 2. 
 electoral votes. 
 
 The National Convention of the Republican par 
 which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 187 
 placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second ter 
 by a unanimous vote. The selection was empha 
 cally indorsed by the people five months later, 21 
 electoral votes being cast for him. 
 
 Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Gra 
 started upon his famous trip around the world. P 
 visited almost every country of the civilized worl 
 and was everywhere received with such ovatioi 
 and demonstrations of respect and honor, priva 
 as well as public and official, as were never befo 
 bestowed upon any citizen of the United States. 
 
 He was the most prominent candidate before tt 
 Republican National Convention in 1880 for a n 
 nomination for President. He went to New York an 
 embarked in the brokerage business under the fin 
 nameof Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villair 
 wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent t 
 the penitentiary. The General was attacked wit 
 cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-lik 
 manner, never complaining. He was re-instated a 
 General of the Army and retired by Congress. Th 
 cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 2 
 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death c 
 the illustrious General.
 
 ffc Llbfir, 
 I the 
 of
 
 NINETEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 UTHERFORD B. HAYES, 
 the nineteenth President of 
 the United States, was born in 
 Delaware, O., Oct. 4, 1822, al- 
 most three months after the 
 death of his father, Rutherford 
 Hayes. His ancestry on both 
 the paternal and maternal sides, 
 was of the most honorable char- 
 acter. It can be traced, it is said, 
 as far back as 1280, when Hayes and 
 Rutherford were two Scottish chief- 
 tains, fighting side by side with 
 Baliol, William Wallace and Robert 
 Bruce. Both families belonged to the 
 nobility, owned extensive estates, 
 1 and had a large following. Misfor- 
 rane ovwtaking the family, George Hayes left Scot- 
 land in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son 
 George way born in Windsor, and remained there 
 during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, mar- 
 ried Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his mar- 
 riage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, 
 son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufac- 
 turer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, 
 son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Hayes, was 
 born inNew Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, 
 blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to 
 Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, 
 where he established a hotel. Here his son Ruth- 
 erford Hayes the father of President Hayes, was 
 
 born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia 
 Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt, whose ancestors emi- 
 grated thither from Connecticut, they having been 
 among the wealthiest and best famlies of Norwich. 
 Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 
 1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders 
 of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers 
 in the Revolutionary War. 
 
 The father of President Hayes was an industrious 
 frugal and opened-hearted man. He was of a me- 
 chanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stock^ 
 ing, or do almost anything else that he choose to 
 undertake. He was a member of the Church, active 
 in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- 
 ducted his business on Christian principles. After 
 the close of the war of 1812, for reasons inexplicable 
 to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio. 
 
 The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day 
 when there were no canals, steamers, noi- railways, 
 was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was 
 first made, occupying four months. Mr, Hayes deter 
 mined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived 
 in 1817. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial 
 fever, less than three months before the birth of the 
 son, of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore be- 
 reavement, found the support she so much needed in 
 her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the 
 household from the day of its departure from Ver- 
 mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted 
 some time before as an act of charity. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the
 
 RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he 
 was not expected to live beyond a month or two at 
 most. As the months went by he grew weaker and 
 weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of in- 
 quiring from time to time " if Mrs. Hayes' baby died 
 last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on 
 fiiniliar terms with the family, after* alluding to the 
 boy's big head, and the mother's assiduous care of 
 him, said in a bantering way, " That's right ! Stick to 
 him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't 
 wonder if he would really come to something yet." 
 
 " You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. " You 
 vait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him 
 President of the United States yet." The boy lived, 
 in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy 
 death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was 
 drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his 
 mother. 
 
 The boy was seven years old before lie w<;nt to 
 school. His education, however, was not neglected. 
 He probably learned as much from his mother and 
 ; ister as he would have done at school. His sports 
 were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being 
 Ins sister and her associates. These circumstances 
 tended, no doubt, to foster that gentleness of dispo- 
 sition, and that delicate consideration for the feelings 
 of others, which are marked traits of his" character. 
 
 His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest 
 k'n his education ; and as the boy's health had im- 
 proved, and he was making good progress in his 
 studies, he proposed to send him to college. His pre- 
 paration commenced with a tutor at home; but he 
 was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the 
 Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn. He en- 
 tered Kenyon College in 1838, at the age of sixteen, 
 and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation he began the 
 study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., 
 in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in 
 Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter 
 the Law School at Cambridge, Mass., where he re- 
 mained two years. 
 
 In 1845, after graduating at the Law School, he was 
 admitted to the bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly 
 afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law 
 with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he re- 
 mained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, 
 and apparently unambitious of distinction in his pro- 
 Cession. 
 
 \n 1 849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his ambi- 
 tion found a new stimulus. For several years, how- 
 ever, his progress was slow. Two events, occurring at 
 this period, had a powerful influence upon his subse- 
 quent "ife. One of these was his marrage with Miss 
 Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of 
 Chilicothe; the othev was his introduction to the Cin- 
 cinnati Literary Club, a body embracing among its 
 members such men as^hief Justice Salmon P|hase v 
 
 Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. NoyeS, and ma 
 others hardly less distinguished in after life. T 
 marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, 
 everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of o 
 Presidents was more universally admired, reverenc 
 and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one c 
 more than she to reflect honor upon American woma 
 hood. The Literary Cluu brought Mr. Hayes ir 
 constant association with young men of high ch; 
 acter and noble aims, and lured him to display t. 
 qualities so long hidden by his bashfulne^s a 
 modesty. 
 
 In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judgj 
 the Court of Common Pleas; but he declined to s 
 cept the nomination. Two years later, the office 
 city solicitor becoming vacant, the City Coin 
 elected him for the unexpired teim. 
 
 In 1861, when the Rebellion broke out, he was 
 the zenith of his professional lif .. His rank at t 
 bar was among the the first. But the news of t 
 attack on Fort Sumpter found him eager to take 
 arms for the defense of his country. 
 
 His military record was bright and illustrious. 
 October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, ai 
 in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the 7gth Ol 
 regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrad 
 and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, 
 was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the bat! 
 of South Mountain he received a wound, and wh 
 faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitU' 
 that won admiration from all. 
 
 Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, aft 
 his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, and plao 
 in command of the celebrated Kanawha divisic 
 and for gallant and meritorious services in the battl 
 of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he w 
 promoted Brigadier-General. He was also brevetti 
 Major-General, "for gallant and distinguished f ervic 
 during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." 
 the course of his arduous services, four horses we 
 shot from under him, and he was wounded four tim< 
 
 In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress, fro 
 the Second Ohio District, which had long been Dei 
 ocratic. He was not present during the campaig 
 and after his election Was importuned to resign 1 
 commission in the army ; but he finally declared, ' 
 shall never come to Washington until I can come 1 
 the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1866. 
 
 In 1867, Gen Hayes was elected Governor of Ohi 
 over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular Democn 
 In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleto 
 He was elected Governor for the third term in 187 
 
 In 1876 he was the standard bearer of the Repu 
 lican Party in the Presidential contest, and after 
 hard long contest was chosen President, and was 
 augurated Monday, March 5, 1875. He served h 
 full term, not, hcwever, with satisfaction to his part 
 but his administration was an average orv
 
 TfcUbrwy
 
 TWENTIETH PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 AMES A. GARFIELD, twen- 
 tieth President of the United 
 States, was born Nov. 19, 
 1831, in the woods of Orange, 
 Cuyahoga Co., O His par- 
 ents were Abram and Eliza 
 (Ballou) Garfield, both of New 
 England ancestry and from fami- 
 lies well known in the early his- 
 tory of that section of our coun- 
 try, but had moved to the Western 
 Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- 
 ment. 
 
 The house in which James A. was 
 born was not unlike the houses of 
 poor Ohio farmers of that day. It 
 ,ifls about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces be- 
 vween the logs filled with clay. His father was a 
 nard working farmer, and he soon had his fields 
 cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. 
 The household comprised the father and mother and 
 ;heir four children Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and 
 Tames. In May, 1823^ the father, from a cold con- 
 -racted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At 
 chis time James was about eighteen months old, and 
 Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, can 
 fell how much James was indebted to his biother's 
 toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty years suc- 
 ceeding his father's death, but undoubtedly very 
 much. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sis- 
 ters live in Solon, O., near their birthplace. 
 
 The early educational advantages young Garfield 
 enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of 
 them. He labored at farm work for others, did car- 
 penter work, chopped wood, or did anything that 
 would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed 
 mother in he' =tmggles to keep the little family to- 
 
 gether. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of bis 
 origin, and he never forgot the friends of his strug- 
 gling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they 
 ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor 
 the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly 
 greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the 
 sympathy of one who had known all the bitterness 
 of want and the sweetness of bread earned by the 
 sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, plain, 
 modest gentleman. 
 
 The highest ambition of young Garfield until hi 
 was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of 
 a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard 
 a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She 
 finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the 
 understanding, however, that he should try to obtairi 
 some other kind of employment. He walked all the 
 way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city 
 After making many applications for work, and trying 
 to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meeting with 
 success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos 
 Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He re- 
 mained at this work but a short time when he wen^ 
 home, and attended the seminary at Chester for 
 about three years, when he entered Hiram and the 
 Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in 
 the meantime, and doing other work. This school 
 was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of 
 which church he was then a member. He became 
 janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way 
 He then became both teacher and pupil. He soon 
 " exhausted Hiram " and needed more ; hence, in the 
 fall of 1854, he entered Williams College, from which 
 he graduated in 1856, taking one of the highest ho..- 
 ors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram 
 College as its President. As above stated, he early 
 united with the Christian or Diciples Church at 
 Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous mem- 
 ber, often preaching in its pulpit and places where" 
 he happened to be. Dr. Noah Porter, President of 
 Yale College, says of him in reference to his religion :
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 " President Garfield was more than a man of 
 strong moral and religious convictions. His whole 
 history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to 
 man and to God, and devotion to Christ and life and 
 faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs 
 of his being, and to a more than usual degree. In 
 my judgmenc there is no more interesting feature of 
 his character than his loyal allegiance to the body of 
 Christians in which he was trained, and the fervent 
 sympathy which he ever showed in their Christian 
 communion. Not many of the few 'wise and mighty 
 and noble who are called' show a similar loyalty to 
 the less stately and cultured Christian communions 
 in which they have been reared. Too often it is true 
 that as they step upward in social and political sig- 
 nificance they step upward from one degree to 
 another in some of the many types of fashionable 
 Christianity. President Garfield adhered to the 
 -hurch of his mother, the church in which he was 
 trained, and in which he served as a pillar and an 
 evangelist, and yet with the largest and most unsec- 
 'arian charity for all 'who loveour Lord in sincerity.'" 
 
 Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss 
 Lucretia Rudolph, Nov. 1 1, 1858, who proved herself 
 worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and 
 mourned. To them were born seven children, five of 
 whom are still living, four boys and one girl. 
 
 Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, 
 in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and three 
 years later he began to speak at county mass-meet- 
 ings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he 
 was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio 
 Senate. He also began to study law at Cleveland, 
 and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The great 
 Rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, 
 and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had 
 talked, and enlisted to defend the old flag. He re- 
 ceived his commission as Lieut.-Colonel of the Forty- 
 second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Aug. 
 14,1861. He was immediately put into active ser- 
 vice, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, 
 was placed in command of four regiments of infantry 
 and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the 
 work of driving out of his native State the officer 
 'Humphrey Marshall) reputed to be the ablest of 
 those, not educated to war whom Kentucky had given 
 to the Rebellion. This work was bravely and speed- 
 ily accomplished, although against great odds. Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, on his success commissioned him 
 Brigadier-General, Jan. 10, 1862; and as "he had 
 been the youngest man in the Ohio Senate two years 
 before, so now he was the youngest General in the 
 army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, 
 in its operations around Corinth and its march through 
 Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the 
 General Court-Martial for the trial of Gen. Fitz-John 
 Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rose- 
 crans, and was assigned to the "Chief of Staff." 
 
 The military frstory of Gen. Garfield closed with 
 
 his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he w< 
 the stars of the Major-General. 
 
 Without an effort on his part Ge? Garfield w, 
 elected to Congress in the fall of 1862 from tl 
 Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Oh 
 had been represented in Congress for sixty yea 
 mainly by two men Elisha Whittlesey and Joshi 
 R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that 1 
 resigned his place in the army. At the time hee 
 tered Congress he was the youngest member in th 
 body. There he remained by successive r< 
 elections until he was elected President in 188 
 Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : "Sim 
 the year 1864 you cannot think of a question whic 
 has been debated in Congress, or discussed before 
 tribunel of the American people, in regard to whi( 
 you will not find, if you wish instruction, the arg 1 
 ment on one side stated, in almost every instani 
 better than by anybody else, in some speech made 
 the House of Representatives or on the hustings 1 
 Mr. Garfield." 
 
 Upon Jan. 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected 
 the U. S. Senate, and on the eighth of June, of tl 
 same year, was nominated as the candidate of h 
 party for President at the great Chicago Conventio 
 He was elected in the following November, and c 
 March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no ai 
 ministration ever opened its existence under bright 
 auspices than that of President Garfield, and eve 
 day it grew in favor with the people, and by the fir 
 of July he had completed all the initiatory and pr 
 liminary work of his administration and was prepa 
 ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Willian 
 College. While on his way and at the depot, in con 
 pany with Secretary Elaine, a man stepped behir 
 him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his bac 
 The President tottered and fell, and as he did so tl 
 assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting tl 
 left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting nofurth< 
 injury. It has been very truthfully said that this w; 
 " the shot that was heard round the world " Nevi 
 before in the history of the Nation had anything 01 
 curred which so nearly froze the blood of the peop, 
 for the moment, as this awful deed. He was smi 
 ten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his life, an 
 was at the summit of his power and hope. Foreighi 
 days, all during the hot months of July and Augus 
 he lingered and suffered. He, however, remaine 
 master of himself till the last, and by his magnified 
 bearing was teaching the country and the world tl 
 noblest of human lessons how to live grandly in tl 
 very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpas 
 ingly great in death. He passed serenely away Sep 
 19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J.,on the very bank of tl 
 ocean, where he had been taken shortly previous. Tl 
 world wept at his death, as it never had done on tl 
 death of any other man who had ever lived upon i 
 The murderer was duly tried, found guilty and exi 
 cuted, in one year after he committed the foul dee<
 
 Th Library 
 
 of the 
 Untonfty of Ill
 
 TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT. 
 
 HESTER A. ARTHUR, 
 twenty-first Presi'i-iu of the 
 United States, was bom in 
 Franklin Courty, Vermont, on 
 thefifthofOdober.iSao, and is 
 the oldest of a family of two 
 * sons and five daughters. His 
 father was the Rev. Dr. William 
 Arthur, aBaptistd'-rgyman,who 
 emigrated to tb.s country from 
 the county Ant.im, Ireland, in 
 his 1 8th year, and died in 1875, in 
 Newtonville, neai Albany, after a 
 long and successful ministry. 
 
 Young Arthur was educated at 
 Union College, S< henectady, where 
 he excelled in all his studies. Af- 
 ter his graduation he taught school 
 in Vermont for two years, and at 
 the expiration of that time came to 
 New York, with $500 in his pocket, 
 and entered the office of ex-Judge 
 E. D. Culver as student. After 
 I being admitted to the bar he formed 
 a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, 
 Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing 
 in the West, and for three months they roamed about 
 <"n the Western States in search of an eligible site, 
 Out in the end returned to New York, where they 
 hung out their shingle, and entered upon a success- 
 ful career almost from the start. General Arthur 
 ;^oon afterward nvrr ; < > d the daughter of Lieutenant 
 
 Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at 
 sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in 
 recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- 
 sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's 
 nomination to the Vice Presidency, leaving two 
 children. 
 
 Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity 
 in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, 
 brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had 
 been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior 
 Court of New York City. It was in 1852 that Jon, 
 athan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with 
 his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when 
 they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided 
 that they could not be held by the owner under the 
 Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from 
 the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the 
 Attorney General of that State to assist in an appeal. 
 Wm. M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed 
 to represent the People, and they won their case, 
 which then went to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause 
 of the slave-holders, but he too was beaten by Messrs 
 Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward 
 the emancipation of the black race. 
 
 Another great service was rendered by General 
 Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, 
 a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth 
 Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. 
 General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a 
 verdict of $500 damages. The next day the compa- 
 ny issued an order to admit colored persons to ride 
 on their cars, and the other car companies quickly
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 followed their example. Before that the Sixth Ave- 
 nue Company ran a few special cars for colored per- 
 sons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all. 
 
 General Arthur was a delegate to the Convention 
 at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. 
 Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the 
 Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov- 
 ernor Morgan, of that State, appointed him Engineer- 
 in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspec- 
 tor General, and soon afterward became Quartermas- 
 ter-General. In each of these offices he rendered 
 great service to the Government during the war. At 
 the end of Governor Morgan's term he resumed the 
 practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. 
 Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney 
 of New York, was added to the firm. The legal prac- 
 tice of this well-known firm was very large and lucra- 
 tive, each of the gentlemen composing it were able 
 lawyers, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if 
 not indeed one of national extent. 
 
 He always took a leading part in State and city 
 politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of 
 New York by President Grant, Nov. 21, 1872, to suc- 
 ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July, 
 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. 
 
 Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential 
 ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous 
 National Republican Convention held at Chicago in 
 June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political 
 convention that ever assembled on the continent. It 
 was composed of the fading politicians of the Re- 
 publican party, all able men, and each stood firm and 
 fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their 
 respective candidates that were before the conven- 
 tion for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield re- 
 ceived the nomination for President and Gen. Arthur 
 for Vice-President. The campaign which followed 
 was one of the most animated known in the history of 
 our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of 
 the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his 
 party made a valiant fight for his election. 
 
 Finally the election came and the country's choice 
 vvas Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated 
 March 4, 1881, as President and Vice-President. 
 & few months only had passed ere the newly chosen 
 President was the victim of the assassin's bullet. Then 
 came terrible weeks of suffering, those moment* of 
 anxious suspense, wher the hearts of all civilized na- 
 
 tions were throbbing in unison, longing for the i 
 covery of the noble, the good President. The remar 
 able patience that he manifested during those hou 
 and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible si 
 fering man has often been called upon to endure, w 
 seemingly more than human. It was certainly Go 
 like. During all this period of deepest anxiety M 
 Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to t 
 credit that his every action displayed only an earne 
 desire that the suffering Garfield might recover, 
 serve the remainder of the term he had so ausj 
 ciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifest' 
 in deed or look of this man, even though the me 
 honored position in the world was at any mome 
 likely to fall to him. 
 
 At last God in his mercy relieved President Ga 
 field from further suffering, and the world, as nev 
 before in its history over the death of any oth 
 man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty 
 the Vice President to assume the responsibilities 
 the high office, and he took the oath in New Yor 
 Sept. 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassii 
 one to him, made doubly so from the facts that i 
 eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would d 
 what policy he would pursue, and who he would s 
 lect as advisers. The duties of the office had be< 
 greatly neglected during the President's long illnes 
 and many important measures were to be immediate 
 decided by him ; and still farther to embarrass him 1 
 did not fail to realize under what circumstances \ 
 became President, and knew the feelings of many r 
 this point. Under these trying circumstances Preside] 
 Arthur took the reins of the Government in has o\v 
 hands; and, as embarrassing as were the condition < 
 affair.-- he happily surprised the nation, acting s 
 wisel) .hat but few criticised Ais administratioi 
 He served the nation well and faithfully, until tli 
 close of his administration, March 4, 1885, and wa 
 a popular candidate before his party for a secon 
 term. His name was ably presented before the cor 
 vention at Chicago, and was received with grej 
 favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularit 
 of one of the opposing candidates, he would hav 
 been selected as the standard-bearer of his part 
 for another campaign. He retired to private life cai 
 rying with him the best wishes of the American pec 
 pie, whom he had served in a manner satisfactor 
 tr them and with credit to himself.
 
 lb Llbr.rj 
 of th 
 of HIl
 
 &.
 
 TWENTY-SECOND PRESIDENT. 
 
 TEPHEN GROVER CLEVE- 
 LAND.thetwenty-second Pres- 
 ident of the United States, was 
 born in 1837, in the obscure 
 town of Caldwell, Essex Co., 
 N. J., and in a little two-and-a- 
 half-story white house which is still 
 standing, characteristically to mark 
 the humble birth-place of one of 
 America's great men in striking con- 
 trast with the Old World, where all 
 men high in office must be high in 
 origin and born in the cradle of 
 wealth. When the subject of this 
 sketch was three years of age, his 
 father, who was a Presbyterian min- 
 ister, with a large family and a small salary, moved, 
 by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to 
 Fayetteville, in search of an increased income and a 
 larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most 
 straggling of country villages, about five miles from 
 Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour was born. 
 
 At the last mentioned place young Grover com- 
 menced going to school in the "good, old-fashioned 
 way/' and presumably distinguished himself after the 
 manner of all village boys, in doing the things he 
 ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of 
 all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he 
 arrived at the age of 14 years, he had outgrown the 
 capacity of the village school and expressed a most 
 
 emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this 
 his father decidedly objected. Academies in those 
 days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to 
 become self-supporting by the quickest possible 
 means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed 
 to be a position in a country store, where his father 
 and the large family on his hands had considerable 
 influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services 
 the first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to 
 receive $100 the second year. Here the lad com- 
 menced his career as salesman, and in two years he 
 had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness 
 that his employers desired to retain him for an in- 
 definite length of time. Otherwise he did not ex- 
 hibit as yet any particular " flashes of genius " or 
 eccentricities of talent. He was simply a good boy. 
 But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayette- 
 ville, he went with the family in their removal to 
 Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a 
 high school. Here he industriously pursued his 
 studies until the family removed with him to a point 
 on Black River known as the " Holland Patent," a 
 village of 500 or 600 people, 15 miles north of Utica, 
 N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching 
 but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, 
 and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a 
 small salary, the position of " under-teacher " in an 
 asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two 
 years, and although he obtained a good reputation in 
 this capacity, he conduced that teaching was not his
 
 S. GROVE R CLEVELAND. 
 
 calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, 
 he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going 
 to a city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as 
 there was some charm in that name for him ; but 
 before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to 
 *sk the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted 
 stock-breeder of that place. The latter did not 
 speak enthusiastically. " What is it you want to do, 
 my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study 
 law," was the reply. "Good gracious!" remarked 
 ih old gentleman ; " do you, indeed ? What ever put 
 that into your head? How much money have you 
 got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got 
 any." 
 
 After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a 
 place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at $50 a 
 year, while he could "look around." One day soon 
 afterward he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, 
 Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told Ihem what he 
 wanted. A number of young men were already en- 
 gaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and 
 he was finally permitted to come as an office boy and 
 fiave the use of the law library, for the nominal sum 
 of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for 
 his board and washing. The walk to and from his 
 uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although 
 the first winter was a memorably severe one, his 
 shoes were out of repair and his overcoat he had 
 none yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. 
 On the first day of his service here, his senior em- 
 ployer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him 
 with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's 
 where they all begin." A titter ran around the little 
 circle of clerks and students, as they thought that 
 vras enough to scare young Grover out of his plans ; 
 Out in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. 
 Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland 
 exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for 
 chasing principles through all their metaphysical 
 possibilities. " Let us quit talking and go and do 
 it," was practically his motto. 
 
 The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was 
 eiected was that of Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y., in 
 which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell 
 to his duty to inflict capital pi>r.ishment upon two 
 criminals. In 1881 he was elected Mayor of the 
 City of Buffalo, on the Democratic ticket, with es- 
 pecial reference to the bringing about certain reforms 
 
 in the administration of the municipal affairs of that 
 city. In this office, as well as that of Sheriff, his 
 performance of duty has generally been considered 
 fair, with possibly a few exceptions which were fer- 
 reted out and magnified during the last Presidential 
 campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in 
 a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an iniqui- 
 tous street-cleaning contract: "This is a time foi 
 plain speech, and my objection to your action shall 
 be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of 
 a mos' bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme 
 to betray the interests of the people and to worse 
 than squander the people's money." The New York 
 Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- 
 land's administration as Mayor of Buffalo, and there- 
 upon recommended him for Governor of the Empire 
 State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, 
 and his administration of the affairs of State was 
 generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if 
 any, were made very public throughout the nation 
 after he was nominated for President of the United 
 States. For this high office he was nominated July 
 n, 1884, by the National Democratic Convention at 
 Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. 
 Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, 
 Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc.; and he 
 was elected by the people, by a majority of about a 
 thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Repub- 
 lican statesman, James G. Elaine. President Cleve- 
 land resigned his office as Governor of New York in 
 January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as 
 the Chief Executive of ihe United States, in which 
 capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of 
 March, 1885. 
 
 The silver question precipitated a controversy 
 between those who were in favor of the continu- 
 ance of silver coinage and those who were opposed, 
 Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before 
 his inauguration. 
 
 On June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married 
 Frances, daughter of his deceased friend and 
 partner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. Their 
 union has been blessed by the birth of one daugh- 
 ter, Ruth. In the campaign of 1888, President 
 Cleveland was renominated by his party, but the 
 Republican candidate, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, 
 was victorious. In the nominations of 1892 these 
 two candidates for the highest position in the gift 
 of the people were again pitted against each other 
 and President Cleveland was victorious by an 
 overwhelming majority.
 
 f the 
 
 Of Illi
 
 TWENTY-THIRD PRESIDENT. 
 
 'O+o-gfrW Mai V* 
 
 ENJAMIN HARRISON, the 
 
 twenty-third President, is 
 the descendant of one of the 
 historical families of this 
 country. The head of the 
 family was a Major General 
 Harrison, one of Oliver 
 Cromwell's trusted follow- 
 ers and fighters. In the zenith of Crom- 
 well's power it became the duty of this 
 Harrison to participate m the trial of 
 Charles I, and afterward tc sign the 
 death warrant of the king. He subse- 
 quently paid for this with his life, being 
 hung Oct. 13, 1660. His descendants 
 came to America, and the next of the 
 family that appears in history is Benja- 
 min Harrison, of Virginia, great-grand- 
 father of the subject of this sketch, and 
 after whom he was named. Benjamin Harrison 
 was a member of the Continental Congress during 
 the years 1774-5-6, and was one of the original 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence. He 
 W three times elected Governor of Virginia, 
 ^cn William Henry Harrison, the on of the 
 
 distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a suo. 
 cessful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, 
 and with -a clean record as Governor of the North- 
 western Territory, was elected President of the 
 United States in 1840. His saroer was cut short 
 by death within one month after liis inauguration. 
 President Harrison was born at SToi*!i Bend. 
 Hamilton Co., Ohio, Aug. 20, 18S3 His life up to 
 the time of his graduation by the Miami University, 
 at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a coun- 
 try lad of a family of small means. His father was 
 able to give him a good education, and nothing 
 more. He became engaged while at college to the 
 daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female schoo 
 at Oxford. After graduating he determined to en- 
 ter upon the study of the law. He went to Cin 
 cinnati and then read law for two years. At the 
 expiration of that time young Harrison received tt:. 
 only inheritance of his life ; his aunt dying left him 
 a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as & 
 fortune, and decided to get married at once, take 
 this money and go to some Eastern town an '. be- 
 gin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and with 
 the money in his pocket, he started out witn hia 
 young wife to fight for a place in the world He
 
 108 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON 
 
 decided to go to Indianapolis, which was even at 
 that time a town of promise. He met with sliglit 
 encouragement at first, making scarcely anything 
 the first year. He worked diligently, applying him- 
 self closely to his calling, built up an extensive 
 practice and took a leading rank in the legal pro- 
 fession. He is the father of two children. 
 
 In 1860 Mr. Harrison was nominated for the 
 position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- 
 gan his experience as a stump speaker He can- 
 vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a 
 handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the 17th 
 Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His 
 regiment was composed of the rawest of material, 
 but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first 
 mastering military tactics and drilling his men, 
 when he therefore came to move toward the East 
 with Sherman his regiment was one of the best 
 drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he 
 especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery 
 at Peachtree Creek he was made a Brigadier Gen- 
 eral, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most 
 complimentary terms. 
 
 During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field 
 the Supreme Court declared the office of the Su- 
 preme Court Reporter vacant, and another person 
 was elected to the position. From the time of leav- 
 ing Indiana with his regiment until the fall or 1864 
 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been 
 nominated that year for the same office, he got a 
 thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time 
 made a brilliant canvass of the State, and was elected 
 for another term. He then started to rejoin Sher- 
 man, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet 
 jever, and after a most trying siege made his way 
 to the front in time to participate in the closing 
 Incidents of the war. 
 
 In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined r, re-election as 
 reporter, and resumed the practice of law,, In 1876 
 be was a candidate for Governor. Although de- 
 feated, the brilliant campaign he made won i'or him 
 a National reputation, and he was much sought, es- 
 pecial.y in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, 
 as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, 
 and wai elected to the United States Senate. Here 
 ic served six years, and \jas known as one ox the 
 Ablest men, bebt lawyer' and strongest debaters in 
 
 that body. With the expiration of his Senator: 
 term he returned to the practice of his professio 
 becoming the head of one of the strongest firms 
 the State. 
 
 The political campaign of 1 888 was one of tl 
 most memorable in the history of our country. Tl 
 convention which assembled in Chicago in June ai 
 named Mr. Harrison as the chief standard bear 
 of the Republican party, was great in every parti 
 ular, and on this account, and the attitude it a 
 sumed upon the vital questions of the day, chi 
 among which was the tariff, awoke a deep intere 
 in the campaign throughout the Nation. Short' 
 after the nomination delegations began to visit M 
 Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This movi 
 ment became popular, and from all sections of tl 
 country societies, clubs and delegations journeye 
 thither to pay their respects to the distinguishe 
 statesman. The popularity of these was great! 
 increased on account of the remarkable speechi 
 made by Mr. Harrison. He spoke daily all throug 
 the summer and autumn to these visiting delegi 
 tions, and so varied, masterly and eloquent wei 
 his speeches that they at once placed him in tl 
 foremost rank of American orators and statesme; 
 
 On account of his eloquence as a speaker and h: 
 power as a debater, he was called upon at an ui 
 commonly early age to take part in the discussio 
 of the great questions that then began to agital 
 the country. He was . an uncompromising ant: 
 slavery man, and was matched against some of t~ 
 most eminent Democratic speakers of his Stat. 
 No man who felt the touch of his blade derred t 
 be pitted with him again. With all his eloq -i enc 
 as an orator he never spoke for oratorical effec 
 but his words always went like bullets to the marl 
 He is purely American in his ideas and is a spier 
 did type of the American statesman. Gifted wit 
 quick perception, a logical mind and a ready tongue 
 he is one of the most distinguished im prompt 
 speakers in the Nation. Many of these speeche 
 sparkled with the rarest of eloquence and containei 
 arguments of greatest weight. Many of his ters 
 statements have already become aphorisms. Origl 
 nal in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement 
 yet withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized a 
 th sound statesman and briiuan orator o- tac di
 
 Ik* Librtr/ 
 of tli 
 f
 
 ^9*+*' ~
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 HADRACH BOND, the first 
 Governor of Illinois after its 
 organization as a State, serving 
 from 1818 to 1822, was born in 
 Frederick County, Maryland, 
 in the year 1773, and was 
 raised a farmer on his father's 
 plantation, receiving or.ly a plain 
 English education. He emigrated 
 to this State in 1794, when it was a 
 part of the "Northwest Territory," 
 continuing in the vocation in which 
 he had been brought up in his native 
 State, in the " New Design," near 
 Eagle Creek, in what is now Monroe 
 County. He served several terms as 
 a member of the General Assembly 
 of Indiana Territory, after it was organized as such, 
 and in 1812-14 he was a Delegate to the Twelfth 
 and Thirteenth Congresses, taking his seat Dec. 3, 
 1812, and serving until Oct. 3, [814. These were 
 ihe times, the reader will recollect, when this Gov- 
 ernment had its last st r uggle with Great Britain. 
 The year 1812 is also noted in the history of this 
 State as that in which the first Territorial Legislature 
 was held. It convened at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, and 
 adjourned Dec. 26, following. 
 
 While serving as Delegate to Congress, Mr. Bond 
 was instrumental in procuring the right of pre-emp- 
 tion on the public domain. On the expiration of his 
 term at Washington he was appointed Receiver of 
 Public Moneys at Kaskaskia, then the capital of I lie 
 Territory. In company with John G. Comyges, 
 
 Thomas H. Harris, Charles Slade, Michael Jones, 
 Warren Brown. Edward Humphries and Charles W 
 Hunter, he became a proprietor of the site of the 
 initial city of Cairo, which they hoped, from its favor- 
 able location at the junction of the two great 
 rivers near the center of the Great West, would 
 rapidly develop into a metropolis. To aid the enter- 
 prise, they obtained a special charter from the Legis- 
 lature, incorporating both the City and the Bank of 
 Cairo. 
 
 In 1818 Mr. Bond was elected the first Governor 
 of the State of Illinois, being inaugurated Oct. 6 
 that year, which was several weeks before Illinois 
 was- actually admitted. The facts are these: In 
 January, 1818, the Territorial Legislature sent a peti- 
 tion to Congress for the admission of Illinois as a 
 State, Nathaniel Pope being then Delegate. The 
 petition was granted, fixing the northern line of the 
 State on the latitude of the southern extremity of 
 Lake Michigan ; but the bill was afterward so amend- 
 ed as to extend this line to its present latitude. In 
 July a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft a 
 constitution, which, however, was not submitted to 
 the people. By its provisions, supreme judges, pros 
 ecuting attorneys, county and circuit judges, record- 
 ers and justices of the peace were all to be appointed 
 by the Governor or elected by the Legislature. This 
 constitution was accepted by Congress Dec. 30. At 
 that time Illinois comprised but eleven counties, 
 namely, Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, Johnson, 
 Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington 
 and Franklin, the northern jxmion of the State be- 
 ing mainly in Madison County. Thus it appears 
 that Mr. Bond was honored by the naming of a
 
 SHADRACH BOND. 
 
 county before he was elected Governor. The present 
 county of Bond is of small limitations, about 60 to 80 
 miles south of Springfield. For Lieutenant Governor 
 the people chose Pierre Menard, a prominent and 
 worthy Frenchman, after whom a county in this State 
 is named. In this election there were no opposition 
 candidates, as the popularity of these men had made 
 their promotion to the chief offices of the Slate, even 
 before the constitution was drafted, a foregone con- 
 clusion. 
 
 The principal points that excited the people in 
 reference to political issues at this period were local 
 or "internal improvements," as they were called, 
 State banks, location of the capital, slavery and the 
 personal characteristics of the proposed candidates. 
 Mr. Bond represented the " Convention party," for 
 introducing slavery into the State, supported by Elias 
 Kent Kane, his Secretary of State, and John Mc- 
 Lean, while Nathaniel Pope and John P. Cook led 
 the anti-slavery element. The people, however, did 
 not become very much excited over this issue until 
 1820, when the famous Missouri Compromise was 
 adopted by Congress, limiting slavery to the south 
 of the parallel of 36 30' except in Missouri. While 
 this measure settled the great slavery controversy, 
 so far as the average public sentiment was tempor- 
 arily concerned, until 1854, when it was repealed 
 under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, the issue 
 as considered locally in this State was not decided 
 until 1824, after a most furious campaign. (See 
 sketch of Gov. Coles.) The ticket of 1818 was a 
 com promise one, Bond representing (moderately) the 
 pro-slavery sentiment and Menard the anti-slavery. 
 
 An awkward element in the Sta.te government 
 under Gov. Bond's administration, was the imperfec- 
 tion of the State constitution. The Convention 
 wished to have Elijah C. Berry for the first Auditor 
 of Public Accounts, but, as it was believed that the 
 new Governor would not appoint him to the office, 
 the Convention declared in a schedule that " an 
 auditor of public accounts, an attorney general and 
 such other officers of the State as may be necessary, 
 may be appointed by the General Assembly." The 
 Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large appoint- 
 ing power in the Governor ; but for the purpose of 
 getting one man into office, a total change was made, 
 and the power vested in the Legislature. Of this 
 provision the Legislature took advantage, and de- 
 
 clared that State's attorneys, canal commissioners, 
 bank directors, etc., were all " officers of the State '' 
 and must therefore be appointed by itself independ- 
 ently of the Governor. 
 
 During Gov. Bond's administration a general law 
 was passed for the incorporation of academies and 
 towns, and one authorizing lotteries. The session of 
 1822 authorized the Governor to appoint commis- 
 sioners, to act in conjunction with like commissioners 
 appointed by the State of Indiana, to report on the 
 practicability and expediency of improving the navi- 
 gation of the Wabash River; also inland navigation 
 generally. Many improvements were recommended, 
 some of which have been feebly worked at even till 
 the present day, those along the Wabash being of no 
 value. Also, during Gov. Bond's term of office, the 
 capital of the State was removed from Kaskaskia to 
 Vandalia. In 1820 a law was passed by Congress 
 authorizing this State to open a canal through the 
 public lands. The State appointed commissioners 
 to explore the route and prepare the necessary sur- 
 veys and estimates, preparatory to its execution; 
 but, being unable out of its own resources to defray 
 the expenses of the undertaking, it was abandoned 
 until some time after Congress made the grant of 
 land for the purpose of its construction. 
 
 On the whole, Gov. Bond's administration was 
 fairly good, not being open to severe criticism from 
 any party. In 1824, two years after the expiration 
 of his term of office, he was brought out as a candi- 
 date for Congress against the formidable John P. 
 Cook, but received only 4,374 votes tc 7,460 for the 
 latter. Gov. Bond was no orator, but had made 
 many fast friends by a judicious beciowment of his 
 gubernatorial patronage, and these worked zealously 
 for him in the campaign. 
 
 In 1827 ex-Gov. Bond was appointed by the Leg- 
 islature, with Wm. P. McKee and Dr. Gershom 
 Jayne, as Commissioners to locate a site for a peni- 
 tentiary on the Mississippi at or near Alton. 
 
 Mr. Bond was of a benevolent and convivial dis- 
 position, a man of shrewd observation and clear ap- 
 preciation of events. His person was erect, stand- 
 ing six feet in height, and after middle life became 
 portly, weighing 200 pounds. His features were 
 strongly masculine, complexion dark, hair jet and 
 eyes hazel ; was a favorite with the ladies. He died 
 April n, 1830, in peace and contentment
 
 f the 
 of Kiln*
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 DWARD COLES, second 
 Governor of Illinois, 1823- 
 6, was born Dec. 15, 1786, 
 in Albemarle Co., Va., on 
 the old family estate called 
 "Enniscorthy," on the 
 Green Mountain. His fath- 
 er, John Coles, was a Colonel in the 
 Revolutionary War. Having been fit- 
 ted for college by private tutors, he 
 was sent to Hampden Sidney, where 
 he remained until the autumn of 1805, 
 when he was removed to William and 
 Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va. 
 This college he left in the summer of 
 1807, a short time before the final and graduating 
 examination. Among his classmates were Lieut. 
 Gen. Scott, President John Tyler, Wm. S. Archer, 
 United States Senator from Virginia, and Justice 
 Baldwin, of the United States Supreme Court. The 
 President of the latter college, Bishop Madison, was 
 a cousin of President James Madison, and that cir- 
 cumstance was the occasion of Mr. Coles becoming 
 personally acquainted with the President and re- 
 ceiving a position as his private secretary, 1809-15. 
 The family of Coles was a prominent one in Vir- 
 ginia, and their mansion was the seat of the old- 
 fashioned Virginian hospitality. It was visited by 
 such notables as Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, 
 Monroe, the Randolphs, T azewell, Wirt, etc. At the 
 age of 23, youno Loles found himself heir to a plant- 
 ation and a considerable number of slaves. Ever 
 since his earlier college days his attention had been 
 drawn to the ques'.io i of slavery. He read every- 
 
 thing on the subject that came in his way, and 
 listened to lectures on the rights of man. The more 
 he reflected upon the subject, the more impossible 
 was it for him to reconcile the immortal declaration 
 "that all men are born free and equal" with the 
 practice of slave-holding. He resolved, therefore, to 
 free his slaves the first opportunity, and even remove 
 his residence to a free State. One reason which de- 
 termined him to accept the appointment as private 
 secretary to Mr. Madison was because he believed 
 that through the acquaintances he could make at 
 Washington he could better determine in what part 
 of the non-slaveholding portion of the Union he woulc 
 prefer to settle. 
 
 The relations between Mr. Coles and President 
 Madison, as well as Jefferson and other distinguished 
 men, were of a very friendly character, arising from 
 the similarity of their views on the question of slavery 
 and their sympathy for each other in holding doc- 
 trines so much at variance with the prevailing senti- 
 ment in their own State. 
 
 In 1857, he resigned his secretaryship and spent a 
 portion of the following autumn in exploring the 
 Northwest Territory, for the purpose of finding a lo- 
 cation and purchasing lands on which to settle his 
 negroes. He traveled with a horse and buggy, with 
 an extra man and horse for emergencies, through 
 many parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 
 determining finally to settle in Illinois. At this time, 
 however, a misunderstanding arose between our 
 Government and Russia, and Mr. Coles was selected 
 to repair to St. Petersburg on a special mission, bear- 
 ing important papers concerning the matter at issue 
 The result was a conviction of the Emperor (Alex-
 
 ,-,6 
 
 EDWARD COLES. 
 
 ander) of the error committed by his minister at 
 Washington, and the consequent withdrawal of the 
 the latter from the post. On his return, Mr. Coles 
 visited other parts of Europe, especially Paris, where 
 he was introduced to Gen. Lafayette. 
 
 In the spring of 1819, he removed with all his 
 negroes from Virginia to Edwardsville, 111., with the 
 intention of giving them their liberty. He did not 
 make known to them his intention until one beautiful 
 morning in April, as they were descending the Ohio 
 River. He lashed all the boats together and called 
 all the negroes on deck and made them a short ad- 
 dress, concluding his remarks by so expressing him- 
 self that by a turn of a sentence he proclaimed in 
 the shortest and fullest manner that they were no 
 longer slaves, but free as he was and were at liberty 
 to proceed with him or go ashore at their pleas- 
 ure. A description of the effect upon the negroes is 
 best desciibed in his own language : 
 
 " The effect upon them was electrical. They stared 
 at me and then at each other, as if doubting the ac- 
 curacy or reality of what they heard. In breathless 
 silence they stood before me, unable to utter a word, 
 but with countenances beaming with expression which 
 no words could convey, and which no language 
 can describe. As they began to see the truth of 
 what they had heard, and realize their situation, there 
 came on a kind of hysterical, giggling laugh. After 
 a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, bathed 
 in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to 
 their gratitude and implored the blessing of God 
 on me." 
 
 Before landing he gave them a general certificate 
 of freedom, and afterward conformed more particu- 
 larly with the law of this State requiring that each 
 individual should have a certificate. This act of 
 Mr. Coles, all the more noble and heroic considering 
 the overwhelming pro-slavery influences surrounding 
 him, has challenged the admiration of every philan- 
 thropist of modern times. 
 
 March 5, 1819, President Monroe appointed Mr. 
 Coles Registrar of the Land Office at Edwardsvihe, 
 at that time one of the principal land offices in the 
 State. While acting in this capacity and gaining 
 many friends by his politeness and general intelli- 
 gence, the greatest struggle that ever occurred in 
 Illinois on the slavery quesiion culminated in the 
 furious contest characterizing the campaigns and 
 elections of 1822-4. In the summer of 1823, when a 
 new Governor was to be elected to succeed Mr. 
 Bond, the pro-slavery element divided into factions, 
 putting forward for the executive office Joseph 
 Phillips, Chief Justice of the State, Thomas C. 
 Browne and Gen. James B. Moore, of the State Mil- 
 itia. The anti-slavery element united upon Mr. 
 Coles, and, after one of the most bitter campaigns, 
 succeeded in electing him as Governor. His plural- 
 ity over Judge Phillips was only 59 in a total vote of 
 
 over 8,000. The Lieutenant Governor was elected 
 by the slavery men. Mr. Coles' inauguration speech 
 was marked by calmness, deliberation and such a 
 wise expression of appropriate suggestions as to 
 elicit the sanction of all judicious politicians. But 
 he compromised not with evil. In his message to 
 the Legislature, the seat of Government being then 
 at Vandalia, he strongly urged the abrogation of the 
 modified form of slavery whn-.h then existed in this 
 State, contrary to the Ordinance of 1787. His posi- 
 tion on this subject seems the more remarkable, when 
 it is considered that he was a minority Governor, the 
 population of Illinois being at that time almost ex- 
 clusively from slave-holding States and by a large 
 majority in favor of the perpetuation of that old relic 
 of barbarism. The Legislature itself was, of course, 
 a reflex of the popular sentiment, and a majority of 
 them were led on by fiery men in denunciations of 
 the conscientious Governor, and in curses loud and 
 deep upon him and all his friends. Some of the 
 public men, indeed, went so far as to head a sort of 
 mob, or " shiveree " party, who visited the residence 
 of the Governor and others at Vandalia and yelled 
 and groaned and spat fire. 
 
 The Constitution, not establishing or permitting 
 slavery in this State, was thought therefore to be 
 defective by the slavery politicians, and they desired 
 a State Convention to be elected, to devise and sub- 
 mit a new Constitution; and the dominant politics 
 of the day was "Convention" and "anti-Conven- 
 tion." Both parties issued addresses to the people, 
 Gov. Coles himself being the author of the address 
 published by the latter party. This address revealed 
 the schemes of the conspirators in a masterly man- 
 ner. It is difficult for us at this distant day to esti- 
 mate the critical and extremely delicate situation in 
 which the Governor was placed at that time. 
 
 Our hero maintained himself honorably and with 
 supreme dignity throughout his administration, and 
 in his honor a county in this State is named. He 
 was truly a great man, and those who lived in 
 this State during his sojourn here, like those who 
 live at the base of the mountain, were too near to see 
 and recognize the greatness that overshadowed them. 
 
 Mr. Coles was married Nov. 28, 1833, by Bishop 
 De Lancey, to Miss Sally Logan Roberts, a daughter 
 of Hugh Roberts, a descendant of Welsh ancestry, 
 who cam .J to this country with Wm. Penn in 1682. 
 
 After the expiration of his term of service, Gov. 
 Coles continued his residence in Edwardsville, sup- 
 erintending his farm in the vicinity. He was fond 
 of agriculture, and was the founder of the first agri- 
 cultural society in the State. On account of ill 
 health, however, and having no family to tie him 
 down, he spent much of his time in Eastern cities. 
 About 1832 he changed his residence to Philadel- 
 phia, where he died July 7, 1868, and is buried at 
 Woodland, near that city.
 
 f the
 

 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ' u 
 
 INIAN EDWARDS, Governor 
 from 1827 to 1 830, was a son 
 of Benjamin Edwards, and 
 was born in Montgomery 
 County, Maryland, in March, 
 1775. His domestic train- 
 as well fitted to give 
 his mind strength, firmness and 
 honorable principles, and a good 
 foundation was laid for the elevated 
 character to which he afterwards 
 attained. His parents were Bap- 
 tists, and very strict in their moral 
 principles. His education in early 
 youth was in company with and 
 partly under the tuition of Hon. Wm. 
 Wirt, whom his father patronized 
 and who was more than two years 
 older. An intimacy was thus 
 formed between them which was lasting for life. He 
 was further educated at Dickinson College, at Car- 
 lisle, Pa. He next commenced the study of law, but 
 before completing his course he moved to Nelson 
 County, Ky., to open a farm for his father and to 
 purchase homes and locate lands for his brothers and 
 sisters. Here he fell in the company of dissolute 
 companions, and for several years led the life of a 
 spendthrift. He was, however, elected to the Legis- 
 lature of Kentucky as the Representative of Nelson 
 bounty before he was 2 1 years of age, and was re- 
 lected by an almost unanimous vote. 
 
 In 1798 he was licensed to practice law, and the 
 following year was admitted to the Courts of Tennes- 
 see. About this time he left Nelson County for 
 Russellville, in Logan County, broke away from his 
 dissolute companions, commenced a reformation and 
 devoted himself to severe and laborious study. He 
 then began to rise rapidly in his profession, and soon 
 became an eminent lawyer, and inside of four years 
 he filled in succession the offices of Presiding Judge 
 of the General Court, Circuit Judge, fourth Judge of 
 the Court of Appeals and Chief Justice of the State, 
 all before he was 32 years of age! In addition, in 
 r8o2, he received a commission as Major of a battal- 
 ion of Kentucky militia, and in 1804 was chosen a 
 Presidential Elector, on the Jefferson and Clinton 
 ticket. In 1806 he was a candidate for Congress, 
 but withdrew on being promoted to the Court of 
 Appeals. 
 
 Illinois was organized as a separate Territory in 
 the spring of 1809, when Mr. Edwards, then Chief 
 Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, received 
 from President Madison the appointment as Gover- 
 nor of the new Territory, his commission bearing date 
 April 24, 1809. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia in 
 June, and on the i ith of that month took the oath of 
 office. At the same time he was appointed Superin- 
 tendent of the United States Saline, this Government 
 interest then developing into considerable proportions 
 in Southern Illinois. Although during the first three 
 years of his administration he had the power to make 
 new counties and appoint all the officers, yet he always 
 allowed the people of each county, by an informal
 
 NINIAN EDWARDS. 
 
 vote, to select their own officers, both civil and mili- 
 tary. The noted John J. Crittenden, afterward 
 United States Senator from Kentucky, was appointed 
 by Gev. Edwards to the office of Attorney General of 
 the Territory, which office was accepted for a short 
 time only. 
 
 The Indians in 1810 committing sundry depreda- 
 tions in the Territory, crossing the Mississippi from 
 the Territory of Louisiana, a long correspondence fol- 
 lowed between the respective Governors concerning 
 the remedies, which ended in a council with the sav- 
 ages at Peoria in 1812, and a fresh interpretation of 
 the treaties. Peoria was depopulated by these de- 
 predations, and was not re-settled for many .years 
 afterward. 
 
 As Gov. Edwards' term of office expired by law in 
 1812, he was re-appointed for another term of three 
 years, and again in 1815 for a third term, serving 
 until the organization of the State in the fall of 1818 
 and the inauguration of Gov. Bond. At this time 
 ex-Gov. Edwards was sent to the United States 
 Senate, his colleague being Jesse B. Thomas. As 
 Senator, Mr. Edwards took a conspicuous part, and 
 acquitted himself honorably in all the measures that 
 came up in that body, being well posted, an able de- 
 bater and a conscientious statesman. He thought 
 seriously of resigning this situation in 1821, but was 
 persuaded by his old friend, Wm. Wirt, and others to 
 continue in office, which he did to the end of the 
 term. 
 
 He was then appointed Minister to Mexico by 
 President Monroe. About this time, it appears that 
 Mr. Edwards saw suspicious signs in the conduct of 
 Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the United States 
 Treasury, and an ambitious candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, and being implicated by the latter in some of 
 his statements, he resigned his Mexican mission in 
 order fully to investigate the charges. The result 
 was the exculpation of Mr. Edwards. 
 
 Pro-slavery regulations, often termed "Black Laws," 
 disgraced the statute books of both the Territory and 
 ;he State of Illinois during the whole of his career in 
 :his commonwealth, and Mr. Edwards always main- 
 tained the doctrines of freedom, and was an important 
 actor in the great struggle which ended in a victory 
 for his parfy in 1824. 
 
 In i826--7 the Winnebago and other Indians com- 
 mitted some depredations in the northern part of the 
 
 State, and the white settlers, who desired the lands 
 and wished to exasperate the savages into an evacu- 
 ation of the country, magnified the misdemeanors of 
 the aborigines and thereby produced a hostility be- 
 tween the races so great as to precipitate a little war, 
 known in history as the "Winnebago War." A few 
 chases and skirmishes were had, when Gen. Atkinson 
 succeeded in capturing Red Bird, the Indian chief, 
 and putting him to death, thus ending the contest, at 
 least until the troubles commenced which ended in 
 the " Black Hawk War " of 1832. In the interpre- 
 tation of treaties and execution of their provisions 
 Gov. Edwards had much vexatious work to do. The 
 Indians kept themselves generally within the juris- 
 diction of Michigan Territory, and its Governor, 
 Lewis Cass, was at a point so remote that ready cor- 
 respondence with him was difficult or impossible. 
 Gov. Edwards' administration, however, in regard to 
 the protection of the Illinois frontier, seems to hava 
 been very efficient and satisfactory. 
 
 For a considerable portion of his time after his re- 
 moval to Illinois, Gov. Edwards resided upon his 
 farm near Kaskaskia, which he had well stocked with 
 horses, cattle and sheep from Kentucky, also with 
 fruit-trees, grape-vines and shrubbery. He estab- 
 lished saw and grist-mills, and engaged extensively 
 in mercantile business, having no less than eight or ten 
 stores in this State and Missouri. Notwithstanding 
 the arduous duties of his office, he nearly always pur- 
 chased the goods himself with which to supply the 
 stores. Although not a regular practitioner of medi- 
 cine, he studied the healing art to a considerable ex- 
 tent, and took great pleasure in prescribing for, and 
 taking care of, the sick, generally without charge. 
 He was also liberal to the poor, several widows and 
 ministers of the gospel becoming indebted to him 
 even for their homes. 
 
 He married Miss Elvira Lane, of Maryland, in 
 1803, and they became the affectionate parents of 
 several children, one of whom, especially, is well' 
 known to the people of the " Prairie State," namely, 
 Ninian Wirt Edwards, once the Superintendent c' 
 Public Instruction and still a resident of Springfield 
 Gov. Edwards resided at and in the vicinity of Kas- 
 kaskia from 1809 to 1818; in Edwardsville (named 
 after him) from that time to 1824; and from the lat- 
 ter date at Belleville, St. Clair County, until his 
 death, July 20, 1833, of Asiatic cholera. Edwards 
 County is also named in his honor.
 
 of the 
 of
 
 GO VERNGRS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 OHN REYNOLDS, Governor 1831- 
 4, was born in Montgomery Coun- 
 ty, Pennsylvania, Feb. 26, 1788. 
 His father, Robert Reynolds and 
 i mother, nee Margaret Moore, 
 were both natives of Ireland, from 
 which country they emigrated to 
 the United States in 1785, land- 
 ing at Philadelphia. The senior 
 Reynolds entertained an undying 
 hostility to the British Govern- 
 ment. When the subject of this 
 sketch was about six months old, 
 his parents emigrated with him to 
 Tennessee, where many of their 
 relatives had already located, at the base of the 
 Copper Ridge Mountain, about 14 miles northeast of 
 the present city of Knoxville. There they were ex- 
 posed to Indian depredations, and were much molest- 
 ed by them. In 1794 they moved into the interior 
 of the State. They were poor, and brought up their 
 children to habits of manual industry. 
 
 In 1800 the family removed to Kaskaskia, 111., with 
 eight horses and two wagons, encountering many 
 Hardships on the way. Here young Reynolds passed 
 the most of his childhood, while his character began 
 to develop, the most prominent traits of which were 
 ambition and energy. He also adopted the principle 
 and practice of total abstinence from intoxicating 
 liquors. In 1807 the family made another removal, 
 
 this time to the " Goshen Settlement," at the foot of 
 the Mississippi bluffs three or four miles southwest 
 of Edwardsville. 
 
 On arriving at his 2oth year, Mr. Reynolds, seeing 
 that he must look about for his own livelihood and 
 not yet having determined what calling to pursue, 
 concluded first to attend college, and he accordingly 
 went to such an institution of learning, near Knox- 
 ville, Tenn., where he had relatives. Imagine his 
 diffidence, when, after passing the first 20 years of 
 his life without ever having seen a carpet, a papered 
 wall or a Windsor chair, and never having lived in a 
 shingle-roofed house, he suddenly ushered himself 
 into the society of the wealthy in the vicinity of 
 Knoxville! He attended college nearly two years, 
 going through the principal Latin authors ; but it 
 seems that he, like the rest of the world in modern 
 times, had but very little use for his Latin in after 
 life. He always failed, indeed, to exhibit any good 
 degree of literary discipline. He commenced the 
 study of law in Knoxville, but a pulmonary trouble 
 came on and compelled him to change his mode 
 of life. Accordingly he returned home and re- 
 cuperated, and in 1812 resumed his college and 
 law studies at Knoxville. In the fall of r8i2 he was 
 admitted to the Bar at Kaskaskia. About this time 
 he also learned the French language, which he 
 practiced with pleasure in conversation with his 
 family for many years. He regarded this language 
 as being superior to all others for social intercourse.
 
 JOHN REYNOLDS. 
 
 From his services in the West, in the war of 1812, 
 he obtained the sobriquet of the " Old Ranger." He 
 was Orderly Sergeant, then Judge Advocate. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds opened his first law office in the 
 winter and spring of 1814, in the French village of 
 Cahokia, then the capital of St. Clair County. 
 
 In the fall of 1818 he was elected an Associate 
 Justice upon the Supreme Bench by the General 
 Assembly. In r825 he entered more earnestly than 
 ever into the practice of law, and the very next year 
 was elected a member of the Legislature, where he 
 acted independently of all cliques and private inter- 
 ests. In 1828 the Whigs and Democrats were for 
 the first time distinctively organized as such in Illi- 
 nois, and the usual party bitterness grew up and 
 raged on all sides, while Mr. Reynolds preserved a 
 Judicial calmness and moderation. The real animus 
 .if the campaign was " Jackson " and " anti-Jackson," 
 'he former party carrying the State. 
 
 In August, 1830, Mr. Reynolds was elected Gov- 
 anor, amid great excitement. Installed in office, he 
 did all within his power to advance the cause of edu- 
 cation, internal improvements, the Illinois & Mich- 
 igan Canal, the harbor at Chicago, settling the coun- 
 try, etc.; also recommended the winding up of the 
 State Bank, as its affairs had become dangerously 
 complicated. In his national politics, hr was a 
 moderate supporter of General Jackson. But the 
 most celebrated event of his gubernatorial admin- 
 istration was the Black Hawk War, which occurred 
 in 1832. He called out the militia and prosecuted 
 the contest with commendable diligence, appearing 
 in person on the battle-grounds during the most 
 critical periods. He was recognized by the President 
 as Major-General, and authorized by him to make 
 treaties with the Indians. By the assistance of the 
 general Government the war was terminated without 
 much bloodshed, but after many serious fights. This 
 war, as well as everything else, was materially re- 
 tarded by the occurrence of Asiatic cholera in the 
 West. This was its first appearance here, and was 
 the next event in prominence during Gov. Reynolds' 
 term. 
 
 South Carolina nullification coming up at this time, 
 t was heartily condemned by both President Jackson 
 and Gov. Reynolds, who took precisely the same 
 grounds as the Unionists in the last war. 
 
 On the termination of his gubernatorial term in 
 -834, Gov. Reynolds was elected a Member of Con- 
 gress, still considering himself a backwoodsman, as 
 e had scarcely been outside of the State since he 
 became of age, and had spent nearly all his youthful 
 iays v. the wildest region of the frontier. His first 
 nove in Congress was to adopt a resolution that in 
 all elections made by the House for officers the votes 
 should be given viva wee, each member in his place 
 naming aloud the person for whom he votes. This 
 created considerable heated discussion, but was es- 
 
 sentially adopted, and remained the controlling prin- 
 ciple for many years. The ex Governor was scarcely 
 absent from his seat a single day, during eight ses- 
 sions of Congress, covering a period of seven years, 
 and he never vacillated in a party vote; but he failed 
 to get the Democratic party to foster his " National 
 Road" scheme. He says, in "My Own Times" (a 
 large autobiography he published), that it was only 
 by rigid economy that he avoided insolvency while in 
 Washington. During liis sojourn in that city he was 
 married, to a lidy of the place. 
 
 In 1837, while out of Congress, and in company 
 with a few others, he built the first railroad in the 
 Mississippi Valley, namely, one about six miles long, 
 leading from his coal mine in the Mississippi bluff to 
 the bank of the river opposite St. Louis. Having not 
 the means to purchase a locomotive, they operated it 
 by horse-power. The next spring, however, the com- 
 pany sold out, at great sacrifice. 
 
 In 1839 the ex-Governor was appointed one of the 
 Canal Commissioners, and authorized to borrow 
 money to prosecute the enterprise. Accord' ngly, he 
 repaired to Philadelphia and succeeding in obtaining 
 a million dollars, which, however, was only a fourth 
 of what was wanted. The same year he and his 
 wife made at our of Europe. This year, also v JMr. 
 Reynolds had the rather awkward little responsibility 
 of introducing to President Van Buren the noted 
 Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, as a " Latter-Day 
 Saint!" 
 
 In 1846 Gov. Reynolds was elected a member of 
 the Legislature from St. Clair County, more particu 
 larly for the purpose of obtaining a feasible charter 
 for a macadamized road from Belleville to St. Louis, 
 a distance of nearly r4 miles. This was immediately 
 built, and was the first road of the kind in the State. 
 He was again elected to the Legislature in 1852, when 
 he was chosen Speaker of the House. In 1860, aged 
 and infirm, he attended the National Democratic 
 Convention a'. Charleston, S. C , as an anti-Douglas 
 Delegate, where he received more attention from the 
 Southern Delegates than any other member. He 
 supported Breckenridge for the Presidency. After 
 the October elections foreshadowed the success of 
 Lincoln, he published an address urging the Demo- 
 crats to rally to the support of Douglas. Immedi- 
 ately preceding and during the late war, his corre- 
 spondence evinced a clear sympathy for the Southern 
 secession, and about the first of March, i86r, he 
 urged upon the Buchanan officials the seizure of the 
 treasure and arms in the custom-house and arsenal 
 at St. Louis. Mr. Reynolds was a rather talkative 
 man, and apt in all the Western phrases and catch- 
 words that ever gained currency, besides many cun- 
 ning and odd ones of his own manufacture. 
 
 He was married twice, but had no children. He 
 died in Belleville, in May, 1865, just after the close 
 of the war.
 
 f th, 
 
 of I
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 a fn 
 
 ILLIAM LEE D. EWING, 
 Governor of Illinois Nov. 3 
 to 17, 1834, was a native 
 of Kentucky, and probably 
 of Scotch ancestry. He had 
 ne education, was a gentle- 
 man of polished manners and 
 refined sentiment. In 1830 John Rey- 
 nolds was elected Governor of the State, 
 and Zadok Casey Lieutenant Governor, 
 and for the principal events that followed, 
 and the characteristics of the times, see 
 sketch of Gov. Reynolds. The first we 
 see in history concerning Mr. Ewing, in- 
 _ forms us that he was a Receiver of Public 
 Moreys at Vandalia soon after the organization of 
 thin State, and that the public moneys in his hands 
 v.'ere deposited in various banks, as they are usually 
 r,r UK /resent day. In 1823 the State Bank was 
 obbed,. by which disaster Mr. Ewing lost a thousand- 
 dollar deposit. 
 
 The subject of this sketch had a commission as 
 Colonel in the Black Hawk War, and in emergencies 
 n<? acted also as Major. In the summer of 1832, 
 <vhen i was rumored among the whites that Black 
 Hawk ar.d his men had encamped somewhere on 
 Rock River, Gen. Henry was sent on a tour of 
 reconnoisance, and with orders to drive the Indians 
 from the State. After some opposition from his 
 subordinate officers, Henry resolved to proceed up 
 Rock River in search of the enemy. On the igth of 
 'uly, early in the morning, five baggage wagons. 
 
 camp equipage and all heavy and cumbersome arti- 
 cles were piled up and left, so that the army might 
 make speedy and forced marches. For some miles 
 the travel was exceedingly bad, crossing swamps 
 and the worst thickets ; but the large, fresh trail 
 gave life and animation to the Americans. Gen. 
 Dodge and Col. Ewing were both acting as Majors, 
 and composed the " spy corps " or vanguard of the 
 army. It is supposed the army marched nearly 50 
 miles this day, and the Indian trail they followed 
 became fresher, and was strewed with much property 
 and trinkets of the red-skins that they had lost or 
 thrown away to hasten their march. During the 
 following night there was a terrific thunder-storm, and 
 the soldiery, with all their appurtenances, were thor- 
 oughly drenched. 
 
 On approaching nearer the Indians the next day. 
 Gen. Dodge and Major Ewing, each commanding a 
 battalion of men, were placed in front to bring on the 
 battle, but the savages were not overtaken this day 
 Forced marches were continued until they reached. 
 Wisconsin River, where a veritable battle ensued, 
 resulting in the death of about 68 of Black Hawk's 
 men. The next day they continued the chase, and 
 as soon as he discovered the trail of the Indians 
 leading toward the Mississippi, Maj. Ewing formed 
 his battalion in order of battle and awaited the order 
 of Gen. Henry. The latter soon appeared on the 
 ground and ordered a charge, which directly resulted 
 in chasing the red warriors across the great river. 
 Maj. Esving and his command proved particularly 
 efficient in war, as it seems they were the chief actors 
 in driving the main body of the Sacs and Foxes, in-
 
 is8 
 
 WILLIAM L. D. EWING. 
 
 eluding Black Hawk himself, across the Mississippi, 
 while Gen. Atkinson, commander-in-chief of the ex- 
 pedition, with a body of the army, was hunting for 
 them in another direction. 
 
 In the above alTair Maj. Ewmg is often referred to 
 as a " General," which title he had derived from his 
 connection with the militia. 
 
 It was in the latter part of the same year (1832) 
 that Lieutenant Governor Casey was elected to Con- 
 gress and Gen. Ewing, who had been elected to the 
 Senate, was chosen to preside over that body. At 
 the August election of 1834, Gov. Reynolds was also 
 elected to Congress, more than a year ahead of the 
 time at which he could actually take his seat, as was 
 then the law. His predecessor, Charles Slade, had 
 just died of Asiatic cholera, soon after the elec- 
 tion, and Gov. Reynolds was chosen to serve out his 
 unexpired term. Accordingly he set out for Wash- 
 ington in November of that year to take his seat in 
 Congress, and Gen. Ewing, by virtue of his office as 
 President of the Senate, became Governor of the 
 State of Illinois, his term covering only a period of 
 15 days, namely, from the 3d to the iyth days, in- 
 clusive, of November. On the lyth the Legislature 
 met, and Gov. Ewing transmitted to that body his 
 message, giving a statement of the condition of the 
 affairs of the State at that time, and urging a contin- 
 uance of the policy adopted by his predecessor ; and 
 on the same day Governor elect Joseph Duncan 
 was sworn into office, thus relieving Mr. Ewing from 
 
 the responsible situation. This is the only time that 
 such a juncture has happened in the history of Illi- 
 nois. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1835, Gen. Ewing was 
 elected a United States Senator to serve out the 
 unexpired term of Elias Ken: Kane, deceased. The 
 latter gentleman was a very prominent figure in the 
 early politics of Illinois, and a county in this State is 
 named in his honor. The election of Gen. Ewing to 
 the Senate was a protracted struggle. His competi- 
 tors were James Semple, who afterwards held several 
 important offices in this State, and Richard M. 
 Young, afterward a United States Senator and a 
 Supreme Judge and a man of vast influence. On 
 the first ballot Mr. Semple had 25 votes, Young 19 
 and Ewing 18. On the eighth ballot Young was 
 dropped ; the ninth and tenth stood a tie ; but on 
 the 1 2th Ewing received 40, to Semple 37, and was 
 accordingly declared elected. In 1837 Mr. Ewinr; 
 received some votes for a continuance of his term in 
 Congress, when Mr. Young, just referred to, was 
 elected. In 1842 Mr. Ewing was elected State 
 Auditor on the ticket with Gov. Ford. 
 
 Gen. Ewing was a gentleman of culture, a lawyer 
 by profession, and was much in public life. In person 
 he was above medium height and of heavy build, 
 with auburn hair, blue eyes, large-sized head and 
 short face. He was genial, social, friendly and 
 affable, with fair talent, though of no high degree of 
 originality. He died March 25, 1846.
 
 Tfclftrvy 
 
 tf the 
 
 <**r*Jty of Ililnw.
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 OSEPH DUNCAN, Governor 
 1834-8, was born at Paris, 
 Ky., Feb. 23, 1794. At the 
 tender age of 19 years he en- 
 listed in the war against Great 
 Britain, and as a soldier he 
 [uitted himself wiih credit. He 
 5 an Ensign under the daunt- 
 3 Croghan at Lower Sandusky, 
 Fort Stephenson. In Illinois 
 rst appeared in a public capa- 
 city as Major-General of the Militia, 
 a position which his military fame 
 had procured him. Subsequently 
 he became a State Senator from 
 Jackson County, and is honorably 
 mentioned for introducing the first bill providing for 
 a free-school system. In 1826, when the redoubt- 
 able John P. Cook, who had previously beaten such 
 men as John McLean, Elias Kent Kane and ex- 
 Gov. Bond, came up for the fourth time for Congress, 
 Mr. Duncan was brought forward against him by his 
 friends, greatly to the surprise of all the politicians. 
 As yet he was but little known in the State. He was 
 an original Jackson man at that time, being attached 
 to his political fortune in admiration of the glory of 
 his militaiy achievements. His chances of success 
 against Cook were generally regarded as hopeless, 
 hut he entered upon the campaign undaunted. His 
 speeches, though short and devoid of ornament, were 
 full of good sense. He made a diligent canvass of 
 the State, Mr. Cook being hindered by the condition of 
 his health. The most that was expected of Mr. 
 Duncan, under the circumstances, was that he would 
 
 'obtain a respectable vote, but without defeating Mr. 
 Cook. The result of the campaign, however, was a 
 source of surprise and amazement to both friends 
 and foes, as Mr. Duncan came out 641 votes ahead! 
 He received 6,321 votes, and Mr. Cook 5,680. Un- 
 til this denouement, the violence of party feeling 
 smoldering in the breasts of the people on account 
 of the defeat of Jackson, was not duly appreciated. 
 Aside from the great convention struggle of 1824, no 
 other than mere local and penonal considerations 
 had ever before controlled an election in Illinois. 
 
 From the above date Mr. Duncan retained his 
 seat in Congress until his election as Governor in 
 August, 1834. The first and bloodless year of the 
 Black Hawk War he was appointed by Gov. Rey- 
 nolds to the position of Brigadier-General of the 
 volunteers, and he conducted his brigade to Rock 
 Island. But he was absent from the State, in Wash- 
 ington, during the gubernatorial campaign, and did 
 not personally participate in it, but addressed circu- 
 lars to his constituents. His election was, indeed, 
 attributed to the circumstance of his absence, be- 
 cause his estrangement from Jackson, formerly his 
 political idol, and also from the Democracy, largely 
 in ascendency in the State, was complete ; but while 
 his defection was well known to his Whig friends, 
 and even to the leading Jackson men of this State, 
 the latter were unable to carry conviction of that fact 
 to the masses, as mail and newspaper facilities at 
 that day were far inferior to those of the present 
 time. Of course the Governor was much abused 
 afterward by the fossilized Jackson men who re- 
 garded party ties and affiliations as nbove all 
 other issues that could arise ; but he was douotless
 
 JOSEPH DUNCAN. 
 
 sincere in his opposition to the old hero, as the latter 
 .;ad vetoed several important western measures 
 which were dear to Mr. Duncan. In his inaugural 
 message he threw off the mask and took a bold stand 
 tigainst the course of the President. The measures 
 te recommended in his message, however, were so 
 desirable that the Legislature, although by a large 
 majority consisting of Jackson men, could not refrain 
 from endorsing them. These measures related 
 mainly to bar.ks and internal improvements. 
 
 It was while Mr. Duncan was Governor that the 
 people of Illinois went whirling on with bank and in- 
 ternal improvement schemes that well nigh bank- 
 "upted the State. The hard times of 1837 came on, 
 and the disasters that attended the inauguration of 
 ihese plans and the operation of the banks were mu- 
 tually charged upon the two political parties. Had 
 any one man autocratic power to introduce and 
 carry on any one of these measures, he would proba- 
 bly have succeeded to the satisfaction of the public; 
 but as many jealous men had hold of the same plow 
 handle, no success followed and each blamed the other 
 for the failure. In this great vortex Gov. Duncan 
 was carried along, suffering the like derogation of 
 character with his fellow citizens. 
 
 At the height of the excitement the Legislature 
 " provided for " railroads from Galena to Cairo, Alton 
 to Shawneetown, Alton to Mount Carmel, Alton to the 
 eastern boundary of the State in the direction of 
 Terre Haute, Quincy via Springfield to the Wabash, 
 Bloomington to Pekin, and Peoria to Warsaw, in all 
 about 1,300 miles of road. It also provided for the 
 improvement of the navigation of the Kaskaskia, 
 Illinois, Great and Little Wabash and Rock Rivers ; 
 also as a placebo, $200,000 in money were to be dis- 
 .ributed to the various counties wherein no improve- 
 ments were ordered to be made as above. The 
 estimate for the expenses for all these projects was 
 placed at a little over $10,000,000, which was not 
 more ihan half enough! That would now be equal to 
 saddling upon the State a debt of $225,000,000 ! It 
 was sufficient to bankrupt the State several times 
 over, even counting all the possible benefits. 
 
 One of the most exciting events that ever occurred 
 in this fair State was the murder of Elijah P. Love- 
 ioy in the fall of r837, at Alton, during Mr. Duncan's 
 term as Governor. Lovejoy was an " Abolitionist," 
 editing the Observer at that place, and the pro- 
 slavery slums there formed themselves into a mob, 
 
 and after destroying successively three presses be- 
 longing to Mr. Lovejoy, surrounded the warehouse 
 where the fourth press was stored away, endeavoring 
 to destroy it, and where Lovejoy and his friends 
 were entrenching themselves, and shot and killed the 
 brave reformer! 
 
 About this time, also, the question of removing the 
 State capital again came up, as the 20 years' limit for 
 its existence at Vandalia was drawing to a close. 
 There was, of course, considerable excitement over 
 the matter, the two main points competing for it be- 
 ing Springfield and Peoria. The jealousy of the lat- 
 ter place is not even yet, 45 years afterward, fully 
 allayed. 
 
 Gov. Duncan's term expired in 1838. In 1842 
 he was again proposed as a candidate for the Execu- 
 tive chair, this time by the Whig party, against Adam 
 W. Snyder, of St. Clair County, the nominee of the 
 Democrats. Charles W. Hunter was a third candi- 
 date for the same position. Mr. Snyder, however, died 
 before the campaign had advanced very far, and his 
 party substituted Thomas Ford, who was elected 
 receiving 46,9or votes, to 38,584 for Duncan, and 
 909 for Hunter. The cause of Democratic success 
 at this time is mainly attributed to the temporary 
 support of the Mormons which they enjoyed, and the 
 want o.' any knowledge, on the part of the masses, 
 that Mr. Ford was opposed to any given policy en- 
 tertained in the respective localities. 
 
 Gov. Duncan was a man of rather limited educa- 
 tion, but with naturally fine abilities he profited 
 greatly by his various public services, and gathered 
 a store of knowledge regarding public affairs which 
 served him a ready purpose. He possessed a clear 
 judgment, decision, confidence in himself and moral 
 courage to carry out his convictions of right. In his 
 deportment he was well adapted to gain the admira- 
 tion of the people. His intercourse with them was 
 both affable and dignified. His portrait at the Gov- 
 ernor's mansion, from which the accompanying was 
 made, represents him as having a swarthy complex- 
 ion, high cheek bones, broad forehead, piercing blaci; 
 eyes and straight black hair. 
 
 He was a liberal patron of the Illinois College at 
 Jacksonville, a member of its Board of Trustees, and 
 died, after a short illness, Jan. i;, 1844, a devoted 
 member of the Presbyterian Church, leaving a wife 
 but no children. Two children, born to them, had 
 died in infancy.
 
 ft* libra* 
 
 fib
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 [HOMAS CARLIN, the sixth 
 Governor of the State of 
 Illinois, serving from 1838 
 to 1842, was also a Ken- 
 tuckian, being born near 
 Frankfort, that State, July 
 18, 1789, of Irish paternity. 
 The opportunities for an education 
 being very meager in his native 
 place, he, on approaching years of 
 judgment and maturity, applied 
 himself to those branches of learn- 
 ing that seemed most important, 
 and thus became a self-made man ; 
 and his taste for reading and 
 study remained with him through 
 life. In 1803 his father removed 
 to Missouri, then a part of " New Spain," where he 
 died in 1810. 
 
 In 1812 young Carlin came to Illinois and partici- 
 pated in all the "ranging" service incident to the 
 war of that period, proving himself a soldier of un- 
 daunted bravery. In 1814 he married Rebecca 
 Huitt, and lived for four years on the bank of the 
 Mississippi River, opposite the mouth of the Mis- 
 sc.,vi, where he followed farming, and then removed 
 to Greene County. He located the town site of Car- 
 re- 'ton, in that county, and in 1825 made a liberal 
 donation of land for county building purposes. He 
 was the first Sheriff of that county after its separate 
 organization, and afterward was twice elected, as a 
 Jackson Democrat, to the Illinois Senate. In the 
 Black Hawk War he commanded a spy battalion, a 
 post of considerable danger. In 1834 he was ap- 
 pointed by President Jackson to the position of 
 Receiver of Public Moneys, and to fulfill the office 
 
 more conveniently he removed to the city of Quincy. 
 
 While, in 1838, the unwieldy internal improvement 
 system of the State was in full operation, with all its 
 expensive machinery, amidst bank suspensions 
 throughout the United States, a great stringency in 
 the money market everywhere, and Illinois bonds 
 forced to sale at a heavy discount, and the " hardest 
 times " existing that the people of the Prairie State 
 ever saw, the general election of State officers was 
 approaching. Discreet men who had cherished the 
 hope of a speedy subsidence of the public infatua- 
 tion, met with disappointment. A Governor and 
 Legislature were to be elected, and these were now 
 looked forward to for a repeal of the ruinous State 
 policy. But the grand schema had not yet lost its 
 dazzling influence upon the minds of the people. 
 Time and experience had not yet fully demonstrated 
 its utter absurdity. Hence the question of arresting 
 its career of profligate expenditures did not become 
 a leading one with the dominant party during the 
 camp.iign, and most of the old members of the Leg 
 islature were returned at this election. 
 
 Under these circumstances the Democrats, in State 
 Convention assembled, nominated Mr. Carlin for the 
 office of Govjrnor, and S. H. Anderson for Lieuten- 
 ant Governor, while the Whigs nominated Cyrus Ed- 
 wards, brotherof Ninian Edwards, formerly Governor, 
 and W. H. Davidson. Edwards came out strongly 
 for a continuance of the State policy, while Catii^ 
 remained non-committal. This was the first time 
 that the two main political parties in this State were 
 unembar-assed by any third party in the field. The 
 result of the election was: Carlin, 35,573; Ander- 
 son, 30,335 ; Edwards, 29,629 ; and Davidson, 28,- 
 7t.S- 
 
 Upon the meeting of the subsequent Legislature 
 (1839), the retiring Governor CDuncan) in his rues-
 
 THOMAS CARLIN. 
 
 sage spoke in emphatic terms of the impolicy of the 
 internal improvement system, presaging the evils 
 threatened, and uiged that body to- do their utmost 
 to correct the great error ; yet, on the contrary, the 
 Legislature not only decided to continue the policy 
 but also added to its burden by voting more appro- 
 priations and ordering more improvements. Although 
 the money market was still stringent, a further loan 
 of $4,000,000 was ordered for the Illinois & Mich- 
 igan Canal alone. Ch'cago at that time began to 
 loom up and promise to be an important city, even 
 the great emporium of the West, as it has since in- 
 deed came to be. Ex-Gov. Reynolds, an incompe- 
 tent financier, was commissioned to effect the loan, 
 and accordingly hastened to the East on this respons- 
 ible errand, and negotiated the loans, at considera- 
 ble sacrifice to the State. Besides this embarrassment 
 to Carlin's administration, the Legislature also de- 
 clared that he had no authority to appoint a Secretary 
 of State until a vacancy existed, and A. P. Field, a 
 Whig, who had already held the post by appointment 
 Jirough three administrations, was determined to 
 keep the place a while longer, in spite of Gov. Car- 
 lin's preferences. The course of the Legislature in 
 this regard, however, was finally sustained by the 
 Supreme Court, in a quo warranto ease brought up 
 before it by John A. McClernand, whom the Gov- 
 ernor had nominated for the office. Thereupon that 
 dignified body was denounced as a "Whig Court!" 
 endeavoring to establish the principle of life-tenure 
 of office. 
 
 A new law was adopted re-organizing the Judici- 
 ary, and under it five additional Supreme Judges 
 were elected by the Legislature, namely, Thomas 
 Ford (afterward Governor), Sidney Breese, Walter B. 
 Scales, Samuel H. Treat and Stephen A. Douglas- 
 all Democrats. 
 
 It was during Cov. Carlin's administration that the 
 noisy campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too " oc- 
 curred, resulting in a Whig victory. This, however, 
 did net affect Illinois politics very seriously. 
 
 Another prominent event in the West during Gov. 
 Carlin's term of office was the excitement caused by 
 the Mcrmons and their removal from Independence, 
 Mo., to Nauvoo, 111., in 1840. At the same time 
 they began to figure somewhat in State polirics. On 
 account of their believing as they thought, accord- 
 ing to the New Testament that they should have 
 
 " all things common," and that consequently " all 
 the earth " and all that is upon it were the" Lord's " 
 and therefore the property of his " saints," they 
 were suspected, and correctly, too, of committing 
 many of the deeds of larceny, robbery, etc., that 
 were so rife throughout this country in those days. 
 Hence a feeling of violence grew up between the 
 Mormons and "anti-Mormons." In the State of 
 Missouri the Mormons always supported the Dem- 
 ocracy until they were driven out by the Democratic 
 government, when they turned their support to the 
 Whigs. They were becoming numerous, and in the 
 Legislature of 1840-1, therefore, it became a matter 
 of great interest with both parties to conciliate these 
 people. Through the agency of one John C. Ben- 
 nett, a scamp, the Mormons succeeded in rushing 
 through the Legislature (both parties not daring to 
 oppose) a charter for the city of Nauvoo which vir- 
 tually erected a hierarchy co-ordinate with the Fed- 
 eral Government itself. In the fall of 1841 the 
 Governor of Missouri made a demand upon Gov. 
 Carlin for the body of Joe Smith, the Mormon leader, 
 as a fugitive from justice. Gov. Carlin issued tlvj 
 writ, but for some reason it was returned unserved. 
 It was again issued in 1842, and Smith was arrested, 
 but was either rescued by his followers or discharged 
 by the municipal court on a writ of habeas corpus. 
 
 In December, 1841, the Democratic Convention 
 nominated Adam W. Snyder, of Belleville, for Gov- 
 ernor. As he had been, as a member of the Legisla- 
 ture, rather friendly to the Mormons, the latter 
 naturally turned their support to the Democratic 
 party. The next spring the Whigs nominated Ex- 
 Gov. Duncan for the same office. In the meantime 
 the Mormons began to grow more odious to the 
 masses of the people, and the comparative prospects 
 of the respective parties for success became very 
 problematical. Mr. Snyder died in May, and 
 Thomas Ford, a Supreme Judge, was substituted as 
 a candidate, and was elected. 
 
 At the close of his gubernatorial term, Mr. Carlin 
 removed back to his old home at Carrollton, where 
 he spent the remainder of his life, i.z before his ele- 
 vation to office, in agricultural pursuits. In 18/^9 
 he served out the unexpired term of J. D. Fry in the 
 Illinois House of Representatives, and died Feb. 4, 
 1852, at his residence at Carrollton, leaving a wife 
 and seven children.
 
 f the 
 of Hfk*.
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 139 
 
 HOMAS FORD, Governor 
 from 1842 to 1846, and au- 
 thor of a very interesting 
 history of Illinois, was born 
 at Uniontown, Pa., in the 
 year 1 800. His mother, after 
 the death of her first hus- 
 band (Mr. Forquer), married Rob- 
 ert Ford, who was killed in 1802, 
 by the Indians in the mountains 
 of Pennsylvania. She was conse- 
 quently left in indigent circum- 
 stances, with a large family, mostly 
 girls. With a view to better her 
 condition, she, in 1804, removed to 
 Missouri, where it had been cus- 
 tomary by the Spanish Govern- 
 ment to give land to actual settlers ; but upon her 
 arrival at St. Louis she found the country ceded to 
 the United States, and the liberal policy toward set- 
 tlers changed by the new ownership. After some 
 sickness to herself and family, she finally removed to 
 Illinois, and settled some three miles south of Water- 
 loo, but the following year moved nearer the Missis- 
 sippi bluffs. Here young Ford received his first )' 
 
 schooling, under the instructions of a M*. Humphrey, 
 for which he had to walk three miles. His mother, 
 though lacking a thorough education, was a woman 
 of superior mental endowments, joined to energy, 
 and determination of character. She inculcated in 
 her children those high-toned principles which dis- 
 tinguished her sons in public life. She exercised a 
 rigid economy to provide her children an education ; 
 but George Forquer, her oldest son (six years older 
 than Thomas Ford), at an early age had to quit 
 school to aid by his labor in the support of the family. 
 He afterward became an eminent man in Illinois 
 affairs, and but for his early death would probably 
 have been elected to the United States Senate. 
 
 Young Ford, with somewhat better opportunities, 
 received a better education, though limited to the 
 curriculum of the common school of those pioneer 
 times. His mind gave early promise of superior en- 
 dowments, with an inclination for mathematics. His 
 proficiency attracted the attention of Hon. Daniel P. 
 Cook, who became his efficient patron and friend, 
 The latter gentleman was an eminent Illinois states- 
 man who, as a Member of Congress, oDtamedagrant 
 of 300,000 acres of land to aid in completing the 
 Illinois & Michigan Canal, and after whom the 
 county of Cook was named. Through the advice of
 
 THOMAS FORD. 
 
 this gentleman, Mr. Ford turned his attention to the 
 study of law; but Forquer, then merchandising, re- 
 garding his education defective, sent him to Transyl- 
 vania University, where, however, he remained but 
 one term, owing to Forquer's failure in business. On 
 his return he alternated his law reading with teach- 
 ir.g school for supix>rt. 
 
 In 1829 Gov. Edwards appointed him Prosecuting 
 Attorney, and in 1831 he was re-appointed by Gov. 
 Reynolds, and after that he was four times elected a 
 Judge by the Legislature, without opposition, twice a 
 Circuit Judge, once a Judge of Chicago, and as As- 
 sociate Judge of the Supreme Court, when, in 1841, 
 the latter tribunal was re-organized by the addition 
 of five Judges, all Democrats. Ford was assigned to 
 the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and while in this capacity 
 he was holding Court in Ogle County he received a 
 notice of his nomination by the Democratic Conven- 
 tion for the office of Governor. He immediately re- 
 signed his place and entered upon the canvass. In 
 August, 1842, he was elected, and on the 8th of De- 
 cember following he was inaugurated. 
 
 All the offices which he had held were unsolicited 
 by him. He received them upon the true Jefferson- 
 ian principle, Never to ask and never to refuse 
 office. Both as a lawyer and as a Judge he stood 
 deservedly high, but his caU of intellect fitted him 
 rather for a writer upon law than a practicing advo- 
 cate in the courts. In the latter capacity he was void 
 of the moving power of eloquence, so necessary to 
 success with juries. As a Judge his opinions were 
 "jound, lucid and able expositions of the law. In 
 practice, he was a stranger to the tact, skill and in- 
 sinuating address of the politician, but he saw through 
 :he arts of demagogues as will as any man He was 
 plain in his demeanor, so much so, indeed, that at 
 one time after the expiration of his term of office, 
 during a session of the Legislature, he was taken by 
 a stranger to be a seeker for the position of door- 
 keeper, and was waked upon at his hotel near mid- 
 night by a knot of small office-seekers with the view 
 of effecting a " combination ! " 
 
 Mr. Ford had not the " brass " cf the ordinary 
 politician, nor that impetuosity which characterizes a 
 political leader. He cared little for money, and 
 hardly enough for a decent support. In person he 
 was of small stature, slender, of dark complexion, 
 with black hair, sharp features, deep-set eyes, a 
 pointed, aquiline nose having a decided twist to one 
 side, and a small mouth. 
 
 The three most important events in Gov. Ford's 
 r.dir.inistration were the establishment of the high 
 financial credit of the State, the " Mormon War "and 
 the Mexican War. 
 
 In the first of these the Governor proved himself 
 to be eminently wise. On coming into office he found 
 the State badly paralyzed by the ruinous effects of 
 the notorious "internal improvement" schemes of 
 
 the preceding decade, with scarcely anythi,:.; {-. 
 show by way of "improvement." The enterprise 
 that seemed to be getting ahead more than all the 
 rest was the Illinois & Michigan Canal. As ilvis 
 promised to be the most important thoroughfare, 
 feasible to the people, it was well under headway in 
 its construction. Therefore the State policy wa; 
 almost concentrated upon it, in order to rush it on te 
 completion. The bonded indebtedness of the State 
 was growing so large as to frighten the people, and 
 they were about ready to entertain a proposition for 
 repudiation. But the Governor had the foresight to 
 recommend such measures as would maintain the 
 public credit, for which every citizen to-day feels 
 thankful. 
 
 But perhaps the Governor is remembered more for 
 his connection with the Mormon troubles than for 
 anything else; for it was during his term of office 
 that the " Latter-Day Saints " becam? so strong at 
 Nauvoo, built their temple there, increased their num- 
 bers throughout the count-y, committed misdemean- 
 ors, taught dangerous doctrines, suffered the loss of 
 theirleader, Jo Smith, by a violent death, were driven 
 out of Nauvoo to the far West, etc. Having been a 
 Judge for so many years previously, Mr. Ford of 
 course was non-committal concerning Mormon affairs, 
 and was therefore claimed by both parties and also 
 accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the 
 other side. Mormonism claim! ag to be a system of 
 religion, the Governor no doubt was ".between two 
 fires," and felt compelled to touch the matter rather 
 " gingerly," and doubtless felt greatly relieved when 
 th.it pestilential people left the State. Such compli- 
 cated matters, especially when religion is mixed up 
 with them, expose every person participating in 
 them to criticism from all parties. 
 
 The Mexican War was begun in the spring of 
 1845, and was continued into the gubernatorial term 
 of Mr. Ford's su.cessor. The Governor's connection 
 with this war, however, was not conspicuous, as it 
 was only administrative, commissioning officers, etc. 
 
 Ford's " History of Illinois " is a vay readable and 
 entertaining work, of 450 small octavo pages, and is 
 destined to increase in value with the lapse of time. 
 It exhibits a natural flow of compact and forcible 
 thought, never failing to convey the nicest sense. In 
 tracing with his trenchant pen the deviousoperations 
 of the professional politician, in which he is inimit- 
 able, his account is open, perhaps, to the objection 
 that all his contemporaries are treated as mere place- 
 seekers, while many of them have since been judged 
 by the people to be worthy statesmen. His writings 
 seem slightly open to the criticism that they exhibit 
 a little splenetic partiality against those of his con- 
 temporaries who were prominent during his term of 
 office as Governor. 
 
 The death of Gov. Ford took place at Peoria, 111., 
 Nov. 2, 1850.
 
 Ik Library 
 f the 
 of Uth
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Augustus c. French. 
 
 -K- 
 
 : UGUSTUS C. FRENCH, 
 Governor of Illinois from 
 1846 to 1852, was born in 
 the town of Hill, in the 
 State of New Hampshire, 
 Aug. 2, 1808. He was a 
 descendant in the fourth 
 generation of Nathaniel 
 French, who emigrated from England 
 in 1687 and settled in Saybury, Mass. 
 In early life young French lost his 
 father, but continued to receive in- 
 struction from an exemplary and 
 Christian mother until he was 19 years 
 old, when she also died, confiding to 
 his care and trust four younger broth- 
 ers and one sister. He discharged his trust with 
 parental devotion. His education in early life was 
 such mainly as a common school afforded. For a 
 brief period he attended Dartmouth College, but 
 from pecuniary causes and the care of his brothers 
 and sister, he did not graduate. He subsequently 
 read law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1831, and 
 shortly afterward removed to Illinois, settling first at 
 Albion, Edwards County, where he established him- 
 self in the practice of law. The following year he 
 removed to Paris, Edgar County. Here he attained 
 eminence in his profession, and entered public life 
 by representing that county in the Legislature. A 
 strong attachment sprang up between him and Ste- 
 phen A. Douglas. 
 
 In 1839, Mr. French was appointed Receiver of 
 the United States Land Office at Palestine, Craw- 
 ford County, at which place he was a resident when 
 
 elevated to the gubernatorial chair. In 1844 he was 
 a Presidential Elector, and as such he voted for 
 James K. Polk. 
 
 The Democratic State Convention of 1846, meet- 
 ing at Springfield Feb. 10, nominated Mr. French 
 for Governor. Other Democratic candidates were 
 Lyman Trumbull, John Calhoun (subsequently of 
 Lecompton Constitution notoriety), Walter B. Scales. 
 Richard M. Young and A. W. Cavarly, an array of 
 very able and prominent names. Trumbull was per- 
 haps defeated in the Convention by the rumor that 
 he was opposed to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
 as he had been a year previously. For Lieutenant 
 Governor J. B. Wells was chosen, while other candi- 
 dates were Lewis Ross, Wrn. McMurtry, Newton 
 Cloud, J. B. Hamilton and W. W. Thompson. The 
 resolutions declared strongly against the resuscita- 
 tion of the old State Banks. 
 
 The Whigs, who were in a hopeless minority, held 
 their convention June 8, at Peoria, and selected 
 Thomas M. Kilpatrick, of Scott County, for Governor, 
 and Gen. Nathaniel G. Wilcox, of Schuyler, for 
 Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 In the campaign the latter exposed Mr. French's 
 record and connection with the passage of the in- 
 ternal improvement system, urging it against his 
 election ; but in the meantime the war with Mexico 
 broke out, regarding which the Whig record was un- 
 popular in this State. The war was the absorbing 
 and dominating question of the period, sweeping 
 every other political issue in its course. The elec- 
 tion in August gave Mr. French 58,700 votes, and 
 Kilpatrick only 36,775. Richard Eells, Abolitionist 
 candidate for the same office, received 5,152 votws.
 
 AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 
 
 By the new Constitution of 1848, a new election for 
 State officers was ordered in November of that year, 
 before Gov. French's term was half out, and he was 
 re-elected for the term of four years. He was there- 
 fore the incumbe.it for six consecutive years, the 
 only Governor of this State who has ever served in 
 that capacity so long at one time. As there was no 
 organized opposition to his election, he received 67,- 
 453 votes, to 5,639 for Pierre Menard (son of the 
 first Lieutenant Governor), 4,748 for Charles V. 
 Dyer, 3,834 for W. L. D. Morrison, and 1,361 for 
 James L. D. Morrison. But Wm. McMurtry, of 
 Knox County, was elected Lieutenant Governor, in 
 place of Joseph B. Wells, who was before elected 
 and did not run again. 
 
 Governor French was inaugurated into office dur- 
 ing the progress of the Mexican War, which closed 
 during the summer of 1847, although the treaty of 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo was not made until Feb. 2, 
 1848. The policy of Gov. French's party was com- 
 mitted to that war, but in connection with that affair 
 he was, of course, only an administrative officer. 
 During his term of office, Feb. 19, 1847, the Legisla- 
 ture, by special permission of Congress, declared that 
 all Government lands sold to settlers should be im- 
 mediately subject to State taxation; before this they 
 were exempt for five years after sale. By this ar- 
 rangement the revenue was materially increased. 
 About the same time, the distribution of Government 
 -and warrants among the Mexican soldiers as bounty 
 threw upon the market a great quantity of good 
 lands, and this enhanced the settlement of the State. 
 The same Legislature authorized, with the recom- 
 mendation of the Governor, the sale of the Northern 
 Cross Railroad (from Springfield to Meredosia, the 
 first in the State and now a section of the Wabash, 
 St. Louis & Pacific). It sold for $100,000 in bonds, 
 although it had cost the State not less than a million. 
 The salt wells and canal lands in the Saline reserve 
 in Gallatin County, granted by the general Govern- 
 ment to the State, were also authorized by the 
 Governor to be sold, to apply on the State debt. In 
 1850, for the first time since 1839, the accruing State 
 revenue, exclusive of specific appropriations, was 
 sufficient to meet the current demands upon the 
 treasury. The aggregate taxable property of the 
 State at this time was over $100,000,000, and tha 
 population 851470. 
 
 In 1849 the Legislature adopted the township or- 
 ganization law, which, however, proved defective, 
 and was properly amended in 1851. At its session 
 in the latter year, the General Assembly also passed 
 a law to exempt homesteads from sale on executions 
 This beneficent measure had been repeatedly arge<J 
 upon that body by Gov. French. 
 
 In 1850 some business men in St. Louis com- 
 menced to build a dike opposite the lower part of 
 their city on the Illinois side, to keep the Mississippi 
 in its channel near St. Louis, instead of breaking 
 away from them as it sometimes threatened to do. 
 This they undertook without permission from the 
 Legislature or Executive authority of this State ; and 
 as many of the inhabitants there complained that 
 the scheme would inundate and ruin much valuable 
 land, there was a slight conflict of jurisdictions, re- 
 sulting in favor of the St. Louis project ; r.nd since 
 then a good site has existed there for a city (East St. 
 Louis), and now a score of railroads center there. 
 
 It was in September, 1850, that Congress granted 
 to this State nearly 3,000,000 acres of land in aid of 
 the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
 which constituted the most important epoch in the 
 railroad we might say internal improvement his- 
 tory of the State. The road was rushed on to com- 
 pletion, which accelerated the settlement of the in- 
 terior of the State by a good class of industrious citi- 
 zens, and by the charter a. good income to the State 
 Treasury is paid in from the earnings of the road. 
 
 In 1851 the Legislature passed a law authorizing 
 free stock banks, which was the source of much leg- 
 islative discussion for a number of years. 
 
 But we have not space further to particularize 
 concerning legislation. Gov. French's administra- 
 tion was not marked by any feature to be criticised, 
 while the country was settling up as never before. 
 
 In stature, Gov. French was of medium height, 
 squarely built, light complexioned, with ruddy face 
 and pleasant countenance. In manners he was 
 plain and agreeable. By nature he was somewhat 
 diffident, but he was often very outspoken in his con- 
 victions of duty. In public speech he was not an 
 orator, but was chaste, earnest and persuasive. In 
 business he was accurate and methodical, and in his 
 administration he kept up the credit of the State. 
 
 He died in 1865, at his home in Lebanon, St 
 Clair Co., HI.
 
 fc Llfcf.r, 
 
 f the 
 
 Of Ilitr,;,..
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 j:OEL A. MATTESON, Governor 
 1 85 3-6, was born Aug. 8, 1808, 
 in Jefferson County, New York, 
 to which place his father had re- 
 moved from Vermont three years 
 before. His father was a farmer 
 in fair circumstances, but a com- 
 mon English education was all 
 that his only son received. Young 
 Joel first tempted fortune as a 
 small tradesman in Prescott, 
 Canada, before he was of age. 
 He returned from that place to 
 his home, entered an academy, 
 taught school, visited the prin- 
 cipal Eastern cities, improved a farm his father had 
 given him, made a tour in the South, worked there 
 in building railroads, experienced a storm on the 
 Gulf of Mexico, visited the gold diggings of Northern 
 Georgia, and returned via Nashville to St. Louis and 
 through Illinois to his father's home, when he mar- 
 ried. In 1833, having sold his farm, he removed, 
 with his wife and one child, to Illinois, and entered 
 a claim on Government land near the head of Au 
 Sable River, in what is now Kendall County. At 
 that time there were not more than two neighbors 
 within a range of ten miles of liis place, and only 
 three or four house; between him and Chicago. He 
 opened a large farm. His family was boarded 12 
 
 miles away while he erected a house on his claim, 
 sleeping, during this time, under a rude pole shed. 
 Here his life was once placed in imminent peril by 
 a huge prairie rattlesnake sharing his bed. 
 
 In 1835 he bought largely at the Government land 
 sales. During the speculative real-estate mania which 
 broke out in Chicago in 1836 and spread over the State, 
 he sold his lands under the inflation of that period 
 and removed to Joliet. In 1838 he became a heavy 
 contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Upon 
 the completion of his job in 1841, when hard times 
 prevailed, business at a stand, contracts paid in State 
 scrip; when all the public works except the canal 
 were abandoned, the State offered for sale 700 tons 
 of railroad iron, which was purchased by Mr. Mat- 
 teson at a bargain. This he accepted, shipped and 
 sold at Detroit, realizing a very handsome profit, 
 enough to pay off all his canal debts and leave him a 
 surplus of several thousand dollars. His enterprise 
 next prompted him to start a woolen mill at Joliet, 
 in which he prospered, and which, after successive 
 enlargements, became an enormous establishment. 
 
 In 1842 he was first elected a State Senator, but, 
 by a bungling apportionment, j'c'in Pearson, a Senator 
 holding over, was found to be in the same district, 
 and decided to be entitled to represent it. Mat- 
 teson's seat was declared vacant. Pearson, however 
 with a nobleness difficult to appreciate in this day of
 
 i 4 8 
 
 JOEL A. MATTESON. 
 
 greed for office, unwilling to represent his district 
 under the circumstances, immediately resigned his 
 unexpired term of two years. A bill was passed in a 
 few hours ordering a new election, and in ten days' 
 time Mr. Matteson was returned re-elected and took 
 his seat as Senator. From his well-known capacity 
 as a business man, he was made Chairman of the 
 Committee on Finance, a position he held during 
 this half and two full succeeding Senatorial terms, 
 discharging its important duties with ability and faith- 
 fulness. Besides his extensive woolen-mill interest, 
 when work was resumed on the canal under the new 
 ioan of $1,600,000 he again became a heavy con- 
 tractor, and also subsequently operated largely in 
 building railroads. Thus he showed himself a most 
 energetic and thorough business man. 
 
 He was nominated for Governor by the Demo- 
 cratic State Convention which met at Springfield 
 April 20, 1852. Other candidates before the Con- 
 vention were D. L. Gregg and F. C. Sherman, of 
 Cook ; John Dement, of Lee ; Thomas L. Harris, of 
 Menard; Lewis W. Ross, of Fulton; and D. P. Bush, 
 of Pike. Gustavus Koerner, of St. Clair, was nom- 
 inated for Lieutenant Governor. For the same offices 
 the Whigs nominated Edwin B. Webb and Dexter A. 
 Knowlton. Mr. Matteson received 80,645 votes at 
 the election, while Mr. Webb received 64,408. Mat- 
 teson's forte was not on the stump; he had not cul- 
 tivated the art of oily flattery, or the faculty of being 
 all things to all men. His intellectual qualities took 
 rather the direction of efficient executive ability. His 
 turn consisted not so much in the adroit manage- 
 ment of party, or the powerful advocacy of great gov- 
 ernmental principles, as in those more solid and 
 enduring operations which cause the physical devel- 
 opment and advancement of a State, of commerce 
 and business enterprise, into which he labored with 
 success to lead the people. As a politician he was 
 just and liberal in his views, and both in official and 
 private life he then stood untainted and free from 
 blemish. As a man, in active benevolence, social 
 rirtues and all the amiable qualities of neighbor or 
 citizen, he had few superiors. His messages present 
 a perspicuous array of facts as to the condition of the 
 State, and are often couched in forcible and elegant 
 diction. 
 
 The greatest excitement during his term of office 
 was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by Con- 
 
 gress, under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas in 
 1854, when the bill was passed organizing the Terri- 
 tory of Kansas and Nebraska. A large portion of 
 the Whig party of the North, through their bitter op- 
 position to the Democratic party, naturally drifted 
 into the doctrine of anti-slavery, and thus led to what 
 was temporarily called the " And- Nebraska " party, 
 while the followers of Douglas were known as " Ne- 
 braska or Douglas Democrats." It was during this 
 embryo stage of the Republican party that Abraham 
 Lincoln was brought forward as the "Anti-Nebraska" 
 candidate for the United States Senatorship, while 
 Gen. James Shields, the incumbent, was re-nom- 
 inated by the Democrats. But after a fewballotings 
 in the Legislature (1855), these men were dropped, 
 and Lyman Trumbull, an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, 
 was brought up by the former, and Mr. Matteson, 
 then Governor, by the latter. On the nth ballot 
 Mr. Trumbull obtained one majority, and was ac- 
 cordingly declared elected. Before Gov. Matteson s 
 term expired, the Republicans were fully organized 
 as a national party, and in 1856 put into the field a 
 full national and State ticket, carrying the State, but 
 not the nation. 
 
 The Legislature of 1855 passed two very import- 
 ant measures, the present free-school system and a 
 submission of the Maine liquor law to a vote of the 
 people. The latter was defeated by a small majority 
 of the popular vote. 
 
 During the four years of Gov. Matteson s admin- 
 istration the taxable wealth of the State was about 
 trebled, from $137,818.07910 $349,951,272; the pub- 
 lic debt was reduced from $17,398,985 to $12,843,- 
 T44; taxation was at the same time reduced, and the 
 State resumed paying interest on its debt in New 
 York as fast as it fell due ; railroads were increased 
 in their mileage from something less than 400 to 
 about 3.000 ; and the population of Chicago was 
 nearly doubled, and its commerce more than quad- 
 rupled. 
 
 Before closing this account, we regret that we have 
 to say that Mr. Matteson, in all other respects an 
 upright man and a good Governor, was implicated 
 in a false re-issue of redeemed canai scrip, amount- 
 ing to $224,182.66. By a suit in the Sangamon Cir- 
 cuit Court the State recovered the principal and a.11 
 the interest excepting $27,500. 
 
 He died in the winter of 1872-3, at Chicago.
 
 f the
 
 GO VEKNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ILLIAM H. BISSELL, Gov- 
 ernor 1857-60, was born 
 April 25, i8n, in the 
 State of New York, near 
 Painted Post, Yates County. 
 His parents were obscure, 
 honest, God-fearing people, 
 who reared their children under the daily 
 example of industry and frugality, accord- 
 ing to the custom of that class of Eastern 
 :iety. Mr. Bissell received a respecta- 
 ble but not thorough academical education. 
 By assiduous application he acquired a 
 knowledge of medicine, and in his early 
 manhood came West and located in Mon- 
 roe County, this State, where he engaged in the 
 practice of that profession. But he was not enam- 
 ored of his calling: he was swayed by a broader 
 ambition, to such an extent that the mysteries of the 
 healing art and its arduous duties failed to yield him 
 further any charms. In a few years he discovered 
 liis choice of a profession to be a mistake, and when 
 he approached the age of 30 he sought to begin 
 anew. Dr. Bissell, no doubt unexpectedly to him- 
 self, discovered a singular facility and charm of 
 speech, the exercise of which acquired for him a 
 ready local notoriety. It soon came to be under- 
 
 stood that he desired to abandon his profession and 
 take up that of the law. During terms of Court he 
 would spend his time at the county seat among the 
 members of the Bar, who extended to him a ready 
 welcome. 
 
 It was not strange, therefore, that he should drift 
 into public life. In 1840 he was elected as a Dem- 
 ocrat to the Legislature from Monroe County, and 
 was an efficient member of that body. On his re- 
 turn home he qualified himself for admission to the 
 Bar and speedily rose to the front rank as an advo- 
 cate. His powers of oratory were captivating. With a 
 pure diction, charming and inimitable gestures, 
 clearness of statement, and a remarkable vein of sly 
 humor, his efforts before a jury told with irresistible 
 effect. He was chosen by the Legislature Prosecut- 
 ing Attorney for the Circuit in which he lived, and 
 in that position he fully discharged his duty to the 
 State, gained the esteem of the Bar, and seldom 
 failed to convict the offender of the law. 
 
 In stature he was somewhat tall and slender, and 
 with a straight, military bearing, he presented a dis- 
 tinguished appearance. His complexion was dark, 
 his head well poised, though not large, his address 
 pleasant and manner winning. He was exemplary 
 in his habits, a devoted husband and kind parent. 
 He was twice married, the first time to Miss James,
 
 '5* 
 
 WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 
 
 of Monroe County, by whom he bad two children, 
 both daughters. She died soon after the year 1840, 
 and Mr. B. married for his second wife a daughter 
 of Elias K. Kane, previously a United States Senator 
 from this State. She survived him but a short time, 
 and died without issue. 
 
 When the war with Mexico was declared in 1846, 
 Mr. Bissell enlisted and was elected Colonel of his 
 regiment, over Hon. Don Morrison, by an almost 
 unanimous vote, 807 to 6. Considering the limited 
 opportunities he had had, he evinced a high order of 
 military talent. On the bloody field of Buena Vista 
 he acquitted himself with intrepid and distinguished 
 ability, contributing with his regiment, the Second 
 Illinois, in no small degree toward saving the waver- 
 ing fortunes of our arms during that long and fiercely 
 contested battle. 
 
 After his return home, at the close of the war, he 
 was elected to Congress, his opponents being the 
 Hons. P. B.'Fouke and Joseph Gillespie. He served 
 two terms in Congress. He was an ardent politician. 
 During the great contest of 1850 he voted in favor 
 of the adjustment measures; but in 1854 he opposed 
 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise act and 
 therefore the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Douglas, and 
 thus became identified with the nascent Republican 
 party. 
 
 During his first Congressional term, while the 
 Southern members were following their old practice 
 of intimidating the North by bullying language, 
 and claiming most of the credit for victories in the 
 Mexican War, and Jefferson Davis claiming for the 
 Mississippi troops all the credit for success at Buena 
 Vista, Mr. Bissell bravely defended the Northern 
 troops; whereupon Davis challenged Bissell to a duel, 
 which was accepted. This matter was brought up 
 against Bissell when he was candidate for Governor 
 and during his term of office, as the Constitution of 
 this State forbade any duelist from holding a State 
 office. 
 
 In 1856, when the Republican party first put forth 
 a candidate, John C. Fremont, for President of the 
 United States, the same party nominated Mr. Bissell 
 for Governor of Illinois, and John Wood, of Quincy, 
 for Lieutenant Governor, while the Democrats nomi- 
 nated Hon. W. A. Richardson, of Adams County, 
 for Governor, and Col. R. J. Hamilton, of Cook 
 County, for Lieutenant Governor. The result of the 
 
 election was a plurality of 4,729 votes over Richard- 
 son. The American, or Know-Nothing, party had a 
 ticket in the field. The Legislature was nearly bal- 
 anced, but was politically opposed to the Governor. 
 His message to the Legislature was short and rather 
 ordinary, and was criticised for expressing the sup- 
 posed obligations of the people to the incorporators 
 of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for re- 
 opening the slavery question by allusions to the 
 Kansas troubles. Late in the session an apportion- 
 ment bill, based upon the State census of 1855, was 
 passed, amid much partisan strife. The Governor 
 at first signed the bill and then vetoed it. A furious 
 debate followed, and the question whether the Gov- 
 ernor had the authority to recall a signature was 
 referred to the Courts, that of last resort deciding in 
 favor of the Governor. Two years afterward another 
 outrageous attempt was made for a re-apportionment 
 and to gerrymander the State, but the Legislature 
 failed to pass the bill over the veto of the Governor. 
 
 It was during Gov. Bissell's administration that 
 the notorious canal scrip fraud was brought to light; 
 implicating ex-Gov. Matteson and other prominent 
 State officials. The principal and interest, aggregat- 
 ing $255,500, was all recovered by the State except- 
 ing $27,500. (See sketch of Gov. Matteson.) 
 
 In 1859 an attempt was discovered to fraudu- 
 lently refund the Macalister and Stebbins bonds and 
 thus rob the State Treasury of nearly a quarter of a 
 million dollars. The State Government was impli- 
 cated in this affair, and to this day remains unex- 
 plained or unatoned for. For the above, and other 
 matters previously mentioned, Gov. Bissell has been 
 severely criticised, and he has also been most shame- 
 fully libelled and slandered. 
 
 On account of exposure in the army, the remote 
 cause of a nervous form of disease gained entrance 
 into his system and eventually developed paraplegia, 
 affecting his lower extremities, which, while it left 
 his body in comparative health, deprived him of loco- 
 motion except by the aid of crutches. While he was 
 generally hopeful of ultimate recovery, this myste- 
 rious disease pursued him, without once relaxing its 
 stealthy hold, to the close of his life, March 18, 
 1860, over nine months before the expiration of his 
 gubernatorial term, at the early age of 48 years. He 
 died in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, of 
 which he har\ been a member since 1854.
 
 f the
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 '55 
 
 HN WOOD, Governor 1860-1, and 
 the first settler of Quincy, 111., 
 was born in the town of Sempro- 
 nius (now Moravia), Cayuga Co., 
 N. Y., Dec. 20, 1798. He was 
 the second child and only son of 
 Dr. Daniel Wood. His mother, 
 nee Catherine Crause, was of 
 German parentage, and died 
 while he was an infant. Dr. 
 Wood was a learned and skillful 
 physician, of classical attain- 
 ments and proficient in several 
 modern languages, who, after 
 serving throughout the Revolu- 
 tionary War as a Surgeon, settled on the land granted 
 him by the Government, and resided there a re- 
 spected and leading influence in his section until his 
 death, at the ripe age of 92 years. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, impelled by the spirit 
 of Western adventure then pervading everywhere, 
 left his home, Nov. 2, 1818, and passed the succeed- 
 ing winter in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following sum- 
 mer he pushed on to Illinois, landing at Shawneetown, 
 and spent the fall and following winter in Calhoun 
 County. In 1820, in company with Willard Keyes, 
 he settled in Pike County, about 30 miles southeast 
 of Quincy, where for the next two years he pursued 
 farming. In 1821 he visited "the Bluffs" (as the 
 present site of Quincy was called, then uninhabited) 
 and, pleased with its prospects, soon after purchased 
 a quarter-section of land near by, and in the follow- 
 ing fall (1822) erected near the river a small cabin, 
 
 1 8 x 20 feet, the first building in Quincy, of which 
 he then became the first and for some months the 
 only occupant. 
 
 About this time he visited his old friends in Pike 
 County, chief of whom was William Ross, the lead- 
 ing man in building up the village of Atlas, of that 
 county, which was thought then to be the possible 
 commencement of a city. One day they and others 
 were traveling together over the country between thq 
 two points named, making observations on the com- 
 parative merits of the respective localities. On ap- 
 proaching the Mississippi near Mr. Wood's place, 
 the latter told his companions to follow him and he 
 would show them where he was going to build a city. 
 They went about a mile off the main trail, to a high 
 point, from which the view in every direction was 
 most magnificent, as it had been for ages and as yet 
 untouched by the hand of man. Before them swept 
 by the majestic Father of Waters, yet unburdened by 
 navigation. After Mr. Wood had expatiated at 
 length on the advantages of the situation, Mr. Ross 
 replied, " But it's too near Atlas ever to amount to 
 anything!" 
 
 Atlas is still a cultivated farm, and Quincy is a 
 city of over 30,000 population. 
 
 In 1824 Mr. Wood gave a newspaper notice, 
 as the law then prescribed, of his intention to apply 
 to the General Assembly for the formation of a new 
 county. This was done the following winter, result- 
 ing in the establishment of the present Adams 
 County. During the next summer Quincy was se- 
 lected as the county seat, it and the vicinity then 
 containing but four adult male residents and half
 
 JOHN WOOD. 
 
 that number of females. Sinoe that period Mr. 
 Wood resided at the place of his early adoption un- 
 til his death, and far more than any other man was 
 he identified with every measure of its progress and 
 history, and almost continuously kept in public posi- 
 tions. 
 
 He was one of the early town Trustees, and after 
 the place became a city he was often a member of 
 the City Council, many times elected Mayor, in the 
 face of a constant large opposition political majority. 
 In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1856, 
 on the organization of the Republican party, he was 
 chosen Lieutenant Governor of the State, on the 
 ticket with Wm. H. Bissell for Governor, and on the 
 death of the latter, March 18, 1860, he succeeded to 
 the Chief Executive chair, which he occupied until 
 Gov. Yates was inaugurated neariy ten months after- 
 ward. 
 
 Nothing very marked characterized the adminis- 
 tration of Gov. Wood. The great anti-slavery cam- 
 paign of 1860, resulting in the election of the honest 
 Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency of the 
 United States, occurred during the short period 
 while Mr. Wood was Governor, and the excitement 
 and issues of that struggle dominated over every 
 other consideration, indeed, supplanted them in a 
 great measure. The people of Illinois, during all 
 that time, were passing the comparatively petty strifes 
 under Bissell's administration to the overwhelming 
 issue of preserving the whole nation from destruction. 
 
 In 1861 ex-Gov. Wood was one of the five Dele- 
 gates from Illinois to the " Peace Convention " at 
 Washington, and in April of the same year, on the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion, he was appointed 
 
 Quartermaster-General of the State, which position 
 he held throughout the war. In 1864 he took com- 
 mand as Colonel of the i37th 111. Vol. Inf., with 
 whom he served until the period of enlistment ex- 
 pired. 
 
 Politically, Gov. Wood was always actively identi- 
 fied with the Whig and Republican parties. Few 
 men have in personal experience comprehended so 
 many surprising and advancing local changes as 
 vested in the more than half century recollections of 
 Gov. Wood. Sixty-four years ago a solitary settler 
 on the "Bluffs," with no family, and no neighbor 
 within a score of miles, the world of civilization away 
 behind him, and the strolling red-man . almost his 
 only visitant, he lived to see growing around him, 
 and under his auspices and aid, overspreading the 
 wild hills and scraggy forest a teaming city, second 
 only in size in the State, and surpassed nowhere in 
 beauty, prosperity and promise ; whose people recog- 
 nize as with a single voice the proverbial honor and 
 liberality that attach to the name and lengthened 
 life of their pioneer settler, "the old Governor." 
 
 Gov. Wood was twice married, first in January, 
 1826, to Ann M. Streeter, daughter of Joshua Streeter, 
 formerly of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y. They had 
 eight children. Mrs. W. died Oct. 8, 1863, and in 
 June, 1865, Gov. Wood married Mrs. Mary A., widow 
 of Rev. Joseph T. Holmes. Gov. Wood died June 4, 
 1880, at his residence in Quincy. Four of his eight 
 children are now living, namely: Ann E., wife of 
 Gen. John Tillson; Daniel C., who married Mary J. 
 Abernethy ; John, Jr., who married Josephine Skinner, 
 and Joshua S., who married Annie Bradley. The 
 last mentioned now resides at Atchison, Kansas, and 
 all the rest are still at Quincy.
 
 of the 
 
 of I
 
 ilCHARD YATES, the "War , 
 Governor," 1861-4, was born j 
 Jan. 18, 1818, on the banks of 
 the Ohio River, at Warsaw, 
 Gallatin Co., Ky. His lather 
 moved in i83T to Illinois, and ) 
 after stopping for a time in 
 Springfield, settled at .Island 
 Grove, Sangamon County. Here, 
 after attending school, Richard joined 
 the family. Subsequently he entered 
 Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
 where, in 1837, he graduated with 
 first honors. He chose for his pro- 
 fession the law, the Hon. J. J. Har- 
 din being his instructor. After ad- 
 mission to the Bar he soon rose to distinction as an 
 advocate. 
 
 Gifted with a fluent and ready oratory, he soon 
 appeared in the political hustings, and, being a 
 passionate admirer of the great Whig leader of the 
 West. Henry Clay, he joined his political fortunes to 
 -he party of his idol. In 1840 he engaged with great 
 <: r dor in the exciting " hard cider " campaign for 
 -farrison. Two years later he was elected to the 
 Legislature from Morgan County, a Democratic 
 stronghold. He served three or four terms in the 
 Legislature, and such was the fascination of his ora- 
 r>ry that by 1850 his large Congressional District, 
 extending from Morgan and Sangamon Counties 
 i orth to include LaSalle, unanimously tendered him 
 trie Whig nomination for Congress. His Democratic 
 opponent was Maj. Thomas L. Harris, a very pop- 
 lar man who had won distinction at the battle of 
 Cerro Gordo, in the Mexican War, and who had 
 aeaten Hon. Stephen T. Logan for the same position, 
 
 two years before, by a large majority. Yates wa? 
 elected. Two years later he was re-elected, over 
 John Calhoun. 
 
 It was during Yates second term in Congress that 
 the great question of the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise was agitated, and the bars laid down for re- 
 opening the dreaded anti-slavery question. He took 
 strong grounds against the repeal, and thus became 
 identified with the rising Republican party. Conse- 
 quently he fell into the minority in his district, which 
 was pro-slavery. Even then, in a third contest; he 
 fell behind Major Harris only 200 votes, after the 
 district had two years before given Pierce 2,000 
 majority for President. 
 
 The Republican State Convention of r86o met at 
 Decatur May 9, and nominated for the office of Gov- 
 ernor Mr. Yates, in preference to Hon. Norman B. 
 Judd, of Chicago, and Leonard Swett, of Blooming- 
 ton, two of the ablest men of the State, who were 
 also candidates before the Convention. Francis A. 
 Hoffman, of DuPage County, was nominated for 
 Lieutenant Governor. This was the year when Mr. 
 Lincoln was a candidate for President, a period re- 
 membered as characterized by the great whirlpool 
 which precipitated the bloody War of the Rebellion. 
 The Douglas Democrats nominated J. C. Allen cf 
 Crawford County, for Governor, and Lewis W. Ross, 
 of Fulton County, for Lieutenant Governor. The 
 Breckenridge Democrats and the Bell-Everett party 
 had also full tickets in the field. After a most fear- 
 ful campaign, the result of the election gave Mr. 
 Yates T72,i96 votes, and Mr, Allen 159,253. Mr. 
 Yates received over a thousand more votes than did 
 Mr. Lincoln himself. 
 
 Gov. Yates occupied the chair of State during the
 
 RICHARD YA TES. 
 
 most critical period of our country's history. In the 
 fate of the nation was involved that of each State. 
 The life struggle of the former derived its sustenance 
 from the loyalty of the latter; and Gov. Yates 
 seemed to realize the situation, and proved himself 
 both loyal and wise in upholding the Government. 
 He ha* a deep hold upon the affections of the 
 people, won by his moving eloquence and genial 
 manners. Erect and symmetrical in person, of pre- 
 possessing appearance, with a winning address and a 
 magnetic power, few men possessed more of the ele- 
 ments of popularity. His oratory was scholarly and 
 captivating, his hearers hardly knowing why they 
 were transported. He was social and convivial. In 
 the latter respect he was ultimately carried too far. 
 
 The very creditable military efforts of this State 
 during the War of the Rebellion, in putting into the 
 field the enormous number of about 200,000 soldiers, 
 were ever promptly and ably seconded by his excel- 
 lency ; and the was ambitious to deserve the title of 
 "the soldier's friend." Immediately after the battle of 
 Shiloh he repaired to the field of carnage to look 
 after the wounded, and his appeals for aid were 
 promptly responded to by the people. His procla- 
 mations calling for volunteers were impassionate 
 appeals, urging upon the people the duties and re- 
 quirements of patriotism; and his special message 
 in 1863 to the Democratic Legislature of this State 
 pleading for material aid for the sick and wounded 
 soldiers of Illinois regiments, breathes a deep fervor 
 of noble sentiment and feeling rarely equaled in 
 beauty or felicity of expression. Generally his mes- 
 sages on political and civil affairs were able and com- 
 prehensive. During his administration, however, 
 there were no civil events of an engrossing character, 
 although two years of his time were replete with 
 partisan quarrels of great bitterness. Military ar- 
 rests, Knights of the Golden Circle, riot in Fulton 
 County, attempted suppression of'the Chicago Times 
 and the usurping State Constitutional Convention of 
 1862, were the chief local topics that were exciting 
 during the Governor's term. This Convention assem- 
 bled Jan. 7, and at once took the high position that 
 'he law calling it was no longer binding, and that it 
 ad supreme power; that it represented a virtual 
 assemblage of the whole people of the State, and was 
 sovereign in the exercise of all power necessary to 
 effect a peaceable revolution of the State Government 
 
 and to the re-establishment of one for the " happiness, 
 prosperity and freedom of the citizens," limited only 
 by the Federal Constitution. Notwithstanding the 
 law calling the Convention required its members to 
 take an oath to support the Constitution of the State 
 as well as that of the general Government, they 
 utterly refused to take such oath. They also as- 
 sumed legislative powers and passed several import- 
 ant "laws!" Interfering with the (then) present 
 executive duties, Gov. Yates was "revoked to tell 
 them plainly that " he did not acknowledge the right 
 of the Convention to instruct him in the performance 
 of his duty." 
 
 In 1863 the Governor astonished the Democrats 
 by " proroguing " their Legislature. This body, after 
 a recess, met June 2, that year, and soon began to 
 waste time upon various partisan resolutions ; and, 
 while the two houses were disagreeing upon the 
 question of adjourning sine die, the Governor, having 
 the authority in such cases, surprised them all by 
 adjourning them " to the Saturday next preceding the 
 first Monday in January, 1865 ! " This led to great 
 excitement and confusion, and to a reference of the 
 Governor's act to the Supreme Court, who decided in 
 his favor. Then it was the Court's turn to receive 
 abuse for weeks and months afterward. 
 
 During the autumn of 1864 a conspiracy was de- 
 tected at Chicago which had for its object the liber- 
 ation of the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, the 
 burning of the city and the inauguration of rebellion 
 in the North. Gen. Sweet, who had charge of the 
 camp at the time, first had his suspicions of danger 
 ;iroused by a number of enigmatically worded letters 
 which passed through the Camp postoffice. A de- 
 tective afterward discovered that the rebel Gen. 
 Marmaduke was in the city, under an assumed 
 name, and he, with other rebel officers Grenfell, 
 Morgan, Cantrell, Buckner Morris, and Charles 
 Walsh was arrested, most of whom were convicted 
 by a court-martial at Cincinnati and sentenced to 
 imprisonment, Grenfell to be hung. The sentence 
 of the latter was afterward commuted to imprison- 
 ment for life, and all the others, after nine months' 
 imprisonment, were pardoned. 
 
 In March, 1873, Gov. Yates was appointed a Gov 
 eminent Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, in 
 which, office he continued until his decease, at St. 
 Louis, Mo., on the 27th of November following.
 
 Tk. Ubw, 
 
 of the
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ,63 
 
 ilCHARD J. OGLESBY, Gov- 
 ernor 1865-8, and re-elected 
 in 1872 and 1884, was born 
 July 25, 1824, in Oldham Co., 
 Ky., the State which might 
 be considered the " mother of 
 Illinois Governors." Bereft of 
 his parents at the tender age 
 of eight years, his early education 
 was neglected. When 12 years of 
 age, and after he had worked a year 
 and a half at the carpenter's trade, 
 he removed with an uncle, Willis 
 Oglesby, into whose care he had 
 been committed, to Decatur, this 
 State, where he continued his ap- 
 prenticeship as a mechanic, working six months for 
 Hon. E. O. Smith. 
 
 tn 1844 he commenced studying law at Spring- 
 field, with Judge Silas Robbins, and read with him 
 one year. He was admitted to the Bar in 1845, and 
 commenced the practice of his chosen profession at 
 Sullivan, the county seat of Moultrie County. 
 
 The next year the war with Mexico was com- 
 menced, and in June, 1846, Mr. Oglesby volunteered, 
 was elected First Lieutenant of Co. C, Fourth Illinois 
 Regiment of Volunteers, and participated in the bat- 
 tles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. 
 
 On his return he sought to perfect his law studies 
 by attending a course of lectures at Louisville, but 
 on the breaking out of the California "gold fever " in 
 1849, he crossed the plains and mountains to the 
 new Eldorado, driving a six-mule team, with a com- 
 
 pany of eight men, Henry Prather being the leader. 
 
 In 1852 he returned home to Macon County, and 
 was placed that year by the Whig party on the ticket 
 of Presidential Electors. In 1856 he visited Europe, 
 Asia and Africa, being absent 20 months. On his 
 return home he resumed the practice of law, as a 
 member of the firm of Gallagher, Wait & Oglesby. 
 In 1858 he was the Republican nominee for the 
 Lower House of Congress, but was defeated by the 
 Hon. James C. Robinson, Democrat. In 1860 he 
 was elected to the Illinois State Senate ; and on the 
 evening the returns of this election were coming in, 
 Mr. Oglesby had a fisticuff encounter with " Cerro 
 Gordo Williams," in which he came out victorious, 
 and which was regarded as " the first fight of the 
 Rebellion." The following spring, when the war 
 had commenced in earnest, his ardent nature 
 quickly responded to the demands of patriotism and 
 he enlisted. The extra session of the Legislature 
 elected him Colonel of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, 
 the second one in the State raised to suppress the 
 great Rebellion. 
 
 He was shortly entrusted with important com- 
 mands. For a time he was stationed at Bird's Point 
 and Cairo ; in April he was promoted Brigadier Gen~ 
 eral ; at Fort Donelson his brigade was in the van, 
 being stationed on the right of General Grant's army 
 and the first brigade to be attacked. He lost 500 
 men before re-inforcements arrived. Many of these 
 men were from Macon County. He was engaged in 
 the battle of Corinth, and, in a brave charge at this 
 place, was shot in the left lung with an ounce ball, 
 and was carried from the field in expectation of ina-
 
 i6 4 
 
 RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 
 
 mediate death. That rebel ball he carries to this 
 day. On his partial recovery he was promoted as 
 Major General, for gillantry, his commission to rank 
 from November, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he 
 was assigned to the command of the i6th Army 
 Corps, but, owing to inability from the effects of his 
 wound, he relinquished this command in July, that 
 year. Gen. Grant, however, refused to accept his 
 resignation, and he was detailed, in December follow- 
 ing, to court-martial and try the Surgeon General of 
 the Army at Washington, where he remained until 
 May, 1864, when he returned home. 
 The Republican, or Union, State Convention of 
 
 1864 was held at Springfield, May 25, when Mr. 
 Oglesby was nominated for the office of Governor, 
 while other candidates before the Convention were 
 Allen C. Fuller, of Boone, Jesse K. Dubois, of Sanga- 
 mon, and John M. Palmer, of Macoupin. Wm. 
 Bross, of Chicago, was nominated for Lieutenant 
 Governor. On the Democratic State ticket were 
 James C. Robinson, of Clark, for Governor, and S. 
 Corning Judd, of Fulton, for Lieutenant Governor. 
 The general election gave Gen. Oglesby a majority 
 of about 31,000 votes. The Republicans had also a 
 majority in both the Legislature and in the repre- 
 sentation in Congress. 
 
 Gov. Oglesby was duly inaugurated Jan. 17, r865_ 
 The day before the first time set for his installation 
 death visited his home at Decatur, and took from it 
 his only son, an intelligent and sprightly lad of six 
 years, a great favorite of the bereaved parents. This 
 caused the inauguration to be postponed a week. 
 
 The political events of the Legislative session of 
 
 1865 were the election of ex-Gov. Yates to the 
 United States Senate, and the ratification of the 131)1 
 amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
 abolishing slavery. This session also signalized 
 itself by repealing the notorious " black laws," part 
 of which, although a dead letter, had held their place 
 upon the statute books since 1819. Also, laws re- 
 quiring the registration of voters, and establishing a 
 State Board of Equalization, were passed by this Leg- 
 islature. But the same body evinced that it was cor- 
 ruptly influenced by a mercenary lobby, as it adopted 
 some bad legislation, over the Governor's veto, nota- 
 bly an amendment to a charter for a Chicago horse 
 railway, granted in 1859 for 25 years, and now 
 sought to be extended 99 years. As this measure 
 was promptly passed over his veto by both branches 
 of the Legislature, he deemed it useless further to 
 attempt to check their headlong career. At this 
 session no law of a general useful character or public 
 interest was perfected, unless we count such the 
 turning over of the canal to Chicago to be deepened. 
 The session of 1867 was still more productive of 
 private and special acts. Many omnibus bills were 
 proposed, and some passed. The contests over the 
 .ocation of the Industrial College, the Capital, the 
 
 Southern Penitentiary, and the canal enlargement 
 and Illinois River improvement, dominated every- 
 thing else. 
 
 During the year 1872, it became evident that if 
 the Republicans could re-elect Mr. Oglesby to the 
 office of Governor, they could also elect him to the 
 United States Senate, which they desired to do. 
 Accordingly they re-nominated him for the Execu- 
 tive chair, and placed upon the ticket with him for 
 Lieutenant Governor, John L. Beveridge, of Cook 
 County. On the other side the Democrats put into 
 the field Gustavus Koerner for Governor and John 
 C. Black for Lieutenant Governor. The election 
 gave the Republican ticket majorities ranging from 
 35'334 to 56,174, the Democratic defection being 
 caused mainly by their having an old-time Whig and 
 Abolitionist, Horace Greeley, on the national ticket 
 for President. According to the general understand- 
 ing had beforehand, as soon as the Legislature met 
 it elected Gov. Oglesby to the United States Senate, 
 whereupon Mr. Beveridge became Governor. Sena- 
 tor Oglesby 's term expired March 4, 1879, having 
 served his party faithfully and exhibited an order of 
 statesmanship beyond criticism. 
 
 During the campaign of 1884 Mr. Oglesby was 
 nominated for a "third term" as Executive of the 
 State of Illinois, against Carter H. Harrison, Mayor 
 of Chicago, nominated by the Democrats. Both 
 gentlemen " stumped " the State, and while the peo- 
 ple elected a Legislature which was a tie on a join': 
 ballot, as between the two parties, they gave the 
 jovial " Dick" Oglesby a majority of I5,or8 for Gov- 
 ernor, and he was inaugurated Jan. 30, 1885. The 
 Legislature did not fully organize until this date, on 
 account of its equal division between the two main 
 parties and the consequent desperate tactics of each 
 party to checkmate the latter in the organization of 
 the House. 
 
 Gov. Oglesby is a fine-appearing, affable man, with 
 regular, well defined features and rotund face. In 
 stature he is a little above medium height, of a large 
 frame and somewhat fleshy. His physical appear- 
 ance is striking and prepossessing, while his straight- 
 out, not to say bluff, manner and speech are weli. 
 calculated favorably to impress the average masses. 
 Ardent in feeling and strongly committed to the pol- 
 icies of his party, he intensifies Republicanism 
 among Republicans, while at the same time his iovia. 
 and liberal manner prevents those of the opposite 
 party from hating him. 
 
 He is quite an effective stump orator. With vehe- 
 
 ent, passionate and scornful tone and gestures. 
 
 tremendous physical power, which in speaking he 
 
 exercises to the utmost ; with frequent descents to 
 the grotesque; and with abundant homely compari- 
 sons or frontier figures, expressed in the broadest 
 vernacular and enforced with stentorian emphasis, 
 he delights a promiscuous audience beyond measure,
 
 TWUbrary 
 
 of the
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 '.'t'.'i '. 'i '. v.i'i '. 'i '. '< '. ''.'.' .' Y : i 1 .' v : >'.',' ; i 1 ; >' : .' ; \< : >' : '.. i' ..I 1 ..' i' 
 
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 )HN Me AULEY PALMER, Gov- 
 ernor 1869-72, was born on 
 Eagle Creek, Scott Co., Ky., 
 Sept. 13, 1817. During his in- 
 fancy, his father, who had been 
 a soldier in the war of 1812, re- 
 moved to Christian Co., Ky., 
 where lands were cheap. Here 
 the future Governor of the great 
 Prairie State spent his childhood 
 and received such meager school- 
 ing as the new and sparsely set- 
 tled country afforded. To this 
 he added materially by diligent 
 reading, for which he evinced an 
 eaily aptitude. His father, an ardent Jackson man, 
 was also noted for his anti-slavery sentiments, which 
 he thoroughly impressed upon his children. In 1831 
 he emigrated to Illinois, settling in Madison County. 
 Here the labor of improving a farm was pursued for 
 about two years, when the death of Mr. Palmer's 
 mother broke up the family. About this time Alton 
 College was opened, on the "manual labor " system, 
 and in the spring of 1834 young Palmer, with his 
 elder brother, Elihu, entered this school and remained 
 1 8 months. Next, for over three years, he tried 
 variously coopering, peddling and school-teaching. 
 
 During the summer of 1838 he formed the ac- 
 quaintance of Stephen A. Douglas, then making his 
 
 first canvass for Congress. Young, eloquent and in 
 political accord with Mr. Palmer, he won his confi- 
 dence, fired his ambition and fixed his purpose. The 
 following winter, while teaching near Canton, he be- 
 gan to devote his spare time to a desultory reading 
 of la iv, and in the spring entered a law office at Car- 
 linville, making his home with his elder brother, 
 Elihu. (The latter was a learned clergyman, of con- 
 siderable orginality of thought and doctrine.) On 
 the next meeting of the Supreme Court he was ad- 
 mitted to the Bar, Douglas being one of his examiners. 
 He was not immediately successful in his profession, 
 and would have located elsewhere than Carlinville 
 had he the requisite means. Thus his early poverty 
 was a blessing in disguise, for to it he now attributes 
 the success of his life. 
 
 From 1839 on, while he diligently pursued his 
 profession, he participated more or less in local 
 politics. In 1843 he became Probate Judge. In 
 1847 he was elected to the State Constitutional Con 
 vention, where he took a leading part. In 1852 IK 
 was elected to the State Senate, and at the special 
 session of February, 1854, true to the anti-slaverj 
 sentiments bred in him, he took a firm stand in op 
 position to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
 and when the Nebraska question became a party 
 issue he refused to receive a re-nomination for th< 
 Senatorship at the hands of the Democracy, issuin; 
 a circular to that effect. A few weeks afterward.
 
 j68 
 
 JOHN MC AULEY PALMER. 
 
 however, hesitating to break with his party, he par- 
 ticipated in a Congressional Convention which nomi- 
 T. L. Harris against Richard Yates, and which 
 unqualifiedly approved the principles of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska act. But later in the campaign he made 
 the plunge, ran for the Senate as an Anti-Nebraska 
 Democrat, and was elected. The following winter 
 he put in nomination for the ^United States Senate 
 Mr. Trumbull, and was one of the five steadfast men 
 who voted for him until all the Whigs came to their 
 support and elected their man. 
 
 In 1856 he was Chairman of the Republican State 
 Convention at Bloomington. He ran for Congress in 
 1859, but was defeated. In 1860 he was Republican 
 Presidential Elector for the State at large. In 1861 
 he was appointed one of the five Delegates (all Re- 
 publicans) sent by Illinois to the peace congress at 
 Washington. 
 
 When the civil conflict broke out, he offered his 
 services to his country, and was elected Colonel of the 
 :4th 111. Vol. Inf., and participated in the engagements 
 at Island No. 10; at Fartr.ington, where he skillfully 
 extricated his command from a dangerous position ; 
 at Stone River, where his division for several hours, 
 Dec. 31, 1862, held the advance and stood like a 
 rock, and for his gallantry there he was made Major 
 General; at Chickamauga, where his and Van Cleve's 
 divisions for two hours maintained their position 
 when they were cut off by overpowering numbers. 
 Under Gen. Sherman, he was assigned to the i4th 
 Army Corps and participated in the Atlanta campaign. 
 At Peach-Tree Creek his prudence did much to avert 
 disaster. In February, 1865, Gen. Palmer was as- 
 signed to the military administration of Kentucky, 
 which was a delicate post. That State was about 
 half rebel and half Union, and those of the latter 
 element were daily fretted by the loss of their slaves. 
 He, who had been bred to the rules of common law, 
 trembled at the contemplation of his extraordinary 
 power over the persons and property of his fellow 
 men, with which he was vested in his capacity as 
 military Governor ; and he exhibited great caution in 
 the execution of the duties of his post. 
 
 Gen. Palmer was nominated for Governor of Illi- 
 nois by the Republican State Convention which met 
 at^Peoru May 6, 1868, and his nomination would 
 probably have been made by acclamation had he not 
 persistently declared that he could not accept a can- 
 
 didature for the office. The result of the ensuing 
 election gave Mr. Palmer a majority of 44,707 over 
 John R. Eden, the Democratic nominee. 
 
 Oa the mseting of the Legislature in January, 
 1869, the first thing to arrest public attention was 
 that portion of the Governor's message which took 
 broad Slate's rights ground. This and some minor 
 points, which were more in keeping with the Demo- 
 cratic sentiment, constituted the entering wedge f jr 
 the criticisms and reproofs he afterward received 
 from the Republican party, and ultimately resulted 
 in his entire aleniation from the latter element. The 
 Legislature just referred to was noted for the intro- 
 duction of numerous bills in the interest of private 
 parties, which were embarrassing to the Governor. 
 Among the public acts passed was that which limited 
 railroad charges for passenger Iravel to a maximum 
 of three cents per mile ; and it was passed over the 
 Governor's veto. Also, they passed, over his veto, 
 the "tax-grabbing law" to pay r^.ilrocd subscriptions, 
 the Chicago Lake Front bill, etc. The new State 
 Constitution of 1870, far superior to the old, was a 
 peaceful " revolution" which took place during Gov. 
 Palmer's term of office. The suffering caused by the 
 great Chicago Fire of October, 187 1, was greatly 
 alleviated by the prompt responses of his excellency. 
 
 Since the expiration of Gov. Palmers's term, he has 
 been somewhat prominent in Illinois politics, and 
 has been talked of by many, especially in the Dem- 
 ocratic party, as the best man in the State for a 
 United States Senator. His business during life has 
 been that of the law. Few excel him in an accurate 
 appreciation of the depth and scope of its principles. 
 The great number of his able veto messages abun- 
 dantly testify not only this but also a rare capacity to 
 point them out. He is a logical and cogent reasoner 
 and an interesting, forcible and convincing speaker, 
 though not fluent or ornate. Without brilliancy, his 
 dealings are rather with facts and ideas than with 
 appeals to passions and prejudices. He is a patriot 
 and a statesman of very high order. Physically he is 
 above the medium height, of robust frame, ruddy 
 complexion and sanguine-nervous temperament. He 
 has a large cranial development, is vivacious, social 
 in disposition, easy of approach, unostentatious in his 
 habits of life, democratic in his habits and manners 
 and is a true American in his fundamental principle.' 
 of statesmanship.
 
 Tk Library 
 
 of the 
 Unvrtlty ol
 
 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 I: '' ' ''W.-i'-"' 1 -.-'' .j'^j- ' ' . -' .' .- .' ; ' .' ' <:. '.'. .'.-.' '. '. < '. '. '. ;. '. '. '. '- '..'. ."''.-.'. ' ''i: 
 
 OHN LOWRiE BEVER- 
 IDGE, Governor 187 3-6, was 
 born in the town of Green- 
 wich, Washington Co., N. Y., 
 July 6, 1824. His parents 
 j|l* were George and Ann Bever- 
 idge. His father's parents, An- 
 drew and Isabel Beveridge, be- 
 fore their marriage emigrated 
 from Scotland just before the 
 Revolutionary War, settling in 
 Washington County. His father 
 was the eldest of eight brothers, the 
 youngest of whom was 60 years of 
 age when the first one of the num- 
 ber died. His mother's parents, 
 James and Agnes Hoy, emigrated 
 from Scotland at the close of the 
 Revolutionary War, settling also in 
 Washington Co., N. Y., with their 
 first-born, whose " native land "was 
 the wild ocean. His parents and 
 grandparents lived beyond the time 
 allotted to man, their average age 
 being over 80 years. They belonged to the "Asso- 
 ciate Church," a seceding Presbyterian body of 
 
 America from the old Scotch school ; and so rig'd 
 was the training of young Beveridge that he never 
 heard a sermon from any other minister except that 
 of his own denomination until he was in his igth 
 year. Later in life he became a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, which relation he still 
 holds. 
 
 Mr. Beveridge received a good common-school ed- 
 ucation, but his parents, who could obtain a livelihood 
 only by rigid economy and industry, could not send 
 him away to college. He was raised upon a farm, 
 and was in his i8th year when the family removed 
 to De Kalb County, this State, when that section was 
 very sparsely settled. Chicago had less than 7,000 
 inhabitants. In this wild West he continued as a 
 farm laborer, teaching school during the winter 
 months to supply the means of an education. In the 
 fall of 1842 he attended one term at the academy at 
 Granville, Putnam Co., 111., and subsequently several 
 terms at the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, 
 Ogle Co., 111., completing the academic course. At 
 this time, the fall of 1845, his parents and brothers 
 were anxious to have him go to college, even though 
 he had not money sufficient; but, n ,t willing to bur- 
 den the family, he packed his trunk and with only 
 $40 in money started South to seek his fortune
 
 JOHN L. BE VE RIDGE. 
 
 Poor, alone, without friends and influence, he thus 
 entered upon the battle of life. 
 
 First, he taught school in Wilson, Overton and 
 Jackson Cos., Tenn., in which experience he under- 
 went considerable mental drill, both in book studies 
 and in the ways of the world. He read law and was 
 admitted to the Bar, in the South, but did not learn 
 to love the institution of slavery, although he ad- 
 mired many features of Southern character. In De- 
 cember, 1847, he returned North, and Jan. 20, 1848, 
 he married Miss Helen M. Judson, in the old Clark- 
 Street M. E. church in Chicago, her father at that 
 time being Pastor of the society there. In the spring 
 of 1848 he returned with his wife to Tennessee, 
 where his two children, Alia May and Philo Judson, 
 were born. 
 
 In the fall of 1849, through the mismanagement 
 of an associate, he lost what little he had accumu- 
 lated and was left in debt. He soon managed to 
 earn means to pay his debts, returned to De Kalb 
 Co., 111., and entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession at Sycamore, the county seat. On arrival 
 from the South he had but one-quarter of a dollar in 
 money, and scanty clothing and bedding for himself 
 and family. He borrowed a little money, practiced 
 iaw, worked in public offices, kept books for some of 
 the business men of the town, and some railroad en- 
 gineering, till the spring of 1854, when he removed 
 to Evanston, 1 2 miles north of Chicago, a place then 
 but recently laid out, under the supervision of the 
 Northwestern University, a Methodist institution. 
 Of the latter his father-in-law was then financial 
 agent and business manager. Here Mr. Beveridge 
 prospered, and the next year (1855) opened a law 
 office in Chicago, where he found the battle some- 
 what hard; but he persevered with encouragement 
 and increasing success; 
 
 Aug. 12, 1861, his law partner, Gen. John F. 
 Farnsworth, secured authority to raise a regiment of 
 cavalry, and authorized Mr. Beveridge to raise a 
 company for it. He succeeded in a few days in rais- 
 ing the company, of course enlisting himself along 
 with it. The regiment rendezvoused at St. Charles, 
 111., was mustered in Sept. 1 8, and on its organiza- 
 tion Mr. B. was elected Second Major. It was at- 
 tached, Oct. n, to the Eighth Cavalry and to the 
 Army of the Potomac. He served with the regiment 
 until November, 1863, participating in some 40 bat- 
 
 tles and skirmishes : was at Fair Oaks, the seven days 
 fight, around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- 
 ville and Gettysburg. He commanded the regiment 
 the greaterpart of the summer of 1863, and it was while 
 lying in camp this year that he originated the policy 
 of encouraging recruits as well as" the fighting capac- 
 ity of the soldiery, by the wholesale furlough system. 
 It worked so well that many other officers adopted 
 it. In the fall of this year he recruited another com- 
 pany, against heavy odds, in January, 1864, was 
 commissioned Colonel of the I7th 111. Cav., and 
 skirmished around in Missouri, concluding with the 
 reception of the surrender of Gen. Kirby Smith's 
 army in Arkansas. In 1865 he commanded various 
 sub-districts in the Southwest. He was mustered 
 out Feb. 6, 1866, safe from the casualties of war and 
 a stouter man than when he first enlisted. His men 
 idolized him. 
 
 He then returned to Chicago, to practice law, with 
 no library and no clientage, and no political experi- 
 ence except to help others into office. In the fall of 
 1866 he was elected Sheriff of Cook County, serving 
 one term; next, until November, 1870, he practiced 
 law and closed up the unfinished business of his 
 office. He was then elected State Senator; in No- 
 vember, 1871, he was elected Congressman at large; 
 in November, 1872, he was elected Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor on the ticket with Gov. Oglesby; the latter be- 
 ing elected to the U. S. Senate, Mr. Beveridge became 
 Governor, Jan. 21, 1873. Thus, inside of a few 
 weeks, he was Congressman at large, Lieutenant 
 Governor and Governor. The principal events oc- 
 curring during Gov. Beveridge's administration were: 
 The completion of the revision of the statutes, begun 
 in 1869; the partial success of the "farmers' move- 
 ment;" " Haines' Legislature " and Illinois' exhibit at 
 the Centennial. 
 
 Since the close of his gubernatorial term ex-Gov. 
 Beveridge has been a member of the firm of Bever- 
 idge & Dewey, bankers and dealers in commercial 
 paper at 71 Dearborn Street (McCormick Block), 
 Chicago, and since November, 1881, he has also been 
 Assistant United States Treasurer' office in the 
 Government Building. His residence is still at Ev- 
 anston. 
 
 He has a brother and two sisters yet residing in 
 De Kalb County James H. Beveridge, Mrs. Jennet 
 Henry and Mrs. Isabel French.
 
 TWUbnry 
 
 f the

 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 HELBY M. CULLOM, Gover- 
 nor 1877-83, ib the sixth child 
 of the late Richard N. Cullom, 
 and was bom Nov. 22, 1829, in 
 Wayne Co., Ky., where his fa- 
 ther then resided, and whence 
 both the Illinois and Tennessee 
 branches of the family originated. In 
 the following year the family emi- 
 grated to the vicinity of Washington, 
 Tazewell Co., 111., when that section 
 was very sparsely settled. They lo- 
 cated on Deer Creek, in a grove at 
 the time occupied by a party of In- 
 dians, attracted there by the superior 
 hunting and fishing afforded in that 
 vicinity. The following winter was 
 known as the " hard winter," the snow ^being very 
 deep and lasting and the weather severely cold; and 
 the family had to subsist mainly on boiled corn or 
 hominy, and some wild game, for several weeks. In 
 the course of time Mr. R. N. Cullom became a prom- 
 inent citizen and was several times elected to the 
 Legislature, both before and after the removal of the 
 capital from Vandalia to Springfield. He died about 
 8?3- 
 
 Until about 19 years of age young Cullom grew up 
 
 to agricultural pursuits, attending school as he had 
 
 ipportunity during the winter. Within this time, 
 
 ov/ever, he spent several months teachin" school. 
 
 and in the following summer he "broke prairie "with 
 an ox team for the neighbors, With the money ob- 
 tained by these various ventures, he undertook a 
 course of study at the Rock River Seminary, a 
 Methodist institution at Mt. Morris, Ogle County; 
 but the sudden change to the in-door life of a stu- 
 dent told severely upon his health, and he was taken 
 home, being considered in a hopelesa condition. While 
 at Mt. Morris he heard Hon. E. B. Washburne make 
 his first speech. 
 
 On recovering health, Mr. Cullom concluded to 
 study law, under the instruction of Abraham Lincoln, 
 at Springfield, who had by this time attained some 
 notoriety as an able lawyer; but the latter, being ab- 
 sent from his office most of the time, advised Mr. 
 Cullom to enter the office of Stuart & Edwards. 
 After about a year of study there, however, his health 
 failed again, and he was obliged to return once more 
 to out-door life. Accordingly he bought hogs for 
 packing, for A. G. Tyng, in 1'eoria, and while he re- 
 gained his health he gained in purse, netting $400 in 
 a few weeks. Having been admitted to the Bar, he 
 went to Springfield, where he was soon elected City 
 Attorney, on the Anti-Nebraska ticket. 
 
 In 1856 he ran on the Fillmore ticket as a Presi- 
 dential Elector, and, although failing to be elected as 
 such, he was at the same time elected a Representa- 
 tive in the Legislature from Sangamon County, by a 
 local coalition of the American and Republican par- 
 ties. On the organization of the House, he received 
 the vote of the Fillmore men for Speaker. Practicing
 
 i 7 6 
 
 SHELB Y M. CULLOM. 
 
 law until 1 860, he was again elected to the Legisla- 
 ture, as a Republican, while the county went Demo- 
 cratic on the Presidential ticket. In January follow- 
 ing he was elected Speaker, probably the youngest 
 man who had ever presided over an Illinois Legis- 
 lature. After the session of 1 86 1, he was a candidate 
 for the State Constitutional Convention called for 
 that year, but was defeated, and thus escaped the 
 disgrace of being connected with that abortive party 
 scheme to revolutionize the State Government. In 
 1862 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but 
 was defeated. The same year, however, he was ap- 
 pointed by President Lincoln on a Government 
 Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of 
 Massachusetts and Cnarles A. Dana, since of the 
 New York Sun, to investigate the affairs of the 
 Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments at 
 Cairo. He devoted several months to this duty. 
 
 In 1864 he enteied upon a larger political field, 
 being nominated as the Republican candidate for 
 Congress from the Eighth (Springfield) District, in 
 opposition to the incumbent, JohnT. Stuart, who had 
 been elected in 1862 by about 1,500 majority over 
 Leonard Swett, then of Bloomington, now of Chicago. 
 The result was the election of Mr. Cullom in Novem- 
 ber following by a majority of 1,785. In 1866 he 
 was re-elected to Congress, over Dr. E. S. Fowler, by 
 the magnificent majority of 4,103! In 1868 he was 
 again a candidate, defeating the Hon. B. S. Edwards, 
 another of his old preceptors, by 2,884 votes. 
 
 During his first term in Congress he served on the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs and Expenditures in 
 the Treasury Department; in his second term, on 
 the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Territories ; 
 arid in his third term he succeeded Mr. Ashley, of 
 Ohio, to the Chairmanship of the latter.. He intro- 
 duced a bill in the House, to aid in the execution of 
 law in Utah, which caused more consternation among 
 the Mormons than any measure had previously, but 
 which, though it passed the House, failed to pass the 
 Senate. 
 
 The Republican Convention which met May 25, 
 1876, nominated Mr. Cullom for Governor, while the 
 other contestant was Gov. Beveridge. For Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor they nominated Andrew Shuman, editor 
 of the Chicago Journal. For the same offices the 
 Democrats, combining with the Anti-Monopolists, 
 olaced in nomination Lewis Steward, a wealthy 
 
 farmer and manufacturer, and A. A. Glenn. The 
 result of the election was rather close, Mr. Cullom 
 obtaining only 6,800 majority. He was inaugurated 
 Jan. 8, 1877. 
 
 Great depression prevailed in financial circles at 
 this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of 
 1873 and afterward, the effect of which had seemed 
 to gather force from that time to the end of Gov. 
 Cullom's first administration. This unspeculative 
 period was not calculated to call forth any new 
 issues, but the Governor's energies were at one time I 
 put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that ) 
 had been begun in Pittsburg, Pa., among the laboring 
 classes, and transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East 
 St. Louis and Braidwood, at which places laboring 
 men for a short time refused to work or allow others 
 to work. These disturbances were soon quelled and 
 the wheels of industry again set in motion. 
 
 In May, 1880, Gov. Cullom was re-nominated by ] 
 the Republicans, against Lyman Trumbull, by the 
 Democrats; and although the former party was some- I 
 what handicapped in the campaign by a zealous ; 
 faction opposed to Grant for President and to Grant 
 men for office generally, Mr. Cullom was re-elected 
 by about 314,565, to 277,532 for the Democratic State 
 ticket. The Greenback vote at the same time was 
 about 27,000. Both Houses of the Legislature again 
 became Republican, and no representative of the 
 Greenback or Socialist parties were elected. Gov. 
 Cullom was inaugurated Jan. 10, iS8i. In his mes- 1 
 sage he announced that the last dollar of the State j 
 debt had been provided for. 
 
 March 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United 
 States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul- 
 lo n was chosen to succeed him. This promoted 
 Lisutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- 
 ernorship. Senator Cullom's tenn in the United 
 States Senate will expire March 4, 1889. 
 
 A.S a practitioner of law Mr. C. has been a member 
 of the firm of Cullom, Scholes & Mather, at Spring- 
 field; and he has also been President of the State 
 National Bank. 
 
 He has been married twice, the first time Dec. 
 ii!, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had 
 tv*o daughters; and the second time May 5, 1863, 
 to Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is p, member of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr. 
 C. is also in sympathy.
 
 Tfet librae, 
 f the 
 
 Of HlllHN.
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 OHN MARSHALL HAMIL- 
 TON, Governor 1883-5, was 
 born May 28, 1847, in a log 
 house upon a farm about two 
 miles from Richwood, Union 
 County, Ohio. His father was 
 Samuel Hamilton, the eldest son 
 of Rev. Wm. Hamilton, who, to- 
 gether with his brother, the Rev. 
 Samuel Hamilton, was among the 
 early pioneer Methodist preachers in 
 Ohio. The mother of the subject of 
 this sketch was, before her marriage, 
 Mrs. Nancy McMorris, who was 
 born and raised in Fauquier or Lou- 
 doun County, Va., and related to the 
 two large families of Youngs and Marshalls, well 
 known in that commonwealth ; and from the latter 
 family name was derived the middle name of Gov. 
 Hamilton. 
 
 In March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton's father sold out 
 his little pioneer forest home in Union County, O., 
 and, loading his few household effects and family 
 (of six children) into two emigrant covered wagons, 
 moved to Roberts Township, Marshall Co., 111., being 
 2 1 days on the route. Swamps, unbridged streams 
 and innumerable hardships and privations met them 
 on their way. Their new home had been previously 
 selected by the father. Here, after many long years 
 of toil, they succeeded in paying for the land and 
 ./taking a comfort^''' home. John was, of course, 1 
 
 brought up to hard manual labor, with no schooling 
 except three or four months in the year at a common 
 country school. However, he evinced a capacity 
 and taste for a high order of self-education, by 
 studying or reading what books he could borrow, as 
 the family had but very few in the house. Much of 
 his study he prosecuted by the light of a log fire in 
 the old-fashioned chimney place. The financial 
 panic of 1857 caused the family to come near losing 
 their home, to pay debts ; but the father and two 
 sons, William and John, "buckled to" and perse- 
 vered in hard labor and economy until they redeemed 
 their place from the mortgage. 
 
 When the tremendous excitement of the political 
 campaign of 1860 reached the neighborhood of Rob- 
 erts Township, young Hamilton, who had been 
 brought up in the doctrine of anti-slavery, took a zeal- 
 ous part in favor of Lincoln's election. Making special 
 efforts to procure a little money to buy a uniform, he 
 joined a company of Lincoln Wide-Awakes at Mag- 
 nolia, a village not far away. Directly after the 
 ensuing election it became evident that trouble 
 would ensue with the South, and this Wide-Awake 
 company, like many others throughout the country, 
 kept up its organization and transformed itself into a 
 military company. During the ensuing summer they 
 met often for drill and became proficient ; but when 
 they offered themselves for the war, young Hamilton 
 was rejected on account of his youth, he being then 
 but 14 years of age. During the winter of 1863-4 he 
 attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County,
 
 JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON. 
 
 and in the following May he again enlisted, for the 
 fourth time, when he was placed in the i4ist I'll. 
 Vol. Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, 111., 
 for the too-day service. He took with him 13 other 
 lads from his neighborhood, for enlistment in the 
 service. This regiment operated in Southwestern 
 Kentucky, for about five months, under Gen. Paine, 
 
 The following winter, 1864-5, Mr - Hamilton taught 
 school, and during the two college years 1865-7, he 
 went through three years of the curriculum of the 
 Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. The 
 third year he graduated, the fourth in a class of 46, 
 in the classical department. In due time he received- 
 the degree of M. A. For a few months he was the 
 Principal of Marshall " College " at Henry, an acad- 
 emy under the auspices of the M. E. Church. By 
 this time he had commenced the study of law, and 
 after earning some money as a temporary Professor 
 of Latin at the Illinois Wesleyan University at 
 Bloomington, he entered the law office of Weldon, 
 Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of 
 this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. 
 Admitted to the Bar in May, 1870, Mr. Hamilton 
 was given an interest in the same firm, Tipton hav- 
 ing been elected Judge. In October following he 
 formed a partnership with J. H. Rowell, at that time 
 Prosecuting Attorney. Their business was then 
 small, but they increased it to very large proportions, 
 practicing in all grades of courts, including even the 
 U. S. Supreme Court, and this partnership continued 
 nbroken until Feb. 6, 1883, when Mr. Hamilton 
 Fas sworn in as Executive of Illinois. On the 4th 
 f March following Mr. Rowell took his seat in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 In July, 1871, Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen 
 M. Williams, the daughter of Prof. Wm. G. Williams, 
 professor of Greek in the Ohio Wejleyan University. 
 Mr. and Mrs. H. have two daughters and one son. 
 
 In 1876 Mr. Hamilton was nominated by the Re- 
 publicans for the State Senate, over other and older 
 competitors. He took an active part " on the stump " 
 in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was 
 elected by a majority of 1,640 over his Democratic- 
 Greenback opponent. In the Senate he served on 
 the Committees on Judiciary, Revenue, State Insti- 
 tutions, Appropriations, Education, and on Miscel- 
 lany ; and during the contest for the election of a 
 U. S. Senator, the Republicans endeavoring to re- 
 
 elect John A. Logan, he voted for the war chief on 
 every ballot, even alone when all the other Republi- 
 cans had gone over to the Hon. E. B. Lawrence and 
 the Democrats and Independents elected Judg? 
 David Davis. At this session, also, was passed the 
 first Board of Health and Medical Practice act, of 
 which Mr. Hamilton was a champion, agair.c, :o> 
 much opposition that the bill was several times 
 " laid on the table." Also, this session authorized 
 the location and establishment of a southern peni- 
 tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the session 
 of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President pro tern. 
 of the Senate, and was a zealous supporter of John 
 A. Logan for the U. S. Senate, who was this time 
 elected without any trouble. 
 
 In May, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was nominated on 
 the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, his 
 principal competitors before the Convention being 
 Hon. Wm. A. James, ex-Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives, Judge Robert Bell, of ^abash 
 County, Hon. T. T. Fountain, of Perry County, and 
 Hon. M. M. Saddler, of Marion County. Reengaged 
 actively in the campaign, and his ticket was elected 
 by a majority of 41,200. As Lieutenant Governor, 
 he presided almost continuously over the Senate in 
 the 32d General Assembly and during the early days 
 of the 33d, until he succeeded to the Governorship. 
 When the Legislature of 1883 elected Gov. Cullom 
 to the United States Senate, Lieut. Gov. Hamilton 
 succeeded him, under the Constitution, taking the 
 oath of office Feb. 6, 1883. He bravely met all the 
 annoyances and embarrassments incidental upon 
 taking up another's administration. The principal 
 events with which Gov. Hamilton was connected as 
 the Chief Executive of the State were, the mine dis- 
 aster at Braidwood, the riots in St. Clairand Madison 
 Counties in May, 1883, the appropriations for the 
 State militia, the adoption of the Harper high-license 
 liquor law, the veto of a dangerous railroad bill, etc. 
 
 The Governor was a Delegate at large to the 
 National Republican Convention at Chicago in June, 
 
 1884, where his first choice for President was John 
 A. Logan, and second choice Chester A. Arthur; but 
 he afterward zealously worked for the election of Mr. 
 Elaine, true to his party. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton's term a* Governor expired Jan. 30, 
 
 1885, when the great favorite " Dick " Oglesby was 
 inaugurated.
 
 Tit library 
 of the 
 of (HIM,,
 
 
 
 t f
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 SEPH WILSON FIFER. This 
 distinguished gentleman was 
 elected Governor of Illinois 
 November 6, 1888. He was 
 popularly known during the 
 campaign as "Private Joe." He 
 had served with great devotion 
 to his country during the Re- 
 bellion, in the Thirty-third 
 Illinois Infantry. A native of 
 Virginia, lie was born in 1840. 
 His parents, John and Mary 
 (Daniels) Fifer, were American 
 born, though of German de- 
 scent. His father was a brick 
 and stone mason, and an old 
 Henry Clay Whig in polities. John and Mary 
 Fifer had nine children, of whom Joseph was the 
 sixth, and naturally, with so large a family, it was 
 all the father could do to keep the wolf from the 
 door, to say nothing of giving his children any- 
 thing like good educational advantages. 
 
 Joseph attended school for a while in Virgina, 
 but it was not a good school, and when his father 
 removed to the West, in 1857, Joseph had not ad- 
 vanced much further than the "First Reader." 
 Our subject was sixteen then and suffered a great 
 misfortune in the loss of his mother. After the 
 
 death of Mrs. Fifer, which occurred in Missouri, 
 the family returned to Virgina, but remained only 
 a short time, as during the same year Mr. Fifer 
 came to Illinois. He settled in McLean County 
 and started a brickyard. Here Joseph and his 
 brothers were put to work. The elder Mr. Fifer soon 
 bought a farm near Bloomington and began life 
 as an agriculturist. Here Joe worked and attended 
 the neighboring school. He alternated farm- work, 
 and brick-laying, going to the district school for 
 the succeeding few years. It was all work and no 
 play for Joe, yet it by no means made a dull boy 
 of him. All the time he was thinking of the great 
 world outside, of which he had caught a glimpse 
 when coming from Virginia, yet he did not know 
 just how he was going to get out into it. He 
 could not feel that the woods around the new farm 
 and the log cabin, in which the family lived, were 
 to hold him. 
 
 The opportunity to get out into the world was 
 soon offered to young Joe. He traveled a dozen 
 miles barefoot, in company with his brother George, 
 and enlisted in Company C, Thirty-third Illinois 
 Infantry, he being then twenty years old. In a 
 few days, the regiment was sent to Camp Butler, 
 and then over into Missouri, and saw some vigor- 
 ous service there. After a second time helping to 
 chase Price out of Missouri, the Thirty-third Regi-
 
 184 
 
 JOSEPH W. FIFER. 
 
 ment went down to Milliken's Bend, and for several 
 weeks "Private Joe" worked on Grant's famous 
 ditch. The regiment then joined the forces oper- 
 ating against Port Gibson and Vicksburg. Joe 
 was on guard duty in the front ditches when the 
 flag of surrender was run up on the 4th of July, 
 and stuck the bayonet of his gun into the embank- 
 ment and went into the city with the vanguard of 
 Union soldiers. 
 
 The next day, July 5, the Thirty-third joined 
 the force after Johnston, who had been threatening 
 Grant's rear; and finally an assault was made on him 
 at Jackson, Miss. In this charge "Private Joe" fell, 
 terribly wounded. He was loading his gun, when 
 a minie-ball struck him and passed entirely 
 through his body. He was regarded as mortally 
 wounded. His brother, George, who had been 
 made a Lieutenant, proved to be the means of sav- 
 ing his life. The Surgeon told him that unless he 
 had ice his brother could not live. It was fifty miles 
 to the nearest point where ice could be obtained, 
 and the roads were rough. A comrade, a McLean 
 County man, who had been wounded, offered to 
 make the trip. An ambulance was secured and 
 the brother soldier started on the journey. He re- 
 turned with the ice, but the trip, owing to the 
 roughness of the road, was very hard on him. Af- 
 ter a few months' careful nursing, Mr. Fifer was able 
 to come home. The Thirty-third came home on a 
 furlough, and when the boys were ready to return 
 to the tented field, young Fifer was ready to go 
 with them , for he was determined to finish his 
 term of three years. He was mustered out in Oct- 
 ober, 1864, having been in the service three years 
 and two months. 
 
 "Private Joe" came out of the army a tall, tan- 
 ned, and awkward young man of twenty-four. 
 About all he possessed was ambition to be some- 
 body and pluck. Though at an age when most 
 men have finished their college course, the young 
 soldier saw that if he was to be anybody he must 
 have an education. Yet he had no means to ena- 
 ble him to enter school as most young men do. 
 He was determined to have an education, however, 
 and that to him meant success. For the following 
 four years he struggled with his books. He en- 
 
 tered Wesleyan University January 1, 1865. He 
 was not a brilliant student, being neither at the 
 head nor at the foot of his class. He was in great 
 earnest, however, studied hard and came forth with 
 a well-stored and disciplined mind. 
 
 Immediately after being graduated, he entered 
 an office at Bloomington as a law student. He 
 had previously read law a little, and as he continued 
 to work hard, with the spur of poverty and prompt- 
 ings of ambition ever with him, he was ready to 
 hang out his professional shingle in 1869. Being 
 trustworthy, he soon gathered about him some in- 
 fluential friends. In 1871 he was elected Corpora- 
 tion Counsel of Bloomington. In 1872 he was 
 elected State's Attorney of McLean County. This 
 office he held eight years, when he took his seat in 
 the State Senate. He served for four years. His 
 ability to perform abundance of hard work made 
 him a most valued member of the Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Fifer was married in 1870 to Gertie, daugh- 
 ter of William J. Lewis, of Bloomington. Mr. Fifer 
 is six feet i n height and is spare, weigh! ng only one 
 hundred and fifty pounds. He has a swarthy com- 
 plexion, keen black eyes, quick movement, and pos- 
 sesses a frank and sympathetic nature, and natur- 
 lly makes friends wherever he goes. During the 
 late gubernatorial campaign his visits throughout 
 the State proved a great power in his behalf. His 
 faculty of winning the confidence and good wishes 
 of those with whom he comes in personal contact 
 is a source of great popularity, especially during a 
 political battle. As a speaker he is fluent, his lan- 
 guage is good, voice clear and agreeable, and man- 
 ner forcible. His manifest earnestness in what he 
 says, as well as his tact as a public speaker, and his 
 eloquent and forceful language, make him a most 
 valuable campaign orator and a powerful pleader 
 at the bar. At the Republican State Convention, 
 held in May, 1888, Mr. Fifer was chosen as its 
 candidate for Governor. He proved a popular 
 nominee, and the name of "Private Joe" became 
 familiar to everyone throughout the State. He 
 waged a vigorous campaign, was elected by a good 
 majority, and in due time assumed the duties of 
 the Chief Executive of Illinois.
 
 !* Library 
 
 of the 
 of Iflh
 
 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 I 1 . 
 
 )HN P. ALTGELD, the present 
 Governor of Illinois, is a native 
 of Prussia, born in 1848. Shortly 
 after his birth his parents emi- 
 grated to America, locating on 
 a farm near Mansfield, Ohio. 
 When but a mere lad, young 
 Altgeld had to walk from the 
 farm to Mansfield with butter, 
 eggs and garden produce, which 
 he peddled from house to house. 
 About 1856, his parents moved 
 to the city of Mansfield, and for 
 a time our subject was engaged 
 morning and evening in driv- 
 ing cattle to and from the pas- 
 ture, a distance of eight miles. When fourteen 
 years of age he hired out as a farm hand, and con- 
 tinued in that avocation the greater part of his 
 time until he was sixteen years of age, when he 
 enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Sixty- 
 fourth Ohio Infantry, and served until the close of 
 the war. On being mustered in, the regiment was 
 sent to Washington and was actively engaged in 
 the various campaigns in and around that city 
 until the surrender of Lee. In the fall of 1864, 
 young Altgeld was taken sick, while with his regi- 
 ment in the front, and the surgeon desired to send 
 him to a hospital iu Washington; but he asked to 
 
 be allowed to remain with the regiment, and soon 
 recovering from his sickness was actively engaged 
 until the close of the war. He was mustered out 
 at Columbus, Ohio, in the spring of 1865. The 
 succeeding summer he worked with his father on 
 a farm, during which time he became connected 
 with the Sunday-school and was given charge <)i 
 the Bible class. Before entering the army he had 
 but very limited educational advantages, having 
 attended school but a part of two summers and 
 one winter. He had at home, however, studied 
 the German language and had become familiar 
 with some German authors. Determining to fit 
 himself for a useful life, he resolved to attend a 
 select school at Lexington, Ohio, and in a little 
 eight-by-ten room, meagrely furnished, he kept 
 "bachelor's hall," and in time was so far advanced 
 that he secured a certificate as teacher, and for 
 two years was engaged in that profession. At the 
 end of that time he left home and traveled exten- 
 sively over the country, working at odd jobs, un- 
 til he finally reached Savannah, Mo., where he en- 
 tered a law office, and in 1870 was admitted to the 
 Bar. In the fall of 1872, he ran as .. rosecuting 
 Attorney for Andrews County, Mo., and was de- 
 feated by four votes. He ran again in 1874 and 
 was elected. But life in the small town of Savan- 
 nah was a little too monotonous for him, and he 
 determined to locate in Chicago. In October,
 
 JOHN P. ALTOELD. 
 
 1875, be resigned the office of Prosecuting Attor- 
 ney, moved to Chicago, and at once commenced 
 the practice of law. For some years after he had 
 but little to do with politics, confining himself to 
 his practice and dealing in real estate. One year 
 after his arrival in Chicago he found himself with- 
 out a dollar, and in debt some $400. By a streak of 
 good luck, as it might be termed, he won a case in 
 court, from which he received a fee of $900, and 
 after paying his debt he had $500 left, which he 
 invested in real estate. This venture proved a 
 successful one, and from that time on the profits 
 of one transaction were invested in others, and 
 to-day he is numbered among the millionaire resi- 
 dents of the great metropolis of the West. 
 
 In 1884, Mr. Altgeld was nominated for Con- 
 gress, but was defeated by three thousand votes. 
 In 1886, he was nominated and elected Judge of 
 the Superior Court of Cook County. His services 
 as Judge were such as to commend him to the peo- 
 ple. Early in the year 1892, by the solicitation of 
 
 many friends, he announced himself as a candi- 
 date for Governor. At the convention held 
 April 27, he received the nomination and at once 
 en tered upon an active canvass. Alon e, he traveled 
 all over the en tire State, and visited and consulted 
 with the leading politicians of every section. lie 
 made few public speeches, however, until near the 
 close of the campaign, but it was very evident that 
 he was master of the situation at all times. When 
 the votes were counted at the close of election 
 day, it was found that he had a majority of the 
 votes, and so became the first Democratic Governor 
 of Illinois since 1856. 
 
 Born in poverty, alone, single-handed and un- 
 aided, he faced the world, and with a determina- 
 tion to succeed, he pressed forward, until to-day he 
 has a National reputation, and is the envied of 
 many. The lesson of his life is worthy of careful 
 study by the young, and shows what can be done 
 by one who has the desire in his heart to attain a 
 front rank among the noted men of the country.
 
 CHRISTIAN COUNTY, 
 
 ILLINOIS.
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 JHE time has arrived when it 
 becomes the duty of the 
 people of this county to per- 
 petuate the names of their 
 pioneers, to furnish a record 
 of their early settlement, 
 and relate the story of their 
 progress. The civilization of our 
 day, the enlightenment of the age 
 and the duty that men of the pres- 
 ent time owe to their ancestors, to 
 themselves and to their posterity, 
 demand that a record of their lives 
 and deeds should be made. In bio- 
 graphical history is found a power 
 to instruct man by precedent, to 
 enliven the mental faculties, and 
 to waft down the river of time a 
 safe vessel in which the names and actions of the 
 people who contributed to raise this country from its 
 primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly 
 the great and aged men, who in their prime entered 
 the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their 
 heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- 
 maining who can relate the incidents of the first days 
 of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an 
 actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- 
 vation of events without delay, before all the early 
 settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time. 
 
 To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind 
 from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, 
 in spite of their best works and the most earnest 
 efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of 
 their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion 
 and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- 
 tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. 
 Trn pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the 
 names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- 
 mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from 
 buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people 
 
 to perpetuate the memory of their achievements 
 The erection of the great obelisks were for the same 
 purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the 
 Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- 
 ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their 
 great achievements and carry them down the ages. 
 It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling 
 up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea 
 to leave something to show that they had lived. All 
 these works, though many of them costly in the ex- 
 treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- 
 ters of those whose memory they were intended to 
 perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses o< 
 the people that then lived. < The great pyramids and 
 some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; 
 the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- 
 bling into dust. 
 
 It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- 
 gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating 
 a full history immutable in that it is almost un- 
 limited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and 
 this is through the art of printing. 
 
 To the present generation, however, we are in- 
 debted for the introduction of the admirable system 
 of local biography. By this system every man, thougr 
 he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, 
 has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, 
 through the coming ages. 
 
 The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the 
 physical man is left. The monument which his chil- 
 dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme^ 
 tery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his 
 life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, 
 which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated 
 by a record of this kind. 
 
 To preserve the lineaments of our companions we 
 engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- 
 lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we 
 think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to 
 wait until they are dead, or until those who know 
 them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to 
 publish to the world the history of those whose live? 
 are unworthy of public record.
 
 Til* Library 
 of th 
 0< Illlr
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 &ILLIAM W. ANDERSON, whose name is 
 intimately connected with every interest 
 tending to advance the financial, social or 
 moral condition of the community in which he 
 lives, whose personality is closely interwoven with 
 local affairs, and whose counsel has in many re- 
 spects shaped the course of events in Christian 
 County, is President of the First National Bank 
 of Ta3'lorville and is a prominent figure in many 
 other busness enterprises; besides which he is 
 closely identified witli public affairs and every en- 
 terprise calculated to promote the general welfare. 
 A man of high character, his thousands of warm 
 personal friends will find pleasure in close inspec- 
 tion of the excellent steel engraving of him found 
 in this volume. The pleasant expression of coun- 
 tenance is faithfully reproduced in most artistic 
 lines, and the indication of years of development, 
 of the generous manhood, and of the warmth of 
 friendship and love of right-dealing and justice 
 that have endeared him to every resident of Chris- 
 tian County, are all found preserved in such del- 
 icate and yet permanent form that lapse of time 
 cannot efface them. 
 
 The Anderson family is of Scotch-Irish origin, 
 and was established in the South, probably in Vir- 
 ginia, in early Colonial days. It is known that 
 both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of 
 William W. were soldiers during the memorable 
 struggle for the independence of the Colonies, and 
 that his father, George II. Anderson, served un- 
 der Gen. Jackson in the later conflict with Great 
 
 Britain and was present at the battle of New Or- 
 leans. He was married in Tennessee, not many 
 years after the return of peace, to Miss Nancy- 
 Mann. They soon after migrated to Henderson 
 County, Ky., where they resided for ten years, and 
 where our subject was born October 27, 1825. 
 When he was a lad of five years, the family came 
 to Illinois, and settled two miles east of Hillsboro, 
 Montgomery County. There George Anderson 
 reared his family, developed a comfortable home, 
 and acted his part in the growth of the new coun- 
 try. He was honored by the most responsible 
 local offices of the time, being a man of varied 
 experience, well read for his time, and he is re- 
 membered by the pioneers as a man of generous 
 impulses and strong character. He died at the age 
 ot sixty -one. His widow, a woman whose impress 
 was early stamped upon the minds of her children, 
 survived her husband about twelve years. 
 
 Their family numbered twelve children, of whom 
 William is the sixth in order of birth, and one of 
 four yet living, all residing in this county. The 
 days of his boyhood were noted for their meagre 
 privileges for education, and what education he 
 received was in one of the first log schoolhouses 
 built in Montgomery County. The demands of 
 the farm were such that he was required to assist 
 in the labors of the field when but a lad of nine, 
 and his attention was almost constantly given to 
 home duties until he had reached his seventeenth 
 year. He then entered the employ of Judge Hiram 
 Rountree, of Hillsboro. He remained in the em-
 
 200 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 ploy of Judge Rountree for eight years, first work- 
 ing on the farm, then in the store, and assisting in 
 his office while he was Circuit Clerk of Montgom- 
 ery County. He was married to Miss Nan B. 
 Rountree, a daughter of Judge Rountree, in Aug- 
 ust, 1850. 
 
 The following year they came to Christian 
 County, and Mr. Anderson assumed charge of a 
 farm four miles east of Taylorville. The farm did 
 not satisfy his nature, as his tastes led in the di- 
 rection of mercantile life, he being educated in that 
 direction while in the store of the Judge in Hills- 
 boro. Accordingly, after three years, when har- 
 vests were not sufficiently abundant to satisfy his 
 business sense, he left the farm, removing to Tay- 
 lorville, and we soon find him installed as a sales- 
 man in the dry-goods store of Shumway & Cheney. 
 Mr. Cheney died in January, 1854, and his broth- 
 er-in-law, Albert Sattley, whose figure is still a fa- 
 miliar one on the streets of Taylorville, succeeded 
 to the Cheney interest, and he in turn was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Anderson. The firm of Shum- 
 way <fc Anderson continued for about two 3 r ears, 
 when Mr. Anderson became sole proprietor of the 
 constantly increasing business. He carried an ex- 
 tensive stock of goods, ranging from threshing- 
 machines to the most delicate dress fabrics, as de- 
 manded by the trade of the day. The financial 
 depression of 1857, the worst in American histoiy, 
 coming so soon after his embarkation upon the 
 seas of mercantile life, was a test of business abil- 
 ity that gave him ample opportunity for meeting 
 the many demands incident to hard times. By 
 judicious selection of goods, untiring attention to 
 delinquents, and universal courtesy to patrons, he 
 succeeded in passing through that trying period, 
 and his success was ample proof of his business 
 ability. Henceforth he was considered by all one 
 of the cleverest and most successful merchants of 
 the county. During the succeeding decade his 
 business assumed immense proportions, and his 
 standing, not only among his friends at home, but 
 among the large wholesale houses, was such that 
 it was possible for him to conduct much the larg- 
 est business of any firm in a large radius of 
 territory. 
 
 After fifteen years of close attention to these ex- 
 
 tensive interests, Mr. Anderson disposed of a part 
 of his establishment and placed his brother in 
 charge of the boot and shoe department, thus plac- 
 ing his mercantile interests in shape to admit of 
 his devoting personal attention to another line of 
 business, to which his tastes naturally led him, 
 and which was the logical outgrowth of a suc- 
 cessful career. Accordingly, in the year 1871, 
 he established the banking house of W. W. An- 
 derson & Co., his partner being another one of 
 the most capable business men of Taylorville, D. 
 D. Shumway. The well-known carefulness and 
 ability of the proprietors assured a substantial 
 business, and the confidence of the public was 
 fully accorded the new institution. The partner- 
 ship as indicated continued with most pleasant re- 
 lations for twelve years, when Mr. Shumway re- 
 tired and Mr. Anderson's son, Hiram R., became 
 partner with his father. He was a. young man of 
 brilliant mind, a close student, and a general fav- 
 orite with friends of the bank, who rejoiced to see 
 him advanced in responsible positions. On the 
 1st of November, 1886, the bank passed into its 
 present form, being incorporated as the First Na- 
 tional Bank of Taylorville, with a capital of $75,- 
 000. W. W. Anderson became President; A. L. 
 Augur, of Mt. Auburn, Vice- President; and H. R. 
 Anderson, Cashier. Its Directors were W. W. An- 
 derson, A. L. Augur, J. G. Drennan, N. D. Ricks, 
 Matthew Kavanaugh, John White, R. M. Powel, 
 G. R. Sharp and H. R. Anderson. Of these, Messrs. 
 Sharp, Powel, White and H. R. Anderson are now 
 deceased. The present Board of Directors is com- 
 posed of the following: W. W. Anderson, Presi- 
 dent; A. L. Augur, Vice-President; Mat Kava- 
 naugh, W. M. Pi-ovine, Hiram White, J. N. C. 
 Shumway, J. C. McBride, D. D. Shumway and F. 
 W. Anderson. The latter is the present Cashier, 
 and E. R. Wright is Assistant Cashier. Mr. An- 
 derson began business on his present site in 1871, 
 and carried on operations in his first building un- 
 til 1884, when the present building was erected. 
 The bank is supplied with a McNeale & Urban 
 safe, with the Fowler door attachment, and the 
 other furnishings are complete in all appointments. 
 The First National Bank is a conservative and 
 substantial institution, run on a perfectly safe
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 201 
 
 basis, and is doing a good business, having now a 
 capital and surplus of $100,000. 
 
 Every venture to which Mr. Anderson has de- 
 voted personal attention has prospered to an emi- 
 nent degree, and his foresightedness in making in- 
 vestments have borne out the views that he had 
 formerly advanced. He served for two years as 
 President of the Board of Supervisors. He has 
 had a firm belief in the future of Taylorville, not 
 Only as the county seat and on account of its ex- 
 tensive country trade, but as a coal-producing 
 point, and soon to become a manufacturing center. 
 He has invested largely in business property, and 
 is now owner of one-half the frontage on the 
 south side of the square. He has always advo- 
 cated the advantages of railroad facilities, and 
 was one of the promoters and at one time Direc- 
 tor of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway, which pass- 
 es through the county, giving a direct outlet to 
 the East. He has always taken an interest in, and 
 frequently furthered, legitimate means of building 
 up his home town, and in no little degree to him 
 is owing the present advantages the city enjoys in 
 its excellent system of electric lighting, its water 
 works and its ample hotel accommodations. His 
 means, advice and energy were called upon and 
 freely given when its extensive coal fields were 
 developed, and thus a permanent basis of growth 
 and prosperity was assured to the city. Prosper- 
 ing to an unusual degree, he has been blessed with 
 ample means, which, unlike some moneyed men, 
 he has liberally devoted to progressive uses. A 
 member and Trustee of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, he has been a ready supporter of church 
 interests. A Royal Arch Mason, he is held in high 
 esteem by all brother Masons, though his gifts to 
 charity are not circumscribed by any bounds of 
 fraternal character, for he recognizes the rights 
 and obligations that man owes to man on the 
 broad plane of universal brotherhood. Politically, 
 Mr. Anderson has been a life-long supporter of 
 thii Democratic party, but has preferred to devote 
 his attention to private, rather than to public, 
 business, and hence has never sought honors at the 
 hands of the party. 
 
 Only four years after his marriage, Mr. Anderson 
 was called upon to mourn the death of his com- 
 
 panion, whose only child had died in infancy. 
 This was a blow whose sorrow only years of busi- 
 ness activity could mitigate. When prosperity 
 had come to him, he again felt the need of loving 
 words- and womanly counsel, and in 1860 he made 
 Martha L. Wright, widow of Dr. Wright, of Car- 
 linville, his wife. She was a woman of estimable 
 character, and proved a valuable companion and 
 helpmate on life's journey. She, too, was taken 
 from him after a companionship of nearly a quar- 
 ter of a century, her death occurring August 2, 
 1884, at the age of fifty-four years. Unto them 
 were born five children: Hiram R., who was Cash- 
 ier in the First National Bank, and died September 
 4, 1891, at the age of twenty-nine years; Nannie 
 West, who died in childhood; Fred W., who is 
 now serving as Cashier; Grace E., wife of F. C. 
 Hawley, of the Paddock-Hawley Iron Company, 
 of St. Louis; and Julia W., a young lady of nine- 
 teen, who is now a student in the Auburndale 
 Seminary, of Boston, from which she will graduate 
 in the Class of '94. 
 
 JAMES H. HAYES, who is engaged in the 
 manufacture of brick in Taylorville, began 
 operations here in this line in 1889. He at 
 that time established the business now oper- 
 ated by Hoover & Michels. After carrying it on 
 for two years he disposed of it to that firm, and in 
 1891 established his present yard. That year he 
 manufactured eight hundred thousand brick, and 
 in 1892 one million four hundred thousand. He 
 has five acres of land, and in the manufacture 
 employs about fifteen men. He uses the Palet 
 system of making mud-sand brick, his machinery 
 is complete in all its appointments, and the daily 
 output is from ten to fifteen thousand. Having 
 used up the clay at the present location, he expects 
 to remove a mile southwest, where he has thirty- 
 one acres of clay land, increase the plant and 
 greatly enlarge the works. To the manufacture 
 of building brick he will add that of paving, or
 
 202 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 vitrified, brick. Mr. Hayes is numbered among 
 the leading brick manufacturers of central Illinois 
 and lias built up an extensive business, being now 
 at the head of one of the leading industries of the 
 county. 
 
 As one of Taylorville's leading and influential 
 citizens, we are pleased to record the life work of 
 our subject in this volume. He was born in 
 Decatur, 111., on the 21st of February, 1854, and 
 was reared in that city and in Cerro Gordo. His 
 father, J. E. Hayes, was a native of Ohio, and 
 emigrated from the Buckeye State to Illinois in 
 November, 1851. By occupation he was a farmer, 
 and followed that business throughout his entire 
 life. His death occurred on the 2d of May, 
 1892, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, 
 who bore the maiden name of Sarah Sell, was also 
 a native of Ohio, and is now living in Cerro 
 Gordo, 111. 
 
 Mr. Hayes, whose name heads this record, is a 
 self-made man, who has been dependent upon his 
 own resources since the early age of thirteen. At 
 that time he began working in the brickyards, and 
 was thus employed each season until he had 
 attained his majority. In 1880, he opened a brick- 
 yard in Cerro Gordo, making the first brick ever 
 manufactured at that place, and he there carried 
 on business for nine years, when he came to Taylor- 
 ville. He spent one year in Texas in the brick- 
 yards at Sherman, Dennison and McKinney. 
 When he went to Dennison all of its brickyards 
 had proved a failure and were shut down, for the 
 brick would fall to pieces as soon as exposed to 
 the air. Mr. Hayes took charge of a yard at that 
 place and introduced the method of mixing sand 
 with the clay. The process met with success from 
 the start, and the result is that Dennison has since 
 proven to be one of the best brick-making points 
 in the South. The trouble had been that only 
 joint clay was used, and sand was needed to pro- 
 duce the proper consistency. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1884, was celebrated the 
 marriage of Mr. Hayes and Miss Elizabeth Savage, 
 of Dallas, Tex., a native of England. Five chil- 
 dren have been born of their union: Marion; 
 Walter; Frank, who died in infancy; Louis and 
 Jennie. They have a pleasant home, which is the 
 
 abode of hospitality, and their friends throughout 
 the community are many, although their residence 
 here is of comparatively short duration. Socially, 
 Mr. Hayes is a member of the Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows and the Encampment, and his 
 wife holds membership with the Christian Church. 
 In politics, he is an inflexible adherent of Repub- 
 lican principles, a stanch advocate of the "Party of 
 Reform," and is now efficiently serving as a member 
 of the City Council. He is a wide-awake and 
 enterprising man, full of life and activity, and his 
 good management and business ability have made 
 his career a successful one. He is very popular 
 with all classes, and Taylorville finds in him a 
 valued citizen. 
 
 SAMUEL AINSWORTJI, manager of the 
 Taylorville Mining Company, is a practical 
 and progressive business man, whose saga- 
 city and far-sightedness, combined with 
 perseverance and well-directed efforts, have made 
 his life a successful one. The record of his career 
 is as follows: A native of England, he was born 
 in Staffordshire, on the 8th of May, 1837, and is a 
 son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Ashmore) Ainsworth, 
 who were also natives of England. The paternal 
 grandfather, William Ainsworth, lived in Roches- 
 ter, England, and reached the very advanced age 
 of one hundred and one years, while his wife passed 
 away at the ripe old age of ninety-nine years. 
 The maternal grandfather, Samuel Ashmore, lived 
 to be about seventy, and his wife survived him 
 several years. 
 
 The father of our subject was a wheelwright in 
 England, and in his native land spent his entire 
 life, being called to the home beyond at the age 
 of fifty-six. After the death of her husband, Mrs. 
 Ainsworth was again married. Her second hus- 
 band lost his mind on account of religion and died 
 in the insane asylum. She was seventy-three 
 vears of age at the time of her death. Both Mr. 
 and Mrs. Ainsworth were members of the Church
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 21 1;; 
 
 of England, and took a very active part in all 
 that would advance its best interests. Their family 
 numbered twelve children, six sons and six daugh- 
 ters, as follows: Walter; William; Samuel; John; 
 Arthur; Jesse; Sophia, wife of Thomas Hall; Myra 
 Ann, wife of Enoch Glass; Mrs. Harriet Welch; 
 Jane, widow of Henry Els more; Emily, deceased; 
 and Hannah, wife of John Betz. 
 
 The subject of this sketch spent the days of his 
 boyhood and youth in the land of his nativity. 
 His early years were quietly passed, no event of 
 special importance occurring. His education was 
 acquired in the public schools. After arriving at 
 years of maturity, he chose as a companion and 
 helpmate on life's journey Miss Mary Ann Hall, a 
 daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Smith) Hall. 
 Their union was celebrated on the 13th of April, 
 1857, and has been blessed with a family of eleven 
 children, four sons and seven daughters. Jesse, 
 the eldest, married Catherine Jones and they now 
 reside in Lyons, Kan., with their four children: 
 Samuel, Jesse, Ida and William. Emma is the 
 wife of Benjamin Stringer, of Taylorville, by 
 whom she has six children: Annie, Benjamin, 
 Grace, Florence, Jesse and Samuel R. Thomas 
 married Miss Anna Utley, of Collinsville, and they 
 have four children: Edith, Myrtle, John and 
 George. Sophia is the wife of David Jones, of 
 Taylorville, and their family numbers three sons: 
 David, William and Albert. Mary Ann is the 
 wife of Edwin Taylor, and with their three chil- 
 dren, Edwin, Clyde and Loretta, they reside in 
 Trenton, Clinton County, 111. Edith is the -wife 
 of Frank Auth, of Smithboro, 111., and they have 
 one child, Mabel. Samuel, Nellie and Margaret 
 Elizabeth are at home, and two children died in 
 infancy. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Ains worth are adherents of 
 the faith of the Methodist Church, and in his social 
 relations he is connected with Mattoon Lodge 
 No. 62, A. F. & A. M.; Mattoon Chapter, and 
 Springfield Commandery No. 6, K. T. He is also 
 connected with Madison Lodge No. 43, I. O. O. F., 
 of Collinsville, and with Mizpah Lodge No. 68, K. 
 P., of Collinsville. With the Miners' Institute, of 
 Springfield, 111., he also holds membership. 
 
 In 1872, Mr. Amsworth determined to seek a 
 
 home in America, and, crossing the Atlantic, caine 
 directly to Illinois, where he has lived continuous- 
 ly since, with the exception of eight months spent 
 in Colorado. Owing to the general depression in 
 business prevailing at that time, Mr. Ainsworth 
 could not get employment for some months after 
 his arrival. It was in March, 1875, that his wife 
 and family came to this country and joined him 
 at Rochester, this State. He has sunk numerous 
 mines in various places in Illinois. Since about 
 fourteen years of age, he has been connected with 
 mining, and thoroughly understands the business 
 in all its details. He took the contract for sinking 
 a coal shaft of the Taylorville Mining Company 
 in 1887. This shaft is over five hundred feet 
 deep. The vein is over eight feet thick and yields 
 a splendid quality of coal. 
 
 Mr. Ainsworth has been successful in his busi- 
 ness career, and is now the owner of eight houses 
 and sixteen lots in Taylorville. He has made the 
 most of his opportunities and privileges, and al- 
 though he has had to depend upon his own efforts, 
 he is now in comfortable circumstances. 
 
 <x AVID RIDGE. Among the enterprising 
 farmers of Assumption Township has long 
 been numbered our subject, who dates his 
 residence here from 1859. He now re- 
 sides on section 27, where he carries on general 
 farming. He has spent nearly his entire life in 
 this county, as he was a child of only five years 
 when his father settled here. From his youth he 
 has been engaged in farming, and has made a great 
 success of agricultural pursuits. 
 
 Our subject was born in Greene County, 111., 
 April 28, 1854, and is a son of James Ridge, who 
 was born in Devonshire, England. The father 
 married in his native county Miss Sarah Tucker, 
 and in 1851 crossed the Allan tic, settling in Greene 
 County, this State, where he engaged in farming 
 for several years. In 1859 he purchased laud and
 
 204 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 opened up a farm on section 21, Christian County, 
 where he still resides. David Ridge remained 
 with his parents until arriving at his majority, 
 and was given good common-school advantages. 
 In 1878 he purchased the farm which he is still 
 engaged in cultivating, a tract of one hundred 
 and six acres, located two miles from the village 
 of Assumption. This farm is fenced with a nice 
 and well-trimmed osage hedgerow, and the fields 
 are divided in like manner. The owner has erected 
 a large barn and remodeled and otherwise im- 
 proved the house on the place. He has put in 
 considerable tiling, planted orchards, and now 
 finds himself in the possession of a valuable farm. 
 He may truly be called a self-made man, for he 
 started out in the business world with very lim- 
 ited means, and his success is due entirely to his 
 own labor and enterprise. 
 
 On the 9th of February, 1876, the marriage of 
 Mr. Ridge and Miss Rebecca Corzine was cele- 
 brated. Mrs. Ridge is a native of Guernsey County, 
 Ohio, and is a daughter of Allen Corzine, of As- 
 sumption. To our worthy subject and wife have 
 been born two children, William Oscar and James 
 Allen. 
 
 Mrs. Ridge holds membership with the Presby- 
 terian Church of Assumption, and is a lady well 
 received in social circles. Our subject has 
 been a supporter of the Republican party sine* 
 casting his first ballot in 1876 for Rutherford B. 
 Hayes. He gives his hearty support to our pub- 
 lic-school system, and for ten consecutive years 
 has served as a member of the School Board. 
 
 JOHN G. ADELHART is one of the pros- 
 perous and thrifty agriculturists of As- 
 sumption Township, his home being on sec- 
 tion 2. He is an example of the self-made 
 man, as he Las carved out a fortune for himself 
 single-handed. He has been a resident of Chris- 
 tian County for about twenty years, and during 
 this time he has done all in his power to advance 
 
 the interests of the community in which he dwells. 
 A native of Germany, he was born in Bavaria, 
 August 18, 1846. He received a good education in 
 the German language, and early formed a deter- 
 mination to emigrate to the United States. For 
 several years he engaged in farming in Bavaria, 
 but in 1872 took passage in a sailing-vessel at 
 Hamburg, and in due time landed in New York, 
 on the 15th of June. He proceeded directly West- 
 ward to Illinois, joining an elder brother who was 
 located in Nokomis. For about three years Mr. 
 Adelhart worked by the month, and then bought 
 a piece of corn in the field, which he harvested, 
 making quite a profit on his investment. The 
 following year he rented a place in this county of 
 Samuel Winters, which he farmed for one year, 
 and then rented a half-section of land, and in 
 company with two brothers operated this land for 
 two years. For several successive years our sub- 
 ject continued as a renter, carefully saving his 
 profits, and thus in 1885 he was enabled to be- 
 come a land-owner himself. 
 
 In 1871, previous to leaving his native land, 
 Mr. Adelhart was united in marriage with Miss 
 Elizabeth Price, who has proved a true helpmate 
 to him along the voyage of life. Eight children 
 have come to bless their home. In order of birth 
 they are as follows: John, Joseph, Fred, Robert, 
 Peter, Maggie, Elizabeth and Helen. Anna died 
 at the age of two years. The children have been 
 given good educations in the Assumption schools, 
 and the two older sons have been of great assist- 
 ance to him on the farm. The family are mem- 
 bers of St. Mary's Catholic Church, of Assump- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1885, Mr. Adelhart became the owner of his 
 present valuable farm on section 2. This place 
 comprises ninety acres adjoining the corporate 
 limits of Assumption. Our subject has made sub- 
 stantial improvements on the place, has erected a 
 large and pleasant house, with barns and farm 
 buildings, and set out an orchard. He is consid- 
 ered one of the thrifty farmers of the county, and 
 has shown that he possesses practical ideas on the 
 subject of farming. 
 
 In his political opinions, Mr. Adelhart is a strong 
 Democrat and takes great interest in elections.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 205 
 
 He has, however, never desired office for himself, 
 but chooses rather to give his entire time and at- 
 tention to his agricultural duties. He is a man of 
 upright character and has made many friends dur- 
 ing his residence in this community. 
 
 REDERICK REULECKE is one of the pro- 
 gressive agriculturists of Assumption Town- 
 ship, his home being on section 28. He is 
 one of the early settlers of Christian County, hav- 
 ing located on the farm where he still resides in 
 1867, when there were but five houses between his 
 home and Taylorville. He is a native of Germany, 
 born in Hanover May 24, 1828. After receiving 
 a fair education in his mother tongue, he learned 
 the gardener's trade and then concluded to emi- 
 grate to the New World. In 1854, he took pass- 
 age at Bremen in a sailing-vessel, and at the end 
 of forty-two days arrived at his destination, New 
 York City. He worked as a gardener at Freehold, 
 N. J., and after a residence there of two years 
 came West to Illinois. This was in 1856, and his 
 first settlement was in Menard County, near the 
 town of Athens. For two years he worked by the 
 month on a farm for a Mr. Kendall, after which 
 he rented an eighty-acre farm, which he carried on 
 for ten years. At the end of that time he bought 
 a tract of forty acres in this county, a part of his 
 present farm, and flve years later bought an ad- 
 joining forty acres. In time he erected a good 
 residence and barn and planted a good orchard on 
 the place. Other improvements, such as tiling, 
 fencing, etc., have added greatly to the value of 
 the farm. It is one of the most thrifty farms of 
 the township, and the osage hedge which sur- 
 rounds it adds much to its appearance. Mr. Reul- 
 ecke is now well-to-do, and in addition to his home 
 farm owns two large tenement houses in Assump- 
 tion. 
 
 In June, 1856, our subject was married in New 
 York to Miss Johanna Helenberg, who was born 
 and reared in Brunswick, Germany. She was en- 
 
 gaged to our subject at the time of his leaving the 
 Fatherland, and according to agreement came to 
 New York to meet him, where they were married. 
 Four daughters have blessed this union. Louisa is 
 the wife of James Locke, a substantial farmer of 
 this county; Mary is the wife of L. V. Patton, a 
 farmer who is now carrying on the Reulecke farm; 
 Emma became the wife of Samuel Michael, of 
 Shelby County; and Maggie is Mrs. Frank Good- 
 house, her husband being engaged in farming in 
 Shelby County. Mr. and Mrs. Reulecke have also 
 eight grandchildren. 
 
 In regard to the question of politics, our sub- 
 ject is a Democrat. His first Presidential ballot 
 was cast in 1856 for James Buchanan and he has 
 never failed to vote for Democratic nominees for 
 the Presidency since that time. He lias served as 
 Highway Commissioner, but has preferred to de- 
 vote his attention mainly to his farm and business 
 interests. With his wife he was a member of the 
 Lutheran Church in Germany, but now attends 
 the Presbyterian Church. During his long resi- 
 dence in Illinois, he has witnessed vast changes 
 and has been a factor in her progress and devel- 
 opment. As a man and citizen he is highly re- 
 spected in this and adjoining counties and has the 
 good-will of one and all. 
 
 
 ^H HARLES M. MEREDITH, a grocer of Tay- 
 [ff^-, lorville, is one of Illinois' native sons, for 
 
 ^dy he was born in Sangamon County, on the 
 23d of July, 1839. His paternal grandfather, 
 Solomon Meredith, was one of the pioneer settlers 
 of that county. He was a native of Virginia, and 
 a farmer by occupation. Both he and his wife 
 spent their last days in Sangamon County. They 
 reared a large family, one of whom, Davis Mere- 
 dith, became the father of our subject. He was 
 born in Ohio, and when a young man came to 
 Illinois, in 1835, locating in Sangamon County, 
 nine miles south of Springfield, where he is still 
 living. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk War.
 
 20G 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Upon the old home farm, where he and his wife 
 still reside, all of their children were born. He is 
 now the oldest settler living in Sangamon County. 
 Mrs. Meredith bore the maiden name of Mary 
 Newcomer. She too is a native of the Buckeye 
 State, as was her father, Christopher Newcomer, 
 who came with his family to Illinois in an early 
 day, and died in Sangamon County. 
 
 The Meredith family numbered seven children, 
 three sons and four daughters, and the family 
 circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of Death. 
 Susan is now the wife of Drury Jones; Charles is 
 the second in order of birth; Mary J. is the wife 
 of J. R. Kincaid; Sarah is the wife of L. R. Hed- 
 rick; Christopher Columbus, Osborn and Fannie 
 are the younger members. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of the 
 gentleman whose name heads this record. The 
 days of his boyhood and youth were spent in the 
 usual manner of farmer lads upon the old home- 
 stead in Sangamon Count}'. During the winter 
 season he attended the district schools of the 
 neighborhood, and in the summer months aided in 
 the labors of the field, giving his father the benefit 
 of his services until the war broke out, when he 
 responded to the country's call for troops, enlist- 
 ing in Company E, One Hundred and Fourteenth 
 Illinois Infantry, in which he served two years 
 and eight months. He participated in the siege 
 of Vicksburg, the battles of Guntown and Jackson, 
 and a number of other engagements, being always 
 found at his post of duty. 
 
 On the 8th of March, 1861, was celebrated the 
 marriage of Mr. Meredith and Miss Laura, daugh- 
 ter of Ozias Wagner. Four children were born 
 unto them, a son and three daughters, but Minnie 
 and Charles, the eldest and the youngest of the 
 family, are now deceased. Those still living are 
 Mary and Ida. 
 
 When Mr. Meredith returned from the army, he 
 resumed farming in Saugamon County, where for 
 a number of years he continued agricultural pur- 
 suits. In 1868, he came to Christian County, and 
 for one year followed farming. He then took up 
 his residence in Taylorville, and during the suc- 
 ceeding five years was in the employ of Hatch & 
 Anderson, dealers in agricultural implements. He 
 
 then embarked in the clothing business in company 
 with Charles Dean, but this venture proved a 
 failure, and during the succeeding nine years he 
 was employed as a salesman in the clothing-house 
 of Samuel H. Mossier. On the expiration of that 
 period he formed a partnership, in 1888, with J. 
 C. Hunter, and they opened a grocery store, under 
 the firm name of Hunter & Meredith. They have 
 since successfully engaged in business and are now 
 enjoying a good trade. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Meredith is con- 
 nected with the Republican party. Socially, he is 
 connected with the Knights of Pythias and the 
 Odd Fellows' fraternity. His wife is a member of 
 the Christian Church. Mr. Meredith takes a com- 
 mendable interest in all public affairs calculated to 
 benefit or upbuild the community, and is a pro- 
 gressive citizen, who is alike true to his country in 
 times of peace as in times of war. 
 
 JOHN O. ROLLINS was bora in Hamblen 
 County, Tenn., May 22, 1856, and removed 
 with his parents to Kentucky when he was 
 a lad of ten years. For about fifteen years 
 he has been a resident of Christian County, and 
 since coming here has acquired a desirable farm 
 and a comfortable fortune. His pleasant home is 
 located on section 23, Stonington Township. 
 
 George Rollins, the father of our subject, was 
 born in the eastern part of Tennessee, and there 
 passed his boyhood and youth. On arriving at a 
 suitable age he married Miss Eveline Phillips, who 
 was also born and reared to maturity in the same 
 State. They became the parents of eight children, 
 two of whom are deceased, and our subject is 
 third in order of birth. The parents are still 
 living, industrious and respected citizens of Okla- 
 homa Territory. 
 
 As previously stated, the early years of John 
 O. Rollins were passed under his parents' roof in 
 Tennessee, where his birth occurred. He after-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 207 
 
 wards located for some time in Kentucky, and 
 on reaching his majority started out to make his 
 own way in the world. In June, 1879, he arrived 
 in Taylorville and went to work at whatever he 
 could find to do in order to make an honest 
 livelihood. On the llth of December, 1882, he 
 wedded Miss Mary E. Brauer, of Cass County, 
 a lady of German descent. They have been 
 blessed with a family of four sons, namely: Will- 
 iam L., Elmer, Clarence and Roy. 
 
 Our subject was brought up by his father to be 
 a patriotic and true citizen of this glorious land, 
 and has ever felt the responsibility of each and 
 every man in matters pertaining to the public 
 welfare, which he has endeavored to promote. His 
 father was in the service during the Mexican 
 War for about one year. In politics, Mr. Rollins 
 is identified with the Democratic party. His wife 
 holds membership with the Lutheran Church, and 
 he, fraternally, belongs to the Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows. His farm, on which he is en- 
 gaged in stock-raising and general farming, com- 
 prises two hundred and forty acres of arable and 
 fertile land. He has made many improvements 
 on the place, and has a commodious and attractive 
 home. He is a self-made man to the fullest extent 
 of the word, and has acquired a fortune in half 
 the time taken by men of less enterprise and 
 business ability. 
 
 k E WITT C. WILLEY is one of the pro- 
 gressive farmers of May Township, and 
 makes his home on section 5. He was 
 born October 30, 1831, in Hamilton Coun- 
 ty, Ohio, being the third in a family of eleven chil- 
 dren, comprising eight sons and three daughters. 
 His parents were Israel and Arthenia (Stevenson) 
 Willey. The eldest child, Stephen, died in this 
 county; Allen died in childhood; De Witt C. is our 
 subject; Horace is now deceased; Israel is a min- 
 ister of the Methodist denomination, and is now 
 located at Belle Plaine, Kan.; Alga is a dealer in 
 
 implements in Nebraska; Winfield S. is engaged in 
 farming in Kansas, as is also the next younger, 
 Frank; Sarah Jane and Lucy are deceased; and 
 Ann Eliza, who became the wife of John Cather- 
 wood,is a resident of California. 
 
 The father of our subject, Israel Willey, was a 
 native of Stonington, Mass., born in 1808. He re- 
 moved to Ohio with his parents when quite young, 
 and, emigrating to Christian County in 1844, he 
 entered a tract of land, which he engaged in culti- 
 vating until he was called from this life, Dec- 
 ember 10, 187S. He was of French and English 
 extraction, and his father, who bore the Christian 
 name of Jude, was a patriot in the War of 1812. 
 The father was a distant relative of De Witt Clin- 
 ton, one of the early Governors of the Empire 
 State. Our subject's mother, who was also of 
 French and English extraction, was born in Hamil- 
 ton County, Ohio, and died in this county in 1863. 
 
 The early life of De Witt C. Willey was passed 
 at his birthplace, where he was given practical 
 training in canning on a farm. There were veiy 
 few schools at that early day in this locality, but 
 he made the most of his opportunities and is now 
 a man of good education. When he became of 
 age he purchased the farm where he still resides. 
 At that time it was unimproved prairie land. He 
 has placed it under good cultivation, and waving 
 fields of grain are the result of his care and labor. 
 The farm comprises one hundred and sixty-nine 
 acres of fertile and desirable land, and the owner 
 is numbered among the leading farmers of the 
 township. 
 
 In the year 1856, Mr. Willey was united in 
 marriage with Miss Mary Black, a native of San- 
 gamon County, 111. Unto this worthy couple has 
 been born a family of nine children. Three of the 
 number died in infancy. John Andrew is a far- 
 mer of this county; Hattie became the wife of 
 John David, who owns and operates a farm in 
 Christian County; Henrietta wedded Newton 
 Brown, a resident of Taylorville; Horace Lincoln 
 also makes his home in the same place; and the 
 two younger, Raymond and Frank, are still resid- 
 ing with their parents on the homestead. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Willey is a stanch 
 Republican, and has always taken a great deal of
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 interest in political matters. He is a public-spirited 
 citizen, and uses his influence for the promotion 
 of all enterprises calculated to benefit the neigh- 
 borhood in which he dwells and the community 
 at large. He has served as one of the School 
 Directors in May Township, and is a firm advo- 
 cate of good schools and teachers. Religiously, he 
 holds membership with the Methodist Church, and 
 as a man is upright and honorable at all times. 
 
 j>ILLIAM EUGENE HAYWARD, Mayor 
 of Pana. It affords the compilers of this 
 work much pleasure to present to their 
 readers a brief sketch of a gentleman and of a 
 family whose interests are so prominently identi- 
 fied with the early growth and advancement of 
 Christian County. The Hay ward family in this 
 country originated during the misty period of 
 Colonial history, and various branches from the 
 parent stem are now found in several States, and 
 in many instances men of the name have exerted 
 a substantial influence in advancing civilization. 
 There is a natural sturdiness of manhood and re- 
 finement of character found in numbers of those 
 who have borne the name, so that to one familiar 
 with the family history they have certain charac- 
 teristics easily recognizable as belonging to them. 
 There appears a natural reticence in individuals 
 bearing the name, which often prevents them 
 from reaching those public positions of honor so 
 frequently obtained by other men of less ability. 
 There is also a marked steadfastness of purpose in 
 them, which rarely fails to carry to a successful 
 issue any venture undertaken; and a natural ten- 
 dency of mind for matters of advanced intellectual 
 thought. It is also noticeable that the family has 
 furnished a large quota of finely educated men. 
 In the early days of Harvard University one of its 
 famed graduates was Beza Hayward, the grand- 
 father of our subject. He embraced the ministry, 
 but did not make that his life work, having 
 
 preferences for a political career. For years he 
 held the responsible position of Register of Deeds 
 in Plymouth, Mass., and later he became a repre- 
 sentative of the people of his district in the Upper 
 House of the General Assembly. Entirely at 
 home in debate, his abilities especially fitted him 
 for forensic battle, and he is remembered as a man 
 of brilliant intellect and one not easily conquered 
 in the discussion of public questions. He was a 
 leader of men, his abilities and training giving 
 him a power and eloquence that made him well 
 known in whatever field his lot was cast. He died 
 at Plymouth at the advanced age of seventy-eight 
 years. 
 
 John S. Hayward, father of our subject, inherited 
 many of the family traits and became a man of 
 wealth and influence in this and adjoining coun- 
 ties of Illinois. He was an extensive land operator 
 and one of the representative men of the Prairie 
 State. His birth occurred at Bridgewater, Mass., 
 in 1803. . Further mention of him is found on an- 
 other page of this work. He married Harriet F. 
 Comstock, and of their family of six children, our 
 subject is one of three who arrived at years of 
 maturity. John Augustus and Harriet are both 
 deceased, and our subject is the only one now 
 surviving. 
 
 The education of W. E. Hayward was acquired 
 in the public schools at Hillsboro, and was supple- 
 mented by a course at Autioch College, in Ohio, 
 and the Williston Seminary, in Easthampton, Mass. 
 The outbreak of the war coming before his college 
 course was completed, he, at the age of nineteen, 
 enlisted in Battery I, Second Illinois Artillery, in 
 which he became Second Lieutenant and did val- 
 iant service with his brigade for two years. In 
 1865, he became Captain of Company F, Second 
 Regiment United States Volunteers, with which 
 command he operated until the close of the war. 
 His father having large interests in Pana, he then 
 located here, and soon embarked in the banking 
 and real-estate business, which he conducted with 
 unvarying success until 1878, when he discontinued 
 his banking business and has since devoted his 
 attention more particularly to real estate and 
 loans. As will be seen by reference to his father's 
 sketch, large landed properties had been obtained,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 209 
 
 and the improvement of these demanded much of 
 his time. His interests in real estate extend over 
 various States, including Illinois, Missouri, Kansas 
 and Nebraska, and his management has resulted 
 most satisfactorily. 
 
 Mr. Hayward was married November 26, 1868, 
 to Miss Clara M. Turnbolt. Of six children born 
 to them, Beza T., Lucian P., Clara T. and Eugenia 
 are deceased. Susan L. and Evadne, two lovely 
 and charming little girls, are the joy of their 
 parents' home. The Hayward residence is a beau- 
 tiful roomy brick structure, standing conveniently 
 near the business centre of Pana, and is widely 
 known as the abode of hospitality and refinement. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hayward have traveled exten- 
 sively, and every country and every clime has 
 contributed not only to their general information 
 and culture, but has supplied many articles of 
 virtu and beauty for the elevation and adorn- 
 ment of their pleasant home. Being devoted to 
 masterpieces in art and literature, elegant volumes 
 of the standard poets, historians, philosophers and 
 novelists are found on the shelves of their library, 
 which is one of the finest and most elaborate pri- 
 vate collections in central Illinois. Here are 
 found the best thoughts of the ablest men, and 
 human nature, as depicted by the pens of the 
 brightest writers, in the " LesMiserables" of Victor 
 Hugo, or the no less interesting study of the 
 " Wandering Jew," by Eugene Sue. To one 
 absorbed in living with these men who have painted 
 in brilliant colors all phases of human life, this 
 library would be a never-failing source of enjo3'- 
 ment. The studios of the most famous painters 
 have contributed in finest reproductions of their 
 choicest .gems, and almost every first-class art pub- 
 lication in America is found on these shelves. To 
 no less a degree have other lines of art furnished 
 beautiful productions in artistic and valuable 
 vases from domestic and foreign artists, in exquisite 
 and intricate hammered brass from Benares, and 
 deeply engraven shells from the best workmen of 
 Italy. One noticeable and beautiful gem, a mas- 
 ter-piece of marble, is the bust of a handsome 
 woman, chizeled with such naturalness and delicacy 
 that the beholder expects each moment to see the 
 bosom heave. It comes from an Italian sculptor, 
 
 and stands upon a pedestal of delicate Mexican 
 onyx, the whole making a work of art that leaves 
 a sense of lasting pleasure. 
 
 While selecting works of art for the adornment 
 of his home, Mr. Hayward has not neglected the 
 beautiful and far more wonderful works of nature, 
 the greatest artist of all. He has extensive cabi- 
 nets filled with choicest gems, well illustrating all 
 the various stages of geological formations, especi- 
 ally those wherein Nature as a painter and design- 
 er most distinctly shows. Having ample means to 
 supply all desires of his mind, Mr. Hayward has 
 not hoarded his wealth, but has poured it out with 
 a lavish hand to secure those things that contribute 
 so much toward the elevation and advancement 
 of humanity. He has gathered these rare gems 
 around him not to appease the base vanity of a 
 shallow mind, but to gratify an innate love of the 
 beautiful and ennobling, and to exert an influence 
 on the lives of those around him that no other 
 expenditure of wealth would secure. He has been 
 ably seconded in these tastes by his estimable 
 wife, whose gracious presence adds a charm to the 
 home circle which rounds out and completes a 
 most interesting family. 
 
 eHARLES GREB is one of the German-born 
 citizens of Christian County, and has been 
 no small factor in her development and 
 present prosperity. His farm is located on sec- 
 tions 5 and 16, Stoniugton Township. The birth 
 of our subject occurred in Hessen, Germany, Oc- 
 tober 24, 1853. His father, John Greb, was born 
 and reared to manhood in Germany, where he 
 married Miss Katie Pope. After the death of his 
 wife he crossed the broad Atlantic to try his for- 
 tune in the United States, and made a settlement 
 in Cass County, 111. There his remaining years 
 were passed, and there he died at a good old age. 
 
 In the family of six children, Charles Greb was 
 the second-born. He acquired a good education 
 in his native land, and made his own livelihood 
 from the time he was sixteen years of age. He
 
 210 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 was twenty years old when he left his native land, 
 and on his arrival in New York he went to work 
 at the carpenter's trade, which he had mastered in 
 Germany. He continued to reside in the Eastern 
 metropolis for about three years, when he set his 
 face Westward and arrived in Cass County, 111., in 
 1876. Four years later he came to Christian 
 County, where he has since made his home. 
 
 In the same year in which Mr. Greb settled in 
 this county, he was united in marriage with Miss 
 Hannah Brauer, who was born and grew to 
 womanhood in Cass County. Her parents, how- 
 ever, were natives of Germany, and became 
 respected settlers of Cass County. The union of 
 our subject and wife has been blessed with two 
 bright children, John F. and Alice. 
 
 The beautiful and fertile farm of Mr. Greb 
 consists of two hundred acres located on section 
 16. He also owns another good farm of one 
 hundred and sixty acres on section 5, of Stoning- 
 ton Township. In politics, he is identified with 
 the Democratic party, and fraternally is associ- 
 ated with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
 Both himself and wife are members of the Luther- 
 an Church, and rank high in the friendship and 
 esteem of all who know them. The many broad 
 acres now owned by our subject have been ac- 
 quired in a very few years, but it is owing to the 
 unusual energy, industry and business ability 
 which are his native characteristics. In addition 
 to the farm owned by him, his good wife, besides 
 giving him great assistance and loving counsel, 
 has brought him an inheritance of two hundred 
 acres from her father's estate. 
 
 R. VALENTINE, who is engaged 
 
 in farming on section 20, of Taylorville 
 Township, is one of the native sons of this 
 county, where he was born June 4, 1860. He is a 
 son of George W. and Mary M. (Clark) Valentine, 
 early and respected settlers of this community. 
 The father was born October 14, 1818, in what was 
 
 then the Territory of Illinois, near Greenville, 
 Bond County, and has lived here ever since. His 
 father and mother were natives of South Carolina, 
 who removed to Tennessee, where they were mar- 
 ried, and later came to Illinois, in 1817. 
 
 George W. Valentine was married September 2, 
 1845, in Christian County, 111., to Miss Mary M. 
 Clark, who was born in 1825, in the same county, 
 and of their union were born fourteen children, 
 as follows: Cordelia S., born in December, 1846; 
 Cyrena A., in 1848; Hannah F., in 1849, who is de- 
 ceased; William E., born in 1851; James C., in 
 1853; L. L., in 1855; Emma L.,in 185J; George R., 
 in June 1860; Mary Bell, in 1861; Albert H. and 
 Lizzie I. (twins), in 1863; Jennie P., in 1865, who 
 is deceased; Martha H., born in 1867; and Eddie, 
 U., in 1869. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received a practical 
 training in carrying on a farm, and remained with 
 his parents, assisting in operating the old home- 
 stead, until he was twenty-four years old. He re- 
 ceived a good common-school and business educa- 
 tion, thus fitting him for the practical duties of life. 
 In 1884 he located on his present farm, which com- 
 prises one hundred and twenty acres, and has since 
 been engaged in general farming and stock-raising, 
 in which he has met with good success. He is con- 
 sidered one of the enterprising and progressive 
 young farmers of the township, and he uses mod- 
 ern and practical methods in conducting his farm 
 work. - 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1883, was celebrated the 
 marriage of Mr. Valentine and Miss Lula Slater, 
 daughter of Dr. and Sarah (Stockwell) Slater, who 
 are well known in this community. Three children 
 have been born to our subject and wife, Lyman 
 G., Maria and Hiram. The father of Mrs. Valen- 
 tine has been engaged in the practice of his pro- 
 fession for many years in Taylorville. 
 
 Our subject is active in the ranks of the Repub- 
 lican party and is greatly interested in its success. 
 He and his estimable wife hold membership in the 
 Methodist Church, and are active in the work of 
 that denomination. Mr. Valentine is a man who 
 is known to be just and honorable, and is entirely 
 worthy of the high regard and confidence which 
 is accorded him by his friends and neighbors.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 211 
 
 SILAS W. CULP has been engaged in the 
 drug business in Morrisonville since 1882, 
 having resided here since 1876, and for 
 the last six years. has also been proprietor 
 and publisher of the Morrisonville Times, a. weekly 
 independent newspaper, which has an extensive 
 local circulation and is ably conducted. In 1889 
 Mr. Gulp also engaged in the jewelry business, 
 and is still carrying on the three distinct enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Our subject is a son of Jacob W. and Eliza 
 (Branch) Culp, natives of Ohio. He is one of 
 eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, 
 eight of whom are yet living, two having died 
 in infancy, and Martha, the fourth in order of 
 birth, and formerly the wife of Horace Kilton, of 
 Tupper's Plains, Ohio, is also now deceased. The 
 others in order of birth are as follows: Maria, 
 wife of Lewis Worthen, of Arkansas: Silas W., 
 who was born April 22, 1845, in Meigs County, 
 Ohio; Phoebe, wife of Henry ,Runge, of Nokomis, 
 111.; Mary, wife of John Anderson, a resident of 
 Monticello; Caroline and Calvin, who reside in 
 Nokomis; Douglas, of Sioux Kails, S. Dak.; and 
 Lowis, of Nokomis. 
 
 Our subject's paternal grandfather, Adam Culp, 
 who was of German parentage, was a native of 
 Pennsylvania, but removed to Ohio, where he fol- 
 lowed farming. He lived to be sixty-three years 
 of age, and reared a family of sixteen children. 
 The maternal grandfather, Cyrus Branch, who was 
 also a farmer, was born in Massachusetts, and at- 
 tained a good old age in his Ohio home. Jacob 
 W. Culp was for many years engaged in farming 
 near Nokomis, 111. lie came to this State from 
 Ohio in the fall of 1865, locating on the farm 
 where he still resides near the town of Nokomis. 
 His wife died in 1880, at the age of fifty-seven 
 years. Both parents have been for many years 
 members of the Christian Church. 
 
 Silas W. Culp, whose name heads this sketch, 
 was reared to manhood in Meigs County, Ohio, 
 there receiving a good education. lie pursued 
 his higher studies in Blackburg University, at 
 Carlinville, graduating from that institution of 
 learning in 1873. For nine successive years he 
 engaged in teaching school successfully, and after- 
 9 
 
 ward embarked in the drug business in Morrison- 
 ville, coming here in 1876. As a business man 
 he has met with good success, and merits the ex- 
 tensive patronage which he receives on account of 
 his correct methods and honorable manner of con- 
 ducting his affairs. 
 
 On the 27th of January, 1886, Mr. Culp was 
 united in marriage with Miss Nina Maxon Dun- 
 ning, a daughter of Andrew J. and Sarah J. 
 (Hale) Dunning, well-known residents of Chris- 
 tian County. She was reared to womanhood in 
 Sangamon County, and presides over the home 
 of our subject with womanly grace and hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 Mr. Culp owns some eighty acres of land in Da- 
 kota, and had in former years a slight acquaint- 
 ance with farming, as during the years from 1865 
 to 1871, when he was engaged in teaching school 
 during the winter season, he carried on a farm 
 the remainder of the year near Nokomis. He owns 
 a good home property in Morrisonville in addi- 
 tion to his store building. For one term he held 
 the office of Township Collector, is the present 
 Township School Treasurer, and for six years ac- 
 ceptably filled the position of School Trustee. So- 
 cially, he is a member of Morrisonville Lodge No. 
 681, A. F. & A. M., of Taylorville Chapter, and 
 belongs to St. Omar Commandery, of Litch field. 
 He is also connected with the Modern Woodmen 
 of America. In politics, he is a supporter of the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 
 1EORGE DEAL is a well-to-do farmer resid- 
 ing on section 1, King Township. He was 
 born in Luzerne County, Pa., February 25, 
 1842, and is a son of George Deal, who died in 
 Pennsylvania when our subject was a little over 
 ten years of age. For further particulars of the 
 life of the father, see sketch of William H. Deal, 
 which ma}' be found in another part of this work. 
 Our subject's early years were passed on the
 
 212 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 farm and he had but little chance to obtain an ed- 
 ucation, as he only went for two terms to a sub- 
 scription school. After his father's death he was 
 obliged to make his own living, and worked in the 
 coal mines near Wilkes Barre, Pa., driving a horse 
 attached to a coal car. In August, 1862, he en- 
 listed in the army at Greenfield, Greene County, 
 111., whither he had gone with his mother and the 
 family. He became a member of Company K, 
 Ninety-first Regiment of Illinois Infantr}', under 
 Capt. Newman and Col. Day. He was sent to 
 Louisville. Ky., and thence dispatched after Mor- 
 gan. At Elizabethtown he was taken prisoner by 
 Morgan's men after a hard fight and was kept un- 
 der guard in a store building. After passing for- 
 ty-eight hours without anything to eat, he was pa- 
 roled and sent to the parole barracks in St. Louis, 
 where he was finally exchanged. He then took part 
 in the engagements at Vicksburg, Ft. Pillow and 
 New Orleans. At the latter place he was stationed 
 for two months on provost-guard duty. He was 
 afterwards for fourteen months in Texas and was 
 obliged to do a great deal of marching. On the 
 march oC one hundred miles to Salt Lake, Tex., in 
 deep sand, he received an allowance of only one 
 pint of water a day, as it had to be transported 
 and it was impossible to obtain it in the desert. 
 -He was in the fight at White's Ranch, on the Rio 
 Grande, and on the voyage to New Orleans was 
 eleven days on the Gulf, when a severe storm de- 
 stroyed two vessels of the fleet. Many of the men 
 were taken sick with scurvy, and our subject 
 nearly died after his arrival in the Crescent City. 
 From New Orleans he went to Spanish Fort and 
 took part in the siege for thirteen days, and 
 then supported the charge on Ft. Blakely. Re- 
 turning to Spanish Fort, he participated in the 
 battle of Whistler. From New Orleans he went 
 on boat to Ship Island, in charge of a detail of 
 men, to exchange prisoners. From Mobile his 
 company proceeded to the Tombigbee River and 
 captured Gen. Taylor and ten thousand men. He 
 was within a-quarter of a mile of the magazine ex- 
 plosion in Mobile that destroj-ed four blocks of 
 the city and killed many persons, and in the fight 
 at Elizabethtown the rim of his hat was shot off. 
 In 1865, he was mustered out, having served 
 
 nearly three years. For his valiant services, pri- 
 vations and sufferings he is justly entitled to the 
 pension which he now receives. 
 
 In South Fork Township, of this county, Mr. 
 Deal married Miss Sarah, daughter of Jo Meredith, 
 of Sangamon County, and formerly of Ohio. 
 Unto our subject and his wife have been born 
 three children, Amy, Stella O. and Nonia, who 
 have been educated in the public schools. 
 
 On returning from the army our subject went 
 to work on a farm, and continued for two years 
 after his arrival in Christian County. He bought 
 eighty acres of land at the rate of $30 per acre, 
 this being unimproved prairie. He has put up 
 good buildings, a substantial residence, and made 
 other improvements on the farm, the boundaries 
 of which have been extended until they now com- 
 prise one hundred and sixty acres. 
 
 Mr. Deal is a Grand Army man, belonging to 
 the Morrisonville post. For about twenty-three 
 years, he and his wife have been members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church at Shiloh, and he has 
 been Trustee and Treasurer of the church. His 
 first Presidential vote was cast for Gen. Grant in 
 1868, since which time he has still voted the Re- 
 publican ticket. He is a good citizen and an in- 
 dustrious farmer. 
 
 ffiL_, UGH C. LAWLER, a brick mason and con- 
 iTjV tractor, is recognized as a wide-awake and 
 ifftj? enterprising young business man of Tay- 
 (^) lorville. It is to such men as our subject 
 that the prosperity of the city is due, for their en- 
 ergy and industry form the foundation upon 
 which the successful structure is reared. Mr. Law- 
 ler has the honor of being a native of Illinois. 
 He was born in McLean County, near Blooming- 
 ton, and is one of three children whose parents 
 were Jonathan and Adeline (Campbell) Lawler, 
 both natives of Kentucky. His paternal grand- 
 father, Gibbon Lawler, was a native of North 
 Carolina. He afterward became a resident of Terre
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 213 
 
 Haute, Ind., and was a contractor on the National 
 Plank Road. His death occurred in 1834. The 
 maternal grandfather, Hugh Campbell, was born 
 in 1812, and was a farmer by occupation. He be- 
 came one of the earl}' settlers of Illinois, locating 
 in Morgan County about 1830. His last days 
 were spent in Bloomington, he having gone to Mc- 
 Lean County in 1855, where he died in 1888, at 
 the age of seventy-six years. The father of our 
 subject was in early life a farmer, and followed 
 that pursuit until his removal to Illinois, after 
 which he became a brick mason and contractor. 
 To that business he still devotes his time and at- 
 tention. He and his wife make their home in Tay- 
 lorville, whore they are widely and favorably 
 known. With the Christian Church they hold 
 membership. Their three children were Mary Alice, 
 now deceased; Hugh C., of this sketch; and Clar- 
 ence E. 
 
 In the county of his nativity, our subject passed 
 the days of his boyhood under the parental roof, 
 and in the public schools acquired a good practi- 
 cal education. His life has been a busy and use- 
 ful one, devoted to the work which he now car- 
 ries on. He learned the trade of brick-laying with 
 his father, and in time became a contractor. He 
 first began contracting in 1883, since which time 
 he has erected many of the fine buildings in Bloom- 
 ington, including several store buildings and the 
 Jewish S3 r nagogue. He also built a schoolhouse 
 in Clinton and one in Carrollton, and the Antlers 
 Hotel in Taylorville. Under his supervision the 
 Gephart Block of Decatur and the St. Nicholas 
 Hotel of Decatur were built, and the fine new 
 Christian Church of Taylorville is now being 
 erected. Mr. Lawler is also building two public 
 school buildings and the Huber Block atPana. He 
 is an expert workman and has a high reputation 
 in various parts of the State for doing fine work 
 and living up to his contract. Although only a 
 young man, he has had a large experience as a 
 contractor and builder of masonry. 
 
 On the 22d of November, 1882, Mr. Lawler was 
 united in marriage to Miss Jennie Amelia West, a 
 daughter of Andrew C. and Etta (Schaum) West, 
 of Bloomingtoii. Five children have graced their 
 union: Ida May, Hugh M., Alma L., Henrietta A. 
 
 and Alice A. The parents are members of the 
 Christian Church, and in social circles where 
 true worth and intelligence are received as the 
 passports into good society they hold an enviable 
 position. Mr. Lawler exercises his right of fran- 
 chise in support of the Republican party, but has 
 never been an aspirant for political preferment. 
 He is a pleasant, genial gentleman, and the high 
 regard in which he is held has been won by an 
 upright and honorable life. 
 
 >ILLIAM B. DAVIS is a noted agricultur- 
 ist and stock-raiser of Taylorville Town- 
 ship, and owns a good farm on section 6. 
 He was born in what is now South Fork Township, 
 Christian County, on the 4th of March, 1836, and 
 is a son of Barnett and Sophronia (Vandeveer) 
 Davis. The father was a native of Kentucky, and 
 the mother is a sister of Judge Vandeveer, who is 
 well known in this and adjoining counties. 
 
 Barnett Davis was a carpenter by trade and was 
 also engaged in farming in his native State. In 
 middle life he removed to Indiana, and from there 
 to Sangamon County, 111., in 1829. He located on 
 land which is now comprised within South Fork 
 Township,, in this county. He took up a Govern- 
 ment claim and was one of the earliest settlers of 
 the locality. His nearest trading point for many 
 years was Springfield or Alton, where he had to 
 drive his stock in order to obtain a market for 
 them. He erected a log cabin, which was the home 
 of his family for many years. He was born in 
 1802, and continued to live in this county until 
 his death, in 1857, when he was buried in the Hill 
 Cemetery. His wife is still living at the advanced 
 age of eighty-two years. 
 
 Our subject is one of ten children, whose record 
 is as follows: Nancy is the wife of James Brooks, a 
 resident of Taylorville, and Justice of the Peace; 
 Aaron is engaged in farming in Taylorville Town- 
 ship; William B. is the third of the family; John 
 is a farmer of Nebraska: Horatio M. lives in Edin-
 
 214 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 burgh, Christian County; Mary J. became the wife 
 of Francis Perry, who carries on a farm in Taylor- 
 ville Township; Monroe is deceased; Freeland is 
 also deceased; Jerome lives in Taylorville Town- 
 ship; and one died in infancy. 
 
 William Davis was born and reared on the old 
 homestead in South Fork Township, where his 
 father settled in 1829. When ten years of age he 
 removed to Taylorville Township with his parents, 
 and attended the subscription schools of the neigh- 
 borhood for two or three months during the win- 
 ter time. A part of the time he was obliged to 
 walk nearly three miles to the nearest school, which 
 was held in a log schoolhouse of the most primi- 
 tive fashion. Since arriving at years of maturity 
 his education has been mainly acquired. When 
 fifteen years of age he decided that he was old 
 enough to make his own livelihood, and as he was 
 one of the elder children it seemed best that he 
 should do so. He commenced working on a farm 
 by the month, receiving at first forty cents per 
 day- For the succeeding eight years he was em- 
 ployed at farm work, and was so industrious and 
 gave such good satisfaction to his employers, that 
 he worked for only three farmers during that time. 
 He had saved his earnings carefully and commen- 
 ced farming on his own account on rented land. 
 With wise foresight he continued as a renter until 
 he found it would be to his benefit to purchase the 
 farm on section 6 where he now lives. This place 
 comprises one hundred and ninety-two acres of 
 fertile land, on which the owner raises abundant 
 crops. 
 
 In 1859, Mr. Davis married Miss Maria E. Potts. 
 Four children have been born of their unio n. Flora 
 E. resides with her parents; George is deceased; 
 Joel J. is married and is an enterprising young 
 farmer of Buckhart Township; and Julian E. has 
 passed away. 
 
 Mr. Davis has always used his influence in the 
 support of the Democratic party. Religiously, he 
 holds membership with the Universalist Church 
 and takes an active part in church and ben- 
 evolent work. His assistance can always be re- 
 lied upon in the furtherance of public enterprises, 
 for he is progressive and broad-minded in all 
 things. He is a practical farmer and has met with 
 
 great success in his commercial ventures. Socially, 
 lie holds membership with Blue Lodge No. 647, 
 Edinburgh, Christian County, and is also a member 
 of Taylorville Chapter No. 102. 
 
 ILL! AM LAFAYETTE IGOU, who owns 
 and operates a farm of two hundred and 
 thirty-seven acres on section 34, adjoin- 
 ing Grove City, is one of the substantial citizens 
 of Mt. Auburn Township. Pie is a native of the 
 Prairie State, and has passed nearly his entire life 
 in Christian County. His birth occurred August 
 11, 1851. His parents, Joseph and Frances (Day) 
 Igou, were natives of Ohio and Virginia, respect- 
 ively. The father was born in Champaign County, 
 and when a young man came to Illinois with his 
 father, becoming one of the pioneers of Christian 
 County. It was in this State that his marriage 
 with Miss Day was celebrated. She was only a 
 child when she came to this locality, and here she 
 was reared and educated. For a number of years 
 Mr. Igou devoted himself to farming, but in 1885 
 he went to Dakota, where he spent the remaining 
 years of his life, passing away in 1891. His wife 
 is still living and now resides Oshkosh, Oklahoma, 
 I. T. 
 
 The subject of this notice spent his youth in 
 the county of his birth, and on account of limited 
 educational facilities was obliged to rely upon his 
 own resources in the acquisition of an education. 
 At the age of eighteen years he left home and 
 went to work on a farm, continuing to hire out 
 by the month for over three years. During this 
 time he carefully kept his means and purchased a 
 small tract of land. For ten years he rented a 
 farm, after which lie bought a farm of forty acres, 
 on which he located. He still continued as a 
 renter also, and in a few years was able to pur- 
 chase an adjoining forty acres. This property he 
 still owns and occupies and has greatly improved 
 and placed under good cultivation. He has erected 
 a good substantial house and set out a thrifty
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 215 
 
 orchard. In the fall of 1892, he became the owner 
 of one hundred and fifty-seven and a-half acres, 
 adjoining Grove City. This is a well-improved 
 :ui(l valuable farm, both on account of its situa- 
 tion and fertility. There are a pleasant residence, 
 large barns and a well-trimmed osage hedge upon 
 the place. It is also divided into forty-acre fields 
 by means of this same useful hedge. 
 
 The 24th of August, 1875, was an eventful day 
 in the life of Mr. Igou, for at that time Miss 
 Martha Jane Gideon was united in marriage with 
 him. Mrs. Igou is a native of the Old Dominion, 
 but was reared in this county. Her father, Frank 
 Gideon, is now a resident of Indiana. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Igou are consistent members of the Grove 
 City Methodist Episcopal Church, of which the 
 former is one of the Trustees. 
 
 In regard to the question of politics, Mr. Igou 
 is well known as a true friend to the Republican 
 party, and is a patriotic citizen, in all that term 
 implies. He is a member of the School Board, 
 and upholds all educational measures to the ex- 
 tent of his ability. He is a public-spirited man, 
 and takes an active part in everything calculated 
 to serve the good of the people. 
 
 ISAAC N. WARD, a successful agriculturist of 
 Mt. Auburn Township, owns and operates a 
 good farm on section 36. For upwards of a 
 quarter-century he has made his home in this im- 
 mediate vicinity, and is one who has endeavored 
 in every possible manner to promote the good of 
 this community. 
 
 Our subject is a son of John and Mary Ann 
 (Smith) Ward, and was born September 14, 1840, 
 in Guernsey County, Ohio. His father was a na- 
 tive of the Old Dominion, who passed his youth 
 in that part of the country, but removed to Ohio 
 in his young manhood. In the Buckeye State was 
 celebrated his marriage with Miss Smith, a native 
 of England. After his marriage, Mr. Ward en- 
 
 gaged in farming in Guernsey County for a few 
 years, later removing to Washington County, 
 where he cleared and developed a farm of one 
 hundred and sixty acres, and reared his family in 
 the fear of God. During his residence on th'is 
 farm he lost his wife, and after'a few years he sold 
 the property, returning to Guernsey County, where 
 he spent the remainder of his life. 
 
 Isaac N. Ward is one of a large family, compris- 
 ing ten sons and four daughters. Of this number all 
 lived to maturity and were married with one ex- 
 ception. Eleven are still surviving, and during 
 the late war three of the brothers were soldiers. 
 One of the latter, James, was taken sick and died 
 at Carthage, Tenn. 
 
 Our subject's boyhood days were passed on the 
 old homestead in Washington County, and his 
 services were dutifully given to his father un- 
 til he had attained to his majority. On the 
 13th of August, 1862, Isaac N. Ward donned the 
 blue and went in defense of the Union. He 
 became a member of Company H, Ninety-second 
 Ohio Infantry, and saw considerable active service. 
 With his regiment he -took part in a number of 
 important campaigns, and participated in the bat- 
 tles of Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Buzzard's 
 Roost, and went through the Atlanta campaign. 
 He was on the march with Sherman to the sea, and 
 at the close of the war marched with the victorious 
 army in the Grand Review at Washington, where 
 he was mustered out. 
 
 Returning to his Ohio home after the storm 
 clouds of war had rolled away, Mr. Ward resided 
 there for about three years. It was. in the fall of 
 1868 that he determined to try his luck in Illi- 
 nois, where he arrived in October. Having pur- 
 chased a team, he engaged in farming on rented 
 laud for a number of years in this county, and in 
 1880 became the owner of the farm on which he 
 still makes his home. This place once belonged 
 to three heirs, Mrs. Ward being one of the num- 
 ber, and after buying out the others she succeeded 
 to the place. Like many of the farms in this lo- 
 cality, it is fenced with osage hedge and divided 
 into forty-acre sections. Mr. Ward has erected a 
 good residence, substantial barns and granaries 
 and has set out an orchard.
 
 216 
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 In 1867, in Washington County, Ohio, occurred 
 the first marriage of our subject. The lady of his 
 choice was Miss May Jane Hupp, who was born in 
 Noble County, of the same State. She departed 
 this life in 1873, leaving two children. The elder, 
 Laura, is the wife of Lewis Hurlbutt, who is en- 
 gaged in farming in this vicinity. The younger 
 daughter, Mary A., became the wife of William C. 
 Brubeck, now of Oklahoma. In Springfield, on 
 the 8th of April, 1880, at the St. Nicholas Hotel, 
 Mr. Ward and Miss Amanda Montgomery were 
 united in marriage. The lady was born on the 
 farm where she now resides, and is a daughter of 
 Ira Montgomery, an honored pioneer of Christian 
 County, who died in 1858. By this union six 
 children have been born: Ida Pearl, James N.,Eva 
 Grace and Ella Myrtle (twins), Jessie and Tilhe 
 Belle. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Ward is a member of Grove City 
 Odd Fellows' lodge, and is Noble Grand. He 
 also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, 
 and is greatly interested in these organizations. 
 He ranks high in the estimation of all his friends 
 and neighbors as a man of excellent business abil- 
 ity and true worth of character. He has been an 
 ally of the Democratic party for many years, sup- 
 porting its nominees and measures in Presidential 
 elections, but he prefers to be independent at local 
 elections. He has served as a member of the 
 School Board, but has declined other official hon- 
 ors, choosing to give his entire time to the super- 
 vision of his farm. 
 
 flUj, ELVILLE W. STAPLES, M. D., of Grove 
 
 I \\\ City, is one of the active and successful 
 
 j 1ft professional men of Christian County. He 
 
 is a native son of this State, having been 
 
 born in Tazewell County, September 8, 1850, and 
 
 has passed nearly his entire life in the Prairie State. 
 
 Rev. John J. Staples, the father of the Doctor, was 
 
 born in the Old Dominion, and was a lad of only 
 
 nine years when he came with his parents to Illi- 
 
 nois. The family settled in Peoria County, about 
 1825. The marriage of Mr. Staples occurred in 
 Springfield, 111., his wife being an adopted daugh- 
 ter of Erastus Wright, one of the early settlers and 
 pioneer teachers of Illinois. After his marriage, 
 Mr. Staples settled in Tazewell County, where he 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1859,when he 
 emigrated to Missouri and took up his residence 
 in Carrollton, where he remained for a few years. 
 In 1861, he returned to Illinois, settling in Deca- 
 tur. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and was placed on the Decatur Circuit. At 
 the end of two years he was transferred to the Har- 
 ristown Circuit, and in 1865 came to Taylorville, 
 where he engaged in pastoral work until 1874. At 
 this time he retired from the conference and went 
 to Kansas on account of his health. After a short 
 time, this being partly restored, he returned to the 
 pulpit and was afterward made Presiding Elder, 
 acting as such until his death, which occurred May 
 3, 1882. 
 
 Under the careful guidance of his father, Dr. 
 Staples grew to manhood and received a good edu- 
 cation. He attended the Bloomington Normal af- 
 ter leaving the common schools, and for six months 
 taught school quite successfully. That avocation 
 not being to his taste, however, he learned the 
 painter's trade, following that business for several 
 years in order to obtain the means whereby to pur- 
 sue a thorough course of medical study. During 
 the winter of 1881-82, he took his first course of 
 lectures in the St. Louis Medical College, returning 
 the two following winters. He was graduated in 
 the Class of '84, after having spent seven years 
 in his medical studies. He had come to Christian 
 County as early as 1865, and his first practice in the 
 line of his future work was in Edinburgh, 111., but 
 he soon removed to Grove City, arriving here on 
 the 4th of June, 1885, and has since continued ac- 
 tively engaged in practice. His efforts have been 
 crowned with success and he is kept busy all the 
 time, his practice being quite extensive. 
 
 In Edinburgh, 111., on the 1st of March, 1874, oc- 
 curred the wedding of Dr. Staples and Miss Mary 
 Ida Johns, who was born at Columbus, Ga., but 
 grew to womanhood in Illinois. To our subject 
 and wife have been born five children: Arthur,
 
 of the 
 
 of Illirn.
 
 
 \ 
 
 ^njk 
 
 v

 
 o( the
 
 PORTEAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 217 
 
 Gertie, Roy, Altha,and Lizzie, who died in infancy. 
 The family move in the best social circles of the 
 place, and are active workers in the Grove City 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, to which the Doctor 
 and his wife belong, the former being one of its 
 officers. 
 
 Our subject is greatly interested in civic soci- 
 eties, is a member of the Odd Fellows' Lodge of this 
 place and has passed all the chairs. He is Past 
 Grand and has represented the lodge in the Grand 
 Lodge. He is now Deputy Grand Master, and is 
 also a member of the Taylorville Encampment. He 
 is a true-blue Republican, having voted for every 
 Presidential nominee of that party since the elec- 
 tion of 1872. He has been alwa3 r s a hearty sup- 
 porter of public schools, and one of the prime 
 movers in securing the graded schools of which the 
 citizens of this place are so justly proud. 
 
 CHENEY, one of the enterprising 
 [M and successful farmers of Christian County, 
 Ijbz?' whose home is just outside the corporation 
 |H limits of Taylorville, claims Ohio as the 
 State of his nativity, his birth having occurred in 
 Coshocton County, on the 30th of November, 1842. 
 His parents, Abraham and Jeannette (Evans) Che- 
 ney, were both natives of Pennsylvania. In 1824, 
 the father left the State of his nativity and removed 
 to Ohio, where he remained until 1843, when he em- 
 igrated to Illinois. Locating in Sangamon County, 
 he there made his home until 1870, which year 
 witnessed his arrival in Taylorville. His death 
 occurred in that city September 22, 1887, at the 
 age of eighty-nine years, six months and ten days. 
 By occupation he was a farmer, and followed agri- 
 cultural pursuits during the greater part of his 
 life. His wife had passed away several years pre- 
 vious to the death of her husband, dying Septem- 
 ber 26, 1875, at the age of seventy-eight. The 
 family numbered eight children, of whom Harry 
 is seventh in order of birth. John, the eldest, 
 has made his home in Colusa, Cal., since 1852; 
 
 Thomas died in Taylorville; Amon died at the 
 age of thirty-two, leaving a family, and his son, 
 Thomas H. Cheney, of Springfield, is now Court 
 Stenographer; Talitha became the wife of Dr. W. J. 
 Chamblain, of Mason City, 111., and both are now 
 deceased; Rebecca C. is the wife of Alpheus Lewis, 
 and resides in Roscville, III.; Elizabeth, wife of 
 J. R. Johnson, is now keeping house for her 
 brother Harry, who is the next younger in the 
 family; and Margaret Ellen is the widow of J. E. 
 Bradley, of Springfield. 
 
 The subject of this sketch acquired a good 
 English education in the schools of Springfield. 
 He was reared to manhood in Sangamon County, 
 having been only a year old at the time of his 
 parents' removal thither. His education was com- 
 pleted by a course in a commercial school at St. 
 Louis, and when he had completed his studies in 
 that line he secured a position as clerk in the post- 
 office of that city, serving for four years under 
 Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln. Subsequently 
 he was made Deputy Marshal for St. Louis County, 
 and in a prompt and faithful manner discharged 
 the duties of that office for two and a-half years. 
 On his return to Springfield, Mr. Cheney em- 
 barked in the drug business, which he carried on 
 for several years, and in the spring of 1870 turned 
 his attention to agricultural pursuits, whicli he has 
 since followed. The farm which he now owns was 
 mainly improved by his brother Amon, and after 
 his death was carried on by the father, until he too 
 departed this life, when our subject purchased it. 
 It comprises one hundred acres of rich and val 
 uable land and lies just west of the corporation 
 limits of Taylorville. The fields are well tilled, 
 and the neat and thrifty appearance of the place 
 indicates the careful supervision of the owner. 
 Mr. Cheney has made a specialty of breeding, rais- 
 ing and selling fine stock and now has a fine herd 
 of about twenty Jersey cows. He supplies cream 
 to the restaurants of the city and has upon his 
 farm a cold storage warehouse, in which to keep 
 his cream and milk. He also raises hogs, and has 
 some fine horses. His land is a beautiful tract, and 
 
 j the place is one of the model farms of the county. 
 Mr. Cheney has always been a supporter of the 
 
 j Democratic party, having been a war advocate of
 
 218 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 its principles. His first Presidential vote was cast 
 for George B. McClellan in 1864. In 1880, he was 
 elected Township Supervisor by a handsome ma- 
 jority, and discharged his duties with credit to 
 himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents, 
 being a prudent and painstaking officer. Socially, 
 he is connected with Mystic Lodge No. 64, K. P. 
 For almost a quarter of a century, Mr. Cheney 
 has now lived in Christian County, and through- 
 out the community in which he now makes his 
 home he is widely and favorably known. 
 
 il/ATTEN GASKINS is an old resident and 
 W jlj prominent farmer, who makes his. home on 
 ill^ section 16, King Township. He is a native 
 (|S^ of Illinois, having been born in Saline 
 County, May 6, 1835, to Wilson G. Gaskins, whose 
 birth occurred in Howard County, Ky. The fa- 
 ther grew to manhood in his native State, and 
 came to Illinois at an early day, becoming a resi- 
 dent of Gallatine County, afterward a part of Sa- 
 line County, in 1812. He was one of eleven chil- 
 dren. In 1818 he married Lydia Bracken, who 
 was a native of North Carolina. He died at the 
 age of seventy-seven years, about 1872, on the 
 farm where he had resided for so many years. 
 Both he and his wife were members of the Baptist 
 Church, and in politics he was a Democrat. 
 
 Hatten Gaskins is one of eleven children, and 
 passed his boyhood and youth at his birthplace. 
 He received a limited education in the subscrip- 
 tion schools of the day, but as the family was large 
 lie was early set to work, and at the age of eigh- 
 teen commenced to be self-supporting. His ambi- 
 tion was to possess a good farm, but though he 
 was industrious it was man}' years before his wish 
 was fulfilled. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Gaskins came to this county from 
 Montgomery County, where he had married Miss 
 Delia Davis, who was born on the Lamoille River, 
 twelve miles from Burlington. Her father, 
 
 Davis, was a native of Vermont, and her grand- 
 father was under Ethan Allen at the capture of 
 Ticonderoga. Mr. Davis had the contract for 
 furnishing the first telegraph poles in the United 
 States. He died in Fremont, Neb., in 1872. 
 
 In 1857 our subject purchased eighty acres of 
 land in this county, and four years later settled 
 permanently upon it. He bought two hundred 
 and forty acres at the rate of $12 per acre. The 
 land was in a wild condition, and often herds of 
 from thirty to forty deer were seen grazing near 
 his home. He has converted his land, which was 
 mainly a swamp, into its present condition. Mr. 
 Gaskins has considerable inventive genius, and in 
 October, 1892, received a patent on a pump of an 
 improved type. He also has invented a windmill, 
 which is so constructed that it is better able to re- 
 sist wind storms than most on the market. 
 
 The marriage of our subject was celebrated on 
 Christmas Day, 1857, and by the union have been 
 born the following children: Henry, who died at 
 the age of nine years; Fannie, wife of Samuel 
 Balsley, a farmer of King Township; Rosa May, 
 who lives in Ellis, Kan., and is the wife of Lewis 
 Morton; Berry, who is at home on the farm; and 
 Betsy, wife of Edwin Vigal, of this township. 
 They are all well educated and have made a good 
 start in life. Our subject and his wife have seven 
 grandchildren, of whom they are very proud. 
 They are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church and were among the charter members of 
 the church, which formerly convened in the little 
 log schoolhouse of the neighborhood. Mr. Gas- 
 kins himself built the first schoolhouse in King 
 Township, in 1867. 
 
 The first ballot of our subject was cast for 
 Buchanan and he was one of the Democratic party 
 until two years ago. He is now a member of the 
 Farmers' Alliance, and as the author of the Farm- 
 ers' Alliance Song Book is well known in all 
 parts of the Union. He has attended all of the 
 principal meetings of the organization, and was at 
 the Omaha Convention, which was composed of 
 sixteen hundred and forty delegates. He is a 
 member of the local Alliance and is a leading man 
 of his party. A good singer, his voice has been 
 often heard in the meetings and he is the chief ex-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 219 
 
 ponent of the Alliance in this neighborhood. He 
 is a natural poet, and lias been called the poet of 
 the county. It is his intention to rent his farm 
 and devote himself to making known the merits 
 of his inventions. During the thirty-two years he 
 has lived in this county he lias been a witness of 
 the great changes that have taken place. Taylor- 
 ville was then a small place, with only one church. 
 He was often several weeks on the journey to and 
 from the nearest trading point, and the roads were 
 so bad that it took two days to go fifteen miles to 
 the mill. In 1859 he went to the Rocky Mount- 
 ains, across the plains by team, and was twenty- 
 four days going to the Missouri River and twen- 
 ty-one days on the return from that point. He 
 spent seven months in the mountains and was one 
 of the second part}' to enter the region. He made 
 considerable out of his venture, and his wife has a 
 ring which was made from the gold he obtained. 
 Everything in the West was extremely high, and 
 he has paid as high as $24 for a small sack of flour. 
 
 ffi SABEL (BAKER) BERRY, who lives on sec- 
 || tion 11, Johnson Township, came with her 
 /i. parents to Christian County in her young 
 womanhood and has since' passed her life in this 
 county. Her husband was for many years a promi- 
 nent and respected citizen of this county, which 
 in his death met with a severe loss. The birtli of 
 Mrs. Berry occurred in York County, Pa., on the 
 14th of November, 1830. Her father, Henry Ba- 
 ker, was born in the same county in 1802. He 
 has now passed away and lies buried in Clark 
 Cemetery, of Johnson Township. His wife, whose 
 maiden name was Mary Klinefelter, was born in 
 1804, and grew to womanhood in York County, 
 Pa. 
 
 Our subject is the second in order of birth in a 
 family of ten children. Alexander, the eldest, is 
 deceased; Matilda is the wife of Richard Johnson, 
 a resident of this township; Surilla is deceased; 
 Jacob, William, Hester Ann and Samuel have also 
 
 passed away; Eliza is the wife of Henry Ebert, and 
 lives in California; and Mary, who was the wife of 
 Matthew Stone, is deceased, and with her husband 
 lies buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. The father of 
 this family died in 1880. He followed the life oc- 
 cupation of farming, and carried on a farm in this 
 county. His wife died in the prime of life, in the 
 year 1849. 
 
 The marriage of Mrs. Berry was celebrated in 
 1850, when she gave her heart and hand to Thomas 
 H. Berry, who was born in Montgomeiy County, 
 111., in 1828. To them were born three children. 
 Henry H. is an enterprising carpenter and builder, 
 a resident of Taylorville; John T. is a well-to-do 
 agriculturist of Johnson Township; and Mary 
 Jane, wife of Allen Raiborn, lives on the old 
 homestead with her mother. Mrs. Berry has five 
 grandchildren, namely: John, Eunice, Grace I., 
 Daisy and Goldie May. John Berry has resided 
 for several years with his grandmother, and has 
 been of great assistance to her in carding on the 
 home farm. He is a young man who is very am- 
 bitious, and who fully realizes of what benefit a 
 thorough education is to a man in the battle of 
 life. This winter he expects to teach school and af- 
 terwards attend the business college at Springfield, 
 111. He is a young man who is bound to suc- 
 ceed and who has a future of great promise before 
 him. 
 
 The homestead owned and operated by Mrs. 
 Berry is one of the best in the township. Of this, 
 one hundred and sixty acres are situated on the 
 prairie, and forty acres are timber-land. During 
 his lifetime Mr. Berry served in various local po- 
 sitions of responsibility and honor to the satis- 
 faction of his friends and neighbors. Among others 
 he was Highway Commissioner, and also served as 
 one of the School Directors. His influence and 
 ballot were used in behalf of the Democratic party. 
 For a period of over twenty years he was a faith- 
 ful and consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. In 1873, he was called from his 
 labors, being stricken with malarial fever. He 
 lies buried in the United Brethren Church Ceme- 
 tery. During his entire life, which was spent in 
 the Prairie State, he followed agricultural pur- 
 suits,and was an honorable, upright man, whom to
 
 220 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 know was to love. His name deserves to be placed 
 among the worthy pioneers who did so much in 
 the development and preparation of the State for 
 the prosperity and success which have now be- 
 come assured. Mrs. Berry is well and favorably 
 known in this community as a lady of good ed- 
 ucation, right judgment and business ability. 
 Since her husband's death she has managed the 
 farm most creditably, and has shown herself most 
 capable to direct the management of a large farm. 
 
 JOHN GORE is one of the early pioneers of 
 Christian County, having arrived here with 
 his parents in 1830. He is an honored resi- 
 dent of Taylorville Township, and cul- 
 tivates his valuable farm on section 7. He was 
 born in Trigg County, Ky., near Cadiz, August 9, 
 1825, and has consequently passed all but five 
 years of his life in the community where he yet 
 makes his home. 
 
 Our subject's parents, John and Sophia Gore, 
 were natives of Kentucky, who made their home 
 for several 3'ears after their mairiage in the Blue 
 Grass State. Believing that they could do better 
 in a newer country, they started with their family 
 and earthly possessions by ox-teams to Illinois, 
 where the father took up one hundred and sixty 
 acres of Government land on the present site of 
 Taylorville. This property, for which he paid 
 $1.25 per acre, was situated where the Baxter Ele- 
 vator now stands. 
 
 Our subject grew to manhood in this county 
 and obtained his education in the subscription 
 schools, which were held in log schoolhouses from 
 three to four miles from his home. He can well 
 remember when there was not a house in Taylor- 
 ville. Remaining with his parents until he had 
 reached his majority, he then purchased forty acres 
 of land, for which he paid $150,150 of the amount 
 down and the rest to be paid in several years. 
 This land was entirely wild and a portion was 
 heavily timbered. In order to pay the remainder, 
 
 our subject began working for $10 per month at 
 farm labor and continued thus employed for sev- 
 eral years. In the mean time he made many sub- 
 stantial improvements upon his place, which he 
 afterward sold and then bought a Mexican land 
 warrant for one hundred and forty-five acres on 
 section 7, Taylorville Township. This place has 
 since been his home. It was mostly prairie and 
 unimproved. He built a log cabin, which in later 
 years was supplanted by his substantial resi- 
 dence. In his boyhood the nearest trading point 
 was Springfield. He was always an incfustrious 
 worker and was many times employed at cutting 
 and splitting rails. This occupation was not very 
 remunerative, but he was economical and managed 
 to board himself while receiving only twenty-five 
 cents per hundred rails. 
 
 In July, 1862, Mr. Gore enlisted in the Union 
 service for three years as a private of Company A, 
 One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Infantry. 
 His brother William also enlisted on the same day 
 in the same company, while his brother Joseph 
 joined the company a few days afterward. They 
 were mustered into service at Camp Butler, and 
 their first engagement took place at Franklin, 
 Tenn. Mr. Gore was for three days in the battle 
 of Chickamauga, was in the engagement at Resaca 
 and the battles of Bull's Gap, Nashville and many 
 others of less note. He was never taken prisoner 
 or wounded, though he served until the close of 
 the war and was often in the front of the battle. 
 He suffered many privations and was often sent 
 on forced marches. During his service he lived 
 for a day and a-half on eighteen grains of coffee) 
 being otherwise entirely without food. He re- 
 ceived an honorable discharge in 1855, after hav- 
 ing made a record of which he may well be proud. 
 He was a soldier on whom his superiors could 
 safely rely, and ably defended the Nation in her 
 hour of need. 
 
 Returning to his home, Mr. Gore took up the 
 work on his farm and has since devoted his entire 
 attention to its improvement. He was married in 
 1870 to Miss Harriet Welch, who died about a 
 year later, and was placed to rest in Buckhart 
 Cemetery. Mr. Gore has been a Republican 
 since the organization of the party, but though
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 221 
 
 interested in politics has never been an office- 
 seeker. He is a member of the Methodist Church, 
 and a Grand Army man. His success in life is 
 justly merited, for he began at the very bottom 
 round of the ladder, as did many of this Nation's 
 brave sons, and has steadily progressed in fortune 
 and the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 JOHNSON is one of the influen- 
 IWf tial farmers of Johnson Township, his home 
 tfc fli being on section 14. He is a native of the 
 Buckeye State, born May 14, 1830, in Cadiz 
 and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Orr) John- 
 son, who were both natives of Washington County, 
 Pa., where they grew to manhood and womanhood. 
 
 Richard Johnson is one of six children, of whom 
 he is next to the youngest. His eldest brother, 
 James, is deceased, and was buried in Louisville, 
 Ky.; Margaret, who was next in order of birth, and 
 was formerly a resident of Waterbury, Conn., is 
 now deceased; Albert was one of the devoted 
 missionaries to India and was killed in the mutiny 
 in 1848, about seven hundred miles from Calcutta; 
 Junius C. died in Ohio; William, who was in In- 
 dia for a few years, is now President of the Biddle 
 Institute in North Carolina, and is a man of supe- 
 rior attainments. The father of these children died 
 in 1837, and was buried in Cadiz, Ohio. His wife 
 died three years later and was placed in her last 
 resting-place in Washington County, Pa., which 
 was also the county of her birth. 
 
 Our subject was early deprived of his father's 
 guidance and mother's loving care, for he was only 
 a child of seven years on the death of the former, 
 and three years later occurred his mother's death. 
 He was therefore early obliged to strike out and 
 make his own livelihood. He obtained employ- 
 ment in a tannery and worked at that business for 
 six years in Ohio. In 1859 he wedded Matilda 
 Baker, who was born in Pennsylvania, and with her 
 parents removed to Clarke County, Ohio. With 
 
 her parents, she later settled in Christian County, 
 111. They were natives of Washington County, 
 Pa., and were of Scotch and Irish descent. They 
 became residents of these parts in 1854, when the 
 county was a wilderness. Our subject and wife be- 
 came the parents of eight children. Margaret mar- 
 ried James Hawkins, of Johnson Township; Will- 
 iam, who is deceased, lies buried in the Taylorville 
 cemetery; Mary became the wife of Henry Dappert, 
 a farmer of Johnson Township; Drusilla and 80- 
 phronia are at home; Rebecca is married and re- 
 sides on the homestead; Matthew is also at home; 
 and Rachel died in infancy. 
 
 The farm belonging to our subject is well 
 improved and comprises four hundred and seventy 
 acres. The owner is one of the enterprising farm- 
 ers of the township and is thoroughly familiar 
 with the duties pertaining to farm work. He is a 
 stanch Republican, prior to the organization of 
 which party he affiliated with the Whigs. His first 
 vote in a Presidential election was cast for Winfield 
 Scott. For many years after coming to this county, 
 the father of our subject was well known as one of 
 the pioneer plrysicians. In everything pertaining 
 to the upbuilding of the community in which he 
 dwells, Mr. Johnson is active and interested, and 
 is a believer in giving the rising generation the 
 best possible advantages in the way of an educa- 
 tion. He has served as one of the School Directors, 
 and is ever to be found on the side of progress. 
 
 ICHARD KIMBALL is one of the enterpris- 
 ing merchants of Mt. Auburn, and has 
 i resident of Christian County for 
 three decades. He carries a well-selected 
 stock of general merchandise and has a well-estab- 
 lished business. He is accounted one of the sub- 
 stantial citizens of the county, and by his methods 
 of fair dealing has established an enviable reputa- 
 tation. 
 
 Mr. Kimball is a native of Vermont, born near 
 Montpelier, Washington County, May 21, 1846.
 
 222 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 His grandfather, Richard Kimball, was born in 
 Boston, Mass., and was of Scotch parentage, his 
 ancestors having lived in the Highlands of Scot- 
 laud. Coming to the United States, they settled 
 in New England prior to the War of the Revolu- 
 tion. For a number of years, Richard Kimball 
 was engaged in business in Boston. 
 
 Nathan Allen Kimball, the father of our sub- 
 ject, was born and grew to manhood in Vermont. 
 He there married Sarah Stagg, also a native of the 
 Green Mountain State, and after that event he 
 engaged in milling and merchandising for many 
 years. In 1855, he concluded to seek his fortune 
 in the West, and, coming to Illinois, settled in 
 Rochester, where he engaged in the same business. 
 He died in 1860. His wife, who survived him for 
 a number of years, passed away in Missouri. 
 
 In the family, comprising three sons and three 
 daughters, Richard Kimball is the second in order 
 of birth. One sister has since passed to the home 
 beyond. Our subject was only nine years old 
 when his parents brought him to Illinois. He was 
 given good school advantages, and in 1863, when 
 in his seventeenth year, he came to this county 
 and entered the employ of M. Stafford & Co. as 
 a clerk. He continued with this firm for ten years 
 and received a thorough, practical business train- 
 ing. In 1873, Mr. Kimball bought out the old 
 firm and succeeded to the business. Since that 
 time he has carried it on alone and has been fort- 
 unate in his management of the enterprise. 
 
 In Christian County, on the 26th of February, 
 1873, a marriage ceremony was performed which 
 united the destinies of Mr. Kimball and Miss 
 Frances J. Henderson. Her father, John A. Hen- 
 derson, is one of the earliest settlers of this county, 
 and is a son-in-law of old Gen. Whitesides, of 
 southern Illinois. Mrs. Kimball was born in Mad- 
 ison County, 111., and by her marriage has become 
 the mother of four children. The eldest, John A., 
 is a talented young man. The younger mem- 
 bers of the family are called respective^-: Pearl, 
 Grace and Cora. The parents hold membership 
 with the Christian Church. Mr. Kimball is a mem- 
 ber of the Masonic fraternity, is a Royal Arch 
 Mason, and a member of Illiopolis Chapter. The 
 political support of Mr. Kimball is given to the 
 
 Democratic party on all national issues. He has 
 found his time and energies necessarily devoted 
 to his business interests, and has therefore never 
 accepted official honors. He is well known to be a 
 man whose word is as good as his bond, and in all 
 his dealings with his fellow-men his course has 
 been marked by a high sense of honor and justice. 
 
 *p NDREW J. TAYLOR is a native Virgin- 
 (^O| ian, and from his earliest years has been 
 
 Ij It engaged in agricultural pursuits. He has 
 (fjj a well-improved farm on section 23, Green- 
 wood Township, where in addition to general 
 farming he devotes considerable attention to stock- 
 raising. He has seen much of the development of 
 this county, to which he came when only seven- 
 teen years of age. 
 
 Our subject was born in the eastern part of Vir- 
 ginia, in Rockbridge County, June 3, 1850, being 
 a son of Gabriel and Catherine (Smith) Taylor. 
 The former was a son of Sinclair Taylor, who was 
 a farmer and was also a native of the Old Domin- 
 ion. John Smith, our subject's maternal grand- 
 father, was probably born in Germany, as he spoke 
 very broken English. He was also a farmer in 
 Virginia, and lived to be about eighty-five years 
 of age. Gabriel Taylor owned and operated a 
 farm in his native county, and was called from 
 this life in early manhood. He and his wife were 
 members of the United Brethren Church. They 
 were the parents of five children, only two of 
 whom are now living: Mary, wife of John Suther- 
 land, of Brownsburg, Va.; and Andrew J., whose 
 name heads this sketch. 
 
 The boyhood and youth of our subject were 
 passed on his father's farm in Virginia. He re- 
 mained on the old homestead until seventeen 
 years of age, when he started out to make his own 
 way in the world. He came directly to Christian 
 County, arriving here when Taylorville was a very 
 small town, having no railroads. For four years 
 he lived five miles west of Edinburgh,, nt ter which,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 223 
 
 in the spring of 1871, he moved into Greenwood 
 Township, where he rented and operated a farm 
 for six years. By carefully husbanding his means, 
 he acquired enough money to purchase a farm of 
 eighty acres, which is located on section 23. He 
 has made substantial improvements and has thus 
 materially increased its value. For a number of 
 years he has raised horses, sheep and hogs exten- 
 sively, and is now one of the leading farmers of 
 the township. 
 
 In this county, Mr. Taylor was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Elmira V. Orr, on the 1st of De- 
 cember, 1870. She is a daughter of Thomas and 
 Caroline (Suddith) Orr, who are well known in 
 Christian County. Seven children have been born 
 to our subject and his estimable wife. They are 
 as follows: Rena C., William A., Thomas O., John 
 W., Charles A., Jesse and a baby boy. 
 
 Mr. Taylor is a member of the Modern Wood- 
 men of America and is identified with the Farmers' 
 Mutual Benefit Association. The cause of educa- 
 tion finds in him a warm friend, and for a period 
 of three years he served as a School Director. At 
 the present time he is acting in the capacity of 
 Supervisor of the township. In politics he sup- 
 ports the men and measures of the People's party. 
 Whatever fortune he now possesses is the result of 
 his industry and untiring energy, for be started 
 out in the battle of life without a dollar capital, 
 and has made his way unassisted by the money or 
 influence of others. He is therefore deserving of 
 great respect, and is held in high regard by his 
 friends.and neighbors. 
 
 JULIUS A. WOLFF is one of the energetic 
 business men of Morrisonville, being a 
 dealer, packer and shipper of poultry and 
 eggs. During the summer season he gives 
 employment to about twelve men, and in the win- 
 ter to about fifty hands. He has been engaged in 
 this branch of business for a number of years and 
 has become fairly conversant with its details. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Wolff occurred in Davenport, 
 Iowa, May 2, 1864, his parents being Joachim and 
 Julia (Hensen) Wolff, who were natives of Ham- 
 burg, Germany. The former was a merchant 
 tailor in the Fatherland and came to America 
 about 1840. He settled in Davenport, Iowa, where 
 he died in 1886, at the age of about seventy-five 
 years. During the late war he served as a mem- 
 ber of the Davenport regiment, and in one en- 
 gagement was badly wounded. His father, Mi- 
 chael D. Wolff, died in Germany when over ninety 
 years of age. The mother of our subject passed 
 from this life in Burlington, when she had attained 
 the age of seventy years. Both parents were 
 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 
 
 Julius A. Wolff is one of five children, three 
 daughters and two sons, only two of whom arc 
 now living. His only sister, Carolina, is the wife 
 of Nicholas Lau, and is a resident of Burlington, 
 Iowa. Our subject was only five years of age 
 when his parents removed from Davenport to Bur- 
 lington, where he was reared to manhood and re- 
 ceived his education. Upon completing his stud- 
 ies he obtained a position as book-keeper for the 
 Orchard City Packing House, of Burlington, and 
 remained in the employ of that firm for eight 
 years and a-half. Going to Chicago, Mr. Wolff 
 became a commercial traveler for the firm of Op- 
 penheimer, Casing & Co. 
 
 The first commercial venture of our subject was 
 in 1886, when he entered into partnership with 
 C. E. Hensen, and opened a poultry and produce 
 shippers' office in Virden, 111. In time they en- 
 larged their business and opened branch houses at 
 Carlinville, Farmersville and Morrisonville. At 
 the end of a year they dissolved partnership, Mr. 
 Wolff taking the Morrisonville and Farmersville 
 houses, and Mr. Hensen keeping the other two 
 branches. In addition to his business interests, 
 Mr. Wolff has money invested in good property 
 in Farmersville and Morrisonville. He possesses 
 good business ability and is making a success of 
 his various enterprises. 
 
 On the 24th of September, 1887, a marriage cer- 
 emony was performed by which Miss Augusta 
 Hensen became the wife of Mr. Wolff. She is a 
 daughter of Frederick and Magdalene (Westphall)
 
 224 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Ilensen. In politics, Mr. Wolff is a Democrat and 
 is greatly interested in the success of that party. 
 Since casting his lot with the citizens of this place 
 he has been active in promoting her best interests 
 and is a public-spirited man. He is upright and 
 exact in his business dealings, and for that reason 
 makes friends of his patrons. 
 
 ELIJAH A. MILLER is one of the respected 
 old settlers of Taylorville Township, hav- 
 ing lived on his present farm since 1850. 
 This property is situated on section 16, and has 
 been developed from the wild prairie to its present 
 thrifty and well-improved condition by our sub- 
 ject, who -has acquired a good farm and a com- 
 fortable competence for his remaining years. He 
 is a native of this county, having been born in 
 South Fork Township, which was then a part of 
 Sangamon County, on the 10th of March, 1825. 
 His parents were Samuel and Hannah (Hainen) 
 Miller, who were of German and Scotch-Irish de- 
 scent, respectively. The former was a native of 
 Virginia, and the latter of South Carolina. They 
 were the parents of the following children: Sal- 
 lie, Melinda, Isaac, Daniel, Martin, Levi, Elijah, 
 Jane, Eli, Charles, and two who died in infancy. 
 Only three of the number are yet living. Martin 
 and Jane are residents of Saline County, Neb. 
 The former is a retired farmer. 
 
 Samuel Miller removed from his native State to 
 Kentucky, and grew to manhood in Christian 
 County of that State. He was a farmer and maker 
 of weaver's reeds. In 1822, he came to Illinois 
 and settled in South Fork Township, this county, 
 the trip overland being made on horseback. He 
 pre-empted a piece of Government land, for which 
 he paid Si. 25 per acre. In the early days he gave 
 as high as one hundred per cent, on borrowed 
 money. On his farm he erected a small log cabin, 
 16x20 feet. The nearest trading point was at 
 Springfield. He was born in 1790, and passed 
 
 away in October, 1833, having been a member of 
 the Universalist Church. His wife was born in 
 1799, and died in 1866. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born and reared 
 on his father's farm in this county, and his educa- 
 tion was obtained in the early subscription schools. 
 The first one he ever attended was taught by 
 Judge Vandeveer and was situated nearly a mile 
 and a-half from his home. He obtained a good 
 business education largely through his own study 
 and diligence. When about sixteen years of age, 
 he began teaching school, and continued during 
 the winter months in that occupation until in his 
 twenty-eighth year. From, the time he was a 
 youth of sixteen years he took charge of his 
 mother's old homestead, which he continued to 
 manage until 1850. 
 
 The farm on which Mr. Miller still lives was 
 purchased by him in 1850. This property of one 
 hundred and sixty acres was school land and was 
 purchased at the rate of $1.75 per acre. He has 
 since extended its boundaries until it now comprises 
 two hundred and seventy acres, where he carries 
 on general farming and stock-raising. At the 
 same time that he settled on this place he married 
 Miss Jane S. Bishop, who was born in Rochester, 
 N. Y., August 6, 1830. 
 
 Six children have been born to our subject and 
 wife. Ada, whose birth occurred in April, 1855, is 
 the wife of H. J. Huffman, who is a school teacher 
 in Seward County, Neb.; Henry died November 
 30, 1866; Annie died in infancy; Jennie, born 
 October 22, 1862, became the wife of O.E. Badger, 
 a Methodist minister; Fannie, wife of A. J. Ha}'- 
 ward, a farmer of Taylorville Township, was born 
 July 6, 1864; and Alice, the youngest of the 
 family, born JulyS, 1866, died September 19, 1869. 
 
 The first vote cast by Mr. Miller was for Frank- 
 lin Pierce, and he has supported the Democratic 
 party ever since that time. A number of times 
 he has been honored with various township offices, 
 and among others we mention that of Town- 
 ship Collector, School Director and Trustee. Mrs. 
 Miller holds membership with the Presbyterian 
 Church. The family is highly respected and have 
 always been warmly received in the social circles ' 
 of the neighborhood.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 225 
 
 |J UGUSTUS M. SMITH. One of the exten- 
 
 @/Llli sive land-owners of Christian County, 
 jr* and one of the early settlers, is the gentle- 
 ^j/ man whose history we will proceed to 
 briefly trace. His home is located on section 15, 
 South Fork Township. His birth occurred in 
 Washington, D. C., January 11, 1836, his parents 
 being Justus and Catherine (Hartner) Smith, who 
 were both natives of Germany. In 1828 the father 
 crossed the Atlantic on a sailing-vessel, which con- 
 sumed nine weeks in making the voyage. He was 
 a baker by trade, and after his arrival in America 
 located in Washington, where he worked at his 
 calling for a few years. In 1835 he came to Illi- 
 nois by stage and located in Greene County, 
 where he began working on a farm by the month, 
 receiving $8 or $9 for his services. He continued 
 to make his home in Greene County until 1844, 
 when he came to Christian Count3' and bought an 
 eighty-acre tract of school land in South Fork 
 Township. He erected a log cabin and proceeded 
 to develop a good farm from the wild prairie. 
 Though he commenced life without any capital, 
 he was in good circumstances at the time of his 
 death, which occurred in March, 1877. His wife, 
 who died two years previous, lies buried by her 
 husband in Bethany Cemeteiy. 
 
 Our subject is one of a family of six children 
 and is the only son. His sister Johanna is the 
 widow of Thomas Melugin, and is a resident of 
 Edinburg, 111.; Mary is deceased; Catherine is the 
 wife of John Jysey, a farmer of this township; 
 Elizabeth became the wife of Charles Hanna, who 
 is also engaged in farming in South Fork Town- 
 ship; and Polly is deceased. 
 
 Mr. Smith of this sketch was only an infant 
 when he was brought by his parents to Illinois, 
 and with them came to Christian County when 
 eight years of age. He grew to manhood on his 
 father's farm in South Fork Township, and at- 
 tended the winter term of school in the nearest 
 schoolhouse, which was about a mile and a-half 
 from his home. The school advantages of that 
 early day were extremely meagre, and his education 
 has been mainly acquired since reaching adult 
 years. He remained with his father until twenty- 
 two years of age, when he started on his own ac- 
 
 count as a farmer on forty acres of raw prairie 
 land, which was given him by his father. On this 
 place he lived for about eight years, and, having 
 made many improvements upon it, he then sold 
 it to good advantage and moved to Taylorville, 
 where he made his home for a year. His next 
 business venture was the purchase of one hundred 
 and sixty-four acres on section 15, South Fork 
 Township, the farm on which he now resides. 
 He has extended his possessions considerably in 
 later years, and is now the fortunate owner of 
 nearly seven hundred acres of well-cultivated and 
 valuable land. He is engaged in raising general 
 farm products, and also deals considerably in stock. 
 The marriage of Mr. Smith took place on the 
 20th of May, 1863, when Miss Elmira Adams be- 
 came his wife. Two children have been born of 
 their union: Lizzie, the wife of William Taylor, a 
 well-to-do farmer of South Fork Township; and 
 Bessie, who died when three years of age. Polit- 
 ically, Mr. Smith is a Democrat, and takes a great 
 interest in political and general affairs. Though 
 not desirous of official honors, he has served his 
 township as Supervisor. He is a worthy man and 
 patriotic citizen, who is devoted to the promotion 
 of all enterprises which have for their object the 
 good of the community and the progress of his 
 fellow-men. 
 
 JA. WHITECRAFf. This gentleman is well 
 known as one of the most extensive land- 
 owners of Christian County and as a prom- 
 inent citizen who is always to be found 
 in the front ranks of improvement. His well- 
 equipped farm is situated on section 25, Soutli 
 Fork Township. He is a native of Bath County, 
 Ky., born January 11, 1819, and is a son of John 
 Whitecraft. His grandfather, who was of Irish 
 descent, was reared in Lancaster, Pa. Thence he 
 removed to Tennessee, and later to Kentucky, 
 where his death occurred. 
 
 The father of our subject was a native of Ten-
 
 226 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 nessee and was eight years of age when his parents 
 settled in Kentucky. His early education was 
 limited, and he was early inured to farm work. 
 On arriving at suitable years he married Rachel 
 Arnick, a native of Bath County, Ky. On the 
 loth of September, 1835, the family left Kentucky 
 and started for the Prairie State, reaching Spring- 
 field at the end of thirty days. Central Illinois 
 was still in a nearly wild condition, and wolves 
 and deer yet roamed over the prairies. On the 
 6th of April of the following year, the father 
 came to this county and made a settlement on the 
 farm which is now owned by our subject. lie 
 bought a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, 
 paid $4 per acre, and entered a large tract of land 
 at $1.25 per acre. The prairie was without fences, 
 and there was only a small house, containinga large 
 fireplace, upon the farm by way of improvement. 
 John Whitecraft became the owner of nearly eight 
 hundred acres, all of which is in the family. He 
 died in 1847, aged sixty-two years, seven months 
 and twenty da3's, and was buried on the farm. 
 His wife lived to reach four-score years and was 
 killed in Springfield by a runaway team. They 
 were both members of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and in politics the father was a Whig. He was 
 greatly opposed to secret societies. 
 
 Our subject is the eldest child born to his par- 
 ents. Harvey died in this county, as did also 
 Ahisah, the next younger; Jane, who is deceased, 
 became the wife of a Mr. Williams, of Brush Creek; 
 John lives retired from business and resides in 
 Taylorville; Silas lives in Springfield; and George, 
 who is also retired from active business, lives at 
 Berry Station. 
 
 The early years of J. A. Whitecraft were passed 
 in Kentucky, and at the time of the family's emi- 
 gration to this State he was a youth of sixteen 
 years. His education was obtained in the sub- 
 scription schools of that early day, and he learned 
 to be an expert with the rifle, cradle, axe and 
 scythe. He continued to reside at home until his 
 father's death, when he inherited a portion ,of the 
 old homestead, a tract of three hundred acres. 
 He has since greatly extended the boundaries of 
 his farm and may well be proud of his broad estate, 
 for he owns in one body fourteen hundred acres. 
 
 He is engaged in general farming and stock-raising 
 and has met with unusual success. 
 
 Mr. Whitecraft is a good citizen and has been 
 identified with the progress of this region for 
 fifty-seven years. His first Presidential ballot was 
 cast in 1840 for W. H. Harrison. He has seen thir- 
 teen elections since that day, and the last time 
 voted for the grandson of the Tippecanoe hero. 
 He was well acquainted with President Lincoln 
 and had the pleasure of voting for him. His 
 father was always an anti-slavery man and left 
 the South on that account. 
 
 OSCAR F. MORRISON, a well-known citizen 
 of Taylorville, claims New Hampshire as 
 the State of his nativity. The place of his 
 birth is in the city of Keene, and the date May 
 22, 1837. His parents were David and Betsy 
 Ann (Wilson) Morrison. His boyhood days were 
 quietly passed, and the public schools afforded 
 him his educational privileges. Since the age of 
 fifteen he has made his own way in the world. At 
 that time he began learning the printer's trade, 
 serving a three-years apprenticeship. When a 
 young man of twenty years he determined to seek 
 a home and fortune in the West, for he believed 
 that better privileges were here afforded than in 
 the older and more thickly settled States of the 
 East. In consequence he arrived in Pana, Christian 
 County, on the 22d of July, 1857, and in that 
 place and in Clinton he was engaged in newspaper 
 work until 1866. In connection with Mahlon De 
 Levis he founded and published the Clinton Pub- 
 lic, which he carried on during the war. 
 
 On the 3d of October, 1861, Mr. Morrison was 
 united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Frink, the 
 ceremony being performed on the site of their 
 present home. The lady is a daughter of Judge 
 W. S. and Sarah G. (Grant) Frink. Her father 
 died September 12, 1887, of paralysis, in his nine- 
 ty-seventh year. Pie was the last survivor in a 
 famity of twelve children. Throughout Christian 
 County he was recognized as a prominent citizen.
 
 Tke Library 
 
 of the 
 Untartlty of Illlnoh
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 229 
 
 He laid out Frink's Addition to the city, consist- 
 ing of eighteen lots, and was prominent in all pub- 
 lic affairs. For seventy-five years he was a member 
 of the Masonic fraternity, having been made a 
 Mason in North Stonington, Conn., in 1821. He 
 was always an active member of the society, was a 
 charter member of Mound Lodge, and took the 
 Knight Templar degree. Further mention is made 
 of Judge Frink on another page of this work. 
 
 After the death of her mother Mr. and Mrs. 
 Morrison came to Taylorville, in 186(5, to make 
 their home with the Judge, she being his only liv- 
 ing child. The family numbered six children, but 
 one died at the age of fifteen, one at seven years, 
 another at twenty-one, and two in early childhood. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have two children: Mary 
 Emma, who is employed as a teacher in the sixth 
 grade in the Taylorville public schools; and Lor- 
 etta Frink, wife of Nathaniel Gandy, of Taylor- 
 ville. 
 
 After coming to this city, our subject spent six 
 years in the store of C. E. Barnes <fe Co., of Tay- 
 lorville. In politics, he is a Republican and a 
 stanch advocate of its principles, but has never 
 been an aspirant for political preferment. His 
 wife is a member of the Baptist Church, and also 
 belongs to Hazelmere Chapter No. 221, O.E. S., of 
 which she is now Treasuier. Mr. and Mrs. Morri- 
 son hold an enviable position in social circles, and 
 have many friends throughout this community, in 
 which they have so long resided. 
 
 JUDGE WILLIAM STANTON FRINK, de- 
 ceased, was one of Christian County's 
 leading and influential citizens, and well 
 deserves representation in its history. He 
 was born in Lebanon, New London County, Conn., 
 December 17, 1790, and was a son of William and 
 Wealthy (Downer) Frink, who were also natives 
 of the Nutmeg State. The family is of Welsh 
 origin, and was founded in America during Col- 
 onial days, a tract of land being granted to Isaac 
 10 
 
 Frink by King George III. This is still in the 
 possession of the family. The father of our sub- 
 ject died in 1850, at the age of eighty-two. He 
 was a substantial farmer and a man esteemed for 
 his many excellencies of character. The mother 
 was an exemplary Christian lady, who did much 
 toward molding the lives of her children. 
 
 The primary education of our subject was sup- 
 plemented by study in an academy at Westerly, 
 R. I. He remained at home until eighteen years 
 of age, and during the succeeding twelve years 
 engaged in teaching in Connecticut and New 
 York. In 1824, he made a voyage to Martinique 
 as supercargo on a vessel owned by Messrs. Trum- 
 bull, Smith & Co., of Stonington, Conn., and in 
 1826 went to the island of Trinidad, where he 
 visited the grave of Commodore Perry, who was 
 there interred. In February of the following 
 year he was appointed assignee of a bankrupt 
 concern, and his duties occupied his attention for 
 two years. In 1829 he began business for him- 
 self at his old home, and afterwards spent four 
 years in Brooklyn, N. Y., in mercantile pursuits. 
 
 During a business trip to the West, Mr. Frink 
 was so impressed with the future prospects of 
 Illinois that he determined to here make his home, 
 and accordingly, in 1837, settled on Flat Branch, 
 in the southeastern part of what was then Sanga- 
 mon County, where he entered land and began 
 farming. In 1838 and 1839 he took an active 
 part in the formation of Christian County, in 
 which was included his farm. There he success- 
 fully carried on agricultural pursuits until 1853, 
 when he removed to Taylorville, where he spent 
 his remaining days. 
 
 Judge Friuk was married October 21, 1830, to 
 Sarah Grace, daughter of Nathan Grant, of Troy, 
 N. Y. She was born September 22, 1808, and 
 died November 24, 1866. Two children survived 
 her, but Emily J., wife of William M. O'Farrell, 
 of New York, died April 26, 1868. Sarah Ann, 
 wife of Oscar F. Morrison, is now living in Tay- 
 lorville. 
 
 Judge Frink was frequently honored with public 
 office. In 1837 he was appointed Deputy Sur- 
 veyor of Shelby County, and from 1838 until 
 1840 was Postmaster of AHentown. During that
 
 230 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 time lie was also proprietor of what was known as 
 the Halfway House, on the Great Eastern stage 
 route, and there frequently entertained Abraham 
 Lincoln and Gen. Baker. In 1843 he was elected 
 Probate Judge of Christian County, and served 
 four years. He afterwards spent five years in 
 merchandising in Taylorville with marked suc- 
 cess, and in 1863 was appointed Deputy United 
 States Collector of Internal Revenue for the Third 
 Division of the Tenth Congressional District, a 
 position which he held until his resignation, in 
 1868, from which time he lived retired until his 
 death. 
 
 Judge Friuk served as a private in the War of 
 1812, in the company in which his father was 
 Lieutenant. For his faithful and efficient service 
 he was awarded a grant of one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land, forty of which formed a part of the 
 farm which he owned at his death. In politics, 
 he was identified with the Whig and Republican 
 parties. In 1841 he became a member of the 
 Baptist Church, and throughout his life was a 
 liberal supporter of religious and benevolent 
 work. His death resulted from a stroke of par- 
 alysis, September 12, 1887, in his ninety-seventh 
 year. Probably no -man in the county is more 
 widely known, and none is held in higher regard 
 than Judge Frink, who is numbered among the 
 honored pioneers, to whom a debt of gratitude 
 is due for the prominent part which they took in 
 the upbuilding of the county and the promotion 
 of its best interests. 
 
 yiLLIAM F. GORE, a well-known and 
 wealthy farmer of Taylorville Township, 
 has for many years made his home on sec- 
 tion 12. He was born in Trigg County, Ky., Oc- 
 tober 31, 1828, and is a son of John and Sophia 
 (Barten) Gore, the former of Irish descent and a 
 native of South Carolina. The father was a 
 farmer by occupation throughout life, and was 
 only a boy when his parents removed to Ken- 
 
 tucky. There he lived until 1830, when he came 
 to what is now a part of Christian County. He 
 located on a tractof land in Taylorville Township, 
 and for two years lived in a log cabin, which he 
 erected on the land. Then, removing to South 
 Fork Township, he entered a piece of land, which 
 is now the home of our subject. This property of 
 one hundred and sixty acres on sections 12 and 13 
 was unimproved prairie, which was held at $1.25 
 per acre. 
 
 On his tiew farm, Mr. Gore erected a log cabin, 
 16x18 feet, in which he made his home for a num- 
 ber of years. The Indians were very numerous 
 at that time, but were not troublesome until the 
 Black Hawk War. When he came to Illinois he 
 made the trip with ox-teams. For years he was 
 obliged to do his trading in Springfield, and in 
 order to find a market for his stock drove them 
 to St. Louis. He participated in the War of 1812, 
 while his father was one of the heroes of the Rev- 
 olution. He was a member of the Methodist 
 Church, and was active in the organization of 
 schools and roads. 
 
 Our subject's mother died in 1831. Her family 
 comprised the following children: Mary, widow of 
 Homer Wright, of Missouri; James, deceased, and 
 Mary J., twins; Margaret, who died in 1824; John, 
 a farmer of Taylorville Township; Rebecca, who 
 lives at Friend," Neb., and is the wife of Jacob 
 Slieble; Joseph, a retired farmer of Taylorville; 
 William F., our subject; and Ben ton F., who died in 
 1883. There was one child, Sophia, who is now 
 deceased, born of the second union of our sub- 
 ject's father. 
 
 From boyhood, William F. Gore was trained to 
 agricultural duties, and from the age of two years 
 has been a resident of this county. His education 
 was obtained in the subscription schools of those 
 early days, which were kept only two or three 
 months during the winter. He walked often as 
 far as three miles to the log schoolhouse, where 
 he was a student until sixteen years of age. He 
 remained upon his father's homestead until he 
 reached his majority, after which he worked for 
 farmers by the month for a year, receiving $12 
 per month. During the summer he farmed a piece 
 of rented land for four years, and in the winter
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 231 
 
 worked at various occupations. Returning then 
 to the old farm, he took charge of the same until 
 his father's death. He now owns one hundred 
 and twenty acres of the old homestead, and has 
 since extended the boundaries of his farm to one 
 hundred and sixty acres. 
 
 In August, 1862, Mr. Gore enlisted as a private 
 soldier under the Stars and Stripes and was en- 
 gaged as First Duty Sergeant, being mustered into 
 service at Springfield. His term of enlistment 
 was for three years, and he saw much active serv- 
 ice. His first engagement was at Franklin, Tenn., 
 after which he took part in the battles of Resaca, 
 Tunnel Hill and Buzzard's Roost. He was 
 wounded at Ch'ckamauga by a minie-ball, which 
 entered his left arm. He was taken to the hos- 
 pital in Nashville, where he remained three month?, 
 and was mustered out as Orderly-Sergeant, receiv- 
 ing his discharge July 7, 1865. He at once re- 
 turned to his farm in this county, and has here 
 carried on operations ever since. He is always 
 foremost in all public enterprises, and in times of 
 peace and war has been a true citizen and patriot. 
 He is a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic. 
 
 R. BEAMAN, who owns a good farm on 
 section 16, Greenwood Township, has 
 given his main attention to agricultural 
 pursuits since boyhood, and is one of the success- 
 ful farmers of the county. He was born in Owen 
 County, Ind., November 5, 1833, and is a son of 
 James Beaman. His grandfather, Samuel Bcaman, 
 was born in North Carolina, as was also his son. 
 He went as a pioneer to Indiana, which was then 
 a wilderness, and made a farm in the heavy timber- 
 land. There he passed his remaining years and 
 died on the old farm. 
 
 James Beaman, fattier of our subject, located in 
 Indiana with his parents in boyhood and managed 
 to obtain a good education. He afterwards en- 
 gaged in teaching, and was noted as a fine penman. 
 He was one of three boys who constituted the 
 
 family. In later years he became a minister of 
 the Missionary Baptist Church, and for a quarter 
 of a century was an itinerant preacher and laborer 
 in the Master's vineyard. He is still living, at the 
 age of eighty-two years, on the old Indiana farm 
 where our subject was reared. He married Lj-dia 
 Helm, a native of Kentucky, who removed with 
 her parents to the Hoosier State at an early day. 
 She is now deceased. Her eldest son. Calvin, lives 
 in the southwestern part of Missouri; George W., 
 who was for three years in an Illinois regiment, 
 resides near Ft. Scott, Kan.; Samuel is a farmer of 
 Greenwood Township; Jacob B. lives on the same 
 farm as his father; Elihu resides near the old home 
 in Indiana; James F., who is a minister of the Bap- 
 tist Church in Douglas County, 111., was educated 
 at Ladoga, Ind., and is a leading minister of his 
 denomination; John T. is a farmer of Oklahoma; 
 Rachel Goff lives in Christian County; Sarah Goff 
 is deceased; Elizabeth Meek is a resident of Indi- 
 ana; and Nancy Jane, now Mrs. Burton, lives in 
 southern Missouri. The father of these children 
 was for a great many years a Justice of the Peace 
 and School Trustee. He was formerly a Whig and 
 in later years a Democrat. 
 
 W. R. Beaman grew to manhood among pioneer 
 surroundings. The farm was covered with rock 
 and stumps, and the home was a hewed-log house 
 with doors and floors of lumber cut with an old 
 whipsaw. After learning what he could in the 
 district schools, he went, when nineteen years old, 
 to Franklin (Ind.) College, to pursue his studies 
 further, and there look a scientific course. After 
 two years spent in college, he returned home and 
 taught school for a time and also clerked in a 
 store. In 1854, he went to Montgomery County, 
 III., and taught there and in Bond and Fayette 
 Counties. Thence he went to Nodaway County, 
 Mo., where he was engaged in teaching, and was 
 also thus employed for some time in Kansas. The 
 border-iulflan war caused him to return from the 
 West, but in 1860 he made two trips across the 
 plains with freight by ox-teams to Pike's Peak. 
 Though this business was paying, he was obliged 
 to give it up on account of the hostile Indians. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Beaman returned to Christian 
 County, and taught school until 1865. He then
 
 232 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 began farming during the summers though lie en- 
 gaged in teaching during the winter months, and 
 has lived since that time on his present farm, sixty 
 acres of which he bought in 1865. He has con- 
 tinued to improve and develop the place, which he 
 has brought under good improvement. He owns 
 three tracts, one of one hundred and sixty-four 
 acres and the others of eighty acres each. 
 
 In 1859, Mr. Beaman married in Montgomery 
 County Mary Jane Landers, who was born and 
 reared in that county, where her family were early 
 residents. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman are the parents 
 of the following children: James L., who married 
 Miss Hall and lives on a farm in this township; 
 Laura B., wife of Mr. Livergood, of Stonington; 
 Osta Estelle, wife of Charles Oiler, now living on 
 the home farm; Sina, wife of William Shafer, of 
 Greenwood Township; George Herman, who lives 
 on the home farm; Eva and William Grant. They 
 were all reared on the home farm and educated in 
 the public schools. Laura was a successful teacher 
 of this county until her marriage. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Beaman deposited his first Presi- 
 dential ballot for Fremont, and has since been a 
 true-blue Republican. In the canvass of 1859 he 
 had the pleasure of hearing a speech by Abraham 
 Lincoln. He has held several local offices and has 
 been Township Clerk. He is a reliable business 
 man and good citizen of the county, having al- 
 ways been alive to its best interests. 
 
 
 |J QUILLA M. COUNCIL, a farmer residing 
 (@/L!|[ on section 15, South Fork Township, was 
 
 j if born on the same farm April 27, 1843. 
 t^jl His parents were Aquilla and Sarah E. 
 (Melugin) Council, natives of North Carolina and 
 Tennessee, respectively. Their family comprised 
 nine children: Amanda, Rebecca, Joseph and James, 
 who are all deceased; Sarah, widow of L. J. Dun- 
 can, and now living in Edinburgh; Elizabeth, 
 wife of J. Young, a farmer of South Fork Town- 
 
 ship; Aquilla; William, who lives in Jasper County, 
 Mo.; and Amelia, wife of James Galloway, a far- 
 mer and stock-raiser of Taylorville Township. 
 
 The father of our subject followed the occupa- 
 tion of farming during his lifetime, and removed 
 from Tennessee to Illinois in 1829, making the 
 trip by team. He located in Sangamon County, 
 about sixteen miles from Springfield, where for 
 about three years he was engaged in farming 
 rented land. He then came to this county and 
 purchased a small tract of land from the Govern- 
 ment in what is now South Fork Township. He 
 erected a log house and engaged in cultivating 
 this farm until his death. He took quite an ac- 
 tive interest in politics, being a supporter of the 
 Democracy, and held a number of local positions 
 of more or less responsibility during the early 
 years of the county's history. For a number of 
 years he was Justice of the Peace, and for years 
 was Township Treasurer. He departed this life 
 July 13, 1857, and lies buried in Finley Cemetery, 
 South Fork Township. His wife is still living, 
 though well along in years, being now eighty- 
 three. 
 
 Aquilla M. Council, whose name heads this 
 sketch, was born and reared on the piece of land 
 where his father first located, and which he has 
 inherited. His first schooling was in the early 
 subscription schools, after which he attended those 
 of the district. After his father's death he re- 
 mained on the home farm with his mother, and soon 
 after took entire charge of the place. His home- 
 stead now comprises three hundred and fifteen acres 
 on section 15, all well improved and valuable land, 
 which is well adapted to general farming and 
 stock-raising. 
 
 On Christmas Day of 1868, Mr. Council mar- 
 ried Miss Martha Williams, by whom he has had 
 three children. Phoebe is the wife of Charles Bauf- 
 man,a boot and shoe merchant of Edinburgh; 
 Alice is deceased; and William T. is still at home. 
 
 Mr. Council bears an honored record as one of 
 the devoted defenders of the Union, having en- 
 listed as a private in Company D, One Hundred 
 and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, on the 14th of 
 August, 1862, and was mustered in at what was 
 then Blueville, but is now Edinburgh. The term
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 233 
 
 of his enlistment was for three years, and with his 
 regiment he was at once sent to Mississippi, where 
 he took part in the engagement at Ft. Gibson. 
 He was in the battles of Champion Hills, Black 
 River, and look part in the sieges of Vicks- 
 burg and Jackson, Miss. In Mansfield, La., he 
 was taken prisoner, and was held a prisoner for 
 thirteen and a-half months in Camp Ford, near 
 Tyler, Tex., being only released at the close of the 
 war. He received an honorable discharge July 6, 
 1865, after having spent many a weary month on 
 marches and many days in hotly-fought battles 
 for his country's sake. 
 
 On his return home Mr. Council resumed his 
 fanning duties, and has since given his time to 
 the cultivation of his farm. He has been elected 
 to fill various local offices of honor and trust, and 
 has proved himself thoroughly capable and true 
 to his duties. He has held the offices of Super- 
 visor and Assessor, and has been one of the Com- 
 missioners of Highways. Fraternally, he is a 
 member of the Masonic order, and belongs to the 
 Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 
 ICHAEL OATS is numbered among the 
 best farmers and citizens of Johnson 
 Township, his well-equipped farm being 
 situated on section 9. He was born in 
 Hampshire County, W. Va., December 21, 1825. 
 His father, George Oats, was born and reared in 
 Maryland. The date of his birth was 1785, and 
 when he had arrived at a suitable age he was 
 united in marriage with Miss Catherine Slonaker, 
 who was born in West Virginia in 1793. The 
 death of the father occurred in 1841, and his 
 mother died some seven years later. They were 
 the parents of nine children, in order of birth as 
 follows: George, Polly, Christopher, Jonathan, 
 Mary Jane, Silas, Sylvia, Michael and Margaret. 
 Only two of the family are now living. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was employed in the 
 usual manner of farmer boys until he had reached 
 
 his sixteenth year. He then started out to earn 
 his own livelihood, and for one year worked upon 
 a farm for $6 per month. For the two years suc- 
 ceeding he received $9 per month. As this occu- 
 pation did not appear to be very remunerative, he 
 resolved to learn a trade, and chose that of a car- 
 penter. For about three years afterwards he 
 worked at that occupation in Virginia. At this 
 time he became convinced that he could better his 
 fortune in the West, and in 1849 went as far 
 Westward as Logan County, Ohio, where for three 
 years he worked at his trade. 
 
 In the year 1852, Mr. Oats arrived in Christian 
 Countjr, having emigrated here in a covered 
 wagon. He at once settled in Johnson Township, 
 where he rented land and where he has been 
 located ever since, engaged in farming and stock- 
 raising. His farm, which comprises some two 
 hundred acres, is highly cultivated and well im- 
 proved. 
 
 In November, 1864, Mr. Oats wedded Miss 
 Harriet Shivers. Her father was born in Mary- 
 land, June 20, 1803, while her mother, who was 
 also a native of the same State, was born in 1813. 
 They were the parents of thirteen children, as 
 follows: Thomas, a resident of Shelby County, 1 11.; 
 Jacob, who lives in Nebraska; Robert, whose home 
 is in Ohio; Kate, wife of John W. Johnston, of 
 Missouri; Sampson, who makes his home in Johnson 
 Township; Washington C., who resides in El Dor- 
 ado Springs, Mo.; Harriet, the wife of our subject; 
 John W., now deceased; Matilda, deceased, who 
 was the wife of J. B. Eaton; Delilah, wife of 
 Dr. Lilie, of Raymond, Montgomery County, 111.; 
 Sallie, who is now Mrs. Eads, of Decatur; and 
 Rebecca, the wife of William Black, of Edinburgh, 
 Christian County. The parents came to this 
 county in 1863, and here made their home until 
 claimed by death. They lie buried in the Ander- 
 son Cemetery. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Oats has been born a family 
 of nine children. Catherine, John Wesley and 
 Nancy May are deceased and are buried in An- 
 derson Cemetery; Dora and Charles live with their 
 parents; Arthur is deceased; George, Cleveland 
 and Bertie Leland complete the family. For 
 many years our subject has been a member of the
 
 234 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. He has served as a 
 School Director and School Trustee and has also 
 filled the position of Road Commissioner. By 
 his manly and straightforward course in life he 
 has won the friendship and confidence of his 
 fellow-citizens, and is considered a worthy man in 
 every sense of the word. 
 
 OS. NASH, a grain dealer of Sharpsburg, was 
 born in Franklin County, Mass., near Green- 
 field, April 3, 1843. His paternal grand- 
 father, Robert Nash, was also born in the Bay State. 
 He was a clothier by trade and a dresser of cloth 
 in Greenfield. The ancestry is traced back through 
 Tubal, Daniel (who was a farmer and blacksmith), 
 Daniel, Sr., and Lott Timothy Nash, all of whom 
 were natives of Massachusetts. The father of the 
 last-named, Thomas Nash, was a native of Eng- 
 land, and in 1620 braved the dangers of an ocean 
 voyage in order to make a home in the New World. 
 He became a resident of the Massachusetts Colony. 
 Robert S. Nash, the father of our subject, was 
 born in Massachusetts in 1814, and was a farmer 
 by occupation. Emigrating Westward, he located 
 in Wisconsin, and thence came to Christian County 
 in 1859, taking up his residence in Buckhart 
 Township. He now resides with our subject. He 
 married Joanna Packard, wlio was born in Enfield, 
 Mass., and was of English descent. Three sons 
 and two daughters were born of the union of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Nash, the eldest of whom is O. S.; Rob- 
 ert is now living in Taylorville Township; Edwin 
 C. makes his home in Buckhart Township; Mary 
 died at the age of twenty-eight years; and one 
 child died in infancy. 
 
 Our subject spent the first thirteen years of his 
 life in the old Bay State, and then accompanied his 
 parents on their removal to Wisconsin. He was a 
 boy of sixteen when he came to Christian County, 
 where he has since resided. He was reared to the 
 occupation of farming, and has followed that pur- 
 suit throughout much of his life. In November, 
 
 1868, he was joined in marriage with Rachel Shep- 
 ardson, a native of Massachusetts, and a daughter 
 of Orash Shepardson. She was born in March, 
 1841, and died in 1877. Two children were born 
 of their 'union, a son and daughter: Edwin H., who 
 is now at home, and May L., who died at the age 
 of eleven months. 
 
 Mr. Nash is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to 
 the Blue Lodge of Edinburgh and the Chapter of 
 Taylorville. In politics he is a supporter of Re- 
 publican principles. In addition to farming he 
 does business as a dealer in live stock and grain at 
 Sharpsburg. He purchased the elevator at this 
 place and buys and handles large quantities of 
 grain, doing a good business, which has constantly 
 increased from the beginning. Mr. Nash is well 
 known in Buckhart Township and is also fa- 
 vorably known in Taylorville Township, where he 
 has his home. He has long made his home in this 
 county, being numbered among its earliest set- 
 tlers, for his residence here covers a period of more 
 than a third of a century. He lias therefore wit- 
 nessed much of its growth and upbuilding and has 
 seen the rapid progress and development which it 
 has made. He is a genial, pleasant gentleman and 
 very prominent in business and social circles. 
 
 IAL DAVIS, of Mt. Auburn, has lived in 
 Christian County since 1832, when he was 
 a small lad, and his life history therefore 
 has been closely interwoven with that of 
 the community in which he has dwelt for more 
 than sixty years, and a history of the representa- 
 tive men of Christian County would be sadly in- 
 complete if his was not placed among the others. 
 
 Mr. Davis is a native son of Illinois, born in 
 Sangamon County January 10, 1826. His father, 
 John Davis, was born in Tennessee, in that State 
 passed his youth, and was married to Sarah Mill- 
 igian, also of Tennessee. In 1818, Mr. Davis 
 came to Illinois, and settled near the present 
 thriving city of Springfield. For a few years he
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 235 
 
 lived upon a tract of land east of Clear Creek. 
 He- after wards located south of Mechanicsburg,and 
 while there he spent the memorable winter of 
 incredibly deep snow, well remembered by the 
 hardy pioneers and first settlers of Illinois. In 
 1832, he came to what is now Christian County, 
 and opened up a farm in ML Auburn Township. 
 Here he passed his declining years, dying in 1847. 
 His wife's death occurred some years previously. 
 
 During the boyhood days of Dial Davis, educa- 
 tion was obtained under rather trying circum- 
 stances, as the nearest schoolhouse was situated 
 four miles from his homo. In June, 1846, he en- 
 listed for the Mexican War, joining Company C, 
 Fourth Illinois Infantry, under Capt. Pugh and 
 Col. E. D. Baker. The company to which Mr. Da- 
 vis belonged was raised in Decatur. With his 
 regiment he went to Mexico, and passed the twelve- 
 months term of his enlistment in active service, 
 participating in the battles of Cerro Gortlo and 
 Vcra Cruz under the noted commander, Gen. Scott. 
 He was honorably discharged in June, 1847, re- 
 ceiving a land warrant for his services. This he 
 traded for a piece of land in ML Auburn Town- 
 ship. After improving this property, he sold it, in 
 1852, and bought other land, on which he located 
 and opened up a large farm. At this time he is 
 the owner of thirteen hundred acres of choice 
 farming land and business property in ML Auburn. 
 He has a substantial and commodious residence and 
 has made valuable improvements on his farm. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Davis is a Demo- 
 crat and cast his first Presidential ballot for Lewis 
 Cass. In local politics he has also been greatly 
 interested, and after returning from his service in 
 the Mexican War, he was elected to the position of 
 Constable, and served in that capacity very cred- 
 itably for eleven years. He has also served as 
 Supervisor and Collector of the township, and was 
 one of the Commissioners who laid out ML Auburn 
 Township. Our public-school system has always 
 been strongly supported by him, as, in short, have 
 all public enterprises. 
 
 On the 4th of February, 1852, Mr. Davis was 
 united in marriage in Mechanicsburg, Sangamon 
 County, with Miss Edmonia E. Hesser, who died 
 July 4, 1864. Three children of this union are 
 
 still living. Charles E. is married and lives in 
 ML Auburn; Sallie D. is the wife of E. R. Mooney, 
 of the same place; and Carrie E. is the wife of 
 William L. Rasor. The three children now de- 
 ceased are Frank P., Henry N. and Dial M., who 
 died at the ages of twenty-five, twenty and fifteen 
 years, respectively. 
 
 Our subject was again married, in 1867, when 
 Miss Hulda J. Stobaugh became his wife. She is 
 a native of Indiana, and a daughter of James Sto- 
 baugh, formerly of Indiana. One daughter, Nel- 
 lie M.. has blessed this union. She is the wife of 
 George W. Morgret, of ML Auburn Township. 
 Our subject and his wife are members of the Chris- 
 tian Church of ML Auburn, and with their family 
 are highly esteemed in social circles. 
 
 AVID BURCHFIELD, a retired farmer 
 now residing in Taylorville, and one of 
 the honored veterans of the late war, has 
 during his residence in Christian County 
 been recognized as one of its best citizens, for he 
 has ever faithfully discharged his duties of citi- 
 zenship and borne his part in all that pertains to 
 the welfare and upbuilding of the community. A 
 native of the Buckeye State, he was born near Car- 
 rollton, in Carroll County, on the 1st of March, 
 1833. His father, Joseph Burchfield, was a na- 
 tive of Pennsylvania, and in his youth went to 
 Ohio, where he met and married Phoebe Tope, 
 a native of that State, born on the 16th of April, 
 1795. Coming to this State, they located in 
 Greenwood Township, 'where they spent the re- 
 mainder of their lives. The father, who was born 
 February 2, 1802, died on the 1st of March, 1880, 
 at the age of seventy-seven, and his wife, who was 
 seven years his senior, and who survived him 
 seven years, was called to her final rest February 
 25, 1887, at the age of ninety-two. They had six 
 children, three of whom are now living: Thomas, 
 Joseph and David.
 
 236 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was reared to man- 
 hood in the usual manner of farmer lads, and re- 
 mained at home until twenty-six years of age. 
 For three years he followed the carpenter's trade, 
 and then resumed the occupation to which he was 
 reared. As a companion and helpmate on life's 
 journey, he chose Miss Mary Price, their marriage 
 being celebrated March 22, 1860. Her father, 
 Benjamin Price, was born in Jefferson County, 
 Ohio, April 1, 1808, and was a son of Thomas and 
 Sarah Price. On the 16th of January, 1830, he 
 married Elizabeth Seran, who was born October 
 11, 1806. Together they traveled life's journey 
 for fifty-four years, sharing with each other its 
 joys and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity; but 
 at length the hand of Death separated them, and 
 the mother passed away in Leesville, Ohio, Novem- 
 ber 4, 1884. Mr. Price survived her a few years, 
 dying in Leesville, April 12. 1888. They held 
 membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and were people whose lives of uprightness won 
 them the respect of all with whom they were 
 brought in contact. 
 
 At the time of his marriage, Mr. Burchfield 
 possessed no cash capital, and had only a small 
 farming outfit, but he rented land, upon which he 
 made his home until after his return from the 
 army, when he bought a farm of forty acres. 
 Feeling that his country needed his services, in 
 the fall of 1864 he joined Company H, One Hun- 
 dred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Infantry, which was 
 attached to the Army of the Cumberland. They 
 were, however, detailed to supply cattle for Sher- 
 man's army, and for that purpose were stationed 
 at Tullahoma, Ga. The regiment afterward went 
 to Raleigh and joined Sherman's army at Wheat- 
 swamp Church, in North Carolina. Afterward 
 the regiment was sent to Charlotte, N. C., as guards, 
 and its members were discharged June 29, 1865, 
 and mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. At one 
 time, Mr. Burchfield was with a squad of twenty- 
 five men, all of whom were captured except him- 
 self, but lie stood his ground, and after the rebel 
 guns were discharged, he and his comrades turned 
 on their captors and escaped. He took part in 
 about one hundred and fifty skirmishes while en- 
 gaged in guarding railroads. When the war was 
 
 over and the country no longer needed his serv- 
 ices, Mr. Burchfield returned home and carried on 
 farming in Ohio until 1867, when he left his na- 
 tive State for Illinois. Coming to Christian 
 County, he located in Greenwood Township, where 
 he purchased eighty acres of land, making that 
 farm his home for eight years. In 1875, he rented 
 one hundred and sixty acres of land in Johnson 
 Township, and removed to that place for the 
 educational facilities of that neighborhood were 
 superior to those near his old home and he wished 
 to afford his children good advantages. For 
 eleven years he operated a rented farm, and then, 
 in 1886, purchased a small tract of land in John- 
 son Township, to the cultivation and improve- 
 ment of which he devoted his energies until the 
 spring of 1891, when he came to Taylorville. He 
 has now invested in city property, which 3*ieldsto 
 him a good income. 
 
 By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Burchfield, five 
 children were born, two sons and three daughters: 
 James William, Elizabeth, M. Belle, Benjamin 
 Price and Violet F. With the exception of the 
 eldest child, all are still under the parental roof. 
 The family have a pleasant home in Taylorville, 
 and their hospitable doors are ever open for the 
 reception of their many friends. In his farming 
 operations, Mr. Burchfield was successful, and un- 
 der his care and cultivation the soil was made to 
 yield to him a ready return, so that he is now 
 comfortabty situated in life, having a competence 
 that enables him to live retired. 
 
 IIL.^ ENRY CLAY BOHN is one of the honored 
 iTjlj veterans of the late war, having served 
 u^jfl nobly in the defense of the Stars and 
 ((|y! Stripes. He is now engaged in the cloth- 
 ing business in Morrisonville. and is one of the 
 prominent business men of the place. His birth 
 occurred in Franklin County, Pa., October 15, 
 1843, and his boyhood was spent in his native State 
 until his thirteenth year, when he removed with
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 237 
 
 his father to Hagerstown, Md., where he obtained 
 his education. He there learned the cigar-maker's 
 trade and followed that business until the open ing 
 of the Civil War. 
 
 Our subject is a son of Adam and Hannah 
 (Wingard) Bohn, who were both natives of Penn- 
 sylvania. The former was a farmer by occupation 
 in the Keystone State, where his death occurred 
 in 1878, at the age of eighty-six years. His fa- 
 ther, Adam Bohn, was a native of Germany, who 
 emigrated to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in 
 farming for a number of years, reared his family 
 of nine children and lived to be over seventy 
 years of age. Our subject's mother was a daugh- 
 ter of Jacob Wingard, a native of the Keystone 
 State, who followed agricultural pursuits and was 
 also a well-known preacher of the United Brethren 
 denomination. He died after having attained the 
 ripe old age of eighty-one years. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Bohn were mem bers of the United Brethren Church. 
 The latter was called from this life in 1846. 
 
 In a family of eleven children, comprising five 
 sons and six daughters, the subject of this sketch 
 is the youngest. Only three of the family are 
 now living. Maria is the wife of August Shirey, 
 of New Castle, Ind.; and Elizabeth is the wife of 
 George Alsbaugh, also of New Castle. In August, 
 1861, our subject became a member of Company 
 E, First Regiment of Maryland Infantry, and was 
 in active service for three years and three months. 
 He received a slight flesh wound at the battle of 
 Gettysburg, but otherwise was fortunate in escap- 
 ing injury. He also participated in the battles of 
 Winchester, Falling Waters. Antietam, Harper's 
 Ferry, and a number of minor engagements. Af- 
 ter receiving an honorable discharge, he went to 
 Greencastle, Pa., where he engaged in the dry- 
 goods business for three years. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Bohn came to Marion County, 111., 
 where he embarked in the agricultural business 
 and operated a farm for three years. He after- 
 ward obtained employment in a dry-goods store 
 as a clerk, in Sandoval, 111., where he was sta- 
 tioned for a number of years. In 1882 he came 
 to Morrison ville and opened a clothing store, 
 which business he has carried on up to the present 
 time. He is the owner of a farm comprising one 
 
 hundred and sixty acres of land in Clinton County, 
 111., and also owns the building in which his store 
 is located, besides other desirable town property, 
 in addition to his residence. He is a business 
 man of good ability, and has secured the patron- 
 age of the citizens of this place and the surround- 
 ing country. 
 
 On the 3d of November, 1865, Mr. Bohn was 
 united in marriage with Miss Mary Frances Savin, 
 daughter of John and Margaret (Hiatt) Savin, 
 of Harper's Ferry, W. Va. Two children have 
 been born of this union, Ida and one who died in 
 infancy. Mrs. Bohn is a valued member of the 
 Presbyterian Church, in which she is an active 
 worker. 
 
 In politics our subject affiliates with the Demo- 
 cratic party. He was President of the Village 
 Board of Trustees for two terms, and was a mem- 
 ber of that body for some five years. For one 
 term he served acceptably as Supervisor of Ricks 
 Township. In his social relations he is identified 
 with Morrisonville Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M., 
 with Taylorville Chapter and the Litchfield Coin- 
 mandery. He is also a member of the Morrison- 
 ville lodge of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the 
 Modern Woodmen of America. He is a Grand 
 Army man, being a member of Dan Nutt Post. 
 
 JAMES R. VANDERBELT has been engaged 
 in active merchandising in Mt. Auburn for 
 over twenty years, and is numbered among 
 the old residents of this locality. He is a 
 native of Indiana, born near Shelbyville, Shelby 
 County, February 15, 1837, and is a son of David 
 and Mary Ann (Nichols) Vanderbelt. The former 
 was a native of Pennsylvania, coining from a fam- 
 ily of Dutch ancestors, who were among the early 
 settlers of the Keystone State. 
 
 David Vanderbelt, on arriving at manhood, left 
 the scenes of his youth and went to Ohio, in which 
 State he met the lady who became his wife. At 
 an early day he removed further West, settling in
 
 238 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Shelby County, Ind., where he followed his trade, 
 that of a tanner. He also opened up a farm there, 
 but after a few years went to Sullivan Count}^ 
 Ind., where he made his home until his death, 
 which occurred in August, 1863. 
 
 The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in 
 Shelby and Sullivan Counties. Since arriving at 
 man's estate he has mainly acquired his education, 
 as in his early days he had but few school privi- 
 leges. In 1856 he came again to Illinois, drifted 
 Westward to Missouri and Kansas, and finally was 
 married in St. Clair County, Mo., to Miss Frances 
 Shank, their marriage being celebrated February 
 13, 1859. The young couple returned to Illinois, 
 and in 1860 located in Rochester, Sangamon 
 County, where they resided about one year. 
 
 In 1861, Mr. Vanderbelt started in the harness 
 business in Taylorvillc, and had made a fair start 
 in this direction when he felt obliged by his pa- 
 triotic impulses to drop all other considerations 
 and go to the defense of the Union. He became 
 a member of Company D, Forty-third Indiana 
 Infantry, joining the regiment in Indianapolis, 
 and going with it to the front. He was in active 
 service until the close of the war, receiving his 
 discharge papers June 6, 1865. 
 
 On his return from the South, our subject went 
 to Cumberland County, 111., and for two an da-half 
 years conducted a harness business at Neoga. In 
 October, 1868, we find him in Christian County, 
 located at Taylorville, and carrying on the busi- 
 ness which he has followed without interruption 
 during the most of his commercial career. In 
 1870 he finally settled in Mt. Auburn and em- 
 barked in general merchandising. He has been 
 very successful as a business man, and the large 
 patronage which he now has is owing entirely to 
 his upright method of conducting his affairs. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbelt have two children liv- 
 ing. Minnie Mabel is the wife of Frederick Shue, 
 an agriculturist of this count}^; and Ada R. is the 
 wife of James Lindsley, a farmer of Mt. Auburn 
 Township. Two children died in e&rly childhood, 
 David Albert and Mary Idabelle. The parents 
 are members of the Baptist Church. 
 
 During the administiation of President Arthur, 
 Mr. Vanderbelt was appointed Postmaster of Mt. 
 
 Auburn, in which capacity he served for about 
 seven years to the thorough satisfaction of his 
 constituents. Since the war he has been a sup- 
 porter of the Republican party, but cast his first 
 vote in 1860 for Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. 
 
 EREMIAH MALIN, a well-known farmer 
 of section 8, Greenwood Township, has 
 >u engaged in cultivating the farm on 
 which he makes his home for thirty years, 
 and turned much of the soil upon the place him- 
 self. He has brought it from its original state 
 to what it now is, a well-improved and fertile 
 tract of land. He is a native of Ohio, born in 
 Pickaway County June 4, 1836, his father, Jared 
 Malin, being a native of Virginia, though his an- 
 cestors were early settlers of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The father grew to manhood in Virginia and 
 went to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he married 
 Elizabeth McDonald, who was born and grew to 
 womanhood in the Buckeye State, but whose par- 
 ents were from Virginia. Mr. Malin improved a 
 timbered farm, and in the fall of 1838 proceeded 
 by team to Illinois with his wife and six children. 
 He settled in Shelbyville, where he rented laud 
 for a year and then entered a tract in the neigh- 
 borhood. He never lived upon this farm, how- 
 ever, but came to Christian County in 1840 and 
 took up a claim, on which he settled the following 
 year. This farm was just east of Pana, and there 
 he passed his remaining days, dying in 1871. His 
 good wife also passed away on the same farm, and 
 both were buried near Pana. In their pioneer days 
 they suffered many hardships, but accomplished a 
 great deal, as, though coming here poor, they left 
 a good property and plenty to their children. Mr. 
 Malin was a Democrat all his life, was a just man, 
 and one who attended strictly to his own affairs, 
 He was an active and faithful member of the Old- 
 school Baptist Church. 
 
 Our subject is one in a family composed of
 
 Til* bt>i.j 
 of the 
 of
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 239 
 
 the following children: Lucinda; Denton, who 
 lives in Rosemond; William, who was a farmer 
 and died near Pana; Thomas, deceased; Amy Ann, 
 now Mrs. Cox, who resides near Pana; Elisha, 
 whose death occurred in this county; Josiah, a 
 farmer, who also makes his home in this county; 
 Jared, a resident of Kansas; John, who lives near 
 Pana; Ann E. and Sarah E., the latter of whom is 
 deceased. 
 
 The boyhood days of Jeremiah Malin were 
 passed in this neighborhood, and he has been a 
 witness of most of the development of this county. 
 In the early days the wolves often howled around 
 the cabin and wild game was abundant. He saw 
 the town of Pana grow from the start, and helped 
 with an ox-team in grading the Illinois Central 
 Railroad. His education was limited, as he could 
 attend school only a few days at a time and would 
 then be obliged to work for a number of days to- 
 gether on the farm. What education he obtained 
 was during a six-months term of school held in a log 
 house, which was used as a blacksmith shop. He 
 remained at home until his majority, and learned 
 to swing the scythe and cradle and hew out rails. 
 When he embarked in business for himself he first 
 worked for a year on a farm, and then rented land 
 for one season. 
 
 In the spring of 1860 our subject was married 
 in this neighborhood to Mrs. Amanda C. Pierce, a 
 native of Sangamon County. Her father was born 
 in Tennessee, and was an early settler of San- 
 gamon and Christian Counties. She died in the 
 spring of 1870, leaving three sons, and also a 
 daughter by a former marriage. Asa B. resides in 
 Guthrie, Okla.; James F. is a farmer of Kansas; 
 and Jared N. is engaged in farming in North 
 Dakota. The daughter is Mrs. Mollie Wilkerson, 
 of Kansas. 
 
 The present wife of our subject, who was form- 
 erly Mrs. Miller, became Mrs. Malin on the 13th of 
 December, 1874. Mr. Miller was killed while in 
 the army. The maiden name of Mrs. Malin was 
 Bicmer, and her birth occurred in Tuscarawas 
 County, Ohio. She grew to womanhood in Van 
 Wert County, the same State, and after the war 
 came with a sister to Illinois. Our subject and his 
 wife have one daughter, Minnie B., who is an ex- 
 
 ceptionally intelligent young lady and is pursuing 
 her studies in the public schools, where on nine of 
 her studies she recently made an average of nine- 
 ty-five and three-fourths. 
 
 The first Presidential ballot cast by Mr. Malin 
 was in favor of Douglas in 1860, and since that 
 time he has been a leading Democrat in this region, 
 having been a delegate and committeeman in the 
 conventions of his part}'. He supports churches and 
 is foremost in all public advancement. His farm 
 is Bnely improved and comprises some eighty acres, 
 which are under good cultivation. In this county, 
 where he has spent nearly his entire life, he has 
 won the respect and regard of all. 
 
 JOHN WEISER, one of the prominent and 
 representative agriculturists of Christian 
 County, who is now practically living a re- 
 . tired life in Sharpsburg, Buckhart Town- 
 ship, was born in Darmstadt, Germany, November 
 30, 1828, and is a son of Philip and Mary M. 
 (KimbeiTmg) Weiser, who were also natives of the 
 same locality. The father was a farmer by oc- 
 cupation, and carried on that business in his na- 
 tive land until 1838, when he crossed the briny 
 deep to the New World, locating in Pennsylvania, 
 where he spent two years. In 1841 he came to 
 Illinois, locating in Cass County, where he entered 
 land from the Government and began the devel- 
 opment of a farm. His death there occurred at 
 the age of sixty-two years. His wife survived 
 him for a number of years and reached the ad- 
 vanced age of eighty-four. 
 
 This worthy couple had a family of nine chil- 
 dren, numbering five sons and four daughters, of 
 whom our subject is fourth in order of birth. His 
 earliest recollections are of the Fatherland, but 
 when he was a lad of ten summers his parents left 
 the Old Country, and he has since known no other 
 place of abode than his American home. Since 
 his thirteenth year he has lived in Illinois. Upon 
 his father's farm in Cass County he was reared to
 
 210 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 manhood, acquiring his education in the public 
 schools of the neighborhood. As a companion 
 and helpmate on life's journey, Mr. Weiser chose 
 Miss Anna D. Musch, a native of Germany. Their 
 union was celebrated in 1852, and has been blessed 
 by four children, of whom only two are yet liv- 
 ing: Louis P. and Otto N. 
 
 Mr. Weiser's residence in Christian County dates 
 from 1859. On his arrival he located upon a par- 
 tially improved farm on section 33, Buckhart 
 Township, and began its further development and 
 cultivation. He labored with untiring zeal, and 
 his industrious efforts soon transformed* it into a 
 tract of rich fertility. It now comprises three 
 hundred and forty-five acres, of which iwenty- 
 n've acres are timber-land, while the remainder is 
 divided into fields of convenient size for raising 
 the cereals adapted to this climate. Recently Mr. 
 Weiser has removed to Sharpsburg, 'where he is 
 living retired in the enjoyment of the rest which 
 should follow years of active labor. Through his 
 own efforts he has acquired a handsome compe- 
 tency, which now enables him to lay aside business 
 cares and surrounds him with all the comforts 
 that go to make life worth the living. In politics 
 he is a supporter of Republican principles, but has 
 never sought or desired public office, preferring to 
 devote his time and attention to business interests 
 and the enjoyments of the home circle. 
 
 JH. MARTIN, who carries on farming and 
 stock-raising on section 34, Buckhart Town- 
 ship, is numbered among the early settlers 
 of the community, and for more than 
 twenty years he has resided upon the farm which 
 he now makes his home. He was born in Law- 
 rence County, Ind., November 3, 1838, and is the 
 sixth in order of birth in a family of eight chil- 
 dren. His paternal grandfather, Abram Martin, 
 who was of English descent, was born in Kentucky, 
 and served in the War of 1812. The father of 
 our subject, Lewis Martin, was a native of the 
 
 Hoosier State. He married Rachel Garrison, who 
 died when J. H. was quite a small lad, after which 
 he again married. 
 
 Mr. Martin whose name heads this record came 
 with his father and step-mother to Illinois when 
 a youth of ten summers, and remained with them 
 until he had attained his majority. In 1861, a 
 marriage ceremony was performed which united 
 his destiny with that of Lucy J. Jones. She was 
 born in Illinois, and is of Welsh descent. Her 
 parents were natives of Tennessee. They began 
 their domestic life upon a rented farm in Sanga- 
 mon Count}', and in 1862 came to Christian Coun- 
 ty, Mr. Martin renting land near Edinburgh. He 
 afterward purchased a farm, which he subsequently 
 sold, and in 1871 he became owner of his present 
 place of residence. It was then but slightly im- 
 proved, but a great transformation has taken 
 place in its appearance in the years which have 
 since passed. It now comprises three hundred 
 and twenty acres, all under a high state of culti- 
 vation. It is supplied with three houses, good 
 barns and all the other necessary buildings. All 
 the equipments of a model farm are there found, 
 and the place seems complete in all its appoint- 
 ments. 
 
 Eleven children were born of the union of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Martin, of whom nine are yet living: 
 Isaac; James M.; Leona Belle, wife of Henry Mil- 
 ler, of Oklahoma; Lucretia, wife of Frank Brown, 
 a farmer of Buckhart Township; Charlie; Emma, 
 wife of Irvin Donner, of Buckhart Township; Mar- 
 tha, of Chicago; Pearl, at home; and Grover, who 
 completes the family. 
 
 Mr. Martin started out in life for himself 
 empty-handed. His possessions consisted only of 
 a team of horses and a wagon, and he had gone in 
 debt for these to the extent of $ 150. With the ex- 
 ception of five years spent in Edinburgh, he has 
 always followed agricultural pursuits. He also en- 
 gages in stock-raising, owning an imported Eng- 
 lish Shire stallion and several standard-bred trot- 
 ting horses, including "Mandett," a Hambleton- 
 ian. He also has a fine colt, "May wood." Hisgood 
 management, careful attention to the details of 
 his business, and his perseverance and industry 
 have brought him a high degree of success, which
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 241 
 
 now places him among the substantial farmers 
 of the community. In politics he votes with the 
 Democratic party on questions of National im- 
 portance. He has long been a resident of Chris- 
 tian County, has watched with interest its progress 
 and upbuilding, and has aided materally iu its ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 eORNELIUS B. KELLER, a respected agri- 
 culturist and farmer, residing on section 
 22, Johnson Township, is a member of a 
 pioneer family who took up their abode in Chris- 
 tian County in 1850. He was born in York 
 County, Pa., on the 19th of June, 1827, and was 
 consequently only twenty-three years old when 
 he came to the West. His father, John Keller, 
 was long numbered among the best residents of 
 this community. He was also a native of York 
 County, where he grew to manhood and was un- 
 ited in marriage with Miss Lydia Baker, of the 
 same county. Mr. and Mrs. Keller departed this 
 life in Christian County, on their old homestead, 
 and were buried side by side in the Clark Ceme- 
 tery, of Johnson Township. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is one of eight chil- 
 dren, five sons and three daughters, and is the 
 eldest of the family. His youth was spent on his 
 father's farm, to the cultivation of which he gave 
 his energies until reaching his majority. He de- 
 termined to learn a trade, and accordingly became 
 master of the art of manufacturing paper. Desir- 
 ing to see something of the world and particu- 
 larly of the great West, he went in 1855 to Kan- 
 sas with a party of Government surveyors. The 
 twelve years following he traveled in Arkansas, 
 Nebraska and Kansas, visiting all parts of those 
 States. 
 
 It was in 1867 that Mr. Keller returned to 
 Christian County to settle down for life, and since 
 that time he has made his permanent home in 
 Johnson Township. His entire attention has been 
 
 given to general farming and stock-raising, and as 
 the reward of his industry he now finds himself 
 the owner of a valuable tract of land, comprising 
 several hundred acres. His farm is well adapted 
 to stock-raising, being well sheltered from storms 
 of wind and rain by heavily timbered lands, sit- 
 uated along a branch of the Sangamon River, 
 which borders his farm. He makes a specialty of 
 stock-raising, and usually from twelve to fifteen 
 head of horses, fifty to one hundred head of hogs, 
 and upwards of fifty head of cattle can be seen 
 feeding in his beautiful meadow lands. 
 
 Mr. Keller is a man of intelligence and keeps 
 well informed on the leading questions of the day. 
 He is congenial and friendly in his social relations, 
 and stands high in the respect of his neighbors 
 and fellow-citizens. He has chosen to remain 
 single, but his home is so well kept and pleasant 
 that one would hardly imagine it was not presided 
 over by a lady. His course in life has been ever 
 strictly upright and within the lines of justice 
 and truth. He is the architect of his own for- 
 tunes, having started out empty-handed in the 
 battle of life. In politics, he is a Democrat. 
 
 EV. ALOYSIUS TEPPE has been located 
 in Morrisonville since the fall of 1877, 
 succeeding the Rev. Father Klaus. There 
 ! are about sixty families in his parish, and 
 he has ministered to their wants as an adviser and 
 friend for about fifteen years. 
 
 The birth of Rev. Mr. Teppe occurred at Volk- 
 marsen, Germany, on the 27th of November, 1854. 
 He is son of Louis and Regina (Belzer) Teppe, 
 both natives of Germany, and is one of four chil- 
 dren, and the eldest of the family. 
 
 Father Teppe was a lad of only eleven years 
 when he entered Fulda Seminary, where he in- 
 dustriously pursued his studies for eight year,-'. 
 At the expiration of that period he entered thu 
 University at Louvain, Belgium, and there com- 
 menced his study for the priesthood. At the end
 
 212 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of three and a-half years lie graduated from that 
 institution and was ordained a priest, this being 
 in 1877. . 
 
 Soon after his ordination, Father Teppe came to 
 America, and, as we have said before, was immedi- 
 ately placed in charge of the parish at Morrison- 
 ville. The old church edifice, which has been built 
 for a number of years, will soon be converted into 
 a school for the use of the families of the church. 
 It is the intention of Rev. Mr. Teppe and his par- 
 ishioners to erect a handsome church building in 
 the near future at a cost of about $12,000, and 
 the plans for it are now well under way. 
 
 
 /^|j) APT DAN DE CAMP, one of the most 
 (l(^~ prominent citizens of Edinburgh, and an 
 ^^/ early settler of Christian County, was born 
 in Giles County, Va., August 31, 1824. His fa- 
 ther, David De Camp, was a native of New Jersey, 
 from where he removed to Virginia. By trade 
 he was a hatter. The grandfather, Zachariah De 
 Camp, was born in New Jersey, and his father was 
 a native of France and the founder of the family 
 in America. The mother of our subject bore the 
 maiden name of Elizabeth Ford. She was born in 
 the Old Dominion, and was a daughter of Lewis 
 Ford, a native of the same State. The parents of 
 our subject were married in Virginia, and located 
 in Pearisburgh, Giles County, where Mr. De Camp 
 worked at his trade. His wife died in that place, 
 after which he came to Illinois, spending his last 
 days in Galena. They were the parents of eight 
 children, six sons and two daughters, namely: 
 Elizabeth, Henry, Lewis, Daniel, John D., William, 
 Sarah A. and Napoleon. 
 
 The subject of this sketch remained in the 
 county of his nativity until eighteen years of age, 
 and when a youth of fifteen started out in life for 
 himself, since which time he has been dependent 
 upon his own resources. He served an apprentice- 
 ship to the hatter's trade, and then for three years 
 and a-half drove a team for one company, driving 
 
 fifty-three miles each day from Salem to the Nat- 
 ural Bridge. In 1842, Capt. De Camp emigrated 
 Westward, taking up his residence in Springfield. 
 He drove a stage from Taylorville to Shelbyville 
 for about a year, also engaged in staging from 
 Taylorville to Springfield and from St. Louis to 
 Springfield. Subsequently he established himself 
 in the livery business in the capital city and con- 
 tinued in that line for about four years, when he 
 purchased a farm in Christian County, comprising 
 two hundred acres of partially improved land. 
 At that time there was but one house at Buckhart 
 Grove. The county was wild and undeveloped, 
 and he lived in true pioneer style. During one 
 winter he shot forty-four deer with forty-two 
 shots from a small rifle. Wild game was very 
 plentiful and kept the table supplied with meat. 
 The Captain at once began the development of a 
 farm, and soon transformed the unimproved tract 
 into rich and fertile fields. 
 
 In 1862, our subject entered the service of his 
 country as a member of Company D, One Hun- 
 dred and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, and for two 
 years served as Captain, He was sunstruck at Al- 
 exandria, La., in 1864, and being thus disabled for 
 duty resigned his position. He participated in 
 thirteen hard-fought battles and the siege of Vicks- 
 burg, was always found at his post and proved 
 himself a valiant defender of the Union. 
 
 After being mustered out, Capt. De Camp re- 
 turned to his home, purchased more land, and de- 
 voted his energies assiduously to farming. In 
 1870, lie laid off the town of Edinburgh, which was 
 built on his farm and has laid off the fourth addi- 
 tion to the place. Within the corporate limits 
 are now comprised eighty acres. He has been in- 
 strumental in the upbuilding of the county from 
 an early day, and has ever borne his part in the 
 work of public improvement and advancement. 
 He has seen the many changes that have taken 
 place, and has watched with interest the onward 
 march of progress that has placed Christian Coun- 
 ty in the front rank in Illinois. 
 
 On- the 7th of October, 1847, Capt. De Camp 
 was united in marriage with Pernecy Langley, a 
 native of Kentucky, who in early childhood was 
 brought to Christian County, in 1828. She is a
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 243 
 
 most estimable lady and presides with grace over 
 the hospitable home where their many friends de- 
 light to gather. In politics, the Captain has been 
 a Republican since the organization of the party. 
 He voted that ticket when he and William George 
 were the only Republicans in the precinct. He 
 was elected Justice of the Peace, filling the office 
 eight years, and was the first Postmaster of Edin- 
 burgh. He established the office and named it 
 Blueville. While in the war he resigned the posi- 
 tion, in 1863. He again was Postmaster under 
 Gen. Grant, and during that time changed the 
 name to Edinburgh. The Captain was one of the 
 organizers of Mother Bickerdike Post No. 402, G. 
 A. R., at Edinburgh, was Commander of the same 
 for three terms, and largely through his instru- 
 mentality a good hall was built for the society. 
 He is now engaged in dealing in fine horses, and 
 is a true lover of the noble steed. He owns sev- 
 eral of the best horses that can be found in this 
 part of the State. The Captain is a gentleman in 
 the truest and best sense of the word, is genial and 
 pleasant in manner, kindly and generous in dispo- 
 sition, and has the warm regard of all who know 
 him. 
 
 eHARLES WALTER SIBLEY, residing on 
 section 6, Pana Township, was born in the 
 Bay State, the place of his birth being 
 Spencer, Worcester County, Mass., and the date 
 July 2, 1826. His grandfather, Paul Sibley, was 
 a native of the same town, was of English descent 
 and was a farmer by occupation. The father, Wal- 
 ter Livermore Sibley, was born in Spencer, where 
 he followed farming and was a prominent and in- 
 fluential citizen. He served as Colonel in the State 
 militia, was Justice of the Peace, and filled many 
 offices of honor and trust, and was a Deacon, Choris- 
 ter and Sunday-school Superintendent for many 
 years. He married Ruth Watson Ryan, who was 
 born in Spencer, of Irish parentage. Her father, 
 Samuel Ryan, was born in the Bay State and had 
 a family of fourteen children, thirteen of whom 
 
 attended school at one time. Mr. Sibley, father 
 of our subject, died at the age of forty-five, and 
 his wife, who long survived him, passed away in 
 Christian County, 111., at the age of ninety-four. 
 Their family numbered three sons and two daugh- 
 ters: Mary, who died in infancy; R. Eliza, of Pana 
 Township; William Evans, who is living in the 
 same township; and Henry Nelson, who was 
 drowned at the age of sixteen. Two nephews, 
 David and Nelson Scott, late prominent and suc- 
 cessful druggists in Worcester, Mass., were reared 
 in the family. Mr. and Mrs. Sibley stood with 
 David Scott, the father, in three marriages, and 
 in 1851 Mrs. Sibley stood alone with Mr. Scott, the 
 fourth time as his wife, and died his widow. 
 
 The subject of this sketch remained upon the 
 home farm until nineteen years of age and at- 
 tended the district and high schools. He then en- 
 tered Leicester Academy, graduating in 1850, and 
 later became a student in Yale College. When his 
 education was completed, he became clerk for the 
 Ryan Manufacturing Company, of Norfolk, Conn., 
 and continued his connection with that firm for four 
 years. On the day of his marriage the firm made 
 an assignment, and he lost nearly all he had, but he 
 managed to open a general store in Norfolk, where 
 he carried on business for two years. On the ex- 
 piration of that period, he sold out and emigrated 
 Westward, locating in Louisiana, Mo., where he 
 carried on merchandising until 1859. That year 
 witnessed his arrival in Pana, where, with G. P. 
 Lawrence, he carried on a general store until the 
 breaking out of the war. 
 
 In 1861, Mr. Sibley donned the blue as a de- 
 fender of the Union, becoming a member of the 
 Fifth Illinois Cavalry. He enlisted as a private, 
 but was promoted to be Commissary Sergeant and 
 clerk of the regiment. After a year, on the reor- 
 ganization of the regiment, he was tendered a com- 
 mission as Quartermaster, but declined. Return- 
 ing to Pana, he secured a position as clerk in. the 
 office of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
 where he remained for a year, and then removed 
 to Pleasant Mound, his present home, in 1855. 
 Within the boundaries of his homestead are com- 
 prised four hundred and fifty acres, the greater 
 part of which is under a high state of cultivation.
 
 244 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 In November, 1855, Mr. Sibley wedded Susan 
 Pettibone Lawrence, daughter of E. Grove Law- 
 rence, of Norfolk, Conn., where the lady was born 
 and reared. They have adopted four children.' 
 Elizabeth, who came to them at the age of twelve, 
 is a graduate of the Protestant Hospital of St. Louis, 
 and is now a professional nurse in that city. Josie, 
 eighteen years of age, William Michael, also eigh- 
 teen years of age, and Rose Michael, a maiden 
 of sixteen, are still with Mr. and Mrs. Sibley. 
 
 Our subject was reared a Whig, became a Free 
 Soiler, and then a Republican. He now votes with 
 the Prohibition party. He has always been a strong 
 temperance man and has never even used tobacco 
 in any shape. He gives his support to whatever 
 lends to upbuild the moral interests of the com- 
 munity and prove of public benefit. The cause of 
 education finds in him a friend; and as a member 
 and Secretary of the Educational Board, he was ac- 
 tive in organizing the graded system of Pana and in 
 building the- first school building. Afterward for 
 fifteen years he was School Trustee. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Good Templars' Society and the Grange, 
 and is a faithful and consistent member of the 
 Presbyterian Church. He served both as Deacon 
 and Elder from 1860 until 1885, and bore a prom- 
 inent part in promoting the work and interests of 
 the Presbyterian Church. He is now serving as 
 Superintendent of the District Sunday-school. His 
 life has been well and worthily spent, and he can 
 look over the past with little regret. 
 
 \F_^ T. GARDNER, a genial, popular and highly 
 
 rjV esteemed gentleman, who follows general 
 
 &%? farming on section 16, Buckhart Township, 
 
 ((^) is a native of Maury County, Tenn., born 
 
 June 12, 1841. His father, Nathan Gardner, was 
 
 born in the same State in 1817, and his mother, 
 
 who bore the maiden name of Frances Harris, was 
 
 born in Virginia, in 1818. Their marriage was 
 
 celebrated in the State of his nativity, where they 
 
 resided until 1841, which year witnessed their 
 emigration to Illinois. They took up their resi- 
 dence m Fayette County, where they made their 
 home until 1856, when they came to Christian 
 County, locating in Buckhart Township. Here 
 Mr. Gardner carried on agricultural pursuits until 
 his death, which occured on the 22d of January, 
 1889, at the age of seventy-two. His wife still 
 survives him and is now living in Sharpsburg. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is the third in order 
 of birth in a family of eleven children, of whom 
 four sons and two daughters are now living. It 
 was during his infancy that his parents came to 
 Illinois, so that he has no recollection of his native 
 State as a place of residence. He remained under 
 the parental roof until he had attained his ma- 
 jority, and his boyhood days were quietly passed 
 midst play and work. He attended the district 
 schools during the winter season, thus acquiring a 
 good English education, while his time in summer 
 months was devoted to farm labor. 
 
 In August, 1864, Mr. Gardner led to the mar- 
 riage altar Miss Clarinda Doak, who died the same 
 year. For his second wife he chose Miss Harriet 
 Ward, a native of Macon County, 111., and by 
 their union has been born a family of three sons, 
 William, Lewis and Frank, who arc still living 
 with their parents and aid their father in his farm- 
 ing duties. Since 1864, Mr. Gardner has resided 
 upon the farm which is now his home. He first 
 purchased eighty acres and began its development, 
 but as his financial resources have increased lie has 
 added to his landed possessions from time to time, 
 until he now owns two hundred acres of rich and 
 fertile farming land. In connection with its cul- 
 tivation, he also raises some good stock, making a 
 specialty of the breeding of Shorthorn cattle. 
 
 Mr. Gardner has several times been called upon 
 to serve in positions of public trust by his fellow- 
 townsmen, who have recognized his worth and 
 ability. He was Road Commissioner for the long 
 period of fifteen years, and is now Trustee of the 
 school funds. Socially, he is connected with Edin- 
 burgh Lodge No. 647, A. F. <fe A. M.; and religiously 
 with the Free Baptist Church. In politics he is an 
 advocate of the Democracy. Pleasant and social 
 in manner, he gains friends wherever he goes and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 245 
 
 has a host of them in this community. He is one 
 of the leading and influential citizens of Buck- 
 hart Township, and it is with pleasure that we pre- 
 sent to our readers this record of his life work. 
 
 . PRATER, an attorney of Edinburgh, and 
 President of the Citizens' State Bank, is a 
 native of Illinois. He was born in Fay- 
 ette County, January 21, 1851, and is a son of 
 Elislia and Nancy (Watkins) Prater. His father 
 was born in Tennessee in 1815, and was of Irish 
 descent. In his native State he was reared upon 
 a farm, and in 1840 emigrated to Fayette County, 
 111., where he met and married Miss Watkins, her 
 family having there located in a very early day. 
 In 1861, Mr. and Mrs. Prater came to Christian 
 County, where the father died in 1887, at the age 
 of seventy-two years. His widow is still living in 
 Edinburgh. They were the parentsof nine children, 
 five sons and four daughters, two of whom died in 
 infancy. Louisa J. is now the wife of A. McCarty, 
 of Edinburgh; J. A. is living in Taylorville; C.A. 
 is the next younger; Sarah J. is the wife of Henry 
 Jenkins, of Centralia, 111.; and Mary C. is the wife 
 of W. W. Love, of Edinburgh. 
 
 Our subject is the fifth in order of birth. When 
 a lad of ten summers he came with his parents to 
 Christian County. He began his education in the 
 district schools of Fayette County, and completed 
 it in this county. Upon the home farm he was 
 reared to manhood, and to his father gave the 
 benefit of his services until twenty-four years of 
 age, when he began teaching in the district schools, 
 which profession he followed for a period of seven 
 years. During that time he began studying law, 
 and pursued hid researches in that direction with a 
 law firm in Springfield. After thorough prepar- 
 ation he was admitted to the Bar, in January, 1882, 
 and at once entered upon the practice of his 
 chosen profession. Locating in Edinburgh, he has 
 here since made his home and has been numbered 
 among its leading attorneys. 
 11 
 
 In 1877, Mr. Prater was united in marriage with 
 Miss Martha J. Finley, a native of Christian 
 County, 111. Their union has been blessed with 
 one son, Lyman, who is still with his parents. In 
 his political views, Mr. Prater is a Democrat, has 
 served as Justice of the Peace and has held other 
 local offices. In his social relations he is con- 
 nected with Edinburgh Lodge No. 631, 1. 0. O. F., 
 of Edinburgh, and is a member of the Christian 
 Church. He possesses skill and ability as a lawyer 
 and has secured a large number of clients. The 
 liberal patronage which he receives is well merited, 
 for he takes rank among the prominent leading 
 practitioners of. the community. He is also Presi- 
 dent of the Citizens' State Bank, and is recognized 
 as an enterprising, progressive and public-spirited 
 citizen of Edinburgh. 
 
 DOLPHUS DE BARR has been engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits for the pastthirty 
 years and has made it the business of his 
 life. He is of French and English extrac- 
 tion, and was born in Virginia April 28, 1834. He 
 is one of the most successful farmers of the county, 
 and is one of the extensive land-owners of Locust 
 Township, his home being on section 21. He is a 
 man of broad and liberal views, who has the wel- 
 fare of the entire community always at heart, and 
 both himself and wife are highly respected and 
 merit the esteem accorded them by one and all. 
 
 The father of our subject, John De Barr, was 
 also a native of the Old Dominion, where he grew 
 to manhood and chose for his life companion Miss 
 Sarah Daws. The birthplace of this lady -was in 
 Virginia, and by her marriage she became the mo- 
 ther of four children, the eldest of whom is our 
 subject. William, the next younger, is now liv- 
 ing at the home of his brother; Mary, deceased, 
 was buried in Taylorville; and Harriet is the wife 
 of Isaac McCune, of Taylorville. 
 
 Adolphus De Barr started out to fight life's bat- 
 tles at the age of twenty-one years empty-handed.
 
 246 
 
 ^OETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 He learned the carpenter's trade, at which he 
 worked in Taylorville for several years after his 
 arrival in the West, in 1857. He commenced 
 farming about 1863, since which time he has made 
 it his chief business. He has been successful be- 
 yond his expectations, and now at the end of three 
 decades finds himself possessed of about five hun- 
 dred acres of fertile farm land under good im- 
 provement. 
 
 In December, 1857, was celebrated the first mar- 
 riage of our subject, Sarah Ann Huffman being the 
 lady of his choice. She was a native of Ohio, and 
 to her were born four children. Joseph and James 
 are living at home; John is a merchant, conduct- 
 ing a general store at Millersville, Locust Town- 
 ship; and Annie is the wife of Joshua Cleary, a 
 farmer of the same township. The present wife 
 of Mr. De Barr was formerly Miss Sarah Ann 
 Leeper. Their marriage took place in Christian 
 County in 1874. Mrs. De Barr was born in Noble 
 County, Ohio, and is of Irish and German ances- 
 try, being first cousin to Ira D. Sankey, the world- 
 renowned singer. They became the parents of 
 five children: Willie. Mary, Erma, Albert L. and 
 Eugene. Willie aud Eugene died in early child- 
 hood. 
 
 Our subject deposits his ballot in favor of the 
 Democratic party and supports its principles. In 
 his social relations he is a member of the Masonic 
 order and is a Royal Arch Mason. As an industri- 
 ous man, whose course in life has been marked 
 by strict attention to his own affairs and a high 
 regard for the rights of others, he well merits the 
 respect and confidence in an eminent degree of 
 his hosts of friends and neighbors. 
 
 ,EUBEN WILKINSON is one of the best- 
 known citizens of Taylorville, and a his- 
 toiy of Christian County would be in- 
 complete without the life record of this 
 worthy man. His energy and determination have 
 made a success of his life, and it is with pleasure 
 
 that we present to our readers this account of him. 
 He was born in Kentucky, but when a small boy 
 accompanied his parents to the prairies of Illinois, 
 so that nearly his entire life of seventy years has 
 been intimately connected with the development 
 and prosperity of this section of the State. His 
 boyhood days were indications of his after years, 
 and, early learning the value of a dollar, he 
 was not slow to develop a trait for money-mak- 
 ing, and to that end he has devoted most of his 
 time His business ability was soon recognized, 
 and for nearly half a century he has been classed 
 as one of the successful financiers of this county. 
 Not having the advantages afforded by the schools 
 of the day for academic studies, his education is 
 mostly of a practical kind; and though his atten- 
 tion has been fully engrossed by business cares, the 
 years of application have had such an effect upon 
 him that no little thought and attention are given 
 to the affairs of his friends and neighbors as well 
 as to his own. Probably no man in the county is 
 of a more helpful nature than he. 
 
 When yet a young man, Mr. Wilkinson married 
 Miss Hester Pratt, a native of England, and unto 
 them have been born two children: George C. and 
 Emma J., wife of George P. Nerrington, a banker 
 of Edinburgh. He has not stood aloof in investing 
 his means in such measures as would develop the 
 resources of his home and city, but has given lib- 
 erally. The present coal interests are largely de- 
 pendent upon him for development. The fine 
 flouring plant of the Ruth Mills owes its existence 
 to him. It was erected in 1867, at a cost of $27,- 
 000, and since then the firm of Price & Wilkinson 
 lias done an extensive and successful milling busi- 
 ness. Illustrative of the boldness of his business 
 methods, he, not content to market the mill prod- 
 ucts near home, shipped his fine flour to the 
 world's milling center, Minneapolis, and there 
 secured a market for much of his surplus goods. 
 He has probably been financially interested in 
 more enterprises than any other man in this local- 
 ity, and when he has had full control, or his ad- 
 vice has been closely followed, disaster has not 
 overtaken any of his business ventures. 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson is an enthusiastic advocate of 
 Prohibition. Not only by precept, but by ex-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 247 
 
 ample as well, has he advocated temperance. He 
 has never sought public office, preferring to devote 
 himself to the more congenial commercial life. He 
 has a rugged nature the diamond in the rough 
 but is warm hearted and true. Of a genial, so- 
 cial nature, he has hosts of warm friends, who es- 
 teem him highly and delight in his successes. His 
 home is the abode of hospitality, his estimable wife 
 being a lady of many excellencies of character, 
 and having the happy faculty of making her 
 guests feel at ease. 
 
 JAMES H. JOHNSTON, a well-to-do farmer 
 of Johnson Township, has been engaged 
 in farming in Christian County for nearly 
 forty years, and has been a prominent 
 factor in the development of this region. He 
 was born in Delaware County, Ohio, November 
 22, 1836. He removed with his parents to Madi- 
 son County, the same State, and later arrived in 
 this county in 1854. 
 
 Our subject's father, Alexander Johnston, was 
 born in Ireland in 1818. His father was a soldier 
 in the British army for five years. In 1825, 
 Alexander Johnston crossed the Atlantic and first 
 settled in Pike County, Pa. In 1831, he emi- 
 grated to Ohio, where the following year he mar- 
 ried Susan Allen, who was born and reared in 
 Delaware County, that State. She was of German 
 origin, her father having emigrated from the 
 Fatherland and settled in Virginia at an early day. 
 Mr. Johnston died in 1871, and lies buried in 
 Anderson Cemetery, Johnson Township. His wife, 
 who died two years later, now rests by his side in 
 the same cemetery. They were the parents of 
 eleven children, our subject being the second in 
 order of birth. 
 
 Until reaching his majority, James H. Johnston 
 resided with his parents and received a good 
 education. Having been brought up to the busi- 
 ness of farming and stock-raising, he felt himself 
 best qualified for that occupation and chose it as 
 
 his life work. He has been successful to an emi- 
 nent degree in his business undertakings, as will 
 be seen from the fact that he is at present the 
 owner of five hundred and sixty acres of fertile 
 farm land, which is all under good improvement 
 and is well stocked with horses, cattle, sheep and 
 hogs. Mr. Johnston usually has on hand from 
 one hundred to one hundred and fifty head of 
 cattle, and from one hundred and fifty to two 
 hundred and fifty head of hogs. He is also en- 
 gaged in buying, selling and shipping live stock 
 to a considerable extent, is a good judge of their 
 value, and has made considerable money in that 
 direction. He is well known as one of the prin- 
 cipal farmers of the township, and has made his 
 home on his present farm for some fifteen years. 
 He has a pleasant and comfortable residence and 
 good farm buildings upon the place. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Johnston took place March 
 18, 1879, when Miss Hattie Murray, of La Salle 
 County, 111., became his wife. They have had born 
 to them five children, who are all living and at 
 home. In order of birth they are as follows: 
 Eugene, Grace, Pearl, Blanche and James. The 
 parents are highly respected citizens, and are well 
 received in the social circles of the neighborhood 
 in which they dwell. Our" subject is a Democrat 
 politically, and is a member of the Masonic order. 
 
 E. SEATON, who is the present Super- 
 visor of Buckhart Township, follows farm- 
 ing on section 30, where he has a well-im- 
 proved and valuable tract of land. One of Illi- 
 nois' native sons, he was born in Fayette County 
 on the 5th of November, 1840, and is a son of 
 William and Ellen (Williams) Seaton. The father 
 was born and reared in Tennessee, and in 1830 
 emigrated to this State, locating in Fayette County, 
 where he entered land from the Government at 
 $1.25 per acre. Upon the farm which he there 
 improved his death occurred at the age of forty- 
 two. His wife was also a native of Tennessee,
 
 248 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and was called to her final rest at the age of fifty- 
 seven. The family numbered seven children, 
 four sons and three daughters, all of whom grew 
 to manhood and womanhood. Levi is now living 
 in Fayette County; Louisa is the wife of James 
 Little, of the same county; Amanda is the widow 
 of Tony B. Williams, of Fayette County; Clarissa 
 is the wife of John Farber, of Fayette County; 
 W. E. is the next younger; John is now deceased; 
 and Riley is living in Fayette County. 
 
 In the usual manner of farmer lads the subject 
 of this sketch was reared to manhood. The com- 
 mon schools afforded him his educational priv- 
 ileges. He studied through the winter season and 
 in the summer months aided in the labors of the 
 fields. Having arrived at years of maturity, he 
 was married, in 1862, to Julia Piatt, a native of 
 Fayette County and a daughter of John F. Piatt. 
 Unto them were born four children: Marinda, who 
 died at the age of six years; John W., Jesse E. 
 and Gordon E., who were born on the Seaton farm 
 in this county, and are still with their father. The 
 mother of this family was called to her final rest 
 February 22, 1888, and her death was widely 
 mourned by a large circle of warm friends. 
 
 Mr. Seaton came to this county in 1865, and lo- 
 cated upon the farm which has since been his 
 home. There was a small house upon it, but no 
 other improvements, and the place of which he 
 came into possession bears little resemblance to 
 the fine farm of to-day. Within the boundaries 
 are comprised three hundred and sixty acres of 
 rich land, which by well-kept fences is divided 
 into fortj'-acre fields, all under a high state of 
 cultivation. There are a tasty residence, good barns 
 and outbuildings and all the accessories and con- 
 veniences of a farm of the nineteenth century. 
 In connection with theraisingof crops, Mr. Seaton 
 is also engaged in stock-raising, and this branch 
 of his business yields him a good income. 
 
 Our subject exercises his right of franchise in 
 support of the Democratic part}'. In 1889 he was 
 elected Supervisor of the township, and has since 
 been unanimously re-elected to that position, be- 
 ing the choice of both parties. He has served for 
 twenty-one years as School Director, and has done 
 much to advance the cause of education in this 
 
 community. He proves a faithful and competent 
 officer, and the trust reposed in him is never be- 
 trayed. No better citizen can be found in the 
 community than Mr. Seaton, who always bears his 
 part in the work of public improvement, and in 
 private life is alike true. 
 
 HOMAS J. ELLIOTT was one of the hon- 
 ored early settlers and representative men 
 of Christian County. From his early years 
 he was obliged to depend upon his own resources, 
 and was a self-educated and self-made man. He 
 was a native of Illinois, having been born in Clay 
 County on the 16th of February, 1829. He be- 
 came a resident of this county in 1853, and was 
 located in Taylorville Township, on section 29, 
 for about a quarter of a century. 
 
 His father dying when he was young, Mr. El- 
 liott began working when only about nine 3 r ears old, 
 and received for a number of years only twenty- 
 five cents per day for his services. His education 
 was necessarily very limited, and it was owing to 
 his habits of study and desire for information that 
 he acquired such as he possessed. After living 
 for a number of years in his native county, he 
 went to Sangamon County, where he made his 
 home for some time, and, as previously stated, came 
 to Christian County in 1853. For some years he 
 was a resident of Bear Creek Township, thence re- 
 moving to Taylorville Township. In 1868 he 
 purchased a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, 
 to the cultivation of which he devoted himself 
 during the remainder of his life. He afterward 
 purchased another thirty-acre tract, and there en- 
 gaged in general farming and stock-raising with 
 good success. 
 
 On the 26th of December, 1868, was celebrated 
 the marriage of Mr. Elliott and Miss Ruth Clay- 
 ton, who was born in Sangamon County, and re- 
 moved with her parents, Jefferson and Elizabeth 
 (Scott) Clayton, to Christian County when she
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. . 
 
 249 
 
 was a little girl. To our subject and his wife was 
 born a family of eight children, who, with the ex- 
 ception of one, are still living. They are as fol- 
 lows: Luella, Alvin I., Minnie E., Worthy E.. 
 Dwight, Ida M., Franklin O. and Leda G. Myrtle 
 is deceased. 
 
 The death of Mr. Elliott occurred on the 12th 
 of February, 1888, and his mortal remains were 
 placed to rest in the Taylorville Cemetery. In 
 politics, he was ever to be found in the ranks of 
 the Democratic party, and was greatly interested 
 in promoting the welfare of the community with 
 which his lot was cast. His widow and children 
 are still living on the old homestead, and occupy 
 a high place in the friendship and good-will of 
 their friends and neighbors. Mr. Elliott's course 
 in life deserves the highest commendation, as he 
 was possessed of a courage and fortitude which 
 surmounted all obstacles in his pathway. Of these 
 there were truly more than falls to the lot of most 
 men, but he at last reached the goal of his hopes, 
 becoming a good citizen, a practical and progress- 
 ive farmer, and a friend who could be ever re- 
 lied upon. 
 
 EVERLY VAN BUREN MARTIN, who is 
 engaged in the dray and transfer business 
 in Taylorville, comes from the far-off State 
 of West Virginia. He was born in Harri- 
 son County, on the 6th of July, 1840, and is a son 
 of John B. and Mary Ann (Wood) Martin, who 
 were both natives of the Old Dominion. His 
 grandfather, Levi Martin, was born in West Vir- 
 ginia, and there followed the occupation of farm- 
 ing for many years. He was called to his final 
 rest in 1845, when about eighty-five years of age. 
 The maternal grandfather of our subject, Alex- 
 ander Wood, carried on agricultural pursuits in 
 Virginia, the State of his nativity. 
 
 Of the family of ten children, numbering six 
 sons and four daughters, to which our subject be- 
 longed, six are now living, namely: Martha E., 
 
 wife of Monterville Bartlett; Emery; Catherine 
 E., wife of John Payne; Beverly V. B., whose name 
 heads this sketch; Cree; and Homer. The father 
 of this family carried on farming and stock-deal- 
 ing in West Virginia, where his death occurred in 
 February, 1892, at the ripe old age of eighty-four 
 years. He had long survived his wife, who had 
 passed away in 1851. Both were consistent mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Church. Mr. Martin was a 
 second time married, the lady of his choice being 
 Miss Hannah Bailey, a daughter of Albert Bailey, 
 of Virginia. She now makes her home in Des 
 Moines, Iowa. 
 
 The subject of this sketch remained upon the 
 home farm in the State of his birth until sixteen 
 years of age, when he began the study of medi- 
 cine. For two years his energies were directed 
 along that line, after which he went to California, 
 in 1861, spending four years upon the Pacific 
 Slope. Returning to West Virginia in 1865, he 
 there remained until 1870, when he determined to 
 seek a home in the West. Coining to Illinois, he 
 located in Dorchester, where he embarked in mer- 
 chandising and also engaged in buying stock. It 
 was in the centennial year of 1876 that he went 
 to Staunton, where he carried on the livery busi- 
 ness until 1880. That year witnessed his arrival 
 in Taylorville. Here he again opened a livery 
 stable, carrying on business along that line until 
 September, 1892, when he sold out to Messrs. 
 Fisher <fe Kinney. He also imported Clyde, Ham- 
 bletonian, Perclieron and Norman stallions. Since 
 disposing of his livery business he has continued 
 in the dray and transfer business. 
 
 On the 22d of May, 1871, Mr. Martin was united 
 in marriage with Miss Mary Ann Wayne, a daugh- 
 ter of Churchill and Mary (Kellar) Wayne, of 
 Dorchester. By their union they became the parents 
 of four children, all sons: John, Frank, Alonzo 
 and Harry. The first-named died at the age of 
 seventeen years, but the other children are still 
 with their parents. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Martin is connected with the An- 
 cient Order of United Workmen, and his wife 
 holds membership with the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Church. He votes with the Republican 
 party and is a stanch supporter of its principles.
 
 250 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 He was honored with the olfice of Mayor of Tay- 
 lorvillefor a term of two years, was Supervisor for 
 two terras, and has been School Director and Pres- 
 ident of the East School Board for seven years. 
 With promptness and fidelity his public duties 
 were discharged. The cause of education finds in 
 him a warm friend and he has done effective serv- 
 ice in its interests. Besides his residence and 
 other city property in Taylorville, Mr. Martin 
 owns one hundred and sixty .acres of farming land 
 in South Dakota. He lias a wide acquaintance 
 throughout this community and by his pleasant, 
 genial manner and excellencies of character has 
 won many warm friends. 
 
 
 JOHN W. NICODEMUS, who is well known 
 in Christian and neighboring counties as a 
 minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church, now owns a farm of one hundred 
 and twenty acres in Taylorville Township. He 
 was one of the pioneers of his denomination in 
 central Illinois and was for a period of twenty-two 
 years on the Illinois circuit. He was zealous and 
 active for years as a minister and often walked 
 from ten to twenty miles to conduct a religious 
 service. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred in Knox 
 County, Tenn., February 29, 1824. He is a son of 
 Frederick Nicodemus, and is one of two children, 
 he being the eldest, and Locky Ann, who is de- 
 ceased. The mother died when John was very 
 young, and his father passed away when he was 
 a lad of only seven years. He was taken by an 
 uncle, and remained with him until he was seven- 
 teen years of age. Desiring to learn a trade, he 
 apprenticed himself for two years to a blacksmith, 
 working for his board and clothes. For two terms 
 he was in Knoxville pursuing his studies. After- 
 wards he built a shop of his own and continued to 
 work at his trade for a few years. Returning to 
 Knoxville, be there resided until 1860, when he 
 came to Illinois, making the trip by team. He lo- 
 
 cated in what is now King Township, and pur- 
 chased eighty acres of unimproved prairie land, 
 where he lived for about five years. 
 
 Mr. Nicodemus became a resident of Taylorville 
 Township in 1865, having sold his former farm 
 and purchased one of eighty acres on section 14. 
 There he engaged in agricultural pursuits for a 
 few 3' ears and then located on his present farm, to 
 which he came in 1882. This property comprises 
 one hundred and twenty acres of arable and well- 
 improved land, and has been placed under a high 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 Our subject has been twice married, his first un- 
 ion being celebrated October 3, 1843, with Miss 
 Mary E. Ault, by whom he had six children: Joel 
 A., who died in March, 1845; Martha A., who died 
 in March, 1847; William K., a resident of Taylor- 
 ville; Wesley B., a farmer of this county; Mary A., 
 who died January 10, 1852; and Willie B., who 
 died April 20, 1854. The mother departed this 
 life May 7, 1854. The second marriage of Mr. 
 Nicodemus was with Miss Mary A., daughter of 
 John and Mary Falkner. The wedding ceremony 
 took place July 20, 1854. She was born near 
 Knoxville, Tenn., January 20, 1829. 
 
 In his political faith Mr. Nicodemus is a Demo- 
 crat. He has held the office of Commissioner of 
 Highways and lias been a School Director. In his 
 early life he met with a great deal of discourage- 
 ment, and is a self-educated as well as a self-made 
 man. He has alwa3's taken a great and active in- 
 terest in all church and educational work, and is 
 one of the valued citizens of this county. 
 
 R. ANDREW F. HAMMER, of Taylor- 
 ville, who is engaged in the practice of 
 the medical profession, was born in the 
 city which is now his home, December 7. 
 1849. His paternal grandfather, Frederick Ham- 
 mer, vvas a native of Kentucky, and was a black- 
 smith and farmer by trade. Having emigrated to 
 Illinois in an early day, he served in the Black
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 251 
 
 Hawk War. Locating in Christian County, he 
 here carried on agricultural pursuits for a number 
 of years, and his death occurred on his farm two 
 and a-half miles from Taylorville, at the age of 
 seventy-three years. He was laid to rest in the' 
 Stonington Cemetery. The maternal grandfather 
 of our subject, who bore the name of Josiah Lang- 
 ley, was also a native of Kentucky, and he too 
 was a farmer. He died at his home, three miles 
 west of Taylorville, at the age of fifty-five years. 
 
 The parents of our subject, Addison W. and 
 Rebecca Adeline (Langley) Hammer, were both 
 natives of Kentucky. The father was a black- 
 smith by trade, but after emigrating to Illinois 
 became a tiller of the soil. He came to this State 
 in 1827, locating with his parents in Sangamon 
 County. In 1837 the family removed to the east- 
 ern part of Christian County, and lived near the 
 present site of Moweaqua until 1847. In the 
 mean time Mr. Hammer learned the blacksmith's 
 trade from his father, and then removed to IVylor- 
 ville, where, in connection with his brother Lucian, 
 he carried on business along that line for some 
 years. He now resides in Custer, Sangamon 
 County, and is at present serving as Postmaster of 
 that place. His wife, who was a member of the 
 Christian Church, died in the fall of 1865, and in 
 1868 Mr. Hammer married Miss Millie AVoods, 
 who was also born and reared in Kentucky. He 
 is a member of the Universalist Church, and is a 
 highly-respected man. 
 
 The Doctor is one of a family of eight children, 
 numbering five sons and three daughters, of whom 
 the daughters and two sons are now living. They 
 are Andrew F.; Hugh L.; Margaret, wife of Isaac 
 B. Jordan, a lawyer of Kingman County, Kan.; 
 Laura B., wife of T. H. Johnson, of Taylorville; 
 and Lura M., wife of John S. Neal, of Springfield, 
 111. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of the 
 Doctor, who was reared in this city and vicinity 
 and acquired his early education in the Taylor- 
 ville public schools. He remained at home with 
 his parents until twenty-seven years of age and 
 aided in the labors of the farm. With a desire to 
 make the practice of medicine his life work, he en- 
 tered upon a medical course in the Hahnemaun 
 
 Medical College, of Chicago, from which institu- 
 tion he was graduated in 1877. He then located 
 in Custer, formerly known as Berry, and opening 
 an office began practice. For fifteen years he re- 
 mained in that place, receiving a liberal share of 
 the public patronage. He then determined to re- 
 turn to his native city, and in 1892 took up his 
 residence in Taylorville, where he has since 'made 
 his home. 
 
 On the 14th of June, 1878, the Doctor was uni- 
 ted in marriage with Mrs. Alice A. Allen, widow 
 of John W. Allen, and a daughter of John S. and 
 Mary J. (Bell) Dickerson. Two children grace 
 their union: Stella P. and Lena J. The Doctor 
 and his wife are members of the Christian Church, 
 and, socially, he is connected with Mound Lodge 
 No. 122, A. F. & A. M., and Berry Lodge No. 26, 
 I. O. O. F. He also belongs to the Modern Wood- 
 men of America. He owns two hundred and forty 
 acres of land half a mile from Clarksdale, and his 
 wife has a forty -acre tract near Berry. They also 
 have a residence property in Berry. In politics, 
 the Doctor is a Republican and a strong Protec- 
 tionist. Although he has made his home in Tay- 
 lorville but a short time, he is already building up 
 a good trade, and his skill and ability merit a lib- 
 eral patronage. He is a pleasant, genial gentle- 
 man and is highly esteemed for his sterling worth. 
 
 >INSTON LEANDER LONG has been en- 
 gaged in the mercantile business in Mor- 
 risonville for a number of years, being a 
 junior member of the firm of Hewitt & Long. 
 A. M. Hewitt, of the firm, is a brother-in-law of our 
 subject, and they have been in business together 
 since 1885. Mr. Lqng was born in Christian 
 County, Ky., where the village of Herndon now 
 stands, January 15, 1851. 
 
 John Culbertson Long, father of our subject, was 
 born in Muhlenburg County, Ky., June 19, 1779. 
 His mother, Rebecca Stevenson (McCormick) Long
 
 252 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 was born in Lincoln County, N. C., September 18, 
 1812. Her parents removed from North Carolina 
 to Missouri when she was six months old, and 
 from Missouri to Kentucky when she was two 
 years of age. She was married to Mr. Long in 
 Christian County, Ky., in 1837. 
 
 Five sons and four daughters blessed their home. 
 The eldest, Andrew McCormick Long, died in in- 
 fancy. John Turner Long, the second child, now 
 living in Danville, Ten u., is a mechanic; he was 
 married in 1862 to Mrs. Elvira R. Luck, whose 
 maiden name was McCraw, and they have one 
 son, Lucian Clyde. The third in order of birth, 
 Sarah Ann Long, married Benjamin Scott Pickard 
 in 1859, and four children came to them: Herschel 
 W.,Ida May, Minnie Lee and Benjamin Scott. Mr. 
 Pickard died in 1866, and some ten years later 
 Mrs. Pickard married John A. Myers, of Dan- 
 ville, Tenn. Two children, Hattie Belle and Dora 
 Pearl, were the result of this union. Mrs. Myers 
 died in 1888, and Mr. Myers is now living in 
 Christian County, Ky. James Marion Long, the 
 fourth child, was married to Miss Carrie McCraw, 
 a niece of Mrs. John Turner Long, in 1867; they 
 have four children: Drucilla Ann, Jhumie L., 
 Oscar Woodson and Birch. The greater part of 
 James Long's life has been spent in merchandising, 
 but a few years ago he removed to his farm near 
 Bennettstown, Christian County, Ky., where he re- 
 sides. Eliza Long, the fifth child, died at about 
 three years of age. Isabella Washington Long, the 
 sixth in order, married James B. Radford in 1867; 
 they had two children, Edgar Clarence and Viola 
 Mattie. Mrs. Radford died in 1874, and some years 
 later Mr. Radford married Miss Amelia Park, and 
 now resides in Christian County, Ky. Eudora Clem- 
 entine Long, the seventh child, married William G. 
 Williams in 1877, and died the year following. 
 Mr. Williams died about a year later. Fidelia M. 
 Long, the ninth child, died at about one year of 
 age. 
 
 Winston Leander Long, the eighth child and 
 the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood in 
 Christian County, Ky., being reared to agricultural 
 pursuits. After his father's death, which occurred 
 when Winston was only ten years old, he worked 
 on his mother's farm, getting such advantages as 
 
 the country schools afforded. At the age of fifteen 
 it became necessary for him to take charge of the 
 farm, his elder brothers having gone from home. 
 The war coming on the year of his father's death, 
 the freeing of the slaves, and the depreciation 
 of values generally, consequent upon the war, 
 brought his mother to very straitened circum- 
 stances, which financial embarrassment made it 
 trying for so young a farmer. His opportunities 
 were very limited until the age of eighteen, when 
 he entered the male academy at Garrettsburg, Ky., 
 his teacher being no less a personage than that most 
 profound scholar and instructor, Q. M. Tyler, whose 
 name is dear to so many men who were boys in 
 southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee. Af- 
 ter continuing here two years, he returned to 
 the farm. For several j'ears after this, our sub- 
 ject aspired to the medical profession, but his ed- 
 ucation not being entirely satisfactory, and his 
 mother and two sisters still being unprotected, he 
 remained at home. He, however, began to make 
 arrangements to enter the mercantile business, and 
 in 1874 bought an interest in his brother James' 
 grocery store, at Roaring Spring, Ky., his brother 
 retaining almost entire control. A year or so later 
 it became necessary, according to the terms of his 
 father's will, to sell all real estate belonging to 
 deceased. Winston bought the homestead, but 
 soon sold to his brother James, and in the spring 
 of 1877 he came to Christian County, 111., and 
 entered into the dry-goods business in partnership 
 with A. E. Boyd, of Palmer, 111. 
 
 On June 19, 1878, our subject was married to 
 Miss H. Lou Hewitt, of Taylorville, by the Rev. 
 E. P. Rankin, a Presbyterian minister of Morrison- 
 ville. Miss Hewitt was the third daughter of 
 William T. and Anna (Gibson) Hewitt. Her eld- 
 est brother, Francis M., died in 1872. Olive C., 
 the second child, married Joseph S. Wallace. 
 Aurelius M., the third, married Miss Florence An- 
 derson. James Byron, the fourth, died in 1869. 
 Laura J., the fifth, married J. L. Boyd. Mrs. Long, 
 the sixth, was born in Christian County, 111., Sep- 
 tember 23, 1856. Her mother died when she was 
 eight months old. Some three years later her fa- 
 ther married Miss Mary R. Wilcockson, a very 
 estimable lady, and daughter of Col. John H.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 253 
 
 II. Wilcockson, of Sangamon County, 111. Three 
 children were the result of this union, William T., 
 Lee D. and Homer B. William T., Jr., died in 
 1872. Lee D. married Miss Ella Russell. 
 
 William T. Hewitt, Sr., was born in Stafford 
 County, Va., January 15, 1816. He removed to 
 Christian County, Ky., when yet a young man, 
 and was married there. He moved to Christian 
 County, 111., in 1842, and became a prosperous 
 stock-raiser, farmer and a man of wealth. He was 
 a good and learned man, and a man of sterling 
 integrity. He died November 24, 1890. Mrs. 
 Long's mother, Anna (Gibson) Hewitt, was born 
 in Christian County, Ky., in 1821. She was a wo- 
 man of piety, and was noted for her benevolent 
 and amiable disposition, and for her charity to the 
 poor. She died June 8, 1857. Mrs. Long is a 
 Christian lady, being an earnest worker and an ac- 
 tive member of the Presbyterian Church. She is 
 of high social standing, a kind and affectionate 
 wife and mother, and makes home pleasant and 
 happy for her husband and little son. 
 
 In the fall of 1878 the firm of Boyd & Long dis- 
 solved, the former partner retiring and the latter 
 continuing in business. In 1884, Mr. Long sold out 
 and moved to Sully County, S. Dak. In 1885, he 
 returned to the Prairie State, and has since been 
 located in Morrison ville. Socially, he is connected 
 with Morrison ville Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M., 
 and is a member of Mound Lodge and Chapter of 
 Taylorville. In politics he is a Democrat, first, 
 last and all the time, and is at present serving as 
 Supervisor of Ricks Township. Mr. Long is quiet 
 and retiring in manner, but he has a host of 
 friends and acquaintances who consider him a 
 man of integrity and of a high sense of honor. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Long had only two children, the elder 
 of whom died in infancy. The other, Troy Lovell, 
 was born December 27, 1881. He is now a lad of 
 twelve, healthy, but of a delicate frame. 
 
 John Culbertson Long, the father of our subject, 
 was the eldest of ten children, the second being 
 William; the third was Robert F., who married Lu- 
 cretiaBoyd; the fourth Joseph; the fifth William; 
 the sixth Isaac, who married Sarah Vincent; the 
 seventh Agnes A.; the eighth Mary, who married 
 Collins Calvert; the ninth Rebecca, who married 
 
 Wilson Cates; and the tenth Elizabeth, who mar- 
 ried Jacob Gish. John Culbertson Long was a 
 temperate man and a Christian, being an Elder in 
 the Presbyterian Church for a number of years, or 
 up to the time of his death, which occurred July 11, 
 1861. The grandfather of our subject, Samuel C. 
 Long, was born in the State of Pennsylvania, and 
 married Joanna Culbertson. 
 
 Rebecca S. (McCormick) Long, the mother of 
 our subject, was one of a family of six children. 
 The eldest, Joseph Manson McCormick, married 
 Miss McKenzie. Immediately after their mar- 
 riage, in Christian County, Ky., they moved to 
 Texas, which was not yet admitted into the Union. 
 The opportunities being favorable, he -became a 
 wealthy man. They had only one son, Andrew 
 Phelps McCormick, who is now United S.tates 
 Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit in Texas. He 
 also sits in the Circuit Court of Appeals at New 
 Orleans from the middle of November to the fol- 
 lowing June of each year. Eliza McCormick, the 
 second, married Joseph Causey. Juliet McCor- 
 mick, the third, married James Boyd. Zillah A 
 McCormick, the sixth, married Alfred Boyd, a 
 brother of her sister Juliet's husband. Both of the 
 Boyds and their families moved from Christian 
 County, Ky., and settled in Christian County, 111. 
 They reared large families, many of whom are 
 well-known and prominent business men of this 
 county and State. Rebecca S. McCormick, the 
 mother of our subject, had a twin brother, whose 
 name was John, but he did not survive infancy. 
 She was a very large lady, and at one time weighed 
 nearly three hundred pounds. She was a woman of 
 considerable force of character, was a great reader, 
 and was a Christian, having joined the Presb}'- 
 terian Church when quite young, and she remained 
 in it until she died, March 16, 1881. 
 
 Mrs. Long's father, Andrew McCormick, was 
 born in Lincoln County, N. C., in 1780, and mar- 
 ried Sarah Steele, who was born in the same coun- 
 ty in the year 1775. The latter's family were 
 people of wealth for their time, and had great 
 force of character. For some cause they opposed 
 their daughter Sarah's marriage to Mr. McCor- 
 mick, hence little is known of her ancestors. She 
 had three brothers, however, one of whom was
 
 254 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 named Henry. Andrew McCormick having died in 
 Christian County, Ky., in 1822, she married a man 
 by the name of Howard. He died some four years 
 after their marriage, and she went to make her 
 home with her daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Long, 
 where she spent her declining years. She died at 
 the age of eighty. Andrew McCormick had an older 
 brother, Joseph, who moved from North Carolina 
 to Washington County, Mo. One of his sons, 
 James Robinson McCormick, now lives at Farming- 
 ton, St. Francois County, Mo. He is a physician 
 by profession, and has twice been elected State 
 Senator, has three times been elected to Congress, 
 and was a General in the Union army. He is a 
 wealthy man and has retired from public life and 
 from active business. Andrew had two other 
 brothers, David and John, who died without heirs. 
 He had three sisters, Elizabeth, Catharine and 
 Mary. Elizabeth married Enos Sherrill. Cathar- 
 ine married John Alexander. Mary married A. T. 
 Alexander, a brother of Catharine's husband. The 
 families belonging to these three sisters were peo- 
 ple of prominence. 
 
 The great-grandfather of our subject was also 
 named Andrew McCormick. He emigrated to this 
 country from Ireland some time between 1746 and 
 1750. Information is not definite as to where he 
 was born, but the impression is that he was born in 
 Scotland. But if not born in Scotland, it may be 
 stated with some degree of certainty that he was 
 of Scotch descent. He met and married Catharine 
 Adams in Pennsylvania. She, Catharine Adams, 
 had three brothers, John, Peter and Jacob, and 
 two sisters, Mary and Hannah. Mary married a 
 man named Groves. Hannah married Mr. Low- 
 ranee. Catharine (Adams) McCormick 's father, 
 John Adams, is the earliest of the common ances- 
 tors, so far as the knowledge of the subject of our 
 sketch, or family tradition, reaches. This John 
 Adams was born in Holland or. in one of the Ger- 
 man Stales. While still a youth, he and a sister of 
 his came with a colony of Calvinist Protestants to 
 New Jersey. He married and settled on or near 
 the Delaware Rivet, not far from Philadelphia. 
 Here he resided with his family until the fall of 
 1776. He was an early and ardent supporter of the 
 patriot cause, and when Earl Cornwallis overran 
 
 the Jerseys in 1776, John Adams moved his fam- 
 ily into Pennsylvania, then into Virginia, and 
 about the close of the next year, 1777, reached 
 and permanently settled in what is now Rowan 
 County, N. C. The McCormicks, kindred of our 
 subject, have been farmers, stock-raisers, merchants, 
 bankers and lawyers, with an occasional physician 
 and Presbyterian preacher, but few office-holders, 
 either civil or military. Very many have been 
 Ruling Elders in the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 EDWARD BUGG, a well-known agriculturist 
 of Christian County, has spent his entire 
 life in May Township, having been born 
 March 31, 1848, on the same farm where he now 
 resides. This place was entered from the Govern- 
 ment by his father, who was among the pioneers 
 of the county. The home of our subject is lo- 
 cated on section 23, where he owns a well-im- 
 proved farm. 
 
 Edward Bugg was the seventh child in a family 
 of eight children born to Joseph and Susanna 
 (Peck) Bugg. Four of the family are now de- 
 ceased. John, the eldest living, is a retired far- 
 mer, and now a resident of Assumption; William 
 is a prosperous agriculturist of this township, as is 
 also Joseph R., the only other survivor. The fa- 
 ther was born March 12, 1810, at Levin, Yorkshire, 
 England, where he continued to reside until his 
 marriage, which occurred February 27, 1833. In 
 June, 1834, the young couple set sail for America 
 and landed in Quebec, Canada, where they spent 
 the winter. In May of the following year they 
 removed to Indiana and settled on a farm three 
 miles northeast of Terre Haute, where they made 
 their home for four years. At the end of that 
 time they came to this county and made a settle- 
 ment on section 4, May Township, north of Flat 
 Branch. Their location was on the open prairie, 
 half a mile from the timber. At that time all the 
 settlements had been made along the timber-land, 
 and they were the only ones who had yet ventured
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 255 
 
 out on the prairie, which people in those days lit- 
 tle expected could be developed into good farms. 
 lu 1844, the family removed to the places where 
 our subject now resides and built a log house. To 
 the eastward the prairie stretched for eighteen 
 miles without a single house or improvement of 
 any kind. Though they were much annoyed by 
 the depredations of wolves and had much sickness, 
 they remained on this tract of land and improved 
 a farm of three hundred and eighty acres. Mr. 
 Bugg was called from this life May 10, 1865, and 
 was laid to rest in the Harris Cemetery in May 
 Township. He was an active man and numbered 
 many friends in the county. Religiously, he held 
 membership with the Methodist Church. His wife 
 was born in Yorkshire, England, August 10, 1812, 
 to Simon and Jane (Butledge) Peck. Her death 
 occurred October 28, 1882, at Terre Haute, Ind., 
 where she was visiting. She had for many years 
 previously made her home with our subject. 
 
 Edward Bugg, whose name heads this sketch, 
 resided at his birthplace on the same farm he now 
 cultivates until he was of age. His education was 
 such as was afforded by the country schools of 
 those days. On reaching man's estate he rented a 
 part of the home farm for a number of years, and 
 on the 10th of February, 1874, was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Christina Bailey. She was born 
 in Oneida County, N. Y., March 7, 1841, and was 
 a daughter of M. S. and Lydia (Taylor) Bailey. 
 The former was a native of Massachusetts, who re- 
 moved with his parents to Oneida County, N. Y., 
 when a small boy. There occurred his marriage, 
 and in that county he resided until his death, 
 which occurred when he had reached an advanced 
 age. He was of English descent, and was one of 
 the early settlers of Oneida County. His father 
 participated in the War of the Revolution. The 
 mother of Mrs. Bugg was born in Steuben County, 
 N. Y., where she is still living, now well advanced 
 in life. Her father was a native of Scotland, and 
 came to America in his boyhood. 
 
 Three children have blessed the union of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Bugg, but two died in infancy. Gracic 
 Fidelia, who lives at home, is an accomplished musi- 
 cian and has received a superior education. Though 
 not a member of any church, Mr. Bugg contrib- 
 
 utes to their support, especially to the Presbyte- 
 rian Church, of which his wife is a member. In 
 politics, he uses his influence in behalf of the Re- 
 publican party. His farm now numbers two hun- 
 dred and fifty acres, which are fertile and well cul- 
 tivated. It is a desirable piece of property and 
 bears little resemblance to the wild prairie which 
 it was at the time of his father's location upon it. 
 
 JOHN LEWIS TURNER, a carpenter and 
 manufacturer, ranks high in the business cir- 
 cles of this communit_y and well deserves 
 mention in the history of Christian County 
 for the prominent part he has taken in all the public 
 affairs that tend to benefit and upbuild the com- 
 munity. The record of his life is as follows: A 
 native of Indiana, he was born in Greene County 
 on the 2d of September, 1844. He is of P^nglish 
 and Scotch descent, the paternal grandfather hav- 
 ing been a native of England, who died in Ten- 
 nessee. He is also descended from one of the 
 Revolutionary heroes, his maternal grandfather, 
 Benjamin Phillips, a native of Scotland, having 
 served as a soldier in the War of Independence. 
 He lived to quite an advanced age, and died in 
 Greene County, Ind. 
 
 The parents of our subject, Archelaus and Susan 
 (Phillips) Turner, were both natives of Tennessee. 
 The father was a farmer and mechanic. His death 
 occurred in 1846, of brain fever, in Greene County, 
 Ind., but his wife lived until the 3d of April, 1883, 
 surviving her husband about thirty-seven years, 
 and died at the home of the subject of this sketch. 
 They were both members of the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian Church and were highly respected peo- 
 ple. Their family numbered ten children, five 
 sons and five daughters, of whom seven grew to 
 mature years. Nancy is now the widow of William 
 Anderson; Delphia, who is the second in order 
 of birth, lives with her brother Thomas; William 
 is a minister of the Gospel, residing at Lincoln and 
 is the father of President Turner of Lincoln Uni-
 
 256 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 versity; Jane is the wife of Rev. R. J. P. Lemmoii, 
 of Benton County, Ark.; James Riley died at 
 Owaneeo, this county, June 21, 1893; Thomas J. 
 makes his home in Taylorville; and John L. is our 
 subject. Those who died in early childhood were. 
 Elizabeth, Benjamin and an infant. 
 
 John L. Turner, whose name heads this record, 
 was only two years old when his father died, and 
 when he was a lad of ten summers his mother re- 
 moved with the family from Indiana to Shelby 
 County, 111. This was in 1854. There he was 
 reared to manhood upon a farm, remaining with 
 his mother until he had attained his majority. 
 His education was acquired in the district schools 
 of the neighborhood, and no event of special im- 
 portance occurred during his boyhood and youth. 
 After arriving at man's estate he was united in 
 marriage, on the llth of April, 1867, with Miss 
 Lizzie, a daughter of William and Mary Haskins, 
 of Dubois County, Ind. Foui'children have been 
 born of their union: Benjamin Archelaus, John 
 Ellis, William Ezra and Docia Mae. The eldest 
 son married Miss Lydia B. Sweigert, and resides 
 in Edinburgh, 111., and is cashier of the banking 
 house of George P. Harrington. One child graces 
 their union, Homer A. 
 
 In the winter of 1865-66, Mr. Turner removed 
 to Christian County and located in Taylorville, 
 where lie has since made his home. For the first 
 ten years after his arrival he engaged in carpen- 
 tering, which he then abandoned to enter upon 
 the manufacture of brick and tile. This business 
 he followed for a number of years. He made the 
 first drain tile in this section of the country, and 
 that branch of his business was his specialty. Al- 
 though he began on a small scale, the demand for 
 his product constantly increased, and in conse- 
 quence his facilities were enlarged. This is one 
 of the leading industries of the community, and 
 adds greatly to the prosperity of Taylorville and 
 surrounding community, as it furnishes employ- 
 ment to a number of men and insures good crops 
 on lands that are well tiled. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Turner and their children are 
 members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
 in which he serves as Deacon. In politics, he is a 
 supporter of the Republican party. Mr. Turner 
 
 has had a successful career, which is due entirely to 
 his own business ability and sagacity, combined 
 with well-directed energies and persistent effort. 
 His prosperity, therefore, is well merited, and he 
 may truly be called a self-made man. He owns 
 a good home and other city property, and, having 
 disposed of his manufacturing business, he and his 
 good wife are at this lime living rather retired, 
 devoting themselves to the education of their 
 children, trying to prepare them for useful lives. 
 
 EPHRAIM BOLLINGER was for long years 
 one of the highly respected and truly 
 worthy citizens of Stonington Township. 
 The whole community was deeply shocked on 
 learning of his death, which occurred in March, 
 1893. While attempting to cross the railroad 
 track to look after some business near the crossing 
 by the Stonington Station, he was run down and 
 instantly killed by the train. He was laid to rest 
 in Grove City Cemetery. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Bellinger occurred in Balti- 
 more County, Md., October 24, 1832, and he grew 
 to manhood near his birthplace. He was of German 
 descent, though his father and mother were born 
 and reared in Baltimore County. The family re- 
 moved to Christian County, 111., in 1869. Our 
 subject worked at his trade of a millwright until 
 the commencement of the late Civil War. For 
 three years during that struggle he was employed 
 as a teamster in and near Baltimore. After his 
 arrival in Illinois, he gave his whole time and 
 energy to farming. When he started out to fight 
 life's battles, he had his own way to make from 
 the first, and even at the time of his marriage he 
 was only in moderate circumstances. He was the 
 eldest of thirteen children, eight of whom were 
 sons. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Bellinger occurred in Bal- 
 timore County, Md., his wife being Miss Mary 
 Ann Street, who was born in that county August
 
 POKTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 257 
 
 23, 1832. They have become the parents of eight 
 children: Oliver, who is now deceased, and James 
 M., deceased, both of whom were buried in Balti- 
 more County; Mary E., who died in Christian 
 County, and lies buried in Grove City Cemetery; 
 Henry C., John T., William E., Daniel S. and 
 Samuel W., who arc respected citizens of this 
 count}'. Henry C. married Miss Keziah Coffee, 
 who was born and educated in this county. They 
 are residents of Stonington Township. John T. 
 married Miss Caroline Cooner, of this county, and 
 lives near the old homestead. The three younger 
 brothers are at home with their mother and lend 
 their dutiful assistance in carrying on the home- 
 stead. The farm is one hundred and twenty acres 
 in extent, located on section 14, and has good 
 improvements upon it. 
 
 In his political faith Mr. Bellinger was a Repub- 
 lican and was a worthy example of the agricult- 
 ural class. He bore a high reputation for integrity 
 of purpose and justice in the various walks of life. 
 Both himself and wife for many years held mem- 
 bership with the German Reformed Church, to 
 which the latter still belongs. 
 
 J^j& UGUST CAZALET, a retired merchant of 
 (JJyLJj Assumption, was born in France on 
 Ipfc Christmas Day of 1828. He spent his 
 ^gj youth and grew to manhood in his native 
 country, where he received fair school privileges. 
 He then served an apprenticeship at the stone ma- 
 son's trade, which he followed for some years, af- 
 ter which he engaged in contracting and building 
 for a few years. 
 
 Ere leaving the land of his birth, Mr. Cazalet 
 was married to Miss Julia Galliac, a most estimable 
 young lady. Their union was celebrated in 1853, 
 and for five years they continued in France, our 
 subject being engaged in contracting and building 
 from that time until 1858, when with his wife he 
 emigrated to the New World, taking passage from 
 Havre on a Westward-bound sailing-vessel, which 
 
 at length dropped anchor in the harbor of New 
 York, in the month of December, and the young 
 couple found themselves in the New World. 
 
 Mr. Cazalet at once came to Illinois, and made 
 a location in Ottawa, La Salle County, where he 
 established a stoneyard and engaged in contract- 
 ing and building for three years. On the expira- 
 tion of that period, in 1862, he removed to El 
 Paso, Woodford County, where he engaged in 
 merchandising in connection with his brother, un- 
 der the firm name of Cazalet Bros. They con- 
 tinued in the dry-goods business at that place, en- 
 joying a good trade, until 1865, when our subject 
 sold out his interest and came to Assumption. 
 Here he built a storeroom and embarked in gen- 
 eral merchandising. For about fifteen years he 
 was actively engaged in business and then sold 
 out. During that time he purchased land at vari- 
 ous intervals and opened up several farms. Since 
 disposing of his mercantile interests, he has pur- 
 chased more land from time to time and now owns 
 ten farms, one in Shelby County and the others in 
 Christian County. His landed possessions aggre- 
 gate about one thousand acres, the greater part of 
 which is under a high state of cultivation and 
 well improved. These properties yield to the 
 owner a good income. Mr. Cazalet has also done 
 much toward improving the town of Assumption, 
 and has built fourteen business houses in the place, 
 five of them being good brick structures. He has 
 also built two residences. In 1881 he engaged in 
 the grain and lumber business, and was actively 
 connected with that industry for ten years. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cazalet have been born two 
 children. Leona is the wife of Joseph H. Staple- 
 ton, a prominent grain-dealer and business man of 
 Assumption; and Leon is a leading farmer, who is 
 connected with his father as a dealer in fine im- 
 ported horses. 
 
 In 1887 Mr. Cazalet made a trip to France and 
 visited his boyhood friends and the scenes of his 
 youth, spending about three months in his na- 
 tive land. While on the way he made a purchase 
 of a number of Percheron and French Coach 
 horses. The following year he again crossed the 
 Atlantic to purchase more horses, and he and his 
 son have since been engaged in importing and
 
 258 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 dealing in Hue stock. In 1892 he made a third 
 trip, spending about three months. Since his resi- 
 dence here, Mr. Cazalet has been one of the most 
 active, enterprising and successful business men, 
 and probably has done more for the upbuilding 
 of Assumption than any other of her citizens. His 
 aid is never solicited in vain for the promotion of 
 worthy enterprises, and his support and co-opera- 
 tion are heartily given for the benefit all public 
 improvement. 
 
 ?ILLIAM D. COFFMAN, who owns and 
 operates a good farm on section 20, Ma}' 
 Township, is cue of the early settlers of 
 Christian County, to which he came when only 
 five years of age, in 1 850. He has the esteem and 
 respect of all who know him, and his word is con- 
 sidered as good as his bond. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred on the 9th of 
 July, 1845, in Ohio County, Va., and he is a son 
 of James D. and Margaret (Settle) Coffman. The 
 former was born in Virginia, and in his youth 
 learned the blacksmith's trade. This avocation he 
 pursued until 1850, when he emigrated to the 
 West and made a settlement in this county. He 
 became the owner of land on the same section 
 where our subject now resides, and devoted him- 
 self to its improvement and cultivation until his 
 death, which occurred November 1, 1885. He 
 was of German descent, and was much respected 
 by the early settlers as well as by the later arrivals 
 in this region. His wife was also a native of the 
 Old Dominion, born in Lancaster County. She 
 came from one of the old families of Virginia, her 
 ancestors having settled there in Colonial days on 
 coming from their native land, England. A num- 
 ber of the family participated in the War of the 
 Revolution. Mrs. Coffman was called from this 
 life in Christian County, July 9, 1872. 
 
 In the family of five children our subject is 
 the eldest. Two of the number are deceased. 
 Josephine became the wife of Leonard F. Peak, a 
 
 well-known agriculturist of this county; and Sarah 
 married Isaac Corzine, who also owns a farm in 
 this county. The parents removed here in 1850, 
 and reared their children to lives of usefulness. 
 Until his twentieth year our subject remained on 
 the home farm, attending the common schools of 
 the neighborhood. In 1865, he went to Peoria, and 
 there pursued his studies for about one year. Re- 
 turning, lie worked for his father on the farm for 
 the two succeeding years, after which he rented 
 land, which he engaged in cultivating for himself. 
 His father then gave him the use of forty acres of 
 land, which had been little improved and only had 
 a small log house upon it. With undaunted en- 
 j ergy he began to clear the place, which was cov- 
 I ered with brush and stumps. For nine years he 
 kept house for himself, most of the time in his 
 little cabin, and brought the land into good 
 shape. 
 
 The maniage of Mr. Coffman was celebrated 
 January 19, 1881, with Miss Lillian II. Fraley, 
 who was born December 17, 1857, in Christian 
 County. She is a daughter of John S. and Sarah 
 J. (Wiley) Fraley. The father was a native of 
 Ohio, and became a resident of this county in 
 1847, being one of the honored pioneers. He 
 was prominent in those early days and was widely 
 known, as he lived on the old Terns Haute and 
 Springfield stage road, and a great many travelers 
 were hospitably entertained at his home in those 
 days. He was of German descent, and died on 
 the 1st of March, 1888. His wife, who was also 
 born iu Ohio, died in April, 1869. Five chil- 
 dren blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Coffman, 
 namely: Mabel E., Minnie, Roy, Mary, and one 
 who died in infancy. 
 
 In regard to the question of politics, Mr. Coff- 
 man is a Prohibitionist and is a strong temper- 
 ance man. He holds membership with the United 
 Brethren Church, while Mrs. Coffman is a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist denomination. Our subject 
 has been at various times called upon to fill town- 
 ship offices, which he has filled acceptably, but still 
 prefers to give his time and attention to his busi- 
 ness interests. He served for nine years success- 
 ively in the capacity of Township Clerk, at the 
 end of which time he declined being re-nomina-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 259 
 
 ted. lie is giving his children good educational 
 advantages and is a strong supporter of the most 
 advanced educational methods. For fourteen 
 years he has been School Treasurer of the town- 
 ship, and has used his influence in the erection of 
 many schoolhouses. 
 
 The well-improved farm of Mr. Coffman now 
 contains within its limits two hundred and sixty- 
 five acres, which are all under cultivation and have 
 many substantial improvements upon them. Our 
 subject is well informed on general topics and is 
 especially posted on all matters pertaining to ag- 
 ricultural pursuits. He takes a number of leading 
 farm journals, and keeps fully abreast with the 
 times, though still standing by the old and tried 
 methods. He has the respect of all who know him, 
 for he is a man of unblemished reputation and 
 sterling integrity. 
 
 ^7-"lIOMAS BRADLEY is one of the early set- 
 f/^\ tiers of Christian County, and during the 
 V.L/ late war saw much active service in the 
 Union army. His birth occurred in Hard in Coun- 
 ty, Ky., September 23, 1823. His parents were 
 William and Elizabeth (Crowder) Bradley, who 
 were natives of Virginia and North Carolina, re- 
 spectively. They were the parents of fourteen 
 children, seven sons and seven daughters. 
 
 Thomas Bradley is the seventh child in his fa- 
 ther's family, and with his parents removed from 
 Kentucky to Sangamon County, 111., in 1832. He 
 received his education in this State, remaining 
 under the parental roof until reaching his major- 
 ity. For one year he engaged in driving a stage 
 from Springfield to Vandalia. In 1850 he em- 
 barked in his life occupation of farming and 
 stock-raising, but in 1859 worked for a short time 
 at the furniture business. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1845, our subject was 
 united in marriage with Miss Martha Morris. She 
 is a daughter of Achilles Morris, and was born and 
 reared to womanhood in Macon County. By this 
 
 marriage three children have been born: G. W., a 
 resident of Pana, 111., and an engineer by occupa- 
 tion; Mary Ann, wife of J. W. Handel, of Owan- 
 eco, 111.; and Lunetta Lora, wife of M. Danford, of 
 Locust Township, who has retired from active 
 business. 
 
 In 1844 Mr. Bradley located in Christian 
 County, and two years later purchased seventy 
 acres of land, for which he paid $1 per acre, and on 
 which he made a settlement. He continued run- 
 ning a stage from Decatur to Springfield for two 
 years. He enlisted in Company A, Tenth Illinois 
 Cavalry, in September, 1861, and was sent to St. 
 Louis and fiom there proceeded to Springfield, 
 Mo., where he was stationed for a time. He was 
 next sent on an expedition with Gen. Curtis, after 
 which he remained in Helena, Ark., until the 
 spring of 1863. He served in the bodyguard of 
 Gen. Fisk at the time he was at the head of the 
 Yazoo siege, near Vicksburg. After taking Ft. 
 Pemberton he returned to Yazoo, thence went to 
 Helena and from there to Vicksburg and Milli- 
 kin's Bend, remaining on duty until June 6, 1863, 
 when twenty-three of the number were captured 
 by the enemy. He was held as a prisoner until 
 October 1 of that year, when he was paroled and 
 sent to St. Louis. He rejoined his regiment at Lit- 
 tle Rock, Ark., and acted as a scout in Mississippi 
 and Louisiana. He was sent to New Orleans just 
 before the assassination of President Lincoln. A 
 gunboat undertook to run the blockade, and Mr. 
 Bradley assisted in its capture. During the en- 
 gagement large quantities of cotton were set on 
 fire, and eight men were taken prisoners. Our sub- 
 ject was next sent to Mobile on the ship "Tilla." 
 and landed a few days before Taylor surrendered. 
 After ten days spent at that place he went to 
 Baton Rouge under Gen. Bailey. He took part in 
 the Red River expedition, and finally arrived in 
 San Antonio, Tex., where he staid until September, 
 1865. He was mustered out at San Antonio, and, 
 returning to Springfield, received an honorable 
 discharge January 8, 1866. 
 
 On his return from his valiant service in the 
 South, Mr. Bradley again engaged in farming, and 
 has since given his attention to the cultivation of 
 his place. His wife died in 1876 and was buried
 
 260 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in Doner Cemetery, two miles west of the old 
 homestead. In June, 1878, Mr. Bradley married 
 Mrs. Mary E. Phelps, of Bear Grove, Gutbrie 
 County, Iowa. She was born and grew to woman- 
 hood in Pennsylvania and Ohio, ajid is of 
 English descent. Our subject and his wife are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 
 politics Mr. Bradley is a champion of the Repub- 
 lican party. 
 
 R. BENJAMIN F. OWEN was a native of 
 Kentucky, having been born in that State 
 May 20, 1835, and was reared on a farm. 
 His parents were natives of the Old Do- 
 minion, having emigrated from Virginia in an early 
 day to Kentucky. His mother dying when he was 
 quite young, our subject left home and began life 
 for himself. He first engaged in carpentering and 
 in such work as pertained to outdoor construction 
 labor; afterward he worked at cabinet-making, but 
 having a desire for the study of medicine and 
 surgery, he subjected himself to the most rigid 
 economy until he bad saved money from his bard 
 earnings sufficient to enable him to attend the 
 University of Medicine at Louisville, Ky. He was 
 graduated with honors from that institution March 
 1, 1860. 
 
 On commencing bis professional career, Dr. 
 Owen at once became associated in partnership 
 with Dr. Yarndell, one of the professors of the 
 university. Beginning his practice of medicine in 
 Louisville, he continued there for six years, hav- 
 ing all the advantages arising from the general 
 work of the dispensary practice, of which Dr. 
 Yarndell had charge. The manner of Dr. Owen's 
 coming to Illinois was somewhat curious, and 
 it was most certainly providential for many 
 whose lives he saved. Prof. Yarndell had been 
 sent for to visit Mrs. Robert Davis, of Hillsboro, 
 Montgomery County, 111. She was of a very 
 wealthy and prominent family, and bad been suf 
 fering from a chronic disease for several years, a 
 disease which had baffled the skill of physicians 
 
 far and near. She had been to New York City 
 and other places, but had found no one who could 
 cure her. Prof. Yarndell, relying on the ability 
 of Dr. Owen, sent him in bis place. So great was 
 the confidence of the husband in Dr. Owen, that 
 he offered to give him $1,000 if be would stay until 
 she was either better or worse. Though our subject 
 and his partner had made all arrangements to en- 
 ter the Southern army as surgeons, having even 
 purchased their surgical instruments, Dr. Owen 
 consented to remain, and after two weeks the lady 
 was able to walk to the dinner table, and the 
 treatment resulted in her complete restoration to 
 health. The husband gladly paid the $1,000, and 
 the Doctor returned to Louisville, expecting to 
 enter the army, as Prof. Yarndell had already 
 gone and had written him to follow. Petitions 
 had been circulated among the citizens of Hills- 
 boro to have Dr. Owen remain among them, but 
 he felt bound by his agreement and partnership. 
 On reaching Louisville he found that be could 
 not get through the lines, and be therefore at once 
 returned to Hillsboro. 
 
 The Doctor continued his practice for some 
 time alone in Hillsboro, having his office there, and 
 then formed a partnership .with Dr.F. M. Stratton, 
 who had his office at Litcbfield. At the time of 
 the gold excitement in Montana, both parties were 
 influenced to enter the list as gold-hunters. While 
 on the way, Dr. Stratton was severely bitten by a 
 bear, which disabled him so that be could not 
 walk. This made a double burden for our subject, 
 but, nothing daunted, he nursed his partner and 
 kept up the journey until Dr. Stratton recovered. 
 
 After returning from the West, our subject 
 found what gold cannot buy, an estimable and 
 congenial helpmate and wife. Meeting first 
 on the cars they were attracted to each other, 
 and not long afterward the lady, who was well 
 and favorably known as Miss AddieDunn, became 
 the happy wife of our subject. The wedding 
 ceremony was celebrated on the 27th of Septem- 
 ber, 1870. Five children were born of their union: 
 Delia, on November 14, 1874; Laila, February 14, 
 1877; Fairy, October 16, 1878; Browder Gail, 
 March 25, 1883; and Benjamin F., February 5, 
 1888.
 
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 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 265 
 
 After an illness of only three days Dr. Owen 
 passed from this weary life unto the care of the 
 Great Physician, who had healed his soul from the 
 malady and sting of sin, and who now called him 
 to rest. His work was well done, and he could 
 gladly answer the call. He died on the 24th of Oc- 
 tober, 1888, in Morrisonville. Some years before, 
 his health had failed, and he was compelled to quit 
 practicing for two years. Had it not been for the 
 skillful attention and sympathetic helpfulness of 
 his faithful wife, who was at once physician, nurse 
 and companion to him while traveling in search 
 of health, he would not have recovered, but hav- 
 ing fully regained his health he returned to 
 Litchfield, thence went to Illiopolis, and finally 
 to Morrisonville. Few physicians find such sweet 
 fellowship in Christ and Christian work as did 
 Dr. Owen, whose faithfulness and knowledge of 
 the Scriptures caused him to be chosen as an Elder 
 in the Church of Christ at Litchfield, where he 
 labored; and the genial nature and spiritual cul- 
 ture of his wife caused her to be chosen the 
 teacher for the advanced class in the Sunday- 
 school. Their home was the preacher's home, and 
 the generosity they displayed will be richly re- 
 warded in the future as surely as it has devel- 
 oped such beautiful characters in this life. 
 
 J^pf 1 LLEN CORZINE is one of the extensive 
 IsO land-owners and wealthy agriculturists of 
 I Is Christian County. His broad and fertile 
 @j acres lie on sections 11 and 13, May and 
 Stonington Townships, respectively. Our subject 
 was born November 27, 1854, in Guernsey Coun- 
 ty, Ohio, and he is a son of Allen and Mary 
 Ann (Warren) Corzine. The father was born in 
 1816, in Pennsylvania, and settled in Guernsey 
 County, Ohio, in boyhood. He continued to re- 
 side in the Buckeye State until 1868, when he 
 made a settlement in Christian County, and be- 
 came the owner of a farm. He is now retired 
 from active care and is a resident of Assumption, 
 12 
 
 111. His grandfather came from Holland to Amer- 
 ica when a young man, and at one time owned 
 sixty acres of land where Wall Street in New 
 York City is now located. 
 
 Our subject's mother was born in 1819, and is 
 still living in this county. Her grandfather was 
 an officer in the War of 1812. Mrs. Corzine reared 
 a family of nine children, the eldestof whom, Jon- 
 athan, is engaged in farming near Hendricks, Neb.; 
 Martha Ann is the wife of S. D. Moore, of As- 
 sumption; Lavina died at the age of twenty-nine 
 years; Rebecca became the wife of David Ridge, 
 a farmer of this county; Allen is the subject of 
 this notice; Warren is engaged in the lumber bus- 
 iness in Stonington; Benton is a well-to-do farmer 
 of this county; and the twin brothers, Jacob and 
 Isaac, are also prosperous farmers of Christian 
 County. 
 
 Living with his parents on the homestead farm 
 until seventeen years of age, Allen Corzine then 
 concluded to make his own livelihood. For a 
 year he worked for neighboring farmers, after 
 which he went to Chicago and there drove an ex- 
 press wagon for six months. Returning to this 
 county, he worked on a farm for two years, care- 
 fully husbanding his resources during all this 
 time. Subsequently for several years he rented 
 land, and then became the owner of one hundred 
 and twenty acres, which has since been his home 
 and which was the beginning of his landed pos- 
 sessions. 
 
 On the 12th of March, 1879, our subject and 
 Miss Janet A. Burdick were united in marriage. 
 Mrs. Corzine was born October 13, 1860, in May 
 Township, and is the second child of Benjamin M. 
 and Rebecca (Boyd) Burdick. Of her four broth- 
 ers and sisters, only one is now living, Minerva 
 E., wife of Warren Corzine, of Stonington. Her 
 father was born in Connecticut in 1824, and after 
 obtaining a good education engaged in teaching 
 school in his native State until some time in the 
 '40s, when he came to Christian County, and for 
 a number of years engaged in teaching during the 
 winter months and farming the remainder of the 
 year. lie was of Irish descent and lived to be 
 fifty-five years of age. His wife, who was born in 
 Kentucky, came to this county with her parents
 
 266 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 when she was only two years old. Her death oc- 
 curred in 1879. 
 
 The pleasant home of our subject and wife is 
 graced by the presence of two sons and two daugh- 
 ters: Roy Allen, Bertha May, Clarence Glenn and 
 Gracie Adelaide. The parents are consistent mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Church. In regard to the 
 question of polities, our subject is on the side of 
 the Prohibition party. For six years he has been 
 one of the School Directors in his district and has 
 been Road Commissioner in the township. During 
 the passing years he has added extensively to his 
 farm, which now comprises five hundred and forty 
 acres within its boundaries. This is one of the 
 choicest pieces of farm property in May Township, 
 and with the exception of one hundred and thirty 
 acres that his wife inherited from her father's es- 
 tate, it is the result of his years of honest effort 
 and industry. He is one of the most upright and 
 honorable of men, and well merits the high esteem 
 and kindly regard in which he is held by his 
 friends and neighbors. 
 
 ,j|r^ AMUEL M. PEABODY. Few men are 
 
 ^& better known in this section than he whose 
 
 VVL,j| history we will now proceed to trace. He 
 
 is one of the pioneer settlers in Stoning- 
 
 ton Township, and has here spent the greater part 
 
 of his life. His farm is located on section 35 and 
 
 is one of the best-conducted and best-equipped 
 
 places of the neighborhood. 
 
 The youngest in a family of ten children, Mr. 
 Peabody was born January 21, 1820, in North 
 Stonington, Conn. His parents were Samuel and 
 Lucy (Bread) Peabody. The father was born in 
 the same place in 1774 and was reared on a farm 
 in Connecticut. Our subject relates that he can 
 remember his father's telling about the battle 
 of Stonington Point, during the Revolutionary 
 War, in which he was a participant. Samuel Pea- 
 body, Sr., was married in his native State, where he 
 
 remained until 1839. At that time he came with 
 his family to Christian County. At the same time 
 about fifteen other families emigrated from Con- 
 necticut and settled near one another in this coun- 
 ty, forming what was called the Stonington Col- 
 ony. Our subject's father, who was a Deacon in the 
 Baptist Church, was of English descent. His great- 
 grandmother, Elizabeth Starr, was the first female 
 child born in New England. He passed away when 
 seventy-eight years of age. His wife was born in 
 1776 and died in 1842, a short time after coming 
 to this county. She was the first person buried in 
 the old Stonington Cemetery, and by her side now 
 reposes the earthly remains of her husband and 
 deceased children. 
 
 Of the children of Samuel and Lucy Peabody the 
 following is recorded: Ellen B. died in Christian 
 County when thirty-five years old. William A., who 
 died in his seventy-ninth year, came with one of 
 his brothers to this county in 1837. He was called 
 by the title of Captain, as for a number of years 
 he was Captain of a military company here. Dr. 
 Elias, born in 1812, is still living, and is one of the 
 oldest physicians in the county, though he has now 
 retired from professional life; Amos P., a resident 
 of Taylorville, was born in 1815; our subject is 
 the next in order of birth; Mary died when about 
 twenty -eight years of age; Elvira and Lore died 
 in Connecticut; Martha died at an advanced age; 
 and Nancy died in the Nutmeg State, after having 
 reached four-score years. 
 
 Samuel Peabody, whose name heads this sketch, 
 passed his boyhood on the old farm in his native 
 State, and received his education in the common 
 schools there. In 1839. he came with the family 
 to this county, making the greater part of the 
 journey by water. After becoming of age, he 
 farmed a part of his father's estate until the latter, 
 on his death, left him a farm of one hundred and 
 sixty acres. This has since been the home of Mr. 
 Peabody. In the early days of his residence in 
 this county, Decatur was a very small town and 
 Taylorville was unknown. 
 
 In 1846 our subject married Miss Jane Burnam, 
 of this county, who died about eight years later. 
 In 1857 Mr. Peabody married Miss Maria Park- 
 hurst, a native of Connecticut, who is still living.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 267 
 
 For twenty years our subject served as a School 
 Trustee and was a School Director and Township 
 Trustee for a number of years. For nearly a-half 
 century lie has been a Deacon and Trustee in the 
 Baptist Church. In his political views he is a Re- 
 publican. The confidence of one and all is fully 
 bestowed upon him, and he well merits the good- 
 will and friendship which are freely his. He is an 
 honorable and upright man and his course in life 
 is one of which he may justly be proud. 
 
 JOHNSON BROTHERS are the prosperous 
 proprietors of Maple Farm, Assumption 
 Township, their residence being on section 
 21, and they are well known in this and 
 neighboring counties, as they have been resi- 
 dents of Illinois for forty-three years, and for a 
 third of a century their lot has been cast with the 
 inhabitants of Christian County. They are num- 
 bered among the honored old settlers and most 
 worthy citizens, and their many friends will be 
 pleased to read the history of their lives in this 
 record. 
 
 Benjamin Johnson, the father of the gentlemen 
 who are the subjects of this sketch, was born in Lon- 
 don, England, June 8. 1799. He early learned the 
 cabinet-maker's trade, and in 1823 emigrated to 
 the New World, first locating in Baltimore, Md., 
 where he followed his trade for a few years. Re- 
 moving to Ohio, Mr. Johnson first located in Bel- 
 mont County, in St. Clairsville, afterward going to 
 Guernsey County, where he resided for a number 
 of years, still working at his trade. While in Bel- 
 mont County, Ohio, .in 1826, he was married to 
 Miss Elizabeth Foote, who was a native of County 
 Cork, Ireland, and emigrated to America the same 
 year Mr. Johnson came to this country. In 1849, 
 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Greene 
 County, where he and his sons entered into part- 
 nership with a Mr. Harden, and engaged in farm- 
 ing and stock-raising for ten years. In 1860, the 
 family removed to Christian County, and pur- 
 
 chased a tract of land located in Assumption 
 Township. Here the father spent the last years of 
 his life, dying in January, 1876, at the age of 
 seventy-seven years. His wife, who survived him 
 and passed away March 12, 1891, reached the ad- 
 vanced age of ninety years. 
 
 The family of Benjamin Johnson comprised 
 seven sons and two daughters, who lived to ma- 
 turity. The eldest, Robert G. Johnson, was born 
 in Belmont County, March 10, 1827; Wade F. 
 was born in the same county, September 13, 1828; 
 Margaret died in 1878; Edward was a partner 
 with his brothers for several years, and after his 
 marriage was a successful farmer of this county 
 until his death, in 1882; Martha lives with her 
 brothers; Walter was also in partnership with the 
 brothers until his marriage, and engaged in farm- 
 ing until his demise in 1890, when he left a wife 
 and two sons; William L. is next in order of 
 birth; and Benjamin and Leo, both well-to-do 
 farmers, complete the family. 
 
 The firm of Johnson Brothers originally com- 
 prised the father and seven brothers. They bought 
 land, farmed and raised stock, and carried on an 
 extensive business for years. As the brothers mar- 
 ried, they withdrew their interests from the firm, 
 and at the present time it consists of the follow- 
 ing: Robert G., Wade F. and William L. They 
 own about eighteen hundred acres of valuable 
 land in this county, besides other real estate and 
 personal property. They first entered a tract of 
 nine hundred acres of raw land, which they im- 
 proved, and set out maple and other forest trees. 
 This beautiful grove, so well known in the local- 
 ity, stands near the home, and many of the trees 
 now measure from twenty-four to thirty inches in 
 diameter. The substantial residence, barns and 
 outbuildings are kept up in good shape, and, sur- 
 rounded as they are by the noble trees, make a 
 most pleasing picture of a model farm. Three of 
 the Johnson brothers served in the Union army 
 during the late Civil War. Edward F. and Will- 
 iam L. both enlisted in Company G, One Hundred 
 and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, in 1862, and 
 served until the close of hostilities. They were 
 with Sherman, and took part in all the engage- 
 ments in which that army participated, including
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 the celebrated march to the sea. Benjamin J. en- 
 listed May 14, 1864, for the one hundred-day 
 service, but served about five months. 
 
 Wade Johnson was only a lad when he planted 
 one and a-half acres of corn, and cared for it until 
 it was harvested. He has taken quite an active 
 part in local politics of late years, and served for 
 ten consecutive years as Highway Commissioner. 
 During that time eighty miles of township roads 
 were laid out and opened on the section lines. He 
 also served for thirty years as Township Trustee, 
 and for live years was President of the Assump- 
 tion Fire Insurance Company, at the same time 
 serving as Treasurer. Since locating in this coun- 
 ty, the brothers have given their attention more 
 especially to the raising of stock, and have a large 
 portion of their land devoted to pastures. In 
 politics they are all true-blue Republicans, and 
 active in local politics. Robert Johnson, like his 
 brother, has also held numerous local positions of 
 responsibility, the duties of which he has dis- 
 charged satisfactorily. 
 
 AVID M. MOORE. It is a special plea- 
 sure to trace the history of one of the 
 honored veterans of the Civil War, who 
 fought and suffered untold hardships in 
 the defense of this fair and now prosperous land. 
 The gentleman of whom we write was one of the 
 soldier boys who donned the blue early in the war 
 and did valiant service under the Stars and Stripes. 
 Mr. Moore has only been a resident of Christian 
 County for some twelve years, during which time 
 he has been engaged in farming on section 25, 
 Stonington Township, but since casting his lot in 
 this neighborhood he has become thoroughly inter- 
 ested in its prosperity. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Moore occurred in Licking 
 County, Ohio, July 8, 1833. He is the eldest in a 
 family comprising three sons and three daughters. 
 His parents are Samuel and Jane M. (Gaughy) 
 Moore. The next younger in the family is Jane, 
 
 wife of Henry Safford, who resides in McLean 
 County, 111. Anna is the wife of Henry Morris, a 
 retired farmer, now residing in Kankakee, 111. 
 Eliza became the wife of E. H. Roberts, of Ottawa, 
 111. Hugh B. is a farmer, residing near Jamestown, 
 N. Dak. One child died in infancy. 
 
 Samuel Moore was born in Adams County, Pa., 
 August 18, 1802. His father, David Moore, was 
 also a native of that county, and was one of its 
 Trustees in 1799, when the county was organized, 
 prior to which time it was a part of York County. 
 He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, 
 and was a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church. 
 The father of our subject was only two years old 
 when his parents took him to Licking County, 
 Ohio, where he was reared to manhood on a farm. 
 After his marriage, he carried on a farm and oper- 
 ated a gristmill. He was a prominent man in 
 the Whig party at that time, and was Justice of 
 the Peace for a number of years. In 1856, he emi- 
 grated to La Salle County, 111., where he resided 
 until his death, in February, 1863. His wife was 
 also a native of Adarns County, Pa., born in 1810, 
 and was of Scotch descent. She was called from 
 this life in Livingston County, 111., when in her 
 seven ty-cighth year. 
 
 David M. Moore passed his early years on his 
 father's farm in Licking County, Ohio, and re- 
 mained with his parents until twenty-nine years 
 of age, being given a good common-school educa- 
 tion. On the 25th of September, 1861, he joined 
 Yates' Sharp-shooters, Sixty-fourth Regiment Illi- 
 nois Infantry, and served with them for two years 
 and three months. He enlisted as a private, but 
 before two months had elapsed he was elected 
 Sergeant, while at Camp Butler. A short time 
 afterwards he was promoted to the Second Lieu- 
 tenancy, and after valiant service in the battle of 
 Resaca, in which the Captain of his company was 
 killed, he was promoted to fill the position. He 
 was a participant in the noted engagements of 
 Atlanta, Corinth, Resaca, Island No. 10, and in a 
 great many other battles of more or less note. 
 He received an honorable discharge on the 26th of 
 November, 1864, being obliged to leave the army 
 on account of much trouble he was experiencing 
 with his eyes.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 269 
 
 Returning to La Salle County, 111., he was there 
 wedded on the 19th of November, 1866, to Miss 
 Nellie Briggs, of that county, who died in 1872, 
 leaving two sons, David E. and James B., who are 
 both engaged in farming in this county. After 
 living for some years in La Salle County, Mr. 
 Moore removed to Livingston County, where he 
 continued to reside until 1877, then going to Ne- 
 braska. At the end of four years spent in the 
 West, he returned, in 1881, and bought land in 
 Christian County, the farm which he still operates. 
 
 In 1874, occurred the union of Mr. Moore and 
 Miss Sarah E. Peabody. She is the daughter of 
 Capt. M. M. Peabody, one of the early settlers and 
 most worthy citizens of this county. Our sub- 
 ject's farm comprises eighty acres, on which are 
 substantial improvements and a fine orchard. In 
 politics, Mr. Moore is an active Republican and is 
 now one of the School Trustees of this district. 
 In his social relations, he is a member oC the Ma- 
 sonic order and belongs to Post No. 392, G. A. R., 
 of Taylorville. 
 
 bEE SCHRANTZ. Among the many men 
 who have contributed to the building up of 
 Stonington Township, stands the name of 
 our subject, whose farm is situated on section 18. 
 Like many of the residents of Christian County 
 he hails from the Buckeye State, having been born 
 in Stark County, December 16, 1855. He is one 
 of four sons and a daughter born to Ephraim and 
 Nancy (Mohler) Schrantz, whose record may be 
 found in another portion of this work, in the his- 
 tory of Sylvester Schrantz. 
 
 The early years of our subject were passed on 
 his father's farm in Ohio, and at the age of eleven 
 years he attended his parents on their removal to 
 Christian County. Until reaching his majority he 
 gave his time to assisting his father on the home- 
 stead and acquiring a good common-school educa- 
 tion. When he was twenty-one years of age, his 
 father gave him a good start in life by deeding to 
 
 him an eighty-acre farm. On this place he has 
 continued to reside up to the present time and has 
 made quite a success of agricultural pursuits. 
 Although he follows general farming, he makes a 
 specialty of breeding thoroughbred Jersey cattle, 
 in which he deals quite extensively. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1876, Mr. Schrantz 
 married Miss Emma Wood, who was born in Octo- 
 ber, 1854, in Piatt County, 111. She is a daughter 
 of George and Sarah (Hodge) Wood, who were 
 old and respected settlers of Piatt County. Three 
 bright children have blessed the union of our sub- 
 ject and wife. In order of birth they are as fol- 
 lows: Ross, Roy and Claude. They are all at 
 home and are being given good educations. 
 
 A patriotic citizen at all times, Mr. Schrantz 
 endeavors to the extent of his ability to promote 
 the general welfare, and believing that the meas- 
 ures of the Republican party are best adapted to 
 that end he deposits his ballot in favor of its nom- 
 inees. He has in his possession a secretary which 
 was made for his father's family in 1840, a pocket- 
 book of his grandfather's, which was purchased 
 in 1836, and a letter written to Hans Schrantz 
 from Germany and sent to Pennsylvania May 
 22, 1761. He has been a witness of much of the 
 development of this county and has done his 
 share in assisting in her prosperity. He is an up- 
 right and honorable man, one whose fairness of 
 dealing and good judgment have won for him the 
 confidence and high regard of his friends and 
 neighbors. 
 
 OZ. HOUSLEY is senior member of the firm 
 of Housley & Drake, who are engaged in 
 general merchandising in Grove City, and 
 have a branch house at Stoninglon. Mr. Housley 
 is well known as one of the successful business 
 men of Christian County, of which he is one of 
 the honored early settlers, his residence here dat- 
 ing back to 1856. He is a man of recognized
 
 270 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 ability as a business man, and is truly self-made, 
 as he started out to carve his career without means 
 or assistance. As the years have passed he has suc- 
 ceeded in adding to his property, until he is now 
 one of the substantial and well-to-do men of the 
 county. 
 
 The birthplace of Mr. Housley was near Akron, 
 Ohio, and the date of that event was July 15, 
 1851. His father, Henry Housley, was a native 
 of the Old Dominion, who went with his parents 
 to Ohio when only a child. On arriving at man's 
 estate, he was wedded in the Buckeye State to 
 Miss Charlotte Uhrich, a native of Pennsylvania. 
 For a number of years he followed agricultural 
 pursuits in Ohio, and in 1856 located in Mt. Au- 
 burn Township, Christian County, where he pur- 
 chased a farm and devoted himself to its cultiva- 
 tion for a number of years. He then rented his 
 farm and removed to Grove City, where he has 
 since lived a retired life, honored and respected by 
 all. lie was a strong Republican, and during the 
 Lincoln and Douglas campaign, our subject, who 
 was then a lad, took sides with Douglas. He 
 raised a hickory pole in his honor, being doubtless 
 influenced thereto by his grandfather Uhrich, who 
 read to him the Democratic papers. The father, 
 not knowing what else to do, decided to place an 
 ash pole beside the hickory pole, both remaining 
 during the campaign. 
 
 O. Z. Housley has passed nearly his entire life in 
 this county, as he was only five years old when his 
 parents located here. For those days he had good 
 school advantages, as, in addition to his district- 
 school education, he went for one term to a High 
 School near Des Moines, Iowa. After leaving the 
 parental roof, he worked for about a year at the 
 carpenter's trade, and at the expiration of that 
 time found he had a surplus of $40. This money 
 he carefully invested in a small stock of shelf 
 hardware and tinware, with a few agricultural 
 implements, selling the latter on commission. 
 Though this beginning was extremely small, he 
 was not discouraged, but kept manfully adding to 
 his stock of goods as fast as possible. When a 
 few years had passed he added a stock of groceries, 
 and in time drugs and dry goods. During the 
 past twenty years the firm lias been changed sev- 
 
 eral times, the present partnership being formed 
 in 1881. 
 
 The firm of Housley & Drake have a large store 
 building, and carry an immense assortment of dry- 
 goods, groceries, drugs, hardware, boots and shoes. 
 Handling as much money as they have for many 
 years, they have found it convenient for their 
 patrons to establish an exchange bank, and do 
 considerable local banking. They have built up 
 a large trade, which has been increasing for years. 
 In the spring of 1893, their branch business house 
 at Stonington was established. There they have 
 put in a good stock of groceries and hardware, 
 and also an exchange bank, which is under the su- 
 pervision and management of Mr. Drake, the 
 junior partner. The prospects for this branch 
 store appear to be very encouraging. When we 
 consider from what a small beginning these two 
 large business houses have grown, it can but be a 
 matter of surprise. It is simply an example of 
 what strict attention to business and the wants of 
 patrons can accomplish. 
 
 Mr. Housley is a stanch supporter of the Demo- 
 cratic party, having voted for its nominees in every 
 Presidei*t**i campaign since 1872, and was one of 
 the first supporters of Hon. Mr. Springer in this 
 district. He has also been active in local politics, 
 and has filled various township positions, among 
 which we mention that of Highway Commissioner, 
 Township Treasurer and Clerk. During the ad- 
 ministration of President Hayes, he was appointed 
 Postmaster, and was again appointed during Cleve- 
 land's administration. His successor was Mr. 
 Drake, who served also for four years. Mr. Hous- 
 ley was then again appointed to the position, and 
 at the present time is the efficient incumbent of 
 the office, which has been in his hands now for 
 some fourteen years. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Housley and Miss Victoria 
 Reese was performed in this county in October, 
 1873. The lady is a native of Pennsylvania, 
 where she grew to womanhood. The family com- 
 prises four children: Maud, who is employed in 
 her father's store; Frances C. and Flora B., twins; 
 and Carrie May. The eldest child died in in- 
 fancy. The parents with the elder members of 
 the family are members of the Methodist Episco-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 271 
 
 pal Church of Grove City, of which Mr. Housley 
 is one of the active members, having served in 
 various offices. He is a Mason, belonging to 
 Grove City Lodge, in which he held the office of 
 Worshipful for some seven or eight years, and is 
 now acting as Secretary. For several years he 
 was called upon to represent his lodge in the 
 Grand Lodge of Illinois. He also holds member- 
 ship with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
 
 JUDGE ALEXANDER McCASKILL, one 
 of Christian County's prominent lawyers, 
 who is engaged in practice in Taylorville 
 as the senior member of the firm of McCas- 
 kill & Son, has been prominently identified with 
 the judicial interests of central Illinois. Both on 
 the Bench and as an advocate he has won a high 
 reputation, and his abilities, both natural and ac- 
 quired, have placed Jiim in the front rank among 
 his professional brethren. 
 
 The Judge has spent nearly his entire life in 
 this State. He was born in Sanaramon County, 
 near Rochester, January 23, 1833, and is a son of 
 Rev. Daniel and Esther (Turner) McCaskill, the 
 former a native of North Carolina, and the latter 
 of Virginia. They were married in Sangamon 
 County, 111., and in 1834 removed with their fam- 
 ily to Brown County. The father was a minister 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was also 
 a medical practitioner. He died in Brown County 
 about 1846, at the age of fifty years. His wife 
 survived him some time, and passed away in 1861. 
 The subject of this sketch was the fourth child 
 in his parents' family. He was only about a year 
 old at the time of their removal to Brown County, 
 and was a youth of only thirteen when his father 
 died. lie remained with his mother and aided in 
 the labors of the home farm until twenty-three 
 years of age, with the exception of the time spent 
 in school. He attended school in Mt. Sterling, the 
 county seat of Brown County, and was afterward 
 a student in the school of the Cumberland Presby- 
 
 terian Church, in Cass County, Va. His tastes 
 were in the direction of a professional life, and 
 while still on the farm he began reading law. Sub- 
 sequently he pursued his literary studies for two 
 years, and then entered the law office of Bailey, 
 VanVleck & Wells, of Macomb, 111. He passed 
 an examination in Mt. Sterling and was admitted 
 to the Bar in 1856. 
 
 In December of the same year, in Prairie City, 
 111., Mr. McCaskill was united in marriage with 
 Miss Elvira Medcalf, who died in 1862, leaving 
 two children: William H., who for the past ten 
 years has carried on farming and stock-raising 
 near Rocky Ford, Otero County, Colo.; and David, 
 who is also a ranchman. In 1863, the Judge was 
 again married, his second union being with Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Head, widow of Dr. Head, of Macomb, 
 111. They have one son, who is now the junior 
 member of the firm of McCaskill & Son. 
 
 On the same year of his admission to the Bar 
 Judge McCaskill began practice in Prairie City, 
 where he remained for about a year. In 1857 he 
 came to Christian County and opened an office in 
 Taylorville. Here he found Judge H. M. Vande- 
 ver, Benjamin Mason, A. McWilliams, Judge An- 
 drew Simpson, Judge Moon, the Circuit Clerk and 
 Harrison Havens. None of these gentlemen are now 
 in practice at this place, although Judge Moore is 
 now proprietor of a hotel in Morrisonville. Mr. 
 McCaskill suspended his professional labors in 
 1859, going to Pike's Peak. He spent about two 
 years at Russell's Gulch, near Pike's Peak, where, 
 in connection with his brother, Dr. John McCas- 
 kill, he purchased and operated some mines. The 
 Judge also engaged in practice. In 1861 he re- 
 turned to Christian County and once more opened 
 a law office, forming a partnership with his brother 
 Daniel. The latter served throughout the late 
 war, went with Sherman on the celebrated Atlanta 
 campaign, and after the struggle studied law and 
 then entered into partnership with his brother, 
 as above stated. This connection was continued 
 until some ten years ago, when the health of the 
 brother failed and he went to Pueblo, Colo. 
 Judge McCaskill then admitted to partnership 
 with him Kleber E. Willcockson, now of Oakley, 
 Kan., and later the present firm was formed.
 
 27, 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 In his political views Judge McCaskill is a stal- 
 wart Democrat; he has taken an active part in cam- 
 paign work and has made hundreds of speeches in 
 support of his party. From the beginning his ca- 
 reer as a legal practitioner has been one of success. 
 He is a clear reasoner, a logical thinker, carefully 
 weighs evidence, and his deductions therefore are 
 generally correct and have weight with the jury. 
 He has been employed on nearly all of the murder 
 cases of the county, usually on the defense, and 
 was one of the counsel for the'defense in the fam- 
 ous Emma Bond case. Frequently he has been 
 called upon to fill public offices. In 1864 he was 
 appointed County Superintendent of Schools for 
 one year, and on the expiration of that period was 
 elected for a four-years term, serving until 1869. 
 He was then elected and served for four years as 
 State's Attorney, after which he was placed upon 
 the Bench as County Judge, filling that office for 
 five years. For two years he served as Master in 
 Chancery, his term expiring in January, 1893. 
 
 Socially, the Judge was made a Mason in Mound 
 Lodge No. 122, A. F. & A. M., of which he served 
 as Worshipful Master for some years. He has filled 
 the principal offices in Taylorville Chapter, R. A. 
 .M. Judge McCaskill is well fitted to be a leader 
 of men and has therefore been prominent in pub- 
 lic life. He possesses more than ordinary ability, 
 yet his success is due in no small degree to his ap- 
 plication and earnest efforts. Respected by his 
 colleagues and honored by all, he well deserves 
 prominent mention in the history of his adopted 
 county. 
 
 ARION C. BRENTZ, who resides just out- 
 side the city limits of Taylorville, where 
 he is engaged in the culture of small 
 fruits, has spent his entire life in this 
 community, Christian being his native county, 
 and he is a worthy representative of one of the 
 pioneer families. His father, William C. Brcntz, 
 was born in Kentucky, April 16, 1814, and was 
 the sixth of seven sons. His father died in Ken- 
 
 tucky, and his widowed mother with her seven 
 sons and one daughter came to Illinois, locating 
 in Christian County at an early day. Upon the 
 home farm William Brentz was reared to man- 
 hood, and there spent his entire life. He was 
 married July 10, 1853, to Patience Durbin, but 
 lost his wife on the 29th of May, 1854. He was 
 then married, on the 16th of November, 1856, to 
 Mary A. Martin, also a native of Kentucky. They 
 continued to reside on the old homestead until 
 the death of Mr. Brentz, which occurred February 
 3, 1861. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Brentz were born four chil- 
 dren: Alice, who died at the age of fourteen; 
 Alma, who died in infancy; William A. and 
 Marion C. William A. was born August 26, 1858, 
 and died on the old homestead in September, 1879, 
 soon after his twenty-first birthday. His death 
 resulted from a knife-cut inflicted by Frank 
 Trailer, a cousin, who later on was convicted for 
 the offense. A quarrel arose between them over 
 a collision of buggies, and the result was as above 
 stated. It was thought that companions of Trailer 
 bore an old grudge against Y^illiam and took this 
 opportunity to get even. His cousin served one 
 year in the penitentiary and died soon after his 
 release. 
 
 After Mr. Brentz's death his widow became the 
 wife of Dennis O. Johnson, of Sangamon County, 
 who came to Christian County and here died Sep- 
 tember 21, 1873, at the age of fifty years. The 
 mother of our subject was called to her final rest 
 on the 7th of December, 1876. By her second 
 marriage she had eight children, four of whom 
 were living at her death. Thomas, a young man 
 of nineteen years, now resides in Taylorville. 
 
 In taking up the life record of Marion Brentz, 
 we give to our readers the history of one who is 
 widely and favorably known in this community. 
 He was born on the old home farm April 14, 1861, 
 after his father's death. Midst work and play his 
 boyhood days were passed, and after the death of 
 his brother he carried on the farm, keeping the 
 family of three children together. The farm is 
 located just south of Taylorville, and comprises 
 two hundred and twenty acres cf land. They 
 also owned two other tracts of forty acres each ,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 273 
 
 but these were sold. On the death of Mrs. John- 
 son, her brother, A. S. Martin, was appointed 
 guardian, and continued to superintend the estate 
 until our subject became of age. In 1888, Mr. 
 Brcntz left the old homestead, but he still owns a 
 part of the farm. He has eleven acres of rich 
 land where he now lives and forty -six acres of the 
 old place. About seven acres are planted in small 
 fruits, and he is giving his special attention to 
 horticulture. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1882, Mr. Brentz was 
 united in marriage with Miss Helen Killman, 
 daughter of George Killman, of Kentucky. Her 
 mother, who bore the maiden name of Matilda 
 Newman, is now a widow, and resides in Tay- 
 lorville, where she has made her home since 
 1880. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Brentz was born a son, 
 Francis Marion, who died January 14, 1889, at 
 the age of three and a-half years; another little son, 
 whom they call Herman, was born May 28, 1893. 
 This worthy couple are highly respected citizens 
 of the community, and their many excellencies of 
 character have gained them numerous friends. In 
 politics, Mr. Brentz is a Democrat, and himself 
 and wife hold membership with the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 PRANCIS STEWART. This gentleman, who 
 is well known in Christian County, where 
 he has made his home since 1860, is en- 
 gaged in farming on section 32, Mosquito Town- 
 ship. He was born in 1837, in County Down, Ire- 
 land, and grew to manhood in the home of his 
 parents. He was early inured to farm duties and 
 became thoroughly conversant with everything 
 pertaining to the successful management of the 
 farm. This practical information has been of 
 great use to him in his agricultural pursuits, and 
 in his youth he formed habits of industry and 
 perseverance which have been the foundation of 
 his prosperity in later years. 
 
 The parents of our subject were James and 
 
 Dorothea (Brown) Stewart, who were both natives 
 of County Down, where they passed their entire 
 lives, both dying after attaining an advanced age. 
 Our subject is the youngest in the family of seven 
 children. When he was eighteen years old he 
 bade adieu to the friends and scenes of his youth 
 and went to Scotland. For two years he worked 
 in the city of Glasgow, after which he determined 
 to try his fortune in America. 
 
 In 18o7, Mr. Stewart crossed the broad Atlantic, 
 and after arriving in New York City first settled 
 in New York State, where he obtained work on a 
 farm. In the fall of 1860, he came to Illinois 
 and purchased the nucleus of his present farm, a 
 tract of forty acres, on which he has ever since 
 made his home. At the time of his coming here 
 there were few settlers in the township. His 
 farm is fertile and well tilled, his broad acres 
 yielding an abundant income to their fortunate 
 
 The year after his arrival in Christian County, 
 Mr. Stewart was united in marriage to Miss Isa- 
 bella Irvine. She is a native of Ontario, Canada, 
 and has become the mother of seven children: 
 James, who is engaged in farming in this county; 
 Dorothea and Maggie, twins, the former of whom 
 died in infancy, and the latter at the age of twen- 
 ty years; Belle, the wife of William Black, a pros- 
 perous farmer of Macon County; William, an 
 agriculturist of this county; Charles, who is now 
 attending Knox College, in Galesburg, 111.; and 
 Rutherford B., who died in infancy. 
 
 The farm owned by Mr. Stewart has been ex- 
 tended from the forty-acre tract he originally pur- 
 chased to one covering two hundred and forty 
 acres. Many valuable improvements have been 
 made upon the place, and waving fields of golden 
 grain have for many years yielded him an abun- 
 dant income as the reward for his untiring care 
 and cultivation. 
 
 In politics, our subject is a thorough Repub- 
 lican, having always voted for the nominees of 
 that party since casting his first vote for Abraham 
 Lincoln. As all true American citizens should be, 
 he is interested in educational matters and has 
 served for twenty years as one of the School 
 Directors in his district. Fora period of six years
 
 274 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 be was one of the Commissioners of Highways. 
 In religion, lie is a Reformed Presbyterian. His 
 wife holds membership with the Methodist denom- 
 ination, lie has seen the prairie, which in former 
 years was covered with rank grass, become a fertile 
 and beautiful farming country, and has taken his 
 share in its happy transformation. He was also 
 in the service of his country in the late war, hav- 
 ing enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-second 
 Illinois Infantry for one year, and served till the 
 war ended. 
 
 PRED WHEELER, a leading photographer 
 of Tnylorville, and one of the progressive 
 and public-spirited business men of the 
 county, claims New York as the State of his na- 
 tivity. He was born in Waterloo, on the 26th of 
 August, 1845, but when only a year old was taken 
 by his parents to Washington Ccunty, Ohio, and 
 in Beverly grew to mature years. No event of 
 special importance occurred during his early boy- 
 hood, which was passed midst play and work and 
 in attendance at the public schools, where he ac- 
 quired his education. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler's connection with photography be- 
 gan when he was sixteen years of age. At that 
 time he commenced learning the business, which 
 he has since followed, and after two years of thor- 
 ough preparation and practice he embarked in 
 business for himself at the age of eighteen, Zanes- 
 ville, Ohio, being the scene of his labors. From 
 that time he has engaged in business, first in Park- 
 ersburg, W. Va., and later in Bement, 111. The 
 year 1877 witnessed his arrival in Taylorville, 111., 
 where he opened a gallery. For five or six yews 
 he carried on operations in Taylorville, but at 
 length left this city, in 1882. 
 
 Before his removal, however, Mr. Wheeler was 
 married, on the 28th of March, 1882, the lady of 
 his choice being Miss Alice Simpson, daughter of 
 J. L. and Isabel Simpson, of Taylorville. The 
 
 same year he removed with his young wife to 
 Nebraska, locating in Teoumseh,and subsequently 
 went to Marion, Kan., where he remained until his 
 return to Illinois. In 1888, we again find him in 
 Taj r lorville, where he once more opened a gallery. 
 He leased the ground and erected the building in 
 which he is now located, a structure suitable for 
 his business, and supplied with all modern equip- 
 ments and accessories. From the beginning a lib- 
 eral patronage has been accorded him. In connec- 
 tion with photographing, Mr. Wheeler does all lines 
 of portrait work, crayon, pastel, India ink, water 
 colors and oil portraits. He is an artist of no 
 mean merit, in fact his work ranks favorably with 
 that of our large cities, and in consequence of its 
 excellence he is now doing a good business. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler exercises his right of franchise in 
 support of the Republican party and is a stalwart 
 advocate of its principles, but has never sought or 
 desired political preferment. He manifests an 
 active interest in all that pertains to the welfare 
 of the community, and gives -his support for the 
 advancement of those enterprises calculated to 
 prove of public benefit. 
 
 JOY K. KESTER is a public-spirited citizen 
 and enterprising farmer, who is engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits on section 3, Stoning- 
 ton Township. He is a native of Indiana, 
 having been born in Washington County, Sep- 
 tember 8, 1846. His father, William Kester, was 
 also a native of the Hoosier State, and there mar- 
 ried Miss Rebecca Hall, a native of the same State 
 and county. At an early day Mr. Kester came 
 West to purchase land, and was taken sick and 
 died in this State. He was taken back to Indiana 
 for interment, and was buried in Posey Creek 
 Cemetery, Washington County. His death oc- 
 curred in tfce year 1852. His wife is still living 
 and is yet a resident of Indiana. They were the 
 parents of four children, who are all living. Maria 
 E. is the wife of Peter Hauger, of Washington
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 275 
 
 County, Ind.; our subject is the next in order of 
 birth; May is the wife of Joel P. Grubb; and 
 William D. completes the family. The two last- 
 named are residents of Washington County, Ind. 
 
 Until reaching his twentieth year, Joy K. Kes- 
 ter was employed upon his father's farm in the 
 usual manner of country boys, his time being di- 
 vided between work on the farm and in attend- 
 ance at the district school. On the llth of Oc- 
 tober, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss 
 Sarah A. Smith, who is a daughter of George M. 
 and Sarah (Cathcart) Smith. Mrs. Kester was 
 born in Washington County, Ind., where she grew 
 to womanhood. 
 
 When in his twenty-seventh year our subject 
 came to Christian County and first located in Tay- 
 lorville. After living there some years, he settled 
 on section 3, where he still continues to make his 
 home and owns a valuable farm of two hundred 
 acres. It is well equipped with substantial build- 
 ings, good fences and other improvements. It is 
 especially adapted to stock-raising, though a large 
 share of it is under cultivation. The owner is 
 numbered among the most practical farmers of 
 the vicinity, and keeps fully abreast with the times 
 in modern methods of farm management. He 
 numbers many friends in this locality, and is con- 
 ceded by all to be a man of merit and unblem- 
 ished character. 
 
 The union of our subject and wife has been 
 blessed with a family of five children. Lorena is 
 the wife of William McCloskey, who resides on sec- 
 tion 3 of this township; William died at the age 
 of four years, and was buried in Sharpsburg Ceme- 
 tery; John is married and making his home in 
 Taylorville; Charles, the youngest son, is at home; 
 and Ida is the baby. In his political views, 
 Mr. Kester is a Democrat. He has held the office 
 of School Director, Township Treasurer and Com- 
 missioner of Highways, and in each of these posi- 
 tions he has shown himself devoted to the inter- 
 ests of the public, and has tried in every possible 
 way to promote their welfare. Also he holds the 
 office of Treasurer of the Mosquito Township Mu- 
 tual Insurance Association. He is a member of the 
 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and, relig- 
 iously, both he and his wife are faithful members 
 
 of the Christian Church. It is to such enterpris- 
 ing men that the county owes her prosperity and 
 development from her former wild state, and Mr. 
 Kester, as one of the early settlers, deserves a rep- 
 resentation in the records of the pioneers. 
 
 OBERT A. GRAY, Supervisor of Mosquito 
 Township, is engaged in carrying on his 
 farm, which is situated on section 33. He 
 is one of the well-to-do and influential 
 agriculturists of this vicinity, and has been a res- 
 ident of the county for some twenty years. He 
 has served in many public positions of honor with 
 credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his 
 constituents, and has represented this district in 
 the State Legislature for two terms and served on 
 a number of important committees. 
 
 Our subject was born in County Donegal, Ire- 
 land, October 16, 1835. His father was likewise 
 a native of the same country, descended from an 
 old Scotch family that settled in Ireland in 1542. 
 The Grays of Castle Torras, though Protestants, 
 were always celebrated for their liberal political 
 views, which won them the love and esteem of 
 their Catholic fellow-countrymen. There he grew 
 to man's estate and was married in 1834 to Miss 
 Elizabeth Patton. In 1836, the father, Joseph 
 Gray, came to the United States on a visit to 
 friends in Maryland and was taken sick and died 
 in Philadelphia the same year. His wife survived 
 him several years, and died in 1845. 
 
 Our subject was only ten 3'ears of age when he 
 was left an orphan by the death of his mother, and 
 he was placed in charge of a guardian, who robbed 
 him and his family of everything. When only 
 eighteen years of age he commenced teaching, and 
 for the past twenty-five years has been engaged 
 as an educator in this State. In 1860 he was 
 united in marriage with Miss Martha Blackburn, 
 who was born in Ireland. 
 
 The family of Mr. and Mrs. Gray comprises 
 eleven children, as follows: William A., who lives
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in Blue Mound; John K., who is at home; Annie, 
 wife of William Wallie, of Stonington Township; 
 Joseph, Maggie I., Lizzie M., Robert H., Sarah, 
 James M., Frank and Edna, who complete the 
 family. Robert H. and Mary are deceased. The 
 parents and several of their children are members 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Since 1874 Mr. Gray has been a member of the 
 Christian County Board of Supervisors and Chair- 
 man of the Board. He has filled many local offi- 
 ces, and in 1885 was elected to the State Legisla- 
 ture. He was re-elected to that important posi- 
 tion two years later, and was a member of the Com- 
 mittees on Claims, Education and Elections. He 
 is a well-educated man and is posted on all public 
 topics, is broad in his views, and in addition to 
 his other accomplishments is a poet of no mean 
 degree. He is from the county in Ireland that 
 produced such men as Gens. Montgomery and 
 Carleton, and the fathers of Presidents Polk 
 and Buchanan, and also John C. Calhoun. In 
 politics, our subject is a Democrat, and socially is 
 a member of the Masonic fraternity. His farm 
 consists of two hundred acres, which are well culti- 
 vated and upon which is a substantial residence. 
 He is at present one of the Board of Trustees of 
 the State Historical Library, associated with Judge 
 Lambert Tree and Hon. J. N. Pen-in. 
 
 JOSIAH T. BAUER is one of the wide-awake 
 business men of Stonington, owning and 
 carrying on a good drug store, which is 
 well equipped, and in connection with this 
 he operates a general merchandise store. He mer- 
 its the large and remunerative trade which is 
 given him, for he is just and honorable in his deal- 
 ings with his many patrons. 
 
 Mr. Bauer is a native of Pennsylvania, born in 
 Northampton County November 13, 1851, his 
 parents being William and Lydia (Miller) Bauer. 
 He is next to the youngest in a family of eight 
 children. Two of the number are deceased, Polly 
 
 and Marietta, the former of whom died in in- 
 fancy. James E. still resides on the old homestead 
 in Pennsylvania; Aaron is engaged in the boot 
 and shoe business in the same State; Lucy became 
 the wife of Frank Kunkel, a boot and shoe dealer 
 of Nazareth, Pa.; Charles R.. a retired farmer, re- 
 sides in Blue Mound, 111.; and Andrew F. is en- 
 gaged in general merchandising in Butler County, 
 Neb. The father of these children, who was born 
 in the Keystone State, was a weaver by trade. He 
 died in Pennsylvania, at the age of fifty-four 
 years. He was a fine workman, and in addition 
 to his trade owned a small farm. His father emi- 
 grated to the United States from Germany. The 
 mother of our subject was also born in the same 
 State, and her death occurred at about the age of 
 sixty-four. Like her husband, she was of German 
 extraction. 
 
 Josiah T. Bauer remained with his parents on 
 their farm until fifteen years of age, attending the 
 schools of the neighborhood. As the home was 
 broken up at that time, he worked for two years 
 by the month for farmers during the summer, and 
 during the winter was given the privilege of at- 
 tending school by working morning and eve- 
 ning for his board. He was ambitious and made 
 the most of his opportunities. He attended the 
 Keystone State Normal School of his native State, 
 at Kutztown, for one, term, after which he began 
 teaching, and continued thus engaged fora period 
 of eight years in Pennsylvania. In 1877 he came 
 to Christian County, where he taught school for 
 one year. In the spring of 1878, he engaged in 
 business, opening a drug store and general mer- 
 chandise store in Stonington, which he has since 
 conducted successfully. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Bauer was celebrated No- 
 vember 8, 1882 ; with Miss Katie Smith, whose par- 
 ents, George and Catherine (Bowman) Smith, now 
 deceased, were early pioneers of this county. Two 
 children bless the union of our subject and his 
 wife, Ralph Stanley and Effle Lucy, who are bright 
 and interesting children. 
 
 As Mr. Bauer was well known for many years 
 as an educator and promoter of good schools, it 
 was eminently fitting that he should be elected 
 to serve in the capacity of School Treasurer, which
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 277 
 
 office lie held for nine years in this district. He 
 is a member of the Lutheran Church, in good 
 standing, and in politics, is a stanch Republican. 
 The store of Mr. Bauer is well stocked with a gen- 
 eral line of drugs and merchandise, in which he 
 has a large trade. In addition to this business he 
 owns two hundred and thirteen acres of valuable 
 farm land adjoining the corporate limits of Ston- 
 ington, besides several valuable business lots and 
 residences in Stonington. Mrs. Bauer inherited 
 one hundred acres of her father's estate. In ad- 
 dition to carrying on his business, our subject 
 manages and operates his farm. 
 
 OSCAR J. OWEN is well known in Stoning- 
 ton Township as an enterprising agricul- 
 turist and good citizen. He owns a well- 
 improved and desirable farm on section 5, which 
 has been his home for many years. During the 
 late war he enlisted under the old Stars and Stripes, 
 and suffered much in the cause of freedom. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Owen took place in Washing- 
 ton County, Ohio, on the 27th of June, 1843. His 
 father, James Owen, was also a native of Washing- 
 ton County, born March 22, 1808. His life work 
 was that of a farmer, and he continued to reside 
 in his native State until his death, which occurred 
 in his sixty-fifth year. His father was one of the 
 early settlers of Ohio, going there when quite 
 a young man, and was one of the brave de- 
 fenders of the fort at Marietta during the In- 
 dian War. The Owen family is of Irish ancestry, 
 but they have long been residents of the United 
 States. Our subject's mother, whose maiden name 
 was Catherine Baldwin, was of German extraction, 
 and was born in Washington County, Ohio, May 
 3, 1813. She was sixty-four years old at the time 
 of her death, and lies buried by her husband in 
 the cemetery at Lowell, Ohio. 
 
 James and Catherine Owen were the parents of 
 eight children, two sons and six daughters: Vesta, 
 
 who died in infancy; Jane, who died when about 
 ten years of age; Lorinda, wife of James Wilson, 
 an Ohio farmer; Catherine, who became the wife 
 of Benjamin Shattick, a resident of Washington 
 County, Ohio; Beulah, deceased, wife of Charles 
 Davis, of Ohio; our subject, the. next in order of 
 birth; Angelina, wife of Amos Wilson, a farmer 
 of Nebraska; and Charles, who is teaching school 
 in Washington County, Ohio. 
 
 Oscar J. Owen remained under the parental 
 roof until eighteen years of age, when, fired by 
 patriotism, he enlisted as a member of Com- 
 pany A, Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteers, enteiing 
 the service July 29, 1861. In the battle of Chick- 
 amauga, he received a wound in the left shoulder 
 and was taken to the Nashville hospital. Thence 
 he was transferred to Louisville, Ky., and at the 
 end of three months returned to his regiment. 
 He took part in the battles of Louisburg, Va., 
 Antietam, Winchester, Bull Run, and many lesser 
 engagements. On the expiration of his three- 
 years term of service he received an honorable 
 discharge at Columbus, Ohio, September 10, 1864, 
 and returned to his home. 
 
 During the winter of 1865, Mr. Owen engaged 
 in teaching school, and in the spring moved to 
 Christian County. He engaged in farming 
 and teaching for several years, since which 
 time he has given his whole attention to 
 the carrying on of his farm, which has two 
 hundred and forty acres within its limits. The 
 owner has developed into a practical farmer and 
 has made many substantial improvements upon the 
 place, which is considered one of the best in the 
 township. 
 
 A marriage ceremony was performed October 5 , 
 1865, by which Miss Mary Wickens became the 
 wife of our subject. She was born February 25, 
 1844, in Washington County, Ohio, where sho 
 grew to womanhood. Her parents were George 
 and Rebecca Ann (Carlin) Wickens. The former 
 came from England when sixteen years of age, 
 and was one of the early settlers of Washington 
 County, Ohio. The mother was of Irish and 
 English descent, and was also born in the Buckeye 
 State. Four children have been born to our sub- 
 ject and wife. The eldest, Henry M., is principal
 
 278 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of the Decatur Business University, of Decatur, 
 111.; Joseph Irving has just graduated from Shurt- 
 leff College, at Alton, 111., and is now at home on 
 the farm, but expects to secure a professorship 
 soon; Jesse Bell is a student in Shurtleff College; 
 and Harry Roach is still at home. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Owen and their three eldest chil- 
 dren are members of the Missionary Baptist 
 Church and valued workers in the same. Our 
 subject takes quite an active part in local politics, 
 being a true Republican. For a number of years 
 he has served in the capacity of School Director, 
 and has also been Commissioner of Highways. 
 Fraternally, he belongs to Francis M. Long 
 Post No. 392, G. A. R., of Taylorville. He is 
 honored and respected by his friends and neigh- 
 bors and deserves the high esteem in which he is 
 held by all having the pleasure of his acquaintance. 
 
 JOHN NELSON WADDELL, an honored 
 veteran of the late war, and a retired farmer 
 now residing in Taylorville, was born near 
 Wheeling, Ohio County, W. Va., April 4, 
 1841, on the day on which William Henry Harri- 
 son passed from this life. His parents, James and 
 Jane (McDonald) AVaddell, were also natives of 
 the same county. In 1867, they removed to Wash- 
 ington County, Iowa, where their last days were 
 spent. They had a large family of children, 
 the eldest of whom, Rev. William, came to Illinois 
 about 1853, and preached for the Spring Creek 
 church of the United Presbyterian denomination. 
 He did much to establish the present church, but 
 died while engaged in this work in his twenty- 
 seventh year, and was buried in Hall Cemetery, 
 one mile east of Taylorville. Archibald came to 
 the Waddell farm in Christian County in 1850, 
 and there made his home until 1860, being exten- 
 sively engaged in stock-dealing. In 1860, how- 
 ever, he returned to Virginia, but is now living 
 in Bureau County, 111. Joseph B. was a student 
 in the Theological Seminary of Allegheny, Pa., 
 
 but left the college to join the Christian Com- 
 mission with the Army of the Potomac during the 
 late war. He afterwards finished his course of 
 study, and died while engaged in ministerial work 
 in Midway, Pa., at the age of forty-eight. James 
 V. enlisted in the Twelfth West Virginia Infantry 
 during the late war, but was rejected, and then 
 joined the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He 
 rose from the ranks to be first Sergeant, and at the 
 age of twenty-three was killed while making a 
 charge at the battle of White Sulphur Springs, 
 August 26, 1863. The three daughters of Ike 
 Waddell family are Elizabeth, wife of Alex Duff, 
 of Washington, Iowa; Maggie, Widow of Rev. A. 
 Conner, of Washington, Iowa, and now a resident 
 of Minneapolis. Minn.; and Belle, wife of Rev. 
 Ferris Brown, of New Concord, Ohio. All came 
 to Christian County in the '50s, and all were 
 teachers in May Township. At one time nine 
 families of Waddells lived in that township. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of our 
 subject, who remained upon the home farm until 
 twenty-one years of age, when, on the 14th of 
 August, 1862, he entered the service of his country 
 as a member of Company D, Twelfth West Vir- 
 ginia Infantry, under Col. W. D. Curtis. He did 
 service in the Shenandoah Valley, and in front of 
 Petersburg and Richmond. He went to Appo- 
 mattox, and continued in active service until after 
 the close of the war. For a while he was on de- 
 tached duty in the'hospital as clerk at Annapolis, 
 Md., and at Parkersburg, W. Va., and was clerk in 
 the Provost-Marshal's office in Martinsburg, W. 
 Va., for four months. On the 15th of March, 1865, 
 he reported to his regiment at Richmond, and 
 was with the troops during the battles of Hatchie's 
 Run, Fort Gregg, Farmville and Appomattox. In 
 June, 1865, He was honorably discharged, after 
 about three years of faithful service, for the war 
 was now over and the Stars and Stripes proudly 
 floated over a united Nation. 
 
 Mr. Waddell at once returned to his home, 
 but in 1866 came to Christian County. He, how- 
 ever, went back to his old home, and on the 17th 
 of January, 1867, near Wheeling, was celebrated 
 his marriage with Adessa Wilson, a native of that 
 State. He brought his bride to Illinois, and was
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 279 
 
 also nccompanied by his two brothers, Benjamin 
 E., now of Willey Station, and Thomas J., of 
 Taylorville. Each had a farm of two hundred 
 acres in May Township, which had been purchased 
 in 1850 by their father. Mr. Waddell at once be- 
 gan the development of the land, and his arduous 
 labors soon transformed it into a valuable farm. 
 In connection with its cultivation, lie also engaged 
 extensively in raising and breeding stock. Pros- 
 perity came to him as the years passed, and though 
 he began life empty-handed he is now enabled to 
 live retired in the enjoyment of a comfortable 
 competence. He still owns one hundred and 
 twenty acres of the home farm. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Waddell are the parents of four 
 children: Millie, now the wife of Charles Hunter, 
 a farmer of Locust Township; Anna; J. Clark and 
 Jennie. In politics, our subject is a Republican 
 and takes an active interest in the success of his 
 party. Socially, he is a member of Francis M. 
 Long Post No. 392, G. A. R. He has long been a 
 member of the Presbyterian Church, and for ten 
 years has served as Elder. True to his country in 
 her hour of peril, he is alike faithful in times of 
 peace, and in Mr. Waddell the community finds a 
 valued citizen. 
 
 &jjj LBERT T. KINNEY, State Agent of the 
 .(?/ I I'hcnix Insurance Company, is one of 
 
 |/iii Taylorville's leading citizens. To her 
 ^j prominent business men the prosperity of 
 a city is always due, for their enterprise and energy 
 are the materials of which it is built. Our subject 
 is connected with several of the most important 
 concerns of the county seat, and besides his insur- 
 ance business he is a member of the Taylorville 
 Coal Company, and is an extensive stock dealer. 
 
 Mr. Kinney is a native of the Empire State, 
 having been born in St. Lawrence County, on the 
 18th of October, 1846, and in the usual man- 
 ner of farmer lads he spent his boyhood days midst 
 play and work. His education was acquired in 
 
 the country schools and supplemented by study 
 in the academy at Ft. Covington. At the age 
 of seventeen years he began teaching in Franklin 
 County, and was there employed in that capacity 
 until 1866. The year just mentioned witnessed 
 his arrival in ^ Illinois, where he determined to 
 seek a home and fortune. For a time he taught 
 school in Whiteside County, and in 1867 began 
 his connection with the fire insurance business. 
 He became an agent for the Rockford Company, 
 of Rockford. 111., and made that city his home un- 
 til 1871, when he came to Taylorville as solicitor 
 for that company and established their business at 
 this place. He continued his connection with the 
 Rockford Company until July, 1879, having a 
 district agency with some eight or ten men under 
 his charge. On the expiration of that period lie 
 severed his connection with the Rockford, and be- 
 came special agent for the Phenix Fire Insurance 
 Company, having charge of all the farm business in 
 the State. He has about one hundred and fifty 
 local agencies in Illinois and several district 
 agencies. The company receives from $250,000 
 to $300,000 annually in premiums from his de- 
 partment of the business in Illinois. Under the 
 able management of our subject the business is in- 
 creasing each year. A large part of his time is 
 spent on the road, and he does all of the adjusting 
 in his department. He employs about thirty-five 
 men in the office and as solicitors. The interests 
 of his fire insurance company will never suffer 
 at the hands of Mr. Kinney, for his employers will 
 ever find him most trustworthy and efficient. 
 
 In June, 1870, in Clinton, 111., our subject was 
 united in marriage with Miss Frances Barnett, a 
 native of Clinton. She died July 29, 1892, leav- 
 ing three sons: Will, who is engaged in stock- 
 dealing and in the insurance business with his fa- 
 ther; Fred and Lloyd. Mr. Kinney is a Mason, 
 belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter of Taj'- 
 lorville, and to Elwood Commandery, No. 6,.K. T., 
 of Springfield. In politics he is a stalwart sup- 
 porter of Republican principles, and is not afraid 
 to let the people know where he stands. Firm 
 in his convictions, he supports his opinions of 
 what he believes to be right or wrong without 
 fear or favor.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 In his business affairs, Mr. Kinney has met with 
 success. He is now the owner of three good 
 farms, one of one hundred and forty, and two 
 of one hundred and sixty, one of the latter being 
 in De Kalb County. On his farms he engages in 
 breeding standard-bred horses, but the business is 
 practically managed by his eldest son. He was also 
 connected with the Taylorville Coal Compan}', 
 of which he was one of the originators, and of 
 which he served as President for two years. It 
 is characteristic of Mr. Kinney that whatever he 
 undertakes he carries forward to a successful com- 
 pletion, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles 
 in his path by determined energy and enterprise. 
 He has frequently served as a member of the City 
 Council, is at present representing his ward in 
 that body, and is Chairman of several important 
 committees. 
 
 JOSEPH SIMONS, one of the enterprising 
 and public-spirited citizens of Assumption, 
 Christian County, has been a resident of 
 this locality for twenty-eight years. He 
 has retired from commercial life and now only 
 looks after his various investments in real estate. 
 He is a self-made man, having started out in life 
 almost entirely without capital, and he has made a 
 considerable fortune. 
 
 Mr. Simons is a native of Prussia, his birth hav-' 
 ing occurred August 20, 1832. His youth was 
 spent in his native land, where he received a good 
 education in his mother tongue. He has acquired 
 the English language since coming to the United 
 States. He served an apprenticeship and learned 
 the baker's trade in Germany, where he afterwards 
 followed the business for two years. Being an 
 ambitious young man, he concluded to try his 
 fortune in the New World, and in 1857 took pass- 
 age in a sailing-vessel, going from Antwerp to 
 New York. He arrived at his destination after 
 the lapse of five weeks, during which time the 
 vessel encountered a very severe storm fortweuty-! 
 
 two days. Mr. Simons at once proceeded to Illi- 
 nois, and at first found work at Aurora, on the 
 seminary, which was then in course of construction. 
 The following few months of his life were spent 
 on the farm, as he hired out for the winter to a 
 neighboring farmer. In 1858, Mr. Simons went 
 to Sangamon County, where he spent four years 
 also working on a farm. 
 
 In August, 1862, our subject enlisted in de- 
 fense of the country of his adoption, becoming 
 a member of Company C, One Hundred and Four- 
 teenth Illinois Infantry, and was in the service 
 until lie received an honorable discharge at the 
 close of the war, in July, 1865, being mustered 
 out at Camp Butler, Springfield, 111. Mr. Simons 
 saw much active service, and with his regiment 
 took part in a number of very important engage- 
 ments. He was all through the Vicksburg cam- 
 paign, and was present at the surrender of the 
 stronghold, July 4, 1863. He was in the two 
 battles at Jackson, Miss., and met with a severe 
 accident in the battle of Guntown, June 12, 1864, 
 when his arm was shattered by a musket ball. The 
 member was amputated above the elbow a few 
 days later. On account of being disabled he was 
 taken prisoner a few days after the battle, and 
 the operation was performed by a Confederate 
 surgeon in the hospital at Mobile, Ala. After his 
 partial recovery he was sent to Cihaby, and after- 
 wards to Audersonville Prison, being confined in 
 the last-named until the close of the war. Upon 
 being released he made his way back to Vicksburg, 
 in which city he was on the night of President 
 Lincoln's assassination, April 14, 1865. 
 
 Mr. Simons embarked in the restaurant business 
 soon after his return from the South, in Assump- 
 tion, which was then only a small village. From 
 year to year he increased the business and was very 
 successful for many years. In 1880, he sold out 
 his interest, and since that time has attended to 
 investments in real estate. In addition to his 
 restaurant, he was for a few years also engaged in 
 the grocery business. A number of years ago Mr. 
 Simons purchased a tract of land near the village, 
 comprising two hundred and sixty-six acres. Upon 
 this place he has made many improvements and 
 has since bought another farm of one hundred and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 281 
 
 sixty acres, which he has also placed under good 
 cultivation and improved. Thus he is the owner of 
 four hundred and twenty-six acres of valuable 
 farm land in Assumption Township. He has also 
 erected four business houses in the village, two of 
 them being substantial brick buildings. He also 
 owns a fourth interest in the Opera House, and a 
 neat modern residence which he occupies. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Simons was celebrated 
 November 6, 1867, when Miss Flora Bickner 
 became his wife. She is a native of New York, 
 and came to Illinois when a child with her father, 
 Edward Bickner, who was one of the earliest 
 settlers of this county. By the union of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Simons have been born five children. Jennie 
 is the wife of Michael Donovan, of Assumption; 
 Joseph holds a good business position in Chicago; 
 Jacob lives at home; and Eliza and Willie complete 
 the family. Our subject, his wife and children 
 are all members of the Catholic Church. 
 
 Mr. Simons cast his ballot in favor of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, and has been several times elected to 
 fill local positions of responsibility and trust. He 
 is weil known in this and neighboring counties, 
 and well merits the reputation he bears as a man 
 of unblemished honor and upright character. - He 
 has ever been found on the side of progress, and 
 lias been no small factor in the development of 
 Christian County. 
 
 eHARLES H. STOCKON. For over twenty 
 years Mr. Stockon has been identified with 
 the progress of Christian County, and has 
 long been accounted one of her best citizens. For 
 the past eleven years his home has been in Bear 
 Creek Township, where he is engaged in general 
 farming and stock-raising. 
 
 Chautauqua County, N. Y., was the place of our 
 subject's birth, which occurred July 10, 1838. 
 His parents were Charles II. and Jane (Winchell) 
 Stockon. The paternal grandfather is believed to 
 have emigrated to America from tlie northern part 
 13 
 
 of Ireland, and lived to an extreme old age. The 
 mother of our subject was the daughter of Albert 
 Winchell, a native of Connecticut, who also lived 
 to a good old age, being ninety-one years old at 
 the time of his death. Charles H. Stockon was 
 born in Connecticut, while his wife was a native 
 of Lowell, Mass. 
 
 In 1845, the father removed to Ohio, and en- 
 gaged in the mercantile business at Hagerstown. 
 This enterprise he conducted successfully for about 
 fifteen years in that location. Thence he removed 
 to Moscow, Iowa, there engaging in the same line 
 of trade until he was cut down by the hand of 
 Deatli in the prime of manhood, being only forty- 
 four years of age. The date of his demise is 1862, 
 and after surviving her husband nearly three de- 
 cades, Mrs. Stockon passed from the scenes of this 
 life, in 1891. when nearly eight3'-three years of age. 
 She was a faithful wife and mother, and was for 
 years a member of the Baptist Church. Of her 
 three sons and two daughters, three are yet liv- 
 ing: Martha I., who married Dr. James Cottor, 
 now deceased, and formerly of Sacramento, Cal.; 
 Mary J., who is now Mrs. John Williams, and also 
 lives in Sacramento; and Charles H., our subject, 
 who is the youngest of those living. 
 
 In his seventh year the subject of this sketch re- 
 moved from the Empire State with his parents to 
 Ohio, and lived in Hagerstown until he arrived at 
 mature years. In 1857, he went to Iowa, and en- 
 tered the store conducted by his father, with 
 whom he remained for four years. In April, 1861, 
 he was among the first to enlist for his country's 
 defense. He became a member of Company A, 
 First Iowa Infantry, serving with them for four 
 months. He participated in the battle of Wilson 
 Creek, and the engagement of Bryce Springs. In 
 the former he was wounded and returned home. 
 He was again emplo3 r ed in his father's store until 
 1872, when he came to this county. Some ten 
 years later he became the owner of ninety acres of 
 land in Bear Creek Township, on which is still his 
 home. He has extended his domains, adding a 
 tract of twenty acres to his original farm. 
 
 On the 27th of August, 1861, Mr. Stockon mar- 
 ried Miss Mary L. Slaton. Three children were 
 born of this union: Ernest E., Charles H., and oue
 
 282 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 who died in infancy. The eldest son, Ernest E., 
 married Miss Annie Stamm, and resides on a part 
 of his father's farm. He is the father of five chil- 
 dren: Ophelia, Walter, Golda, Cora and Myrtie. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Stockon is a member of Higgins 
 Post No. 400, G. A. R., at Palmer. For seven 
 years he served as Supervisor of his township, to 
 the satisfaction of his friends and neighbors, and 
 also occupied the position of Assessor for two 
 years. In his various business enterprises, Mr. 
 Stockon has been very successful and has been of 
 late years dealing considerably in live stock. 
 
 SYLVESTER SCHRANTZ, one of the most 
 enterprising agriculturists of Stonington 
 Township, is the owner of one of the best- 
 improved farms in the county and which 
 is situated on -section 8. His earliest ancestors in 
 America were natives of Switzerland, who emi- 
 grated in 1745. Since that time the descendants 
 have been stanch and true patriots of their adopted 
 country. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Schrantz occurred February 28, 
 1847, in Canton, Ohio, his parents being Ephraim 
 and Nancy (Mohler) Schrantz. The father was a 
 native of Lancaster County, Pa. His great-grand- 
 father, John Schrantz, was a native of the canton 
 of Berne, Switzerland, and, as previously stated, lo- 
 cated in America in Colonial days. With his pa- 
 rents our subject's father removed to Ohio, and 
 settled on a farm near Canton, where he remained 
 until 1867. He then made a settlement in this 
 count}', and purchased seven hundred acres of wild 
 land in Stonington Township, paying at the rate 
 of $7 per acre. The remainder of his life he de- 
 voted to the cultivation and improvement of this 
 land. He died June 24, 1892, at the age of sixty- 
 nine years, and lies buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, 
 in Taylorville. In politics, he was a Republican 
 and was a much respected early settler of these 
 parts. His land and property he divided among 
 
 his children. His father was an Advocate Judge 
 of Stark County, Ohio, at the time of his death 
 and was a Captain in the Mexican War. Our sub- 
 ject's mother was also born in Lancaster County, 
 Pa., and is still living, her home being in Stoning- 
 ton. 
 
 Sylvester Schrantz is one of five children. The 
 others are still living and are as follows: Sy villa, 
 the wife of B. F. Young, a well-to-do farmer of 
 Stonington Township; Wilson, Lee and John, who 
 are also engaged in farming in the same township. 
 Remaining witli his parents on the home farm, our 
 subject's time was occupied until his seventeenth 
 year iu farm duties and in attending the common 
 schools. On the 29th of February, 1864, he joined 
 Company A, Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, and served 
 until May 27, 1864. He was captured at the bat- 
 tle of New Hope, and was taken to Andersonville 
 Prison, where he was held until the 13th of Sep- 
 tember. He was then transferred to the Charles- 
 ton prison, there kept until October 15, and thence 
 removed to Florence. In the latter prison he re- 
 mained until December 1, when he was paroled at 
 Charleston. He was then so weak that he could 
 not walk, and was left lying in a lumber-yard with 
 the dead and dying. The Sisters of Charity had 
 him taken to a hospita!,where he partially regained 
 his health and strength. With about sixty others 
 he was then taken by the rebels and placed upon 
 boats to be sent to their parole ship. These poor 
 soldiers, still weak and exhausted, were exposed 
 all night to the weather, and with the exception of 
 fifteen they all died from the result. Only a few 
 days had passed when there were none living of 
 the number with the exception of our subject and 
 one comrade. Mr. Schrantz was next taken to the 
 St. John's College Hospital, at Annapolis, Md., 
 where he stayed for about two months. After a 
 furlough of ninety days at home, he went to Camp 
 Chase, Ohio, where he received an honorable dis- 
 charge June 25, 1865. 
 
 Returning to the old farm, our subject attended 
 school at Greensburg Seminary until the fall of 
 1866, when he came to Christian County. He 
 continued to live at home until the fall of 1870, 
 when he came to the farm on which he now re- 
 sides, a portion of which had been given him by
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 his father. The farm now comprises one hundred 
 and sixty acres, which are well managed and thor- 
 oughly cultivated by the owner, who has practical 
 and progressive ideas on farm work. 
 
 On the 4th of September, 1873, Mr. Schrantz 
 and Miss Lovine Waltz were united in marriage. 
 The lady was born in Medina County, Ohio, and 
 by her marriage has become the mother of two 
 children, a son and a daughter. Brace D. is a 
 highly educated young man and has taught school 
 in this community. Jessie M. has also been given 
 a superior education and is an accomplished 
 musician. The family is well received in social 
 circles of the neighborhood. In politics, Mr. 
 Schrantz is a loyal Republican, and, fraternally, 
 holds membership with Francis M. Long Post No. 
 392, G. A. R., of Taylorville. 
 
 (fpN& AMUEL M. NEEL is one of the early set- 
 ^^ tiers of Stonington Township, and has re- 
 llL^j| sided on section 15 for a quarter of a 
 century. At the time of his arrival in the 
 township the place was a swamp and in a nearly 
 wild condition. During the lapse of time this has 
 been changed, until to-day it is one of the best 
 agricultural districts in the county. The birth of 
 our subject occurred April 1, 1831, in Lancaster 
 County, Pa. His parents were Hugh and Mary 
 (Neeper) Neel. The father was also a native of 
 Lancaster County, his birth occurring in the same 
 house in which occurred the birth of our subject. 
 In the Keystone State he was engaged in farming, 
 and there made his home until forty-seven years 
 of age. He removed to Baltimore County, Md., 
 at that time and purchased a farm, which he cul- 
 tivated until his death, when in his sixt3'-eighth 
 year. He is buried in the Reisterstown Cemetery, 
 in Baltimore County, Md. In politics, he was an 
 Old-line Whig. His father served in the War of 
 1812, and was also a native of Pennsylvania, but 
 was of Scotch parentage. 
 
 The mother of our subject was born and grew 
 
 to womanhood in Lancaster County, where her 
 marriage was celebrated. Her father was a native 
 of Pennsylvania, and participated in the War of 
 1812. She passed from this life in Baltimore 
 County, at the age of eighty-five years, and lies 
 buried by the side of her husband. By her mar- 
 riage she became the mother of six children, four 
 sons and two daughters. Thomas died when thirty 
 3'ears of age; Samuel M. is next in order of birth; 
 Martha Jane became the wife of Washington Gore, 
 who is a farmer of Baltimore County, Md.; Bcckie, 
 John and Jo are unmarried and living on the old 
 homestead in Maryland. 
 
 The boyhood of our subject was passed on his 
 father's farm, and his education was that of the 
 common schools of the neighborhood. He con- 
 tinued to make his home with his parents until 
 about thirty years of age, when, in October, 1861, 
 he chose for his life companion Miss Sarah Ann 
 Streveg, who has been the mother of three chil- 
 dren: Thomas, who died at the age of eight years; 
 Mary, wife of Henry Bloom, a farmer of this 
 county, who has one son, Samuel Neel; and one 
 child who died in infancy. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Neel continued to work 
 for his father for some seven years, receiving for 
 his services $100 per year. He was careful and sav- 
 ing of his means, for it was his intention to invest 
 his money in Western land. Accordingly, in 1868, 
 he came to Illinois and after looking about for a 
 suitable place of settlement came to the conclusion 
 that it would be well to settle in Christian County. 
 He invested his little capital in one hundred and 
 sixty acres of wild prairie land. His prospects 
 were rather discouraging, for the country was 
 little better than a swamp and bore little promise 
 of the great future which was in store for it. He 
 was not daunted by the hardships and hard work 
 he saw before him, but went to work with energy 
 and fortitude to overcome the obstacles in his 
 pathway. He has risen to a position of compara- 
 tive independence and now takes rank with the 
 prosperous farmers of the county. His farm, which 
 yields abundant crops, covers two hundred and 
 forty acres and has had many improvements 
 placed upon it. 
 
 A true patriot and loyal citizen, Mr. Neel dis-
 
 284 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 charges his duties as such, but has never been pre- 
 vailed upon to accept official honors. In his polit- 
 ical faith he is a firm Republican. His first ballot 
 was cast for Fremont. Religiously, he has been for 
 many years a member of the Methodist Church, 
 and is a man who is respected by all who have the 
 pleasure of his acquaintance as one of true worth 
 and sterling manhood. 
 
 S ETER MICHELS, who is now living a re- 
 tired life in Taylorville, was born Decem- 
 ber 26, 1824, in Polch, in the Rhenish 
 province of Prussia, between the Rhine 
 and Moselle Rivers. His brother Anthony came 
 to America in 1843 and established himself in 
 business as a carpenter in Taylorville. Nine years 
 later Peter followed him to the New World, and 
 on the 25th of May, 1852, arrived in Springfield. 
 He at once came to Taylorville, where he joined 
 his brother. He had been reared to agricultural 
 pursuits, but for two years he worked with his 
 brother at the carpenter's trade and also engaged 
 in well-digging. Thomas Cheney, who could ob- 
 tain no one to dig a well, finally asked Mr. Mi- 
 chels to perform the task. Our subject consented 
 to undertake it, and finding it to be a paying bus- 
 iness continued it for fifteen years. 
 
 Mr. Michels had about $300 when he came to 
 this county, which he invested in one hundred 
 and twenty acres of land northwest of the city. 
 While engaged in well-digging he made from $6 
 to $14 per day, and with the capital he acquired 
 he also made other purchases of real estate. He 
 erected a business house on the north side of the 
 square, now used as a saloon, and also the store 
 occupied by Allmau's meat-market. Altogether 
 he has four dwellings and two business houses in 
 Taylorville. His own residence, a fine brick struc- 
 ture, is in the midst of a half-block of ground. 
 Mr. Michels also has two hundred acres of land in 
 May Township, and sixty acres of timber-land. 
 On the 25th of May, 1852, our subject was 
 
 united in marriage with Miss Catherine Weiler, 
 who was reared in the same locality as her husband, 
 their homes being only two miles apart, and on 
 the same vessel, the "Eastern Queen," crossed the 
 Atlantic with him. They sailed from Havre, 
 France, and after twenty-six days reached the 
 shores of the New World. Their marriage was 
 celebrated the day after their arrival in Spring- 
 field. Mrs. Michels was born near Coblentz, June 
 27, 1831, and by her marriage has become the 
 mother of five children, who are yet living. 
 Amelia Louise is now the wife of Anthony Wog- 
 getzer, of Taylorville, by whom she has five chil- 
 dren; Margaret is the wife of Sylvester Patterson, 
 of Taylorville, and they have one child; William 
 Sebastian Julius, County Surveyor of Christian 
 County and a resident of Taylorville, married Miss 
 Nellie Sheehan, and they have one child; Katie 
 was educated in the public schools and in St. Ur- 
 suline's Convent of Springfield; and Joseph com- 
 pletes the family. They also lost six children in 
 early childheod. 
 
 Mr. Michels is a stalwart Democrat in politics 
 and a warm supporter of President Cleveland. 
 He and his wife are faithful members of the Cath- 
 olic Church and have reared their children under 
 its auspices. Mr. Michels need never regret his 
 emigration to America, for here he has found a 
 comfortable home, and his labors have been blessed 
 with a handsome competence. 
 
 TEPIIEN WILLEY, deceased, was a prom- 
 inent man and pioneer citizen of Christian 
 Count}'. For nearly a quarter of a century 
 was active in everything pertaining to 
 the good of the community in which he dwelt, and 
 was devoted to the advancement of every measure 
 tending to benefit his fellow-men. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred June 7, 1827, 
 in Hamilton County, Ohio, where he grew to man- 
 hood. With his parents he came to Illinois in 
 1843, and at once located in Christian County.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 He was of French and English descent. On the 
 26th of December, 1849, he married Miss Nancy 
 Blunt, who was born March 10, 1831, in Tennessee, 
 and came to this county with her father in her 
 girlhood. Mr. Willey began life without means, 
 but possessed of determination and energy, and 
 made a grand success of his various enterprises. 
 After his marriage he devoted himself to the culti- 
 vation of a farm during the remainder of his life. 
 He accumulated a valuable estate, and at the time 
 of his death, which, occurred December 10, 1873, 
 possessed seven hundred and twenty acres of the 
 choicest land in the county. He was enterprising 
 and ahead of the times in his methods of con- 
 ducting his farm, and was the first man to intro- 
 duce Shorthorn cattle into the county, and was 
 also the first to purchase the McGee hogs. 
 
 The wife of Mr. Willey was of English and 
 Irish extraction and by her marriage became the 
 mother of two children, both of whom are still 
 living. Mary was born March 15, 1851, in Chris- 
 tian County, and here received a good education. 
 On the 20th of February, 1871, she gave her hand 
 in marriage to William Ettinger, who was born 
 October 17, 1841, in Dauphin County, Pa. For a 
 number of years lie was engaged in the harness 
 business in Taylorville. His death occurred May 
 11, 1882, and he lies buried in the Taylorville 
 Cemetery. During the late Civil War, he served 
 for nearly' four years as a member of a Pennsyl- 
 vania regiment which participated in forty-two 
 engagements. He was in the cavalry service, 
 being attached to the Eighteenth Pennsylvania 
 Cavalry. By the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ettinger 
 was born a family of three children, all living. 
 Hayden, who was born July 1, 1873, is a highly 
 educated young man and is now assisting his 
 mother in managing the home place; Jessie was 
 born July 10, 1877; and Allen's birth occurred 
 May 6. 1881. Mrs. Ettinger still resides on the 
 farm of four hundred and forty acres, two hundred 
 and forty of which formerly belonged to her hus- 
 band. It is one of the best farms of the county, 
 and in addition to this she owns eighty acres in 
 Taylorville Township and a good residence prop- 
 erty in Taylorville, where the family reside during 
 the winter. In 1870, on the death of her father, 
 
 she inherited two hundred and forty acres of land, 
 and at this writing she is the owner of five hun- 
 dred and twenty acres. Anthony Willey, the only 
 son of our subject, is a progressive and well-to-do 
 farmer of Christian County. 
 
 The town of Willey Station was laid out by 
 Stephen Willey, who built and owned the station 
 house. The village is now quite a thriving place, 
 numbering a good many inhabitants. In politics, 
 our subject was a stanch Republican and was much 
 interested in the success of his part} 7 . 
 
 SlL ENRY KIRK, a retired farmer of Taylor- 
 ifj) ville, claims Ohio as the State of his nativ- 
 ub/?' ity, his birth having occurred near Fulton, 
 (H) in Stark County, December 19, 1829. His 
 father, Jacob Kirk, was a native of Centre County, 
 Pa., and married Ann Furst, who was also born in 
 the Keystone State. HP became one of the pio- 
 neer settlers of Ohio, locating there in 1808. He 
 and his wife both spent their last days in Stark 
 County, where they had so long resided and where 
 the}' were numbered among the most highly es- 
 teemed citizens. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was reared to man- 
 hood in the usual manner of farmer lads, and the 
 public schools afforded him his educational privi- 
 leges. He remained at home until 1851, when, on 
 the 16th of October of that year, he was joined in 
 marriage with Miss Hannah B. McFarland, a na- 
 tive of Wayne County, Ohio. His father made 
 him a present of one hundred and seventeen acres 
 of land, upon which was a small clearing but no 
 house. He hewed the logs for a cabin and lived 
 upon that place for six years, during which time 
 he cleared and improved sixty acres. 
 
 It was in 1857 that Mr. Kirk sold his farm in 
 Ohio, and traveled Westward until he had reached 
 Christian County, 111., when he made a settlement 
 in Buckhart Township. He was accompanied by 
 John Harmon, now of this county. Mr. Kirk had
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 previously visited this locality and purchased one 
 hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which a 
 crop had been planted, at $25 per acre. In Nov- 
 ember following his arrival, he was joined by his 
 family. Turning his attention to the develop- 
 ment of his land, he devoted himself assiduously 
 to its cultivation and improvement until 1891. 
 He had made other purchases, becoming the owner 
 of four hundred and ten acres, which were divided 
 into two farms. In connection with general farm- 
 ing he also engaged in fee'ding stock for ten years, 
 and in breeding heavy draft horses. His farms 
 are both well improved and are valuable and de- 
 sirable places, being supplied with all modern con- 
 veniences and equipments. Mr. Kirk has recently 
 also purchased a section of wheatland in Furnas 
 County, Neb. In 1891 he left his country home 
 and came to Taylorville, where he erected a fine 
 residence and is now living a retired life. 
 
 In 1869 our subject was called upon to mourn 
 the loss of his wife, who died on the 31st of De- 
 cember. On the 18th of August, 1870, he was 
 married in Pana to Miss Margaret Bell Orr, a sis- 
 ter of Prof. Orr, County Superintendent of Schools. 
 Seven children were born of the first marriage and 
 three of the second. Four of the number are now 
 deceased, three having died in infancy. Thad- 
 deus David, the eldest, who had been a student in 
 Lexington, Ky., died at the age of nineteen years. 
 Charles Dwight is now a farmer of Buckhart 
 Township, and School Treasurer. Emma Cora is 
 the wife of R. F. Oplinger, book-keeper and cash- 
 ier in a store in Taylorville. Arthur Burton 
 operates a part of the old homestead. Hattie is 
 the wife of Irving Baughman. a farmer of Buck- 
 hart Township. Grace graduated as a stenog- 
 rapher and type-writer from the Springfield Busi- 
 ness College. Josie Pearl is a student in the High 
 School. 
 
 Since the age of sixteen Mr. Kirk has been a 
 member of the Christian Church, and his wife is 
 also a member. He was made a Mason in Grove 
 City Lodge No. 585, A. F. &. A. M., and belongs 
 to Taylorville Chapter No. 99, R. A. M. He was 
 initiated into the mysteries of the Odd Fellows' 
 fraternity in 1854. In politics, he is a Republican, 
 and for eighteen years served as Treasurer of the 
 
 school fund in his township, although it is a 
 strongly Democratic district. Through well-dir- 
 ected efforts, Mr. Kirk has acquired a handsome 
 property and is now numbered among the sub- 
 stantial citizens of Taylorville. where he is now 
 living retired in the enjoyment of the rest which 
 he has so truly earned and richly deserves. 
 
 ICHARD McCLELLAN POWEL was born 
 in Parkersburg, W. Va., September 2, 1846, 
 and died- November 1, 1892, respected 
 by all who knew him. In his death the 
 community lost one of its best citizens and one 
 who will be I6ng mourned by a large circle of 
 friends. He came of a family of English origin, 
 which was founded in America by his grandfa- 
 ther, Richard Powel, in Colonial days. During 
 the War for Independence the grandfather ob- 
 tained letters of marque, and as Captain of a pri- 
 vateer sailed from these shores. It is supposed 
 that all on board perished, for no news was ever 
 received of them. Richard Powel left a little son 
 of six months, who also bore the name of Richard, 
 and became the father of our subject. He was 
 born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 9, 1801, and 
 was a cabinet-maker by trade. He married Sarah 
 Firth, and in 1841 removed to Parkersburg, W. 
 Va., where he remained until September, 1851, 
 when he emigrated to Springfield, I II. In 1853 he 
 came to Taylorville, and his death here occurred 
 September 11, 1875. 
 
 Our subject was only about six years of age 
 when the family came to this city, and with the 
 history of Christian County he was identified un- 
 til his death. When quite young he began the 
 study of surveying, and mastered the profession 
 almost entirely through his own efforts, being as- 
 sisted to some extent by Charles Manners, who 
 was then County Surve3 r or. For a time Mr. Powel 
 followed surveying in Indiana, with headquarters 
 at Indianapolis, locating railroad lines in Indiana, 
 Ohio, Iowa and Missouri. In 1869 he was elected
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 287 
 
 County Surveyor of Christian County for a term 
 of two years, was re-elected in 1871, 1875 and 
 1879, his term of office expiring in 1884, after a 
 period of fifteen years spent in that position. 
 Although the county is Democratic and life was a 
 Republican in political faith, he was elected by 
 very large majorities, a fact that indicates the con- 
 'fldence placed in him, his personal popularity and 
 his excellent ability. He laid out several drain- 
 age systems, and that a large area of the country 
 surrounding Taylorville is now fine farming land 
 is due entirely to the labors of Mr. Powel. 
 
 On the 17th of December, 1885, our subject was 
 united in marriage with Miss Ernma Catherwood, 
 daughter of Jarnes and Lydia (Tussey) Cather- 
 wood, the former a native of Ireland and the lat- 
 ter of Pennsylvania. For some years they made 
 their home in Guernsey County, Ohio. The fa- 
 ther died when Mrs. Powel was only two years 
 old. Mrs. Catherwood removed to Shelby County, 
 111., about 1857, and from there came to Taylor- 
 ville. She is still living in this city, at the age of 
 eighty-nine years. Of her family of ten children 
 seven are now living. Mrs. Powel was only six 
 years of age when she came to Christian County. 
 By her marriage she has become the mother of two 
 children: Ellen C. and Ruth Firth, aged six and 
 three years respectively. 
 
 In addition to his other business interests, Mr. 
 Powel was one of Hie incorporators and a Director 
 of the First National Bank of Taylorville. He 
 was also the owner of two farms, comprising four 
 hundred and forty acres of land, which yielded to 
 him a good income. An indefatigable worker, he 
 possessed a robust constitution and spared himself 
 not in the least when he thought his work de- 
 manded his attention. He worked up to within a 
 few days of his death, being anxious to complete 
 a drainage system before winter set in. His ad- 
 vice and counsel were often sought by business 
 men, who placed the utmost confidence in him. 
 His woid was as good as his bond, his integrity 
 unquestioned. lie was a firm, kind friend and a 
 loving and tender husband and father. Honor- 
 able and upright in all things, he won the esteem 
 of everybody with whom business or social rela- 
 tions brought him in contract. Mrs. Powel is still 
 
 living in Taylorville, where she has a pleasant 
 home that she has recently erected on the old 
 Powel homestead. She is a member of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, and through her many ex- 
 cellencies of character has gained a large circle of 
 warm friends. 
 
 JOSEPH F. MILLER, M. D., who is engaged 
 in the practice of his profession in Palmer, 
 has a large practice in this place and the 
 surrounding country. He is a native of 
 Illinois, having been born in Fayette County 
 April 28, 1857, to Jacob and Mary Jane (Stapp) 
 Miller. The father is also a native of that county, 
 while his wife was born in Kentucky. Their fam- 
 ily comprised five children, three of whom died in 
 early childhood. Those surviving are John H., 
 who is a physician at Pana, 111.; and Joseph F., 
 our subject. Dr. Miller, of Pana, married Miss 
 Laura Thiele. They have two children, Lewis 
 Henry and Cora. 
 
 After the death of our subject's mother, his fa- 
 ther married Elizabeth Forester, by whom he had 
 three children. Two died in infancy, while the 
 third child, Andrew D., is still living. The third 
 wife of Mr. Miller bore the maiden name of Cath- 
 erine Sanford. She became the mother of a son 
 and daughter, Lewis A., and Addie M., who died 
 at the age of thirteen years. After the death of 
 Mrs. Catherine Miller, the husband wedded Lytha 
 J. Burns, and to them were born two children, 
 Lola and Gertrude. Mr. Miller has been for a 
 period of forty years a minister in the Christian 
 Church. He was a valiant soldier during the war 
 with Mexico. 
 
 Dr. J. F. Miller, whose name heads this sketch, 
 was reared on his father's farm in Fayette County, 
 and lived at home until he had attained his sev- 
 enteenth year. He received his early education 
 in the district schools, and while still quite young 
 determined to become a physician. He therefore
 
 288 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 entered the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, 
 and after pursuing his studies there for several 
 years, was graduated from that justly noted insti- 
 tution in March, 1889. In the following July he 
 located in Palmer, where he began the practice of 
 his profession. He lias already acquired a large 
 practice, as he is well informed and well read on 
 all matters pertaining to the science of medicine, 
 and keeps fully abreast of the times. 
 
 The Doctor was united in marriage with Miss 
 Henrietta Lowe on the 8th of June, 1890. The 
 lady is a daughter of Milton and Priscilla (Hin- 
 ton) Lowe, of Shelby County, 111. By her mar- 
 riage she has become the mother of a bright little 
 boy, who was given the Christian name of his 
 grandfather, Jacob, and whose middle name is 
 Clyde. 
 
 Socially, the Doctor is a member of Palmer 
 Lodge No. 501, 1. O. O. F., and also holds mem- 
 bership with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
 He casts his ballot in favor of the nominees of the 
 Republican party, and has served for one term as 
 a member of the Village Board of Trustees, and 
 always takes an active part in educational matters. 
 He owns a pleasant and desirable home properly, 
 where he has his office. In addition to this he has 
 ten acres of land which is situated one mile from 
 Palmer. By those who know him well he is held 
 in the highest regard, and is a man of justice and 
 upright character. 
 
 JESSE HANON is one of the pioneers of 
 Christian County, his birth having occurred 
 April 14, 1830, about ten miles from Tay- 
 lorville. He is a farmer, now residing in 
 Morrisonville, and is the owner of a number of 
 fine farms. His father, Martin Hauon, was the 
 first settler in this county, having settled near Tay- 
 lor ville in 1818. He was a nativeof Tennessee, and 
 was a farmer by occupation. He took up about 
 eighty acres of land, but afterward bought a lum- 
 ber mill, which was located on the farm where our 
 
 subject was born. This mill was subsequently 
 known as the Elgin Mill, and this lie operated for 
 a number of years. From there he removed to the 
 present site of Taylorville, before the town was 
 laid out, His father, Michael Hanon, was born 
 and reared in Ireland, and came to America when 
 a young man. He was a farmer in Tennessee, and 
 died while still in the prime of life. The name of 
 the family was originally spelled Hening. Michael 
 Hanon reared a family of four daughters and five 
 sons. Our subject's father died April 5, 1879, 
 aged seventy-nine years. 
 
 The wife of Martin Hanon, whose maiden name 
 was Sarah Miller, was born in Pennsylvania, her 
 people being of German birth. Her parents came 
 to America after their marriage, settling in Penn- 
 sylvania, -where the father died in middle life. 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Hanon were born ten children, 
 only four of the number now living: .Jesse; Jo- 
 seph; Susan, wife of G. R. Sharp, of Sharpsburg. 
 111.; and Elijah, who is a resident of Lamed, Kan. 
 Joseph lives at Willow Springs, Mo. The parents 
 were members of the Predestinariau Baptist 
 Church. 
 
 The subject of this sketch has spent his entire 
 life in this county with the exception of three 
 years, when he was absent during the late war. 
 His early education was obtained in the old-fash- 
 ioned subscription schools, but in later years he 
 enlarged his knowledge by wise reading and 
 thoughtful observation. His life work lias been 
 mainly that of farming and stock-raising, though 
 for about four years he carried on a sawmill. He 
 has been very successful in his enterprises and now 
 with his three sons, William, John and Cyrus, 
 owns eight hundred acres of land in Clay County, 
 near the town of Flora. This land is operated by 
 them under the firm name of J. Hanon <fc Sons. 
 He is also the owner of a good home property in 
 Morrisonville. 
 
 During the late war, Mr. Hanon enlisted in 
 Company A, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois 
 Infantry, and was in the service for about three 
 years. He took part in the battle of Chicka- 
 niauga and was in a number of important skir- 
 mishes. On the battlefield of Chickamauga he was 
 taken prisoner and was confined for seven months
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in Libby Prison; was thence removed to Macon, 
 Ga., where lie was a prisoner for two months, and 
 was then transferred to Savannah, Ga., and 
 Charleston, S. C., being two months in each prison. 
 For four months lie was in the prison at Colum- 
 bia, S. C., and after spending a short time at Char- 
 lotte and Raleigh was exchanged. Altogether he 
 was :i prisoner for seventeen months and ten days. 
 He received an honorable discharge at Camp But- 
 ler, September 23, 1865, after three years of serv- 
 ice and imprisonment for his country's sake. 
 
 On his return from the army, Mr. Hanon re- 
 sumed his sawmill business, at which he continued 
 for two years. Prior to the war he was Superin- 
 tendent of the Schools of this county for two 
 years. For three terms he served as Justice of the 
 Peace, and for three terms was a member of the 
 Board of Supervisors. In 1890, he was the Repub- 
 lican nominee for Congress, running against Will- 
 iam M. Springer. The honor was entirely un- 
 sought. Socially, he is a member of Morrison ville 
 Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M., and also took the 
 chapter degrees at Taylorville. 
 
 In October, 1847, Mr. Hanon was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Missouri Ann Minnis, daughter of 
 James and Hester Ann (Outhouse) Minnis, of 
 Christian County. Twelve children have blessed 
 this union. Thomas E. was the eldest of the 
 family and is now deceased. Alice E. became the 
 wife of John D. Murphy, by whom she had four 
 children, only one now living, William J. Af- 
 ter the death of Mr. Murphy, his widow re-mar- 
 ried, becoming the wife of Lucian Murphy. They 
 now live at Pawnee Rock, Kan., and have three 
 children, Charlie, Glenn and Ralph. William F. 
 married Miss Sarah Halgren and lives in Flora, 
 111., where he is engaged in the fruit-growing bus- 
 iness. He has two children, Jessie E. and Winnie. 
 Sarah E., Eva, George R., Nellie and Jennie are 
 now deceased. Cyrus E. married Miss Katie Hayes 
 and is also engaged in fruit-growing and farming 
 near Flora. lie has one child, John Edgar. Ferd- 
 inand M. and Seth are also deceased. John E. is 
 a resident of Morrisonville, 111. 
 
 Mr. Ilanon is a man of originality and liberality 
 of thought. He is an earnest believer in the prin- 
 ciples of morality and is a strong advocate of ab- 
 
 stinence from intoxicating liquors and of temper- 
 ance in every respect, but controverts the theolog- 
 ical ideas which enter into the creeds of orthodox 
 churches. He is a sincere admirer of that great 
 sentiment of Thomas Paine, "The world is my 
 country ,and to do good is my religion." 
 
 J\ riJKLIfS M. IIKWITT, one of the exten- 
 &/ I sive land-owners of Christian Count\ T , is 
 
 /// It engaged in farming in Bear Creek Town- 
 ||f ship. He is now making his home at his 
 pleasant residence in Palmer. He is a son of Will- 
 iam T. and Andronica (Gibson) Hewitt, and was 
 born in Christian County, Ky., February 19, 1849. 
 The father was a native of Virginia, as was also 
 his father. He followed farming and stock-raising 
 in the Old Dominion for a livelihood until 1851, 
 when he emigrated to Illinois. He located in this 
 county, on land now comprised within Johnson 
 Township. There he entered and purchased land 
 to the extent of some six hundred acres, and lived 
 in that neighborhood until the death of his wife, 
 in 1857, when he removed to the old Vincent 
 place, where his remaining years were passed. Our 
 subject's mother was a member of the Christian 
 Church, and was a most lovable and noble lady. 
 She had a family of three sons and three daugh- 
 ters, our subject being the third child. The oth- 
 ers are as follows: Francis M., Olive C., James B., 
 Laura J. and Hannah L. After the death of his 
 first wife, William Hewitt was married to Miss 
 Mary R. Wilcoxson, by whom he had three sons, 
 William T., Lee Davidson and Omer B. The fa- 
 ther died in 1890, at the good old age of seventy- 
 five years. 
 
 The subject of this notice was an infant of only 
 two years when his parents came to this county. 
 He was reared and received his early education in 
 the neighborhood where he has spent a large por- 
 tion of his life. He supplemented his early edu- 
 cation by a course of study in Eureka College, 
 which is located in Eureka, 111., and in order to fit
 
 290 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 himself for business life went to Baile3''s Com- 
 mercial College, at Keokuk, Iowa. Upon the com- 
 pletion of his studies he engaged in teaching 
 school, following that vocation for about ten years 
 during the winter season. 
 
 In Christian County, on the 15th of February, 
 1883, Mr. Hewitt and Miss Nancy F. Anderson 
 were united in marriage. Mrs. Hewitt was the 
 daughter of Thomas and Virginia B. (Trailer) An- 
 derson. She became the mother of three children: 
 Inez A., Nigel B. and Brice. Mr. Hewitt lost his 
 wife, who died on the 15th of December, 1891, 
 aged only twenty-six years. 
 
 After teaching for a number of years, as pre- 
 viously stated, Mr. Hewitt concluded to devote his 
 energies to agricultural pursuits, which have been 
 his main occupation since that time. He has 
 made a particular business of raising and shipping 
 stock, and has also been interested in the general 
 stores in Palmer, Morrisonville and Harvel, 111. 
 At the present time he owns an interest with \V. 
 L. Long in a general merchandise store at Mor- 
 risonville. He is the owner of land in Taylor- 
 yille, South Fork, Bear Creek, Johnson and Ricks 
 Townships, these farms comprising fully seven 
 hundred acres. lie also is the owner of a resi- 
 dence and other property in Palmer, and other 
 real estate elsewhere. In politics, he is a Demo- 
 crat. He is a man who has acquired his fortune 
 through his own efforts and industry, and has 
 shown good business ability and correct business 
 methods in the management of his affairs. 
 
 Jf H. SALLIDAY, deceased, was for many 
 years numbered among the substantial farm- 
 ers and enterprising citizens of Stonington 
 Township. Coining to Christian County a 
 poor man, through the exercise of his industri- 
 ous qualities he acquired a large estate and won 
 the respect of his friends and neighbors. His 
 birth occurred March 10, 1837, in Bucks County, 
 Pa. His father, Jacob G. Salliday, was also a 
 
 native of the same county, and removed to Ohio 
 with his parents. He was a soldier in the War of 
 1812, and died when nearly seventy-nine years of 
 age. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary 
 Hai-tsell, was likewise a native of the Keystone 
 State, and was called from this life while a resi- 
 dent of Philadelphia, at the age of seventy-eight 
 years. The boyhood and youth of our subject 
 were passed under the parental roof, where he re- 
 mained until about twenty-two years of age. He 
 was given a fair education and became thoroughly 
 acquainted with the proper methods of farm 
 work. 
 
 On the loth of November, 1861, Mr. Salliday 
 was united in marriage with Miss Angeline 
 Holben, who was born March 27, 1840, in Medina 
 County, Ohio. She was the eldest child in a 
 family of five whose parents were Elias and Mar- 
 garet (Hartman) Holben. The former was a na- 
 tive of New York and emigrated to Ohio in an 
 early day. In 1866 he came to Illinois, where he 
 still makes his home, now well along in years. 
 His father was a native of France. Mrs. Holben 
 was born in Pennsylvania, of German ancestry, 
 and died when in her thirty-fourth year, in 1856. 
 
 Our subject was the third in a family of eight 
 children, and by his marriage he became the fa- 
 ther of a like number. The eldest, Roland E., died 
 at the age of twenty-three years, being accidentally 
 killed in a runaway; Victorine is the wife of John 
 D. llackenberg, a prominent farmer and stock-rais- 
 er of this county, a sketch of whom appears else- 
 where in this volume; Edson P. died in infancy; 
 Ella H., wife of Thomas E. Gragg, and Reuben J. 
 reside at home, the latter operating the farm; 
 Eben O. died in infancy; Monroe H., who is well 
 educated, is attending the School of Pharmacy at 
 St. Louis; and Angle M. is still living with her 
 mother. 
 
 Mr. Salliday was often honored with local po- 
 sitions of responsibility and honor, and filled 
 about all of the township offices. On the question 
 of politics, he was always to be found on the side 
 of the Democratic party. As a farmer, he was 
 very successful and acquired a valuable estate. 
 On the 12th of July, 1890, death called him from 
 the scene of his labors, when he was in his fifty-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 291 
 
 fourth year. Me lies buried in the Grove City 
 cemetery. In his death the community in which 
 he had so long made his home feel that they have 
 sustained a most severe loss. He was active in all 
 good works and public enterprises, was earnest 
 in the cause of Christ, being a member of the 
 Reformed Church, and was numbered among the 
 representative and honored agriculturists of the 
 county. In his personal and business relations 
 with his fellow-men lie was thoroughly honorable, 
 and could be depended on as reliable and just. 
 His memory will ever be dearly cherished by his 
 many friends and wide circle of acquaintances. 
 
 J. CURRAN, one of the leading merchants 
 of Stonington, Christian County, 111., 
 was born October 29, 1854, in County 
 Mayo, Ireland. He was the fourth in 
 order of birth in a family of nine children, live 
 sons and four daughters, whose parents were Pat- 
 rick and Hannah (Higgins) Curran. Both pa- 
 rents were natives of the Emerald Isle, but the 
 family removed to England when our subject was 
 only about six months old. The father followed 
 the life of a farmer, and continued to make his 
 home in England until his death. The eldest 
 son, Edward, died in infancy. Bridget is deceased. 
 Mary is the wife of Timothy Dunn, who fol- 
 lows the trade of carpet-weaving in Philadelphia. 
 Frank is an engineer on a vessel plying the Lakes 
 and running between Buffalo and Chicago. John 
 is an overseer in a large distillery in England. 
 James, the youngest of the family, is also still 
 living in England. 
 
 Our subject remained at home with his parents 
 until he was sixteen years of age. He worked in 
 the cotton mills and had a very responsible posi- 
 tion for a youth of his years. He was not satis- 
 fied, however, but believed he would be afforded 
 greater opportunities by coming to the United 
 
 States. He took passage on a steamer, which en- 
 countered some very severe storms and consumed 
 twenty-one days in crossing the ocean. A sister 
 had previously located in Thompsonville, Conn., 
 and there Mr. Curran first proceeded to visit 
 her. He soon went to St. Louis, Mo., where he 
 worked for about eight months, a part of the time 
 driving a team and afterward obtaining employ- 
 ment in the car shops. 
 
 The next business undertaking of Mr. Curran 
 was in selling dry-goods, starting out from Litch- 
 field, 111., and traveling by team from point to 
 point. He followed this business for some three 
 years, after which he worked on a farm in this 
 county for three years. In company with Erastus 
 Murphy, he next engaged in the harness business 
 in Stonington. His partnership with Mr. Murphy 
 lasted about thirteen months, at the expiration 
 of which time he bought out the latter's interest, 
 and has since conducted the business by himself. 
 In 1887, he added farm implements to his stock, 
 commencing on a small scale, but eventually car- 
 rying a full line of carriages, buggies and imple- 
 ments. He is one of the wide-awake business 
 men of the town and is very ambitious. His bus- 
 iness has grown to large proportions, and now in 
 addition to his present home, he also owns the 
 building in which his store is situated. He has 
 made a comfortable fortune by his own industry 
 and enterprise, as when he came to the United 
 States he was a poor boy without a dollar. 
 
 On the 6th of October, 1887, Mr. Curran led to 
 the marriage altar Miss Sarah Shanks, who was a 
 resident of Stonington. They have one son, Rus- 
 sell Emmet. Our subject is independent at local 
 elections, but deposits his ballot for Democratic 
 candidates at National elections. When the town 
 of Stonington was incorporated, Mr. Curran was 
 made one of the Trustees. He is a member of the 
 Odd Fellows' society, belonging to Lodge No. 695, 
 of this place, with which he has been connected 
 for a number of years, and which he represented 
 in the Grand Lodge at Springfield, 111. He also 
 holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of 
 America. Mr. and Mrs. Curran have a large cir- 
 cle of friends and acquaintances, who hold them in 
 the highest respect.
 
 PORTEAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 || LBERT SATTLEY, one of the early set- 
 ^/ j tiers and well-known business men of 
 
 l/ni Taylorville, who is now living a retired 
 @jl life, has the honor of being a native of 
 Illinois, his birth having occurred in Sangamon 
 County, at South Rochester, on the 10th of April, 
 1821. His parents, Archibald and Harriet (Haw- 
 ky) Sattley, were both natives of Vermont. In 
 1819, they came to Illinois, and were married in 
 the Eastern part of the State, their union being 
 celebrated on the 13th of February, 1819, near 
 Carmi, in White County. The father was born 
 near Vergennes, Vt., October 2, 1794, and his wife 
 was born March 7, 1801. She was a twin sister of 
 Mrs. Robert Sattley, and the two brothers and their 
 wives removed to Sangamon County in June, 
 1819. Our subject was one of eight children. 
 Two died in childhood, but the others are still liv- 
 ing. His mother died October 13, 1833, and in 
 March, 1834, the father married Julia E. Sherman, 
 of Vermont. His death occurred in Sangamon 
 County, March 16, 1842. 
 
 Upon the home farm the subject of this sketch 
 was reared to manhood, and about a year and 
 a-lialf after his father's death he went to Spring- 
 field, where he engaged in clerking until April, 
 1849. Attracted by the discovery of gold in Cal- 
 ifornia, he then joined a party of twenty which 
 left the capital city for the mines. Fitting out a 
 mule-team with supplies, he crossed the plains, 
 reaching his destination after six months of travel. 
 He entered the mines at Redding, Cal., and also 
 sought for the precious metal on the Yuba River, 
 being associated with his brother-in-law, Thomas 
 Cheney. In 1850, he returned by way of the 
 Isthmus route to New Orleans, and then came up 
 the Mississippi. The boat on which he made the 
 trip had a cholera passenger on board. 
 
 At length Mr. Sattley arrived safely at home, 
 and soon afterward resumed clerking in the store 
 where he had previously been employed, there re- 
 maining until 1854, when his brother-in-law, 
 Thomas Cheney, having died, he came to Taylor- 
 ville to settle up the estate, and soon purchased Mr. 
 Cheney's interest in the store of Shumway & Che- 
 ney, the firm name then being changed to Shum- 
 way & Sattley. For two years business was car- 
 
 ried on under that style, when Mr. Sattley sold 
 out. He then purchased one hundred and sixty 
 acres,of land at $20 per acre, situated a-quarter of 
 a mile from the square in Taylorville. With the 
 exception of forty acres all this has since been 
 platted and added to the city. For two years Mr. 
 Sattley carried on farming. In 1866, he returned 
 to Taylorville, where he and his brothers, Marshall 
 and Archibald, established the Sattley Brothers' 
 plow shop. Large works were built near the Ohio 
 & Mississippi depot about 1873, and the flrm did a 
 good business for some years. They also had an 
 agricultural implement warehouse, and in their fac- 
 tory they manufactured plows, cultivators, har- 
 rows, etc. They invested about $10,000 in busi- 
 ness and enjoyed a liberal trade. Our subject 
 continued a member of the flrm until 1886. His 
 brothers carried on the business in Taylorville 
 until 1889, when they removed their works to 
 Springfield, where they still carry on operations, 
 under the name of the Sattley Manufacturing 
 Compaii3 r . While a member of the firm, Albert 
 attended to the sales department, and until within 
 two years he continued to deal in agricultural 
 implements. 
 
 On the 21st of September, 1853, Mr. Sattley 
 married Susan C. Torrey, who was born in Massa- 
 chusetts. March 18, 1831, and is a daughter of Jo- 
 seph and Abigail (Sibley) Torrey. Her father 
 was born March 25, 1788, in Connecticut. In an 
 early day he emigrated to Madison County, 111., 
 where he married Olive Slater. After his removal 
 to Sangamon County, her death occurred, in 1820, 
 and in Millbury, Mass., he was united in marriage 
 with Miss Sibley, who was born in the Bay State, 
 in 1804. With his wife he returned to Illinois 
 in 1836, and spent his remaining days in this 
 State. He died on his farm near Illiopolis, Sep- 
 tember 2, 1845, and his wife passed away in Tay- 
 lorville in 1857. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs." Sattley have been born six 
 children. Charles Albert, born July 11, 1854, died 
 in Springfield at the age of three years; Ralph, 
 born July 7, 1857, died August 18, 1858; Olive, 
 born July 26, 1859, graduated from the Illinois 
 State Normal School, at Normal, and for the five 
 years just passed has engaged in teaching in Lena,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 293 
 
 111.; Walter, horn September 10, 1861, superin- 
 tends his father's business affairs; Nellie, born 
 November 8, 1864, is cashier at the Hedrick gro- 
 cery store; and Grace, born January 27, 1869, died 
 in April, 1870. 
 
 The parents and their family are members of the 
 Presbyterian Church, are people of sterling worth, 
 and have the warm regard of a large circle of 
 friends and acquaintances. In politics, Mr. Satt- 
 ley has always been a supporter of Republican 
 principles, and served as United States Govern- 
 ment Assessor for Christian County during the 
 war. In connection with his other business inter- 
 ests he has also handled real estate, and still owns 
 several lots and business buildings in the city, 
 from which he receives H good income. He has 
 made the most of his opportunities through life, 
 and by careful attention to the details of his busi- 
 ness, as well as by industry and perseverance, he 
 has succeeded in accumulating a competence, which 
 now enables him to live retired, resting in the en- 
 joyment of the fruits of his former toil. 
 
 JOHN TILLSON ANDERSON, a contractor 
 and builder of Taylorville, has spent his 
 entire life in Illinois, his native State. He 
 was born in Montgomery County, on the 
 22d of October, 1830, and is the eighth in order 
 of birth in a family of fifteen children, all of 
 whom were reared to maturity, but only four are 
 now living. The parents were George H. and 
 Nancy (Mann) Anderson, the former a native of 
 Virginia, and the latter of Tennessee. Their mar- 
 riage was celebrated in North Carolina, and for 
 some years they lived in Kentucky. About 1827 
 they came to Illinois, locating in Montgomery 
 County. 
 
 Our subject was reared to manhood upon the 
 home farm, and educated in the district schools of 
 the neighborhood. He remained under the pa- 
 rental roof until after his father's death, when he 
 started out in life for himself. He had learned 
 
 the carpenter's trade with his father, who was a 
 carpenter as well as a farmer, and followed the 
 dual occupation. At the age of twenty-four, Mr. 
 Anderson whose name heads this record went to 
 Hillsboro, 111., and at once began contracting and 
 building. There he carried on business until 1862, 
 which year witnessed his arrival in Christian 
 County. lie located in May Township, seven 
 miles southeast of Taylorville, and for five years 
 engaged in operating a rented farm. In 1867 he 
 came to this city and at once resumed contracting 
 and building, which he has carried on continu- 
 ously since, with the exception of three years. 
 In 1875 he purchased a furniture store, which he 
 conducted until 1880, when he resumed opera- 
 tions in his present line. He contracts for all 
 classes of buildings, both brick and frame, and has 
 erected a large part of the brick blocks around the 
 square. He employs an average of six men, a 
 fact which indicates that he is enjoying a liberal 
 trade. 
 
 We now turn from the business life to the pri- 
 vate life of Mr. Anderson, and note that on the 
 5th of September, 1854, in Montgomery County, 
 111., when twenty-four years of age, he was united 
 in marriage with Rachel Easley. She died Feb- 
 ruary 1, 1867, leaving two children: Jennie, now 
 the wife of Jacob Ballet, a hardware merchant of 
 Edinburgh; and Laura, wife of Anson Simpson, 
 a teacher now employed in Foreman, N. Dak. 
 Mr. Anderson was again married, January 25, 1870, 
 his second union being with Sarah E., daughter 
 of Alfred E. Boyd, a pioneer of Christian County, 
 who had settled near Palmer at an early day. By 
 the second marriage there have been born two 
 sons and a daughter: Walter H., who is now book- 
 keeper for the Taylorville Coal Company; George 
 Burton, who is with T. B. Kraft, a plumber; and 
 Addie, a maiden of fifteen, who is still with her 
 parents. 
 
 Mr. Anderson has always been a stalwart sup- 
 porter of Democratic principles, but is not strictly 
 partisan. Socially, he is a member of the Ancient 
 Order of United Workmen and of the Indepen- 
 dent Order of Odd Fellows. He was reared in the 
 faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
 uniting with that organization at the age of six-
 
 294 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 teen, and is now serving as Elder of his congrega- 
 tion, and has done so over twenty years. Straight- 
 forward and honorable in all his business deal- 
 ings, and true to every private trust, his upright 
 life has gained him universal confidence, and the 
 record of such a man we gladly present to our 
 readers. 
 
 ^, OBERT W. ORR, who for many years has 
 been the efficient County Superintendent 
 of Schools of Christian County, and who 
 will have served in that office for seven- 
 teen years on the expiration of his present term, 
 is a resident of Taylorville and ranks among the 
 leading men of the county seat. As he is widely 
 and favorably known, we feel assured that this 
 record of his life will prove of interest to many of 
 our readers. 
 
 Prof. Orr was born in St. Clairville, Ohio, Sep- 
 tember 30, 1833, and is the eldest child of Andrew 
 and Ann (McNary) Orr, who were natives of east- 
 ern Ohio. In 1854 the family left the Buck- 
 eye State and became early settlers of Christian 
 County, locating on Buckeye Prairie, in Locust 
 Township, where the father carried on agricultural 
 pursuits until his death, which occurred two years 
 later, at the age of fifty-seven. He lived a quiet, 
 unassuming life and had the esteem of all who 
 knew him. His wife survived for some years and 
 passed away in 1882, at the age of seventy-four. 
 The last ten years of her life were spent in Pana. 
 On her husband's death she was left with a family 
 of nine children to support, and had often a hard 
 struggle to provide for them, but she nobly la- 
 bored in their behalf. The members of the family 
 who still reside in this county are Robert; Marga- 
 ret I., wife of Henry Kirk, of Taylorville; Mary 
 J., of Pana, widow of G. W. Turnham; and John, 
 who is engaged in the groceiy business in Pana. 
 Thomas A. resides in Leadville, Colo.; Andrew J., 
 in Covington, Ohio; and Kate M., in Denver, Colo. 
 Samuel M., who followed farming near the old 
 
 homestead, died at the age of fifty years; Hugh, 
 who was a soldier of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 
 died at the age of twenty-six, when home on a fur- 
 lough. 
 
 The Professor was a young man of twenty-one 
 when the family came to Illinois, and he aided his 
 father in the labors of the farm until the latter's 
 death. He was educated in the public schools and 
 in the seminary of Bloomingdale, Ohio, which he 
 attended one year. He then began teaching in the 
 Buckeye State, and after coming to this county 
 followed the same profession until his enlistment 
 for the late war. On the 14th of August, 1862, he 
 joined Company D, One Hundred and Thirtieth 
 Illinois Infantry, and was elected Orderly-Sergeant 
 on the organization of the company at Edinburgh. 
 He was ordered into camp at Taylorville, then 
 sent to Camp Butler, and in October the regiment 
 joined the army at Memphis. Tenn., where the 
 troops went into winter quarters. They joined 
 Grant's army, participating in the siege of Vicks- 
 burg, and taking part in the battles of Champion 
 Hills and Black River Bridge. They took part in 
 the entire siege against Vicksburg, and after the 
 surrender of that city went to Jackson, Miss., and 
 subsequently to New Orleans. While at New Iberia, 
 Mr. Orr was ordered to Springfield on recruiting 
 service, where he remained until May, 1864. On 
 the 1st of March he was commissioned First Lieu- 
 tenant and subsequently commanded his company 
 as Captain. During his absence as recruiting offi- 
 cer many of his company were killed or captured 
 at Sabine Cross Roads, Tex., and the regiment lost 
 so heavily that it was divided into three divisions, 
 Capt. Orr being given charge of Companies A, 
 F and D. In February, 1865, the regiment was 
 consolidated with the Seventy-seventh Illinois 
 Infantry, under which consolidatiou he was mus- 
 tered out of the service. 
 
 Mr. Orr then resumed his work in the school- 
 room and was employed as a teacher in Sharpsburg, 
 Owaneco and Taylorville, having charge of the 
 West Side schools of this city for three years. He 
 then returned to his farm in Locust Township, 
 and while there residing was elected County Su- 
 perintendent of Schools, in the fall of 1872, filling 
 the office for nine years. Then after an interval
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 295 
 
 of four years spent upon the farm, he was again 
 elected, in 1886, and re-elected in 1890, the term 
 comprising four years, so that he will continue 
 to fill the office through 1894. There are two 
 hundred and ten teachers in the county, to whom 
 from *35 to $65 a month are paid in the country 
 schools, and from $65 to $125 in the graded schools. 
 There are thirteen graded schools in the county, 
 and two township High Schools, with sixty-four 
 teachers. For twenty years annual institutes and 
 normal schools have been held for the benefit of 
 the teachers, and for ten years the session has 
 lasted from two to four weeks, with from one hun- 
 dred and fifty to two hundred in attendance. 
 
 Prof. Orr was married July 12, 1870, to Mrs. 
 Harriet E. Shumway, widow of Z. P. Shumway, of 
 Taylorville. She was born in Connecticut and 
 bore the maiden name of Harriet E. Pray. Her 
 father, Rev. Paris Pray, is still living in Taylor- 
 ville, in his eightieth year. He came here as a 
 minister of the Gospel, and about 1858 organized 
 the Taylorville Baptist Church, of which he was 
 pastor for many years. By her first marriage Mrs. 
 Orr had one daughter, Lou A. Shumway, who for 
 six years successfully engaged in teaching, but is 
 now an invalid and lives with her mother. Unto 
 the Professor and his wife have been born four 
 children: Lillie, now Mrs. Zimmerman; Daisy, 
 Frank and Charlie. Frank and Daisy are students 
 in the High School of Taylorville, and Charlie is 
 still in the ward school. 
 
 Prof. Orr was reared in the faith of the United 
 Presbyterian Church, but he and his wife now be- 
 long to the Baptist Church, in which he serves as 
 Deacon. He is a Royal Arch Mason, having been 
 initiated into the Blue Lodge in Taylorville in 
 1867, and is a member of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic. He votes with the Democratic party, 
 but is not strongly partisan, and is as popular 
 among the Republicans as among the people with 
 whom he holds similar views. During the late 
 war he was a faithful and valiant defender of the 
 country, always found at his post of duty. He is 
 true to every public and private trust reposed in 
 him and has led an honorable, upright life. No 
 higher testimonial to his efficient service in the 
 office of Count}' Superintendent of Schools can.be 
 
 given than the fact that he has so long held the 
 position. It is an office that is won by merit. 
 Under the able management of Prof. Orr the 
 schools of Christian County are in a flourishing 
 condition and would be an honor to any commu- 
 nity. 
 
 JOHN A. BOYD, a business man of Palmer 
 is a member of the firm of Simpson & Boyd ; 
 dealers in hardware and agricultural imple- 
 ments. He is a native of this county, hav- 
 ing been born in Johnson Township on the 7th of 
 October, 1859. He comes from one of the pioneer 
 families of the county, being a son of Joseph and 
 Minerva A. Boyd, whose sketch may be found on 
 another page of this volume. 
 
 John A. Boyd passed his early years on his fa- 
 ther's farm in the usual manner of farmer lads, 
 and received a good common-school education in 
 the district schools. He remained under the paren- 
 tal roof until his marriage, which occurred on the 
 3d of March, 1885. He chose for his life compan- 
 ion Miss Ida A. Cassel, who is a daughter of Al- 
 exander and Mary L. (Alexander) Cassel, of Low- 
 ell, Ohio. Three children have come to brighten 
 the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bo3 : d. They areas fol- 
 lows: Alfred C., Bunita and Mary. 
 
 For a period of fifteen years Mr. Boyd was em- 
 ployed in the grain business owned by his father, 
 and for six years of that time was placed in charge 
 of the business. In 1892 he severed his connec- 
 tion with the firm, and in February, 1893, formed 
 a partnership with James M. Simpson, and bought 
 out J. W. Lee's hardware and implement business. 
 This firm, though almost new, is 'succeeding ad- 
 mirably in conducting their new enterprise, and 
 in time will undoubtedly have a large share of 
 the local patronage. In addition to the money he 
 has invested in his business, Mr. Boyd owns a 
 good residence propert}' in Palmer. 
 
 Our subject and his estimable wife are members 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which 
 the former is one of the Elders. Politically, he
 
 2!)G 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 supports the Republican party, and social!}' is a 
 member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
 and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a 
 progressive and enterprising young man, who is 
 bound to make a success in the world of business. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Boyd move in the best social circles, 
 and have won innumerable friends in Palmer and 
 the neighboring country. Mr. Boyd is known to 
 be a man of upright character and strict integrity, 
 and here in the county of his birth, where he is so 
 well known, he is most highly esteemed. 
 
 vEERT BAUER. Among the native sons 
 of Germany who have been an important 
 factor in the progress and development of 
 Christian County, is our subject, who owns and 
 operates a farm on sections 29 and 30, Greenwood 
 Township. He is also one of the veterans of the 
 late war, and had only been in the- land of his 
 adoption about two years when he enlisted in her 
 defense. He took part in a number of important 
 battles, being in the service for three years. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Bauer occurred in the King- 
 dom of Hanover, Germany, August 9, 1842. His 
 parents, Hiram and Hannah (Schlotter) Bauer, 
 were likewise natives of Germany, and were the 
 parents of ten children, five sons and five daugh- 
 ters, namely. Heile; John, deceased; Weerl; Her- 
 mann; Engel; Albert; Annie, wife of John Dickin, 
 of Germany; Grace, wife of John Parrboom, of 
 Greenwood Township; Henry; and Mary, wife 
 of Peter Bollen, of Moweaqua. The father of 
 these children was a farmer in Germany, and died 
 in the faith of the New Lutheran Church when 
 seventy-two years of age. His wife, who was also 
 a member of that denomination, passed away about 
 1884, aged sixty-two years. She was the daugh- 
 ter of John Schlotter, who came to America in 
 1853 and after residing for two years in Madison 
 County, 111., was called from this life. 
 
 Weert Bauer was named in honor of his paternal 
 
 grandfather, who was a farmer and lived to be 
 sixty-five years old. Our subject came to Amer- 
 ica in 1860, having been for several years filled 
 witli a desire to try his fortunes in Madison 
 County, 111., where his grandfather had settled a 
 few years previously. On his arrival there he 
 worked for neighboring farmers, receiving $1.25 
 per week, and was thus employed for two years, or 
 until his enlistment in the army. He became a 
 member of Company A, Ninety-seventh Illinois 
 Infantry, and participated in the sieges of Vicks- 
 burg, Ft. Henry, Ft. Blakely and many less impor- 
 tant engagements. On his return from the war 
 he engaged in farming for one summer in Macou- 
 pin County, 111. 
 
 On the 14th of September, 1866, Mr. Bauer inar- 
 ried Mrs. Annie Miller, widow of Frederick Miller, 
 and daughter of John and Mete (Gelkin) Johnson, 
 who were natives of the Kingdom of Hanover. Ger- 
 many. Seven children were born to our subject 
 and wife, as follows: Henry; Rhinehart, deceased; 
 Rhinehart, Herman, Annie, William and Lydia. 
 Henry married Miss Emma Bair and is a resident 
 of Johnson Township; and Rhinehart, who mar- 
 ried Miss Lena Elmers, lives in Rosemond Town- 
 ship. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Bauer bought a farm of 
 eight} 7 acres in Macoupin County, 111., near Gilles- 
 pie, and there engaged in farming for seven years. 
 In 1874 he came to Christian County and pur- 
 chased a farm of two hundred and seventy acres 
 of land in Greenwood Township, on which he has 
 since continued to live. He has made a number 
 of substantial improvements upon his place since 
 it came into his possession and here carries on gen- 
 eral farming, but gives his main interest and at- 
 tention to raising stock. He has now about fifty 
 head of cattle, and deals extensively in that kind 
 of stock. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bauer are members of the German 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. The former is a 
 member of Nokomis Post No. 336, G. A. R. In 
 politics he supports the Republican party, and 
 though not desirous of political preferment has 
 been elected by his fellow-citizens to fill various 
 local offices of more or less responsibility. For six 
 years he served as Commissioner of Highways and
 
 TW Library 
 of the 
 
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 Ik* llbfifjr 
 of the 
 
 of Illhwli.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 was one of the School Trustees for over twelve 
 years. He is a business man of ability, and his 
 dealings with all have ever been marked by a 
 strong sense of justice, and his conduct is in keep- 
 ing with the Golden Rule. 
 
 ELDER ALFRED LEWIS, who is now liv- 
 ing a retired life, in Taylorville, is widely 
 known throughout central Illinois, for the 
 greater part of his life has here been passed, and 
 he has been prominent in public affairs. He was 
 born in St. Francis County, Mo., March 26, 1823, 
 and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Fleury) Lewis. 
 The father was born sixteen miles from Philadel- 
 phia, Pa., and the mother was a native of Virginia. 
 Five times the father crossed the Alleghanies. For 
 sixteen years he lived in Missouri, and in 1830 
 removed to Sangamon County, 111., locating in 
 Cotton Hill Township. In 1846, accompanied by 
 his wife, he removed to Delaware County, Iowa, 
 where he spent his remaining days, dying in his 
 one hundred and first year. His family was noted 
 for longevity, his mother having passed the ad- 
 vanced age of one hundred and fourteen years. 
 His wife died at the age of sixty, but her mother 
 survived until past the age of one hundred and 
 six. In the family were eight sons and seven 
 daughters, of whom five are now living. One son, 
 Samuel, was burned in an hotel fire in Centerville, 
 Iowa, in 1893. Alfred is now the only resident 
 of Illinois. A. G. makes his home in Montana; 
 and A. B. is a merchant in Murray, Iowa. Alvin 
 resides at Nova Junction, Iowa; and Narcissa Har- 
 mon is located in Lyons, Kan. 
 
 Alfred Lewis was a lad of only seven summers 
 when, with Ins parents, he went to Sangamon 
 County. His boyhood was not an easy one, as he 
 was reared amid the wild scenes of frontier life, 
 and was early inured to the arduous labor of de- 
 veloping wild land. At the age of eighteen years 
 his father gave him his time, and he began 
 working as a farm hand for 17 per month. 
 14 
 
 With his first wages he purchased a watch. For 
 two years he followed farm work for others, 
 and then, forming a partnership, engaged in agri- 
 cultural pursuits for himself for about three years. 
 His next business venture from 1847 to 1849 was 
 in selling "Thomas' History of the United States." 
 For three years he canvassed for that work all 
 over Illinois. Previously he had been engaged in 
 teaching classes in geography. He had also stud- 
 ied book-keeping for a day and a-half, and then 
 took charge of the books of a store. Being very 
 apt and quick, it did not take Mr. Lewis long to 
 master any branch of study in which he became 
 interested, and one of his teachers said that Mr. 
 Lewis, while a student, had taught him how to 
 teach arithmetic. 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1850, in Loami, Sanga- 
 mon County, 111., Mr. Lewis married Miss Eliza 
 Jane Abel, daughter of Dr. J. R. and Julia Ann 
 Abel, and a granddaughter of Adam Barger. She 
 was born in Rick Creek Township, Sangamon 
 County, October 28, 1832. In 1828, at the age of 
 twenty-three, her father became a pioneer of that 
 county. He engaged in the practice of medicine 
 in Sangamon, Montgomery and Christian Coun- 
 ties, and died in Taylorville May 11, 1881, from 
 the effects of an injury caused by a railroad train 
 at Edinburgh. He was then in his seventy-fifth 
 year. His widow is now living with her son John, 
 at the age of eighty-one. The grandfather, Rev. 
 Jeremiah Abel, was a pioneer Methodist minister, 
 and died in Macomb, 111. The Doctor was widely 
 known throughout the central part of the State, 
 and was au influential and highly respected citi- 
 zen. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lewis began their domestic life in 
 Loarni, Sangamon County. At that time he had 
 a capital of about $1,000, and in connection with 
 Dr. Abel he embarked in general merchandising, 
 which he carried on for a year; he did not like that 
 business, however, so operated a carding machine 
 for a year. He then turned his attention to the 
 development of land which he had entered in 
 Sangamon County, and carried on fanning from 
 1852 until 1872. He was a successful agricultur- 
 ist and acquired a handsome property. In 1872 
 he came to Taylorville in order to afford his chil-
 
 300 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 dren better educational advantages. At that time 
 he owned seven hundred acres of land in his home 
 farm, and still retains possession of four hundred 
 anfl twenty-five acres of it. He was extensively 
 engaged in stock-raising, and some years cleared 
 $1,500 from his sales in stock. He also owns four 
 farms in Christian County, with an aggregate of 
 five hundred and seventy-five acres, besides thirty 
 acres within the corporation limits of Taylorville. 
 Indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to the 
 nature of our subject, and, not content to lay aside 
 all business cares, he now has an apiary of from 
 seventy-five to one hundred and fifty stands and 
 engages in bee culture. His sales of honey have 
 amounted to from $200 to $1,000 per year. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were born nine chil- 
 dren, but four died in childhood. Sarah Sophia 
 is now the wife of James White, of Springfield. 
 Maria Adeline is the wife of W. G. Brown, of 
 Sangamon County. John S. married Minnie Mc- 
 Donald, and lives in Springfield. Louise Theresa 
 became the wife of W. E. Barber, and died leav- 
 ing one child, Clarence, aged three years. Cor- 
 nelia E. is the wife of J. B. Colman, of Taylorville. 
 In connection with his extensive business inter- 
 ests, Mr. Lewis has found time to devote to the 
 cause of the Master, and has been a local preacher 
 of the Christian Church since 1860. He is a char- 
 itable and benevolent man, and the needy and 
 distressed find in him a friend. He has a fine 
 library, containing all of the standard authors, and 
 is a well-read man. His life has been well and 
 worthily spent, and in his declining years he can 
 look back over the past with little regret for lost 
 opportunities. 
 
 JOSEPH H. BOYD has been a resident of 
 Christian County for about half a century i 
 and is one of the representative men of this 
 section. He owns a fine farm in Bear 
 Creek Township, and is also engaged in dealing in 
 grain in Palmer. His residence is on his farm, 
 
 which is situated half a mile east of the village. 
 Mr. Boyd was born in Christian County, Ky., Jan- 
 uary 21 1834, his parents being Alfred and Zilla 
 A. (McCormick) Boyd. The father was a native 
 of North Carolina and passed his youth in Ten- 
 nessee. His wife was born at Herndon, Christian 
 County, Ky., where Alfred Boyd made her ac- 
 quaintance and where their marriage was cele- 
 brated. 
 
 The father was a farmer by occupation, and on 
 his arrival in Illinois, on the 6th of April, 1839 
 he located on a farm in this county. He became 
 the owner of fifty-eight acres of wild prairie land 
 and as the years passed increased the extent of his 
 possessions until his property comprised two hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight acres, besides residence prop- 
 erty in Palmer. He was one of the pioneer set- 
 tlers, as there were only a few families in this 
 neighborhood when he located here, among them 
 being Gabriel R. and Lewis Jernigan, William 
 Ricks, Col. Bond, Emanuel T. Lee, Sr., Joel 
 Trailor and Mr. Clark, About that time Jesse and 
 Tom Anderson also located here. Mr. Boyd was 
 killed by the cars in 1880, at the age of seventy - 
 one years. He was a son of John Bo3'd, who was 
 a native of North Carolina, and during the Rev- 
 olutionary War was in the service a short time 
 He was also a farmer, and reared a large family oi 
 fourteen children.. His death occurred in Ten- 
 nessee, at the age of eighty-seven years. 
 
 Our subject's mother was a daughter of Andrew 
 McCormick, who was also from North Carolina, 
 He followed agricultural pursuits for a liveli- 
 hood, and died at Herndon, Ky., while still a 
 young man. Our subject is one of thirteen chil- 
 dren, eight sons and five daughters. Eight of the 
 number are still living: Joseph H.; James M.; 
 Elizabeth E., widow of Cyrus Denny, of Bond 
 County, 111.; Alfred E.; Robert A., of California; 
 'Eliza, wife of John Anderson, of Taylorville; 
 Josiah L.; and Mary, widow of George E. Ander- 
 son, of Lincoln, 111. The mother of these children 
 died at the age of sixt3 - -six years. Both she and 
 her husband were members of the Cumberland 
 Presbyterian Chinch, in which Mr. Boyd was a 
 Deacon for about forty years. 
 
 Joseph II. Boyd of this sketch was not yet six
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 301 
 
 years of age when his parents removed to this 
 county. He was reared on his father's farm, and 
 remained at home until his nineteenth year. In 
 early life his education was limited, but he after- 
 wards pursued his studies by himself and learned 
 surveying. On leaving home he was first em- 
 ployed on a farm during the summer, and in the 
 fall and winter seasons worked for five years in a 
 sawmill, located between Palmer and Taylorville. 
 Being ambitious and frugal, he managed to lay 
 aside a considerable sum, which he invested in 
 land, and farmed during the summer. During the 
 last two years of his work in the mill, he acted as 
 foreman. 
 
 On the loth of September, 1858, Mr. Boyd was 
 united in marriage with Miss Minerva A. Donald, 
 daughter of John and Polly Donald, of Bond 
 County, 111. Seven sons and two daughters were 
 born of this union. John A. married Miss Ida 
 Cassel and has a family of three children, Alfred 
 C., Bunita and Mary. James A. married Miss 
 Minnie Kirvy and has one daughter, Vera. They 
 reside on the old homestead. Adelai M. wedded 
 Miss Lizzie Heuffner, and they live in Appleton, 
 Mo., where he is a half-owner in the Appleton 
 City Mills. Otis H. is the next in order of birth. . 
 Ewing D. married Miss Cora Corn. Calvin O. and 
 Robert are the sixth and seventh of the family. 
 Olive Luella married James Shrout, of Palmer, and 
 is the mother of one child, Earl. Flossie A. com- 
 pletes the family. The mother of these children 
 was called from this life April 3, 1886, at the age 
 of forty-five years, one month and twenty days. 
 She was a devout member of the Cumberland 
 Presbyterian Church and numbered many friends 
 in the neighborhood of her home. 
 
 Our subject engaged in farming in Johnson 
 Township until 1864, carrying on a farm of one 
 hundred and thirty-three acres. He then sold the 
 place and purchased six hundred and forty acres 
 of improved land in Bear Creek Township, and 
 also bought considerable other property, about 
 eleven hundred acres in all. He is still devoting 
 himself to the cultivation of this land and has 
 been very successful as an agriculturist. He has 
 good improvements upon the farm, which is one of 
 the best in this region. 
 
 A marriage ceremony was performed August 5, 
 1891, whereby Mrs. Florence Davis became the 
 wife of Mr. Boj'd. She was the widow of Alex- 
 ander Davis, and a daughter of Harrison and 
 Lizzie (Hawthorne) Marquis. One child has been 
 born unto Mr. and Mrs. Boyd, a daughter, Emily 
 Elizabeth. The mother was formerly identified 
 with the Methodist denomination, but is now a 
 member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
 
 In the financial crisis of 1873 our subject met 
 with severe reverses, as at that time he went secur- 
 ity for some men for a large sum of money. It 
 was a number of years before he recovered from 
 these losses, but he is now prospering financially. 
 He has given his children a good education, and is 
 giving his boys a good start in business. In pol- 
 itics, he is a very strong Republican, but has de- 
 clined to fill office. He is a member of Palmer 
 Lodge No. 501, I. O. O. F. 
 
 PLETCHER HAINES, one of the prominent 
 stock-raisers and farmers of Bear Creek 
 Township, whose residence is on section 
 5, where lie owns a valuable farm, has lived in 
 the Prairie State since 1829. He was born in Ken- 
 tucky, near the village of Scotsville, November 5, 
 1824, and was therefore only about five years of 
 age when he arrived in Illinois. 
 
 The parents of the gentleman of whom we write 
 were Christopher and Myra (Gatewood) Haines. 
 The former was a native of Virginia, while the 
 latter's birth occurred in Georgia. The mother 
 was a daughter of Roland Gatewood, of that State, 
 who married and removed to Kentucky, where lie 
 died in middle life. Christopher Hiines was for 
 many years engaged in farming in Barren County, 
 Ky., where he was one of the early settlers. In 
 1829, he removed with his family to Illinois, set- 
 tling near the Torrence Mill, in Sangamon County, 
 where he was one of the pioneers. There he con- 
 tinued to reside until his death, which occurred 
 about 1851, at the age of fifty-three years. His
 
 302 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 wife survived him until 1860, dying when about 
 sixty years of age. They were members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, and were devoted 
 Christians. 
 
 In the family of ten children who grew to ma- 
 turity, our subject is the fifth in order of birth. 
 Only six of the family are yet living, the others 
 being as follows: John G., Samuel, Frances A., 
 Benjamin K. and William F. The boyhood of 
 Fletcher Haines was mainly passed in Sangamon 
 County on his father's farm, in the cultivation of 
 which he assisted until attaining his majority. 
 He received a good common-school education for 
 those days, and obtained a practical experience in 
 carrying on a farm. 
 
 On the 14th of September, 1848, Mr. Haines 
 wedded Miss Lucinda Jane, daughter of James 
 Hatler, of Kentucky. By that union were born 
 two children: J. Will and Sarah M. The latter 
 died in infancy, and the mother passed away in 
 
 1851. The son wedded Miss Susan Kessler, and 
 is a resident of Taylorville. Their family com- 
 prises two children : Fred K. and Floy A. 
 
 The present wife of Mr. Haines was formerly 
 Miss Lydia Ann Anderson, and her marriage 
 with our subject was celebrated November 4, 
 
 1852. Her parents were Thomas and Nancy 
 (Laughlin) Anderson, of Kentucky. By this un- 
 ion were born eight children, the two elder of 
 whom, Thomas T. and Edgar D., are now de- 
 ceased. Millard C. was united in marriage witli 
 Miss Annie M. Young, by whom he has three 
 children: Dwight D., Glenn and Lyman. Nancy 
 Elizabeth became the wife of S. W. Hayes, and has 
 two sons: Francis Clyde and Lester Calvin. Mary 
 J. became the wife of Jacob Schnepp, and has four 
 children: Roy, Harry, Charlie and Fred. Sherman 
 II. married Miss Henrietta Kauriff, and has one 
 child living, Russell Fletcher. Edith M., now Mrs. 
 George Schnepp, is the mother of two sons: Er- 
 nest F. and Carroll D. One child who died in in- 
 fancy, unnamed, completes the family. 
 
 In February, 1855, Mr. Haines removed to this 
 county, becoming the owner of three hundred 
 acres of land, a portion of his present farm, which 
 at the present time comprises over eight hundred 
 acres. Though he has engaged in general agricul- 
 
 ture, he has paid particular attention to raisinj 
 stock, cattle and horses, mules and hogs. Whei 
 he first came to the county few fences had beei 
 placed on the land, and there were no houses ii 
 sight of his home. He is numbered among th 
 early settlers of this locality and is one of its ref 
 resentative men. During the late war he held th 
 office of Justice of the Peace, and has also serve 
 in several local offices.. He was in the Mexica 
 War, and four of his brothers participated in th 
 War of the Rebellion. In politics, he espouses th 
 measures of the Republican party, and is active! 
 in its success. 
 
 PRANCIS M. LONG, who is 
 gardening and fruit-growing in Taylo 
 ville, is one of the worthy citizens thi 
 Ohio has furnished to Christian County. He is 
 native of Belmont County, of the Buckeye Stat 
 his birth having there occurred on the 16th ( 
 January, 1852. He comes, however, from an ol 
 Pennsylvania!! family. His grandfather, Williai 
 N. Long, was a native of the Ke3 r stone State, an 
 served as a soldier in the War of 1812. E 
 reached the advanced age of eighty-four year 
 His son, William Long, tlie father of our subjec 
 was born in Pennsylvania, but in his 3'outh L 
 emigrated to Ohio, where he became acquainte 
 with and married Miss Susanna Sears. Nine chi 
 dren were born of their union, six sons and lint 
 daughters, but 01113' three are now living: F. M 
 William N. and Albert. In 1866 William Lou 
 left Ohio and emigrated with his family to Wayn 
 County, 111., locating upon a farm, where he mad 
 his home until 1877. He then came to Christia 
 County, where he has since made his home. II 
 served for a short time in the Civil War, and wa 
 ever a loyal citizen. His wife died in May, 1891 
 She was a member of the Methodist Episcop? 
 Church, and was an active worker in its interests 
 We now take up the personal history of Franci 
 M. Long, who is widely and favorably known ii
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 this community, and his sketch therefore will 
 prove of interest to many of our readers. The 
 first fourteen years of his life were spent in the 
 State of his nativity, and he then came with his 
 parents to Illinois. He remained upon the home 
 farm until he had attained man's estate, and to 
 his father gave the benefit of his services. The 
 district schools of the neighborhood afforded him 
 his educational privileges. On starting out in life 
 for himself, he followed the occupation to which 
 he had been reared, and for a number of years car- 
 ried on agricultural pursuits in southern Illinois. 
 
 An important event in the life of Mr. Long oc- 
 curred on the 3d of April, 1873, when was cele- 
 brated his marriage with Miss Julia Jones, a daugh- 
 ter of Thomas and Emma (Andrews) Jones, who 
 are natives of this State. Five children have been 
 born of their union: Elma, Edward, Cora, Charlie 
 and Edith. The family circle yet remains un- 
 broken, and all are still under the parental roof. 
 
 The parents are members of the Christian Church, 
 and are highly respected people, whose true worth 
 has gained them many friends. Socially, Mr. 
 Long is connected with Camp No. 30, M. W. A.. 
 and politically he is a supporter of the Democratic 
 party. Mr. Long has a good home in Taylorville 
 and three and a-half acres of land, upon which he 
 raises garden vegetables and all kinds of fruit. In 
 the market he finds a ready sale for his products, 
 and is now doing a good business, which he well 
 merits. 
 
 
 ,ICHARD B. TEMPLE, the efficient and 
 popular Mayor of Taylorville, is a man of 
 sterling worth, whose excellencies of char- 
 ) acter and fitness for the position have 
 placed him at the head of municipal affairs in his 
 adopted city. He claims Tennessee as the State 
 of his nativity, and was born in Knoxville April 
 4, 1846, being a son of James and Mary E. (Alex- 
 ander) Temple, the former a native of Georgia, 
 and the latter of South Carolina. In 1849, when 
 
 their son was only three years of age, they came 
 to Illinois, locating on a farm in Greene County, 
 where the father died two years later. The mother 
 was thus left with a large family dependent upon 
 her. In her later years she removed to Wichita, 
 Kan., where her death occurred. 
 
 Our subject was educated in the public schools, 
 and remained at home until sixteen years of age, 
 when he began earning his own livelihood. Since 
 that time he has been dependent upon his own re- 
 sources, so that whatever success he has achieved 
 is due entirely to his own industry and enterprise. 
 He entered upon his business career in a grocery 
 store in Rockbridge, 111., where he was employed 
 as a salesman for two years. He then went to 
 Macon,Macon County, where he engaged in clerk- 
 ing in a drug store for about five years. At the 
 age of twenty-three he came to Christian County, 
 111., and embarked in merchandising in his own 
 interest. He also began dealing in live stock and 
 subsequently formed a partnership with A. B. 
 Chapman. When he began business for himself 
 he had a capital of about $1,000. After two years 
 he was joined by Mr. Chapman, and operations 
 were carried on under the firm name of R. B. 
 Temple <fe Co. for two years, they doing a large 
 business. Mr. Temple continued business at Ston- 
 ington for two years after the dissolution of the 
 partnership, and during that time sold over $50,- 
 000 worth of goods, besides making extensive 
 deals in live stock. 
 
 In the latter line of business Mr. Temple has 
 since continued. Removing to St. Louis, he con- 
 tinued in the live-stock commission business for 
 one year, and was live-stock agent for the Mis- 
 souri Pacific Railroad, having charge of the Kan- 
 sas business, with headquarters at Wichita, Kan. 
 He opened up the Kansas territory for the Mis- 
 souri Pacific Railroad Company and secured a 
 fine share of the trade in that line. 
 
 Returning to Christian County, Mr. Temple re- 
 sumed business in his own interest, and continued 
 his residence in Stonington until September, 1891, 
 when he came to Taylorville. He yet continues 
 to make extensive shipments of stock from Ston- 
 ington, Willey, Taylorville and Owaneco. He 
 handles about $75,000 worth of stock per year, and
 
 304 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in some years bis sales of cattle, sheep and hogs 
 have reached $150,000. For four years he has been 
 engaged in feeding from five hundred to eight 
 hundred head of cattle annually, and from five 
 hundred to two thousand hogs. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1872, Mr. Temple mar- 
 ried Miss Hattie A. Peabody, of Stonington, daugh- 
 ter of W. S. Peabody, deceased. Their union has 
 been blessed with two daughters: Maud, who is a 
 student in the High School; and Edith G., deceased. 
 Mrs. Temple and her daughter are members of the 
 Presbyterian Church. Mr. Temple is a member of 
 the Modern Woodmen. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican, for two years served as Supervisor of Stou- 
 ington,'and in April, 1893, was elected Mayor of 
 Taylorville over J. B. Ricks. He has never had a 
 law suit, but has lived a quiet, unassuming life, 
 that has gained him the confidence and high re- 
 gard of all with whom business or pleasure has 
 brought him in contact. 
 
 ENJAMIN HAMLIN H ARGRAVES, who is 
 engaged in general farming on section 28, 
 Pana Township, owns and operates ninety 
 acres of the rich land of Christian County. 
 His farm is one of the best improved places of the 
 neighborhood, neat in appearance and highly cul- 
 tivated. The owner is a native of Virginia. He 
 was born in Sussex County, on the 26th of Sep- 
 tember, 1815, and is a son of Robert Hsu-graves, 
 who was born and reared in the same State. The 
 paternal grandfather, Jesse Margraves, was a 
 native of England, and was the founder of the 
 family in America. Robert became a farmer by 
 occupation, and also followed school-teaching for 
 a number of years. He married Nancy Ellis, who 
 was also born in the Old Dominion and was of 
 English and Scotch descent. Her father, Benja- 
 min Ellis, was likewise a native of England. The 
 marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hargraves was celebrated 
 in Sussex County, and they there began their do- 
 
 mestic life upon a farm. He served as a privati 
 in the War of 1812, and after that struggle thej 
 removed to Kentucky, in 1816, there making theii 
 home until 1830, when they came to Illinois. Lo 
 eating at Edwardsville, Madison County, they re 
 moved thence to Macoupin County, 111., where Mr 
 Hargraves entered land from the Government anc 
 began the development of a farm, upon which IK 
 resided until his death, which occurred at the ag< 
 of sixty-six years. The mother there passed awaj 
 at tlje same age. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was the second soi 
 and child in a family of five children. He was 
 only a year old when his parents left Virginia anc 
 went to Kentucky, where he remained until i 
 youth of fifteen, when he accompanied the familj 
 to Illinois. He was reared in the usual manner o; 
 farmer lads and received such educational privi 
 leges as the district and subscription schools af 
 forded. Experience and observation and con tad 
 with men and things have made him a well-in' 
 formed man. Like a dutiful son, he remainec 
 with his parents until their deaths, and tenderlj 
 cared for them in their old age, as they hac 
 done for him in childhood. He is now the ownei 
 of a good farm of ninety acres on section 38, Pans 
 Township, where he successfully carries on agrl 
 cultural pursuits. 
 
 Mr. Hargraves was once a member of the Far- 
 mers' Alliance but is not now connected with thai 
 society. In 1892, he made a trip to Oregon on 
 the Northern Pacific Railroad and spent about foui 
 months in the Far West, visiting many points ol 
 interest on the journey. He has long lived in this 
 neighborhood, and has therefore witnessed mud 
 of the growth and development of the county 
 He is recognized as a valued citizen and one that 
 manifests a commendable interest in all that per- 
 tains to the welfare of the community in which he 
 now makes his home. 
 
 On the 3d of December, 1878, Mr. Hargraves 
 was united in marriage with Louise M. Randle, a 
 daughter of John H. and Sarah (Arnold) Randle. 
 the former a native of North Carolina, and the 
 latter of Virginia. They were pioneer settlers of 
 Illinois. Mr. Randle first came to this State about 
 1814, and was for some years in the United States
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 305 
 
 Land Office at Vandalia. In 1825 he went to 
 Kentucky and married Sarah Arnold, and three 
 years later returned to this State. Settling at 
 Edwardsville, Madison County, he there built a 
 mill, which he lost by Jire soon after it was erected. 
 He later removed to Macoupin County, where he 
 spent the remainder of his days. 
 
 In early life Mr. Hargraves was a Whig in poli- 
 tics and cast his first Presidential vote for William 
 Henry Harrison, in 1840. He has been a supporter 
 of the Republican party since its organization. 
 
 LLIAM M. STIVERS is a self-made man 
 and enterprising agriculturist, who makes 
 his home on section 35, Mosquito Town- 
 ship. From his eighteenth year he has made his 
 own way in the world, and has risen from poverty 
 to a secure income and to a place as one of the 
 substantial business men and citizens of Christian 
 Count}'. He is a native of Kentucky, born in 
 Jefferson County, on the 19th of March, 1844. 
 
 Felix Stivers, father of our subject, was also a 
 native of Jefferson County, Ky., and passed his 
 entire life in his native State. He followed the 
 occupation of a farmer, and was also master of the 
 cooper's trade. His father was one of the early 
 settlers in the blue grass region, and was of Irish 
 descent. Our subject's mother, who bore the 
 maiden name of Edna Frederick, was born in Jef- 
 ferson County, Ky., and is still living, though 
 having passed the allotted three-score and ten 
 years. She was the mother of twelve children, ten 
 sous and two daughters, only three of whom have 
 passed away. 
 
 William M. Stivers remained under the parental 
 roof until he was nearly eighteen years of age, 
 when he started out to make his' fortune. Com- 
 ing West, he arrive'd in Maeon, 111., near which 
 place he worked by the month on a farm. He 
 continued to be employed by farmers for the suc- 
 ceeding five years. He was industrious and care- 
 ful with his money, and therefore in the course of 
 
 a few years he was enabled to purchase a farm for 
 himself. Previous to this he rented a farm in 
 Christian County for several years, and has thus 
 been a resident of the count} 7 for considerably 
 over half a century. 
 
 On the 10th of November, 1867, Mr. Stivers 
 wedded Miss Mary E. Masters, who was born in 
 Maryland. They have had a family of ten chil- 
 dren, five sons and five daughters: Cora I., Will- 
 iam Franklin, Lou Edna, Daniel, Myrtle, Jessie, 
 Albert Clay, Emma, Arthur and Altha. The chil- 
 dren are all at home, and the older ones have re- 
 ceived good common-school educations. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Stivers is a member of Blue 
 Mound Lodge No. 595, I. O. O. F. He sup- 
 ports the Democratic party, but has never been 
 prevailed upon to accept any local position within 
 the gift of his fellow-citizens. His desirable farm 
 is situated three and a-half miles northwest of Blue 
 Mound. He has brought the place under good 
 cultivation, and has made many substantial im- 
 provements upon it. No man in the community 
 is more highly esteemed, and his neighbors accord 
 him the reputation of being an honorable, enter- 
 prising and upright man. His success in his busi- 
 ness life is the result of his well-directed energy 
 and honest toil, for he commenced in life without 
 a dollar, and with only his determination to suc- 
 ceed and strong willing hands wrth which to hew 
 his fortune. He has succeeded in a marked de- 
 gree, and well deserves the competency which he 
 has acquired. 
 
 fF^ I CHARD N. EMERSON, deceased. Among 
 
 ^M$ the worthy pioneers of Christian County 
 
 *i was our su ' 3 J e ct, who was one of the first set- 
 
 tiers of Stonington Township. He was a 
 
 man of good education and was a musician of no 
 
 small merit. He was born February 17, 1825, in 
 
 Fayette County, Ky., and was the eldest of the 
 
 large family born to Perry and Catherine (Al- 
 
 dridge) Emerson. The father was of German an-
 
 306 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 cestry and followed tbe occupation of a farmer. 
 He passed from this life after having reached an 
 advanced age. His wife was also a native of Ken- 
 tucky, and was only thirty-five years of age at the 
 time of her demise. 
 
 Richard Emerson was only a small child when 
 his mother died. His 3'outh was passed in farm- 
 ing during the summer months and attending 
 school during the winter. He taught in Kentucky 
 for several years, and continued in that pursuit 
 during the first winter of his residence in Stoning- 
 ton Township, this county, to which he came in 
 1854. Becoming the owner of eighty acres of 
 prairie land, he found his time occupied for sev- 
 eral years in bringing it under cultivation. He 
 taught school, however, during the winter months 
 for a number of years. 
 
 The marriage of our subject to Miss Ann E. 
 Keiser took place May 2. 1854. Mrs. Emerson 
 was born August 29, 1835, in Fayette County, Ky., 
 being a daughter of James L. and Abigail (Stipp) 
 Keiser. Her father was born near Lexington,Ky., 
 and came to Christian County, 111., in 1854, at the 
 same time as our subject! He was a farmer and 
 engaged in tilling the soil until his death, when 
 in his fifty-fourth year. His wife, also a native of 
 Kentucky, died in that State, aged fort_y-one 
 years. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Emerson became the parents of 
 eleven children, six sons and five daughters: Thad- 
 deus W., a farmer of Christian County; Joseph 
 M., also a farmer, of Stonington Township: Elliott 
 M., likewise a farmer of the same township; Henry 
 J., who now owns the old homestead, and is one 
 of the prominent young men of Hie community; 
 Reuben L., a resident of California; George H., 
 who is engaged in farming in Christian County; 
 Abbie, wife of William Hull, of Taylorville; Ola, 
 who owns a store in the same city; Mary E., wife 
 of B. F. Winter, an agriculturist of this commu- 
 nity; and Ha G. and Emma G., who both died in 
 childhood. 
 
 A poor man on his arrival in Christian County, 
 Richard Emerson left at his deatli two hundred 
 and seventy acres of well-improved land. His 
 deatli occurred March 10, 1882. He was quite in- 
 terested in political affairs, voting for the Repub- 
 
 lican nominees. As he was one of the first set- 
 tlers of the township, he was called upon to fill 
 nearly every local office within the gift of the peo- 
 ple. He lies buried in the old Stonington Ceme- 
 tery, where his last resting-place is marked by a 
 substantial monument. He had a host of friends 
 and no enemies. His widow survives him and still 
 resides on the old homestead. In the early 'days. 
 Mr. Emerson often went a number of miles to play 
 for a dance or the entertainment of a party of set- 
 tlers gathered at the home of one of the number, 
 He delighted in music and was a good musician 
 for those days. 
 
 JOHN DAPPERT is one of the extensive 
 land-owners of Christian County, and is 
 ranked among the substantial citizens oi 
 Taylorville, where he now makes his home 
 A native of Bavaria,'Germany, he was born on the 
 7th of September, 1827, and in 1835, at the age oi 
 eight years, came with his widowed mother tc 
 America. Crossing the Atlantic, he took up hii 
 residence in Holmes County, Ohio, where he grew 
 to manhood. There he served an apprenticeship 
 for three and a-half years with his step-father 
 learning the shoemaker's trade. He then sought 
 employment in the same line, and worked for five 
 months at $5 per month. At the age of seventeer 
 he began business for himself, opening a shop ir 
 Killbuck, Ohio. For some time he continued hi; 
 labors in that State. With his tools in a sack 
 which he hung over his shoulder, he would go front 
 house to house among the farmers and make shoes 
 for the members of the family. At intervals h( 
 also engaged in splitting rails. At the end oi 
 about two years he had accumulated some 160 
 and with his hard-earned savings he opened a shoj 
 for himself. When twenty-one years of age, he 
 had become owner of eighty acres of land, worth 
 *500. To this he added from time to time as his 
 financial resources were increased, until his farm 
 comprised one hundred and eighty acres. In con-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 307 
 
 nection with the cultivation of his land, he also 
 worked at his trade, and in 1864 he had accumu- 
 lated about $5,000. 
 
 As a companion and helpmate on life's journe} 7 , 
 Mr. Uappert chose Miss Catherine Silveus, who was 
 born in Wayne County, Pa., but from her sixth 
 year lived in Ohio. Their marriage was celebrated 
 on the 7th of November, 1846, and by their union 
 were born the following children: Mary Ann, who 
 became the wife of Wesley Resler, and died at 
 the age of thirty; George, who died at the age of 
 twenty-five; John M., who died in infancy; Joseph 
 M., who died in childhood; Rosanna, who died in 
 infancy; Henry A., a resident farmer of Johnson 
 Township; James W., a surve3'or and City Engi- 
 neer of Taylorville; Amanda, wife of J. C. Large, 
 of Locust Township; Lucy C., wife of Elmer Sho- 
 over, who is living near Indianapolis, Ind.; Sarah 
 Catherine, wife of Lewis Henney; Emma M., wife 
 of Elmer Brooking, who operates the old home 
 farm; and Otto Elmer, who died at the age of four 
 years. They also have sixteen grandchildren and 
 one great-grandchild. 
 
 The year 1864 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Dap- 
 pert in Christian County. He settled in Johnson 
 Township, purchasing two hundred acres of land 
 at $22 per acre. This was an improved farm and 
 to its cultivation he successfully devoted his en- 
 ergies until the autumn of 1892. He had also 
 made other purchases, and his landed possessions 
 aggregated six hundred acres, divided into three 
 farms of three hundred and sixty, one hundred and 
 sixty, and eighty acres respectively. He engaged 
 in raising wheat and made a specialty of the breed- 
 ing of cattle, sheep and hogs. Mr. Dappert also 
 owns nine hundred and sixty acres of land in 
 Grant and Stevens Counties, Kan. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Dappert hold the religious 
 faith of the United Brethren Church and are mem- 
 bers of Mound Chapel, in Johnson Township. They 
 have been closely connected with church work, 
 and take an active part in all that pertains to the 
 upbuilding and promotion of the cause. Mr. Dap- 
 pert exercises his right of franchise in support of 
 the Prohibition party, being a strong advocate of 
 temperance principles. A self-made man, all that 
 he now possesses has been acquired through his 
 
 own efforts and the assistance of his industrious 
 and frugal wife, for he started out in life empty- 
 handed. Overcoming the difficulties in his path 
 and surmounting the obstacles, he has steadily 
 worked his way upward to success. 
 
 W. MORGAN is numbered among 
 the enterprising farmers of Bear Creek 
 Township, and has made his home since 
 1865 on his farm, which is situated on section 5. 
 In addition to general farming he has devoted a 
 great deal of his time and attention to raising 
 horses, cattle and hogs. He was born in Fayette 
 County, Ky., near the city of Lexington, on the 
 23d of March, 1835. His parents were James and 
 Belinda (Raney) Morgan, who were also natives 
 of Kentucky. The father was a farmer by occu- 
 pation, and removed with his family from Ken- 
 tucky to Illinois in 1837, making a settlement 
 near Springfield, in Sangamon County. He there 
 became owner of a good farm, comprising some 
 two hundred acres, which he cultivated until his 
 death, which occurred in 1868. His wife had died 
 several years previously. She was a member of 
 the Baptist denomination, while he adhered to the 
 faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 George W. Morgan was one of six children, three 
 sons and three daughters. Three of the number 
 are now deceased. Zerilda is the wife of George 
 Runyan; and Philemon resides near Wellington, 
 Sumner County, Kan. The youth of our subject 
 was passed in Sangamon County, on his father's 
 farm, where he was early inured to the duties and 
 cares of farm life. He lived under the parental 
 roof until reaching man's estate. In 1865 he 
 came to Bear Creek Township, Christian County, 
 and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of 
 land, to the cultivation of which he has devoted 
 himself up to the present time. He has raised 
 large numbers of horses, cattle and hogs, giving 
 his special interest to the raising of Norman draft
 
 308 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 horses. As an agriculturist and business man, he 
 has met with distinct success, being accounted one 
 ot' the most thrifty farmers of the neighborhood. 
 His place is a model one in every respect, and is 
 kept up in the best possible manner. 
 
 On the 9th of September, 1859, Mr. Morgan was 
 united in marriage with Miss Martha, a daughter 
 of Abisha and Millie (Funderburk) Rape. The 
 mother was a native of Illinois, while the fa- 
 ther came fr.om Tennessee. To our subject and 
 his estimable wife was born a family of twelve 
 children, six sons and six daughters. Thomas, 
 the eldest, chose for his wife Miss Charlotte Ges- 
 ell. They have two living children, Bertha and 
 Stella. Albert and Mary are next in order of 
 birth. William wedded Miss Maggie Mitchell. 
 The other living children are: Clara, Millie, James 
 and Effle. John F., Sarah F., Moses and Addie 
 are deceased. 
 
 Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan hold mem- 
 bership with the Methodist Church. Our subject 
 has always been a Democrat, having cast his vote 
 in. favor of its nominees ever since attaining his 
 majority. He has discharged the duties pertain- 
 ing to several township offices with credit to him- 
 self and to the satisfaction of his friends and 
 neighbors. He is a man of true worth and recog- 
 nized merit, being just and upright in all his busi- 
 ness transactions, and being a.man in whom all 
 may place implicit confidence. 
 
 &jft LBERT GILBERT BARNES, of Taylor- 
 ^pu| ville, is well known to the people of 
 
 //flii Christian County. Thomas Macaulay says 
 (Hi' that the history of a country is best told 
 in the lives of its people. This is certainly true 
 in recording the life work of such men ns our sub- 
 ject, who has not only witnessed the growth and 
 development of the county but has been identified 
 with its progress and upbuilding and has aided in 
 its advancement. Many of the most important 
 business concerns of Taylorville are the result of 
 the enterprise and industry of Mr. Barnes. 
 
 Born in Harrisburg, Pa., on the 4th of Septem- 
 ber, 1835, our subject is a son of Daniel and Mar- 
 garet A. (Richardson) Barnes, who were also na- 
 tives of the Keystone State. His father was a 
 hardware merchant. In 1840 he came to Illinois 
 and located in the capital city. He carried on a 
 general store in Springfield, and after coming to 
 Taylorville, in 1858, bought a hardware store, 
 which he successfully conducted until his death. 
 It was the largest establishment of the kind in 
 this place, and its proprietor was recognized as a 
 leader in business circles. 
 
 At five years of age Albert Barnes went to 
 Springfield, at fifteen removed to Decatur, and at 
 twenty left that city. While there, however, he 
 learned the printer's trade and helped set up and 
 roll the first sheet that ever came from a Deca- 
 tur press. This was in 1852. The publication 
 was the Decatnr Gazelle, of which James Shoaff was 
 proprietor. Mr. Barnes worked at the case for 
 one year, then aided his father in the store, and 
 was also employed for one year as salesman in a 
 clothing store. On the 5th of September, 1855, 
 he came to Taylorville, and opened a clothing 
 store,. the first exclusive store of the kind in this 
 city. His stock was valued at about $1,200, but 
 owing to constantly increasing demands it was 
 steadily enlarged, and he continued trade in that 
 line alone until 1862. At that time his stock was 
 valued at $10.000. In 1862 he added a stock of 
 general merchandise and carried on business alone 
 as a dry-goods merchant until 1871, when the 
 present firm of Chamberlain & Barnes was formed. 
 This partnership has existed continuously since 
 1871, during which time they have worked up a 
 very large and profitable business. They deal ex- 
 clusively in dry goods, carpets and millinery, and 
 carrv a well-selected stock of about $30,000. Mr, 
 Chamberlain had formerly been a salesman in the 
 employ of J. V. Farwell, of Chicago. 
 
 Other business interests also occupied the atten- 
 tion of Mr. Barnes, who in 1867 established the 
 Christian County Bank. After a year his partner 
 Col. John Williams, of Springfield, President oi 
 the First National Bank of the capital city, re- 
 tired, and the concern became known as the A. G, 
 Barnes Bank. On the 1st of January, 1893, his
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 309 
 
 son, A. T. Barnes, became a partner, and business 
 is now carried ou under the style of A. G. Barnes 
 & Co. Our subject is Treasurer of the Taylorville 
 Coal Company and owns a quarter-interest in its 
 property. He is also Treasurer of the Taylorville 
 Gas Company and has large real-estate interests. 
 He built the first brick storeroom of the city in 
 1866, and now has four good business rooms 
 around the square. He platted and added eight 
 acres to the city, under the name of the Barnes 
 Addition. He is also owner of the well-known Oak 
 Lawn Slock Farm, in connection with his eldest 
 son, B. L. This is situated two and one-fourth 
 miles southwest of Taylorville, and comprises nine 
 hundred and eighty-five acres. Th*ey make a 
 specialty of breeding fine standard-bred trotting 
 horses, and have on hand upwards of one hun- 
 dred registered animals, and about forty standard 
 brood mares. In connection with the Oak Lawn 
 training stables there is a good half-mile track, 
 with twenty-four box-stalls. They have in train- 
 ing a number of choice colts from some of the 
 most distinguished trotting families in America. 
 Some of them give promise of becoming very 
 speedy, and taking rank among the record-break- 
 ing flyers of the present. Among the many men- 
 tion can only be made of a few of the most 
 prominent, as "Nut Pine," 2:15^, sired by "Nut- 
 wood," dam "Maggie Wilkes," by " George 
 Wilkes;" " Sidney Bell, "a three-year-old, sired by 
 "Sidney," 2:19, sire of " Frou Frou," a yearling 
 with a record of 2:24^. Some of the finest horses 
 in the State are found upon Oak Lawn Farm, and 
 its stock deservedly brings the highest prices. 
 
 We now turn from the "business to the private 
 life of Mr. Barnes, and note that on the 28th of 
 August, 1861, in Mechanicsburg, was celebrated 
 his marriage with Miss Henrietta Branson, daugh- 
 ter of Ben Branson and a native of Sangamon 
 County. They have a family of five children, 
 namely: Benjamin Lincoln, Albert Thompson, 
 Mary Henrietta, Clara May and AVilliam Edward. 
 They" also lost two in infancy: Henry A. and 
 Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have been members 
 of the Presbyterian Church -since 1857. He is a 
 Knight-Templar Mason, belonging to El wood 
 Commandery of Springfield. He has been Treas- 
 
 urer of Mound Lodge No: 122, A. F. <fe A. M.; 
 also belongs to Taylorville Chapter No. 102, R. A. 
 M., and to Hazelmere Chapter, O. E. S., of which 
 his daughter, Clara May, is also a member. In 
 politics, he is a supporter of Republican principles 
 but has never sought public office, preferring to 
 devote his energies to his business interests, in 
 which he has met with signal success. 
 
 JAMES MUIRSON TAYLOR, the senior mem- 
 ber of the firm of Taylor & Abrams, at- 
 torneys-at-law of Taylorville, is of Scotch 
 birth. He was born on the 2d of Decem- 
 ber, 1839, in New Byth, Abcrdeenshire, Scotland, 
 and is a son of Samuel and Isabella (Lawrence) 
 Taylor. His father was a bookbinder and book- 
 seller, a man of superior intelligence and an in- 
 cessant reader, who took a great delight in collect- 
 ing rare books, of which he possessed many. He 
 also took an active part in the establishing of cir- 
 culating libraries. He and his wife were members 
 of the Baptist Church, and carefully looked after 
 the religious training of their children. 
 
 Our subject was only about five years old at the 
 time of his mother's death. He inherited a liter- 
 ary taste, and his books were his dearest compan- 
 ions in boyhood. With an elder sister and younger 
 brother, he sailed from Aberdeen, April 24, 1854, 
 and crossed the Atlantic to the New World, join- 
 ing a sister who was living near Millburn, Lake 
 County, 111. There he began working as a farm 
 hand at $7 per month. He also attended school 
 in Lake County, and in the fall of 1856 went to 
 La Crosse, Wis., where he aided in setting up an 
 engine in a sawmill and became assistant engineer. 
 He was thus employed for a year, after which he 
 returned to Lake County, where he engaged in 
 teaching school during the winter seasons. He 
 had attended for a limited time the High School 
 of Kenosha, Wis., and the academ}' of Wauke- 
 gan, 111. 
 
 Prompted by a desire to aid his country in her
 
 310 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 struggle to preserve the Union, Mr. Taylor joined 
 the boys in blue August 1, 1862, and became a 
 member of Company C, Ninety-sixth Illinois In- 
 fantry, his younger brother, John Y., having en- 
 listed in the same company. The regiment was 
 assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and took 
 part in all the engagements -throughout the sum- 
 mer of 1863. Mr. Taylor was left at a hospital 
 for six weeks in Tennessee, and then rejoined his 
 command in Georgia. May 9, 1864, at Buzzard's 
 Roost, just after the Atlanta campaign had begun, 
 he was wounded, a gun-shot shattering his right 
 arm, which on the 27th had to be amputated. 
 This terminated his career as a soldier. He re- 
 mained in the hospital until the 27th of July, 
 when he was sent home, but gangrene set in and 
 for a long time his life was despaired of. October 
 had come before he was even able to ride, and it 
 was nearly a year before he had sufficiently recov- 
 ered his strength to engage in any kind of labor. 
 He was discharged March 20, 1865, with the rank 
 of Second Sergeant. His brother was wounded 
 at the battle of Chickamauga, and died from the 
 effects of snid wound November 24, 1863. 
 
 When lie had somewhat recovered his health, 
 Mr. Taylor went to Philadelphia and took a course 
 of book-keeping in Bryant & Stratton's Business 
 College. In January, 1866, he became a student 
 in the law office of Blodgett, Upton & Williams, 
 and there remained until October 1, 1868, although 
 he was admitted to the Bar in March of that year 
 before the Supreme Court. At the date above 
 mentioned, he came to Taylorville and formed a 
 partnership with Judge Andrew Simpson, which 
 connection continued two years. The firm of 
 Taylor & Abrams has been in existence three 
 years and does a general law practice, receiving a 
 liberal share of the public patronage. 
 
 On the 26th of November, 1868, Mr. Taylor 
 was married in Waukegan, 111., to Miss Adelia A. 
 Stewart, a native of this State, and unto them have 
 been born seven children, as follows: Samuel S., 
 who is now proprietor of a book store in Taylor- 
 ville; Mary F., who was educated in Mt. Carroll 
 Seminary and Moulton College; Mabel Geneva and 
 Leslie J., who are students in the High School; 
 John W., George G. and Clara Isabel. The fam- 
 
 ily circle yet remains unbroken and the children 
 are still at home. The household is the abode ol 
 hospitality and its members rank high in social 
 circles. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Baptist 
 Church and take an active part in church work, 
 He has served as Trustee for a number of years 
 and has also been Superintendent of the Sunday- 
 school. The early religious training given oui 
 subject by his parents has borne fruit in his 
 honorable, upright life. Socially, he is a mem- 
 ber of the Odd Fellows' society and Encampment 
 belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to Francis 
 M. Long Post No. 392, G. A. R. In these various 
 orders he has held a number of offices. In poli- 
 tics, he is an inflexible adherent of the Republican 
 party, and has been an active campaign worker 
 making many speeches in support of the candi- 
 dates of that party. With the same fidelity, with 
 which he went to the relief of his country when 
 the Union was in danger, .he discharges his duties 
 of citizenship, taking an active interest in all thai 
 pertains to the welfare of the community. He has 
 now been engaged in the practice of law with 
 marked success for about a quarter of a century 
 and is classed among the prominent legal practi- 
 tioners of Christian County. 
 
 JB. WADDINGTON, a farmer, residing on 
 section 26, Rosemond Township, and a hay 
 and grain dealer of the village of Rose- 
 mond, is a native of the Buckeye State, 
 He was born in Harrison County, on the 30th ol 
 November, 1839, and is a son of William and Ann 
 (Wallace) Waddington. His father was born in 
 England, and in his native land was reared tc 
 manhood. On attaining his majority, he crossed 
 the Atlantic and located in Harrison County 
 Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Miss 
 Wallace, a native of Stark County, that State 
 They located upon the farm where our subject 
 was born, and there resided until 1851, when they
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 311 
 
 removed to Tuscavawas County, Ohio. There the 
 father's death occurred at the age of seventy-five 
 years, while the mother was called to her final rest 
 at the age of sixty -eight. Unto them was born a 
 family of nine children, six sons and three 
 daughters. 
 
 Our subject is the eldest. He was eleven years 
 of age at the time of the removal to Tuscarawas 
 County, where he was reared to manhood, re- 
 maining under the parental roof until he had 
 attained his majority. Mr. Waddington has been 
 twice married. In 1862, he chose as a companion 
 and helpmeet on life's journey Miss Mary J. 
 Ximmerman, a native of Ohio, who died, leaving 
 four children: Emma, who is now living in the 
 Buckeye State; Anna, wife of Charles Negley, of 
 New Philadelphia, Ohio; Maggie, wife of Edward 
 Loney, of the Buckeye State; and Harry, who 
 married Aggie Dodge, and is now a prominent 
 farmer of Rosemond Township. Mr. Waddington 
 was again married, on the 8th of June, 1873, his 
 second union being with Miss Maria C. Grimes, 
 who was born in Mill Township, Tuscarawas 
 County, Ohio, and in that community resided 
 until eighteen years of age, when she removed to 
 New Philadelphia. Eight children grace this 
 union, four sons and four daughters, as follows: 
 Lucy, Jennie, Grace, Mary, James C., Emmett, 
 Frank and Ralph. 
 
 After his first marriage, Mr. Waddington located 
 on a farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where he 
 carried on agricultural pursuits until the spring of 
 1881, when he came to Christian County. He 
 took up his residence upon the farm which is still 
 his home. It comprises one -hundred and sixty 
 acres of good land, and the place is well improved 
 with good buildings, and the fields are well tilled. 
 In connection with general farming he entered 
 into the grain and hay business in 1892, and has 
 an elevator in Rosemond. Industry and enter- 
 prise are numbered among his chief characteristics 
 and have doubtless been the means of bringing 
 him the success which has crowned his efforts and 
 made his life a profitable one. 
 
 In his political views, Mr. W'addington is a 
 Republican. He has served as School Director, 
 and the cause of education finds in him a warm 
 
 friend. He himself is a well-informed man, hav- 
 ing gained a good general knowledge, not only 
 through textbooks, conned in the schoolroom, 
 but through experience and observation as well. 
 Socially, he is connected with the Modern Wood- 
 men Lodge of Rosemond, and is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. 
 
 EH. DAVIS was for many years one of 
 the respected agriculturists of Taylorville 
 Township, and owned a farm located on 
 section 2, to the cultivation of which he gave his 
 attention until he was summoned to rest from his 
 labors. He was born in Warren County, Ohio, 
 near Lebanon, October 25, 1827, being one of 
 eleven children whose parents were Richard and 
 Rebecca Davis. 
 
 The boyhood of our subject was passed in the 
 usual uneventful mannerof a life which is spent on 
 a farm, but there he received a practical training in 
 agricultural duties, which was the basis of his fu- 
 ture success. His time was divided between ac- 
 quiring an education in the district schools and 
 rendering such assistance as was in his power to his 
 father. On attaining his majority he began working 
 at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for only 
 a couple of years, and then returned to farming. 
 He remained in Warren County, Ohio, until 1854, 
 when he determined to try his fortune in the 
 West. 
 
 On his arrival in Illinois Mr. Davis first set- 
 tled in Adams County, where he became the owner 
 of a one hundred and twenty acre farm, on which 
 he continued to live for twelve years. In the 
 spring of 1866 he came to Christian County, and 
 after renting land for two years, while making up 
 his mind where to invest, he purchased a farm 
 on section 2, Taylorville Township, which was his 
 home until his death. This place comprises one 
 hundred and sixt}' acres and is well adapted for 
 general farming and stock-raising. 
 
 Prior to leaving his native State, Mr. Davis was
 
 312 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 united in marriage on the 10th of November, 1851, 
 to Miss Adria M. Beel, who is a daughter of Noah 
 and Rebecca (Kirby) Becl, natives of Warren 
 County. Mrs. Davis is one of ten children, and by 
 her marriage has become the mother of eight, as 
 follows: John C., who operates the old homestead; 
 George C., a resident of Taylorville; James II 
 who lives in Missouri; Alice M., wife of Reube 
 Bunstine, of Renton, Wash.; Richard, who is 
 farmer of Taylorville Township; Adolphus, who 
 also located in the State of Washington, being 
 farmer in Thurston County; Jennie, wife of Frank 
 Anderson, of Taylorville; and Isabella, who lives 
 with her mother. 
 
 In everything pertaining to the public welfare, 
 Mr. Davis was greatly interested, and held a num- 
 ber of offices within the gift of the people. Among 
 others he was Road Commissioner and School Di- 
 rector, and was a stanch supporter of the best edu- 
 cational facilities. In politics, he affiliated with the 
 Democratic party. Both he and his wife were 
 members of the Dunkard Church, to which the 
 latter still belongs. The death of Mr. Davis oc- 
 curred April 14, 1873, and his remains were in- 
 terred in Taylorville Cemetery. He was respected 
 and beloved by all who knew him, and was a man 
 of upright character and true worth. 
 
 eONRAD STORK is the fortunate possessor 
 of one of the best improved farms of Ston- 
 ington Township, his home being made on 
 section 33. The farm is located only two miles 
 south of Stonington Station. Mr. Stork, who is one 
 of the representative farmers of Christian County 
 and a native of Germany, was born November 21, 
 1837, in Bavaria, being the youngest in his fa- 
 ther's family. 
 
 John and Barbara (Mauelem) Stork, the parents 
 of our subject, were, like him, natives of Bavaria. 
 The father was a wagon-maker by trade, which 
 calling he followed until his death, which occurred 
 
 when he was in the prime of life, at forty-foui 
 yeaj-s of age. His wife did not long survive him 
 but was called from this life in her fifty-first year 
 
 A lad of only eight years at the time of his fa- 
 ther's death, Conrad Stork went to live with ar 
 uncle on a farm, where he continued to make hi; 
 home for five years. He was only thirteen when 
 he crossed the Atlantic and went to work on a 
 farm near Utica, N. Y., for $3 per month. At this 
 employment he continued for five years, afterward 
 going to Adams Count} 7 , III., where for four yean 
 longer he worked by the month for farmers. Go- 
 ing from there to Logan County, he was employed 
 at farm work until the 9th of August, 1862, when 
 he enlisted for the defense of his adopted land, 
 Joining Company B, One Hundred and Sixth Illi- 
 nois Infantry, he served until the close of the war 
 but never participated in an important battle, 
 He was discharged from the service July 12, 1865, 
 at Pine Bluff, Ark. 
 
 On his return from the war, Mr. Stork clerked 
 for three years in a general store in Logan County, 
 after which he rented and operated a farm one 
 year. For fourteen years subsequently he rented 
 land in Austin Township, Macon County. Com- 
 ing to Stonington, this county, in 1885, he became 
 the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of 
 partly improved land, on which he still resides. 
 It is now one of the best pieces of property in the 
 township. The owner has made many improve- 
 ments upon it and has set out several acres of fruit 
 trees. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Stork and Miss Mary E. 
 Schick was celebrated October 28, 1865, soon after 
 his return from the South. The lady was born in 
 Logan County, 111., and is a daughter of Frank 
 and Margaret (Young) Schick, who were old set- 
 tlers of that county and both natives of Germany. 
 Mr. Schick located in Illinois in 1839, and for 
 many years prior to his death, which occurred at 
 the age of seventy years, he was engaged in mer- 
 chandising in Pulaski. Seven children have been 
 born to our subject and wife. Frank is still at 
 home and assists in managing the home farm; 
 Annie is the wife of Henry Polk, a former of Ne- 
 braska; Katie married William Colbrook, a farmer 
 of this county; Lizzie, Maggie, Christina and John
 
 rORTEAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 313 
 
 complete the family. Mr. Stork and the other 
 members of his household are members of the 
 Catholic Church. He deposits his ballot in favor 
 of the Democratic party. 
 
 .^ffl AMUEL BROWN, who is now living a re- 
 ^^? tired life in Taylorville, was born in Cum- 
 (fi^J berland County, Pa., two miles from Carl 
 
 ~^^ isle, February 26, 1818. His father, George 
 Brown, removed to Ohio with his family in 1831, 
 and in 1845 went to Shelby County, 111. About 
 1854 he left Taylorville and went to Blooming- 
 ton, where his death occurred in 1857. 
 
 Samuel accompanied the family to the Buckeye 
 State in 1831, and with his father learned the 
 shoemaker's trade. Ere leaving Ohio, he was mar- 
 ried, on the 31st of March, 1839, in Mt. Vernon, 
 to Miss Margaret Sapp, and the following year 
 started Westward with a desire to try his fortune 
 on the broad prairies of Illinois. He cast in his 
 lot with the early settlers of Shelby County, and 
 there purchased a small tract of land. In those 
 days trade was mostly barter. Mr. Brown operated 
 his farm in Cold Spring Township, which was sit- 
 uated a mile and a-half north of Williamsburg, 
 until the autumn of 1846, when he began working 
 for James C. Morrison, a tanner. He worked 
 that winter at Mr. Morrison's home, and the next 
 spring he opened the first shoe shop in Taylor- 
 ville. Since that early day he has been promin- 
 ently connected with the various interests of this 
 city. Mr. Morrison's was the only tannery in the 
 locality. Our subject formed a partnership with 
 that gentleman, and together they carried on busi- 
 ness for one year, after which the connection was 
 discontinued and Mr. Brown was in business alone 
 until 1852. 
 
 In 1852, our subject resumed farming, which he 
 followed for two years. In 1854, he went West to 
 Nebraska, but the Indians still held that country 
 and he could not enter land until May, 1855. 
 While waiting at Mormons' Ferry, on the Missouri 
 
 River, he lost his wife, who was called to her final 
 rest in January, 1855. However, he continued 
 his journey, and, crossing the river, made a claim 
 on Rock Creek, of which he took possession in 
 May. There he remained for two years and then 
 returned to Illinois. Again taking up his resi- 
 dence in Taylorville, he was here variously em- 
 ployed for some years. He carried on farming, 
 dealt some in real estate, and for an extended 
 period served as Constable, tie was elected to 
 that office in 1858, and for thirteen consecutive 
 years filled the position with credit to himself and 
 to the satisfaction of all concerned, as is indicated 
 by his long term. Mr. Brown has also engaged in 
 renting houses. He has built a number of resi- 
 dences, which he rents, and also has the rental of 
 dwellings belonging to other parties, but, practi- 
 call3 r ,he is living a retired life, and his rest is well 
 deserved, for his career has been a busy and useful 
 one. 
 
 Mr. Brown was a second time married, May 3, 
 1857, Amanda C. Brown becoming his wife. She 
 was at that time a resident of Cass County, Neb., 
 but was born in Ohio, and was reared in Decatur, 
 111. Her father, Henry M. Brown, was the propri- 
 etor of the Social Hall Hotel of that city. By 
 the first marriage were born six children: Willard 
 Jackson, who is a carpenter and Street Commis- 
 sioner of Taylorville; Harriet, wife of Levi A. 
 Witherell, of Taylorville; Martha Ellen, wife of 
 William Fasriacht, of Denver; Adelaide, who be- 
 came the wife of W. B. Nicodcmas, of Taylorville, 
 and died at the age of forty; Jerome, who died in 
 infancy; and Oliver, who died in Taylorville, in 
 1883, at the age of thirty. By the second union 
 were born the following*children: Clara, wife of 
 P. D. Biggs, of Kansas City, Mo.; Etta, wife of 
 W. H. Moore, of Taylorville; Eva, who is a success- 
 ful teacher, now employed in Assumption; Minnie, 
 also a teacher in the schools of Assumption; Edna, 
 who is cashier and book-keeper in the Morrison 
 store of Taylorville; Grace, who died at the age 
 of seven years; two children who died in infancy; 
 and Eugene and Roy H. at home. 
 
 Mr. Brown has been an eye-witness of the 
 growth of Christian County for more than half a 
 century and has been prominently identified with
 
 314 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 its upbuilding and development, doing all in his 
 power for the promotion of its best interests. He 
 well deserves to be numbered among its honored 
 pioneers, and is justly classed among its best citi- 
 zens, for his life has been one of uprightness and 
 has won for him the high respect of all. 
 
 JOHN G. DRENNAN, Taylorville's young 
 and brilliant attorney, was born in Caldwell 
 County, Ky., December 3, 1854. His pa- 
 rents were John L. and Henrietta (Wim- 
 burley) Drennan, the former of Irish, and the 
 latter of French and German, descent. Their 
 early ancestors came from the Old Country to the 
 Carolinas and went thence to Kentucky. The 
 family moved from the latter State to Illinois in 
 the fall of 1856, and settled in Mt. Auburn, 
 Christian County. Subsequently they occupied 
 the Drennan homestead in Mosquito Township, 
 where the _subject-of this sketch worked on his 
 father's farm until he had attained his majority, 
 with the exception of the last three winters, when 
 he taught school, giving his father all the proceeds. 
 On the 15th of March, 1876, John Drennan en- 
 tered the law office of Hon. B. Jones, of Taylor- 
 ville, as a law student. He passed a most thorough 
 written examination for admission to the Bar at 
 Springfield, December 3, 1878, acquitted himself 
 with much credit, and received the highest grade 
 in a class of seventeen applicants. In January, 
 1879, Hon. H. M. Vandeveer, one of the Judges of 
 the Fifth Judicial Circuit, appointed him Master 
 in Chancery of the county, which position he filled 
 for two years. About the same time he formed a 
 law partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Jones, 
 which continued until the fall of 1880, when Mr. 
 Drennan was elected State's Attorney of his 
 County. His success as a lawyer and prosecuting 
 attorney was quite pronounced from the start. He 
 was re-elected State's Attorney in the fall of 1884, 
 and continued to fill that position acceptably until 
 the expiration of his term, in the fall of 1888, 
 
 when lie declined further candidacy. He wa 
 a vigorous and uncompromising prosecutor an 
 during his eight years' service secured over on 
 thousand convictions, with less than twent' 
 acquittals. As State's Attorney he paid over t 
 the school fund of the county nearly $3,500, 
 larger sum than has been paid by all the prosecut 
 ing attorneys from the organization of the count 
 up to the present time, although the county ha 
 always had excellent prosecutors. Mr. Drennan, be 
 ing an active and uncompromising Democrat, th 
 Republicans, who secured the control of the Boan 
 of Supervisors of the county about the close of hi 
 term, sought to break him down by a partisan in 
 vestigation. After a most thorough investigatior 
 instead of Mr. Drennan being a defaulter, th 
 county was found to be indebted to him ove 
 $200, which the succeeding Board of Supervisor 
 paid him. 
 
 Mr. Dren nan's accomplishments as a lawyer an< 
 business man are as varied as the avenues of th 
 profession. He is strong in all its departments, am 
 prosecutes or defends civil or criminal cases will 
 equal ardor and success. He has been on almos 
 every important case that has been tried in Chris 
 tian County within the past ten years, and ha 
 also practiced much in the counties of Sangamon 
 Macon, Shelby, Forsythe and Montgomery. H 
 has taken part in more than twenty murder trial 
 with exceptional success, and he prosecuted tin 
 only case where capital punishment was admin 
 istered in the county. Mr. Drennan 's keen sens 
 of public justice and his personal courage receivec 
 a powerful test in the upsand downs of the famou. 
 Emma Bond case, lie vigorously prosecuted the de 
 feudants, but when the mob broke into the jail anc 
 took the three defendants to the court house yar( 
 to hang them, Mr. Drennan at the risk of his owr 
 life, which was loudly and furiously threatened 
 faced the mob, and in a speech of over an houi 
 brought the maddened and misguided crowd tc 
 their senses and secured the return of the prison 
 ers to the jail, for which he received an autograpt 
 letter of thanks from Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, thei 
 Governor of the State. 
 
 For years Mr. Drennan has been the locaKattor- 
 ney for the Wabasb and Ohio & Mississippi Rail-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 315 
 
 road Companies, the Panama Coal Company, and 
 the First National Bank of Taylorville, and lias 
 practiced much in the Appellate, Supreme and 
 Federal Courts. He was one of the attorneys 
 that tested and defeated, in the Supreme Court, 
 the noted Truck Store Law. He recently assisted 
 the United States District Attorney, Hon. W. E. 
 Shutt, in representing the Government in tlie pros- 
 ecution of the famous Benton-Newby case, in the 
 Federal Court at Springfield, 111., in which the 
 victory of the Government was most signal. Over 
 two hundred and fifty witnesses were examined, 
 the case lasting for two weeks. Mr. Drennan 
 opened the argument for the Government in a 
 three-hour speech, which was characterized by the 
 St. Louis, Springfield and other papers as the most 
 powerful and convincing speech ever delivered in 
 the Federal Court. 
 
 Mr. Drennan is an industrious, enterprising and 
 public-spirited citizen. He began penniless, and 
 has accumulated quite a competency, having now 
 over twelve hundred acres of good land in 
 this county. He organized the Taylorville Coal 
 Company, the Electric Light Company, and assisted 
 in the organization of the First National Bank of 
 Taylorville, of which he was a Director until he 
 removed to Springfield. John E. Hogan, a prom- 
 ising young lawyer, who was formerly a student 
 of our subject, has been in partnership with Mr. 
 Drennan for several years, and the connection still 
 continues in Taylorville. 
 
 On the 1st of June, 1892, Hon. John M. Palmer, 
 now United States Senator for Illinois, and Hon. 
 "William E. Shutt, now United States District Attor- 
 ney for the Southern District of Illinois, who have 
 for years formed one of the foremost law firms 
 of Springfield, invited Mr. Drennan to join them 
 as a full partner. He accepted the offer and re- 
 moved to Springfield, where he still resides,and we 
 are reliably informed that the association has been 
 most agreeable as well as profitable to all con- 
 cerned. Mr. Drennan has long held the position 
 of Judge Advocate of the State of Illinois in the 
 Uniformed Rank of the Order of Knights of 
 Pythias, with the rank of Colonel, and a like posi- 
 tion on the staff of Gen. Barkley, of the Second 
 Brigade of the Illinois National Guards. He 
 15 
 
 served several terras on the Board of Aldermen 
 in the city of Taylorville, and was regarded as a 
 public-spirited and efficient officer. 
 
 On the 26th of May, 1881, Mr. Drennan mar- 
 ried Maggie, daughter of Dr. L. B. Slater, of 
 Taylorville. He and his wife are the happy pos- 
 sessors of two energetic boys: Leonard H., born 
 January 4, 1888; and Walter R., born October 20,' 
 1889. Their last child, a beautiful little girl, died 
 in infancy. For several years before her marriage, 
 Mrs. Drennan was a teacher in the public schools 
 of Taylorville. She is an accomplished lady, a 
 woman of rare judgment, and to her wise counsel, 
 faithful companionship and practical economy, Mr. 
 Drennan attributes much of his success. Our sub- 
 ject is a man of pleasing address, frank and open 
 in manner, though firm in his convictions. Quick, 
 logical and resolute, possessing excellent qualities 
 for combining forces, he is devoted to his profes- 
 sion, and we predict for him a bright future. 
 
 |jj? NDREW JACKSON WILLEY is the senior 
 ||O member of the firm of A. J. Willey & Son, 
 
 Jfflfi of Taylorville, dealers in lumber. A na- 
 il^ tive of Ohio, he was born in Ross, Hamil- 
 ton County, January 31, 1832, and is a son of 
 Horace and Anna (Tate) Willey. His father was 
 a native of Massachusetts, and his mother of Penn- 
 sylvania, hut in youth they emigrated to Ohio, 
 where their marriage was celebrated. Their re- 
 maining days were spent in Hamilton County, 
 where they were highly respected citizens. The 
 father enlisted for the War of 1812, but was never 
 mustered in. 
 
 The subject of this sketch spent the days of his 
 boyhood and 3'outh in his parents' home, and re- 
 mained in the county of his nativitj 7 until twenty- 
 six years of age. On attaining his majority he 
 left the parental roof and began earning his own 
 livelihood. On the 31st of December, 1857, he 
 was united in marriage with Miss Mary Miller, and
 
 316 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in March, 1858, emigrated Westward with his 
 young wife. With the hope of bettering his fi- 
 nancial condition in Illinois, he cast his lot among 
 the early settlers of Christian County, locating 
 eight miles south of Taylorville, on Buckeye 
 Prairie. He had twice visited this county before, 
 and was pleased with its prospects and advantages. 
 With a capital of $2,000 he reached his destination, 
 and invested the same in land, buying a partially 
 improved tract of two hundred acres, at $13 per 
 acre. 
 
 For many years thereafter, Mr. Willey was en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits. He remained upon 
 his first farm until 1871, and increased its value 
 to from $35 to $40 per acre. He raised both grain 
 and stock, and made his place one of the best 
 farms in the community. In 1871, he came to 
 Taylorville. He purchased a farm near Willey 
 Station, five miles from the county seat, on the 
 Wabash Road. That comprised two hundred and 
 forty acres, and he also bought another tract of 
 one hundred and twenty acres. Tins land he op- 
 erated successfully for fourteen years, and in addi- 
 tion carried on stock-raising, although he still 
 made his home in the city. In 1884, however, he 
 retired from agricultural pursuits, and in 1887 he 
 opened a lumber-yard in Taylorville, on the Ohio 
 & Mississippi Railroad. 
 
 In 1875, Mr. Willey was called upon to mourn 
 the loss of his wife, who died on the 5th of May. 
 He was again married, May 23, 1878, his second 
 union being with Cordelia, daughter of George 
 W. Vollentine, one of the early settlers of Bond 
 County, where she was born. They have one son, 
 Horace S., who has been a partner in the lumber 
 business since 1889. 
 
 Willey Station was named in honor of an uncle 
 of our subject, Israel Willey, who is now deceased. 
 He gave the site of the town and did much for its 
 upbuilding. He came to Christian County in 
 1845, and was one of its large land-holders. His 
 death occurred about twenty years ago. 
 
 In his political views, Mr. Willey has always 
 been a Republican and ever votes that ticket, al- 
 though he has never been an office-seeker. For 
 twenty years he has been a member of the Presby- 
 terian Church. In addition to his business in 
 
 Taylorville, he is also interested in Chicago n 
 estate. He invested about $12,000 in the luml 
 trade and now does an annual business of $40,0( 
 In addition they have a branch yard at Owanei 
 Mr. Willey is a man of good business ability, a 
 his success in life has been achieved as the resi 
 of his labor, perseverance and enterprise. His < 
 reer has been characterized by honorable dealin. 
 and he has therefore gained the confidence and 
 teem of all with whom he has been brought 
 contact. 
 
 REDERICK PAYNE, who is now maki 
 s home in Palmer, is retired from bu 
 iss life, enjoying a well-earned rest afi 
 years of industrious effort in the battle of life. ] 
 is a veteran of the late Civil War, and in times 
 peace as well as in the hour of his country's pe 
 has been a patriotic citizen. He was born in Gi 
 rard County, Ky., February 1, 1826, being a son 
 Robert and Sarah (Stipe) Payne, who were be 
 natives of the Blue Grass State. 
 
 The paternal grandfather of our subject, A 
 brose Payne, came to America at the time of t 
 Revolutionary War, soon after the close of whi 
 he settled in Kentucky, and there reared his lar 
 famil}'. His death occurred when he was still 
 the prime of life. Frederick Slipe, the rnateri 
 grandfather, was a native of Scotland. On co 
 ing to America, he went to Indiana, where 
 made his home for some years, engaged in agrici 
 tural pursuits. In later years he removed to Ke 
 tucky, where he lived to a good old age. 
 
 The life occupation of Robert Pavne was th 
 of a farmer, and most of his 3'ears were spent 
 Kentucky. In early life he lived for four ye* 
 in Indiana, but returned to his native State. '. 
 1850 he removed with his family to Illinois, ai 
 made a settlement in Christian County, on Be 
 Creek, in the township of the same name. The 
 he bought and carried on a farm of one hundn 
 acres. He did not long survive his removal, as 1
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 317 
 
 3ied July 24, 1851, aged fifty-one years. His wife 
 iied a few days later, on the 3d of August. They 
 were members of the Baptist Church, in which Mr. 
 Payne was an officer. 
 
 Our subject is one of a large family which con- 
 sisted of five sons and eight daughters. Only 
 ;hree of the number are now living. Kittie Jane 
 s the wife of William T. Fulcher, of Mattoon, 111.; 
 ind Martha Susan is the wife of Frank Hay, of 
 Indianapolis, Ind. The boyhood of Frederick 
 Payne was passed in Kentucky, and with his par- 
 ints he removed to Illinois in 1850. Since that 
 ime he has been a resident of this county with 
 he exception of one year spent in Montgomery 
 bounty. His early education was received in the 
 ild-fashioned subscription schools of the day. 
 iVild game was then abundant in this region, and 
 'requently deer, wolves and wild turkeys fell be- 
 :ore his unerring aim. He resided with his pa^ 
 ents until reaching man's estate. His farm com- 
 irises one hundred and ninety-three acres of good 
 and, a part of which is in the corporate limits of 
 he town. Mr. Payne also owns other desirable 
 illage properly and has acquired a competence 
 or old age. 
 
 On the llth of September, 1846, Mr. Payne was 
 inited in marriage with Miss Mary Ann Bell, a 
 laughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Allen) Bell, of 
 [entueky. By this union three sons and two daugh- 
 ers were born, who are in order of birth as fol- 
 DWS: Lewis F., now deceased; Robert; Sarah E. and 
 Willis M.. also deceased; and Mary Jane. Robert 
 larried Miss Mary J. Compton, and has two chil- 
 ,ren, Emma and Robert. Mary Jane, who became 
 lie wife of Thomas Bradley, of Palmer, is the mo- 
 her of eight children, as follows: Lillie Belle, 
 Idith Ann, Frederick, Clara F., James, Minnie 
 lay, Hiram and Eva. 
 
 For a number of years Mr. and Mrs. Payne were 
 lembcrs of the Baptist Church, but of late years 
 ave been identified with the Christian Adventist 
 Ihurch. In politics, our subject is a Republican 
 nd served for one year as Justice of the Peace, 
 )uring the War of the Rebellion he went to the 
 efense of the Union, his name being' enrolled as [ 
 
 member of Company G, Fifth Missouri Cavalry, 
 le served for three years and six weeks, taking 
 
 part in a number of important skirmishes and bat- 
 tles, and was sent in the raid after Gen. Price. He 
 is now a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public. 
 
 JAMES HENRY DICKERSON, one of the 
 most prominent physicians of Christian 
 County, now resides in Taylorville, al- 
 though his practice extends far beyond the 
 limits of the city. In professional circles he cer- 
 tainly ranks high, and his skill and ability make 
 his reputation well deserved. The Doctor was 
 born in Washington, Ind., June 24, 1847. His 
 parents, John and Mary (Bell) Dickerson, were 
 natives of Kentucky, and when young people 
 came to Illinois. They were married in Sangamon 
 County, and afterward removed to Indiana. The 
 grandfather, Isaac Dickerson, had .emigrated to 
 this State, but left it for the Hoosier State. The 
 maternal grandfather, Robert Bell, also became 
 one of the pioneers of Sangamon County. John 
 Dickerson returned with his family to Sangamon 
 County, and there lived for many years, but he 
 and his wife now reside on their farm a mile west 
 of Taylorville. Throughout life he has followed 
 agricultural pursuits. In the family were six 
 children, five of whom are yet living. One 
 daughter, Alice, is now the wife of Dr. A. F. 
 Hammer, of Taylorville. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was on\y three years 
 of age when his parents returned to Sangamon 
 County. Upon the home farm he remained until 
 seventeen, when for two years he attended the 
 State Normal School. He then engaged in teach- 
 ing for two winters, while in the summer months 
 he aided his father in the labors of the field. 
 Previous to this time he had begun reading 
 medicine, and while teaching, during his leisure 
 hours and at other spare moments, he studied 
 medicine in the office of Dr. Brooks, of Spring- 
 field. Later he pursued a course of study in the 
 Philadelphia Medical College, from which he was 
 graduated in the Class of ^70 with the degree
 
 318 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 of M. D. After thirteen yenrs of practice he took 
 a post-graduate course in Rush Medical College, of 
 Chicago; two years later took the Bellevue 
 regular course, and six years afterward, when he 
 had practiced for twenty years, took the regular 
 course at the medical department of the California 
 University. The Doctor has spared neither labor 
 nor expense in perfecting himself in his profession. 
 
 After his first graduation. Dr. Dickerson located 
 at Blackburn, which was then scarcely more than 
 a blacksmith shop. He expected to remain there 
 only a short time, but his practice steadily in- 
 creased and yielded him a good income, so that he 
 extended his residence there until it had covered 
 a period of sixteen years. After a time he secured 
 the postofflce at that place, built a store, and 
 carried a stock of general merchandise. He also 
 received a liberal patronage in that line, enjoying 
 a flourishing trade. 
 
 On the 3d of Mnrch, 1875, the Doctor was 
 united in marriage with Miss Mary J.Humphreys, 
 daughter of A. B. N. Humphreys, one of the 
 pioneer settlers of South Fork Township. She is 
 one of seveu children, three of whom are now 
 living. Born in Springfield, 111., she was a maiden 
 of ten summers when her parents came to Chris- 
 tian County. With the Methodist Church she 
 holds membership, and throughout thecommunity 
 she is recognized as a most estimable Iad3 r . 
 
 In 1886 Dr. Dickerson went to Los Angeles, 
 Cal., where he spent five years. He there became 
 identified with the real-estate boom and made 
 considerable money. He still owns property in 
 that place. He served as a member of the Board 
 of Health in Los Angeles. In 1892 he returned 
 to Illinois, and has since lived in Taylorville. He 
 has sold his store in Blackburn, but still owns his 
 farm at that place. Previous to his removal to 
 California lie had engaged in practice in Taylor- 
 ville each summer, and his merits had become well 
 known throughout the community, so that on 
 locating permanently here he was at once ac- 
 corded a liberal practice, which has constantl}' 
 increased. He has served as a member of the 
 Fifth Regiment, Illinois National Guards, with the 
 rank of Captain. He takes considerable interest 
 in civic societies, and at the age of twenty-one 
 
 was made a Mason in the lodge in Rochester. I 
 is now a member of Mound Lodge No. 122, A. '. 
 & A. M.; Taylorville Chapter No. 102, R. A. ft 
 Cunir de Leon Commandcry No. 9, K. T., of L 
 Angeles, Cal.; and Al-Maliakah Temple, A. A. ' 
 M. S., of Los Angeles. He is a member of t! 
 Knights of Pythias, and is serving as Major 
 the Second Regiment, Second Brigade, Unifornn 
 Rank, K. P. In politics, the Doctor was reared 
 Democrat, but being a man of decided opinio 
 and firm convictions, he does not hold hiinsi 
 bound inseparably to any party. He believi 
 however, that America is for Americans. He h 
 been prominently interested in all that pertains 
 the welfare of the city and the promotion of 
 leading enterprises, and has been connected wi 
 the Gas Company and the Antlers Hotel, i 
 home is one of the most beautiful in the city, 
 stands on a natural building site, and was erect 
 by G. J. S. Culver, the marble man of Springfie! 
 It is a monument to the industry and enterpr 
 of the Doctor, for his possessions have all be 
 acquired through his own efforts. 
 
 JOSEPH CARTER. Among the substant 
 and well-to-do farmers of Assumption Ton 
 ship is this gentleman, who is one of t 
 honored old settlers of Christian Coum 
 He is well and favorably known in this and a 
 joining counties, and merits in a high degree t 
 respect in which he is held by all who ha 
 the pleasure of his acquaintance. He has assist 
 very materially in the marvelous growth ai 
 prosperity of the community in which he mat 
 his home, and it is fitting that his name should 
 placed in this record of the honored pioneers 
 the county. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is a native of Oh 
 boni in Warren County September 26, 1832, ai 
 is a son of John Carter, a native of Virginia. T 
 latter went to Ohio in his early manhood, and the 
 married Miss Jemima Patton, whose birth occurn
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in the Buckeye State. For several years after his 
 marriage, Mr. Carter engaged in farming in War- 
 ren County with good success, and then removed 
 to Indiana, settling in Clay County, twelve miles 
 east of Terre Haute. Here he opened up a farm, 
 and reared his family to lives of usefulness. The 
 last few years of his life he lived retired from ac- 
 tive duties in Greencastle, and passed away in 
 1865. During the War of 1812, he was pressed 
 into the service and was assigned to the department 
 of artillery. 
 
 Joseph Carter is one of a family of seven sons 
 and two daughters. The brothers, who all grew 
 to mature years, married and became heads of 
 families. One brother, C. N., now resides in Kan- 
 sas City, and is a retired merchant. The only other 
 surviving brother is Jasper N., who is engaged in 
 farming in Neosho County, Kan. 
 
 Our subject grew to manhood in Indiana, and 
 spent his youth on his father's farm, receiving 
 there a practical experience in all the duties which 
 fall to an agriculturist and which have served 
 him in good stead in later years. In his studies he 
 was diligent and made the most of his advantages 
 in that direction. He remained with his father 
 until he had arrived at his majority, after which 
 he learned the carpenter's trade at Greencastle 
 and followed thatcalling for a few years. He then 
 formed a partnership with three of his brothers, 
 and engaged in the flouring and grist mill business. 
 In this he continued for about five years with very 
 good success. In the fall of 1866, he came to Illi- 
 nois and bought a tract of one hundred and twent}^ 
 acres of raw prairie land, the same farm which he 
 now cultivates. He erected a small house and 
 brought his family to his new home. When he 
 first settled here nothing whatever had been done 
 for the improvement of the land, and as it stands 
 to-day, a model farm with good buildings, neat 
 hedges and other improvements, it is a monument 
 to his own industrious efforts, for it bears little re- 
 semblance to the original farm on which he located. 
 In 1867, he bought an adjoining forty acres, thus 
 making his farm contain one hundred and sixty 
 acres. There is a good orchard on the place and 
 the fields are subdivided by a well-trimmed osage 
 hedge. Mr. Carter also owns a good farm of two 
 
 hundred and twenty-four acres in Shelby County, 
 two small farms in Neosho County, Kan., besides a 
 house and lot in Assumption. 
 
 In 1860 occurred the marriage of Mr. Carter in 
 Greencastle, Ind. The lady of his choice, whose 
 maiden name was Harriet M. Sever, was a native 
 of England and passed her girlhood in that coun- 
 try. Two children have graced this union. War- 
 ren, the elder, is deceased; and Elmer E. is assist- 
 ing his father in carrying on the home farm. The 
 mother died in 1884. She was an amiable and 
 thoroughly lovable lady, who numbered many 
 friends in the neighborhood of her home. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Carter has ever supported the 
 Republican party and principles since becoming a 
 voter. He is an advocate of the best educational 
 measures and served for nine years as a member of 
 the School Board. For over a quarter of a century 
 he has been a resident of this county, and has pro- 
 moted its interests in every possible manner. He 
 is honored and respected by his friends and neigh- 
 bors as a man of integrity and sterling worth. 
 
 ORLANDO MANVILL HAWKES, whose hon- 
 orable, upright life has won him the confi- 
 dence and esteem of all with whom he has 
 been brought in contact, is now engaged in farm- 
 ing on section 26, Rosemond Township. He was 
 born in Franklin County, Mass., November 14, 
 18'20. The family was founded in America by 
 three brothers of English birth, who emigrated to 
 this country in early Colonial days and located in 
 Massachusetts. One was made an officer in the 
 French and Indian War, and was killed in that 
 struggle. Their descendants are now very num- 
 erous, over five hundred members of the family 
 having assembled at a re-union in Salem, Mass., a 
 few years ago. One of the three brothers was the 
 great-grandfather of our subject. The grand- 
 father, Jared Hawkes, was the first male child born 
 in Charlemout, Mass.
 
 320 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 The parents of our subject, Horace and Rachel 
 (Smedley) Hawkes, were also natives of the Bay 
 State, and there spent their entire lives, the father 
 dying at the age of eighty-five, while the mother 
 reached the advanced age of ninety-one. In their 
 family of twelve children, our subject was fourth 
 in order of birth. His boyhood days were quietly 
 passed under the parental roof, and his education 
 was acquired in the common schools, and in the 
 academy at Charlemont. 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1846, Mr. Hawkes of 
 this sketch married Debby A. Hawley, who was 
 born in Hinsdale, Mass., March 19, 1824, and is of 
 English descent. Her parents were William A. 
 and Debby A. Hawley. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkes be- 
 gan their domestic life upon a farm in Franklin 
 County, Mass., where they resided until 1854. 
 Going to Buffalo, N. Y.. our subject became clerk 
 in a hotel, and in the spring of 1856 he emigrated 
 to Christian County. His was one of the first fami- 
 lies to settle in Rosemond Township. He pur- 
 chased a tract of land and began the development 
 of a farm. The county was in its primitive con- 
 dition, deer and wolves were seen in the neigh- 
 borhood, and the work of progress and civiliza- 
 tion seemed scarcely begun. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hawkes were born ten chil- 
 dren, as follows: Emma, wife of William O. Wil- 
 cox; Nellie C., who died at the age of eleven years; 
 Herbert H., now of New York City; Henry M., 
 who is in business in New York City; Leila A., 
 wife of Wellington Walker, of Springfield, Mass.; 
 Martha O., wife of Herbert V. Bullock, who is in 
 the Globe-Democrat office of St. Louis; Mary A., 
 twin sister of Martha, now the wife of Marion 
 Nicholson, of Rosemond Township; Flora A., wife 
 of Clinton Hawkes, of Massachusetts; Edwin A., 
 who for seven years was in business in New York 
 City, but is now at home; and Joseph B., who is 
 also in New York City. 
 
 Mr. Hawkes cast his first Presidential vote for 
 William Henry Harrison, in 1840, and has never 
 failed to support a Presidential candidate since 
 thattime. He has been a stalwart Republican si nee 
 the organization of the party. During the late war 
 he was a member of the Union League, and is now 
 a member of the Good Templars' Society. He has 
 
 always been a strong temperance man, using neithei 
 intoxicants nor tobacco, and with one exception al 
 of his sons abstain from the use of the latter 
 Since twenty-one years of age, Mr. Hawkes hai 
 been a faithful and consistent member of the Con 
 gregational Church, and, with the exception 01 
 three years, has been Deacon of the church ir 
 Rosemond since locating here. He has also been 
 Trustee, and was Superintendent of the first Sun 
 day-school organized in the place. On varioui 
 occasions lie has again filled the office. Heisalway: 
 found in his place in the house of worship, anc 
 has been one of the prominent leaders in churcl 
 work in this community, untiring in his efforts t< 
 promote the Master's cause. He believes in prac 
 tical Christianity, is charitable and benevolent, ii 
 generous and open-handed, and to the poor an( 
 needy is a friend. 
 
 JAMES BENJAMIN RICKS, a member of tin 
 law firm of Ricks & Creighton, is one of th< 
 leading lawyers of Taylorville. Probablj 
 no man in this city has been more promi 
 nently connected with its growth and upbuilding 
 than he, and the prosperity of the place is due ii 
 no small degree to his untiring efforts in its be 
 half. Christian County claims him as one of hei 
 native sons, his birth having occurred in Beai 
 Creek Township, on the 23d of December, 1852. 
 
 Mr. Ricks is the eldest in a family of five chil 
 dren whose parents were John Bond and Docia B 
 (Hines) Ricks. When lie was a lad of twelve 
 years his parents removed to Taylorville, and, af- 
 ter attending the public schools of that city, ir 
 1869 he entered the Wesleyan University ol 
 Bloomingtou, 111., where he pursued his studies 
 until 1872. A professional life furnished attrac- 
 tions for him, and he began the study of law with 
 Judge Andrew Simpson and John B. Jones, attor- 
 neys of Taylorville. Having successfully passed 
 a thorough examination, he was admitted to the 
 Bar in June, 1874.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 321 
 
 On the 23d of December, 1872, on his twentieth 
 birthday, Mr. Ri'cks was united in marriage with 
 Miss Pamtnie L. Geltmacher, of Bloomington. 
 Their union has been blessed with three children, 
 who are still living: Agnes, who is now the wife 
 of W. II. Houser, D. D. S., of Taylorville; Jesse 
 and Glenu, aged respectively fourteen and nine 
 years. In social circles this family ranks high, and 
 the household is the abode of hospitality. 
 
 Immediately after his admission to the Bar, Mr. 
 Ricks began practice, and continued alone until 
 1885, when the present partnership was formed. 
 He is an able and successful lawyer, and the public 
 affords him a liberal patronage. In politics, he is 
 a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party, and 
 has taken an active part in campaign work, doing 
 all in his power to promote the interests of Democ- 
 racy. He has frequently served in positions of 
 public trust, and spent three years in Washington 
 as Supervising Examiner of the Pension Bureau, 
 from the Hudson District, having about one hun- 
 dred special examiners under his charge. In 
 June, 1892, he served as delegate to the National 
 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and strongly 
 advocated the nomination of President Cleveland. 
 In 1889 he was elected Mayor of Taylorville, 
 serving a term of two years, and his administra- 
 tion proved to be a prosperous era in the history 
 of the city. During his term the electric-light 
 system was established, and many other works of 
 public improvement were put in operation. Mr. 
 Ricks started the petition for the establishment 
 of water works. While reading law with Mr. 
 Jones, he drew plans which changed the old town 
 to a village, and after one year drew up a petition 
 to make Taylorville a city, which was done. While 
 running for Mayor he plainly stated that he 
 would not accept the office unless the water works 
 system was strengthened, and 'so during his term 
 this commendable work was accomplished. The 
 water supply was doubled, the original plant, 
 worth $20,000, was supplemented by one worth 
 $50,000, and then miles of mains were laid. Ev- 
 ery work calculated to benefit the community and 
 promote the general welfare receives the hearty 
 support and co-operation of Mr. Ricks, and the 
 gratitude of the city is due him in no small degree. 
 
 He was also one of the promoters and is one of 
 the Directors of the Gas Company, and was one of 
 the prime movers in establishing and building the 
 Antlers Hotel. 
 
 In social circles, Mr. Ricks is also prominent. 
 A member of the Knights of Pythias, he served as 
 Grand Chancellor in 1885 and in 1886, and is now 
 Past Grand Chancellor. He was made a member 
 of the fraternity in Mystic Lodge No. 64, K. P., 
 and has passed all the chairs of the local order. 
 He is also a member of the Arion Club, and takes 
 an active part in its gatherings. A pleasant, gen- 
 ial gentleman, Mr, Ricks is very popular, and his 
 friends throughout the community are many. 
 
 P ^RANKLIN PIERCE DRENNAN, attorney- 
 at-law of Taylorville, is a highly respected, 
 widely known and influential citizen, and 
 a worthy representative of one of the prominent 
 pioneer families of the county. Mention is made 
 of his parents, John L. and Henrietta (Wimburley) 
 Drennan, on another page of this work. They 
 were also born in Kentucky. The father died 
 September 5, 1882, at the age of fifty-five years. 
 His widow is still living, at the age of sixty-four, 
 and her mother, Emily Sanders, yet resides in 
 Taylorville, at the ripe old age of eighty-six. 
 John L. Drennan is a farmer by occupation, and 
 on his arrival in this county, in 1856, located upon 
 a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Mos- 
 quito Township, where he made his home until 
 called to his final rest. In politics, he was a sup- 
 porter of the Democratic party, and for a number 
 of years served as Supervisor of his township. The 
 family numbered fourteen children, and all are 
 yet living with the exception of Oscar W., who 
 died in January, 1893, at the age of twenty years. 
 Franklin Pierce Drennan was born near Prince- 
 ton, Caldwell Count}', Ky., March 15, 1853, and is 
 the second child of his parents. With the family 
 he came to Illinois, and amid the wild scenes of 
 frontier life was reared to manhood. The public
 
 322 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 schools of the neighborhood afforded him his edu- 
 cational privileges, and he remained at home until 
 twenty-one years of age, when he started out in 
 life for himself. At first he earned his livelihood 
 as a teacher in the public schools near his home. 
 Subsequently he secured the position of Deputy 
 County Clerk under William H. Kirkwood, in 
 whose office he remained for eighteen months, 
 from July 1, 1876, until December 1, 1877. At 
 that time he was made Deputy Circuit Clerk, and 
 served for three years under Josiah A. Hill, and 
 for the same length of time under N. D. Ricks. 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Drennan had been reading 
 law, and was admitted to the Bar in January, 
 1882, having passed the examination before the 
 November term of the Appellate Court the preced- 
 ing year. However, he continued in the County 
 Clerk's office until 1883. He had secured a set of 
 abstract books, and in 1883 combined the practice 
 of his chosen profession with abstract work. For 
 a year he was in partnership with Judge Ferry, 
 but since that time has been alone. In December, 
 1892, the Christian County Abstract Rating and 
 Guarantee Company was incorporated, and Mr. 
 Drennau became its President. This combines 
 three sets of abstracts, the only ones in the county 
 besides that owned by N. D. Ricks. The capital 
 stock of the company is $20,000, and our subject 
 is the leading stockholder. James E. Mills is Sec- 
 retary and business manager of the company. In 
 his law practice, Mr. Drennan has met with excel- 
 lent success, receiving a liberal share of the public 
 patronage. He lias given special attention to real- 
 estate cases and land titles, his experience in ab- 
 stract work, and as Deputy County and Circuit 
 Clerk, having been of special advantage to him in 
 this direction. 
 
 On the 29th of May, 1881, our subject was 
 united in marriage with Miss Lizzie May, daugh- 
 ter of W. S. Moore, now of Morrisonville,Ill. She 
 was born in Taylorville, in 1863, and is a cultured 
 and refined lady, who holds an enviable position 
 in the circles of society in which she moves. Two 
 children grace their union, Lela Moore and Frances 
 Patti, aged eight and five years, respectively. 
 
 Mr. Drennan is a Democrat in politics, and has 
 taken an active part in campaign work. He was 
 
 appointed by the Circuit Judge as Master ii 
 Chancery, and for two years held that olfice. H 
 has been quite extensively interested in real estate 
 and laid out the F. P. Drennan Addition to Tay 
 lorville. In connection with John B. Colegrovt 
 he laid out two additions to Assumption. He ha 
 also a ten-acre addition to Pana, and in additio: 
 to this he has another ten-acre tract near Pans 
 His farm of eighty acres is situated seven an 
 a-half miles south of Taylorville, and he has 
 twenty-seven acre tract southeast of the city. Fc 
 three years he has been engaged in breeding an 
 training fine trotters. Socially, he is a Knighl 
 Templar Mason, belonging to Elwood Commai 
 dery of Springfield. Mr. Drennan is ambitious, pei 
 severing and, above all, enterprising, and owin 
 to these sterling qualities, he has not only won tb 
 high rank to which he has attained among his pro 
 fessional brethren, but has also gained hissplendi 
 success in other lines of business. He takes a 
 active part in all that goes to promote the welfai 
 of the county, and deserves to be classed amon 
 her honored early settlers. 
 
 JOHN BEYERS, a retired farmer and stocl 
 dealer, now living in Pana, is a native < 
 Germany. He was born in Hesse Darn 
 stadt, March 26, 1821. His parents, Job 
 and Margaret (Ernst) Beyers, spent their eutii 
 lives in their native land. There were only tw 
 children born of that union, and Adam, tl 
 brother, is now deceased. The mother died at tl 
 age of twenty-eight, when John was a babe < 
 three summers, after which his father marric 
 again, and by his second union had one daughtc 
 There was also a daughter born of his third ma 
 riage. He was a trader on the river, and owned 
 vessel, which was used in commercial interest 
 His death occurred when about sixty-eight yea 
 of age. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this recor
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 323 
 
 remained at home with his father until about 
 eighteen years of age, when he was drafted into 
 the regular army, in which he served for four 
 years. The following year, in 1847, he bade 
 adieu to home and friends, and, in company with 
 some acquaintances of his youth, sailed for Amer- 
 ica. His first location was in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 where he remained for a few months, when he re- 
 moved to Franklin's Landing, Ohio, where the 
 succeeding two years of his life were passed. 
 
 During that time, Mr. Beyers was married. On 
 the loth of September, 1849, he wedded Miss 
 Sarah Shepherd, daughter of Xaphier Shepherd, 
 who was born in Baden, Germany. They have 
 become parents of eight children, seven sons and 
 a daughter, but the latter died in infancy. Henry, 
 the eldest, wedded Mary J. Enders, and resides on 
 a farm, three miles from Pana, with his wife and 
 three children, Celia, Herman and Arthur. Joseph, 
 who is also a farmer, living near Pana, married 
 Emma Eckholt, and they have three children: 
 Lizzie, John and Benjamin. Frank A. married 
 Minnie Goodhouse, by whom he has two sons and 
 a daughter: Sadie, William and Frank. John S., 
 an agriculturist, married Barbara Wagner, and 
 unto them has been born a daughter, Gertrude. 
 Louise F. is the next younger. Edward married 
 Tillie Goodhart, and with their daughter, Nellie 
 Louise, they reside on a farm north of Assumption. 
 Goodhart, the youngest of the family, was 
 drowned in the Ohio River, at the age of three 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Beyers came to Illinois in November, 1867, 
 trading his business in Ohio for seventj'-five acres 
 of land. This he traded for one hundred and 
 seventy acres, three miles southwest of Pana, 
 where he made his home until 1882. As his finan- 
 cial resources increased, he extended the boun- 
 daries of his farm until it comprised four hundred 
 and sixty-eight acres of valuable land. The fields 
 were placed under a high state of cultivation, and 
 the farm was supplied with all modern improve 
 ments and conveniences. He also engaged quite 
 extensively in stock-dealing, and his efforts in 
 this direction also met with good success. Having 
 purchased some lots in Pana, he built a fine resi- 
 dence upon one of these in 1882, and has since 
 
 here made his home, surrounded by all the com- 
 forts and many of the luxuries of life. Himself 
 and wife are members of the Catholic Church, and, 
 in politics, he is an advocate of Democratic prin- 
 ciples. He has made his money through his own 
 labors, perseverance and well-directed efforts and 
 the assistance of his estimable wife. He is a man 
 of generous impulses, and has given his children a 
 good start in life. 
 
 WILLIAM LANGEN is a prominent young 
 farmer and citizen of Ricks Township, 
 where he is engaged in carrying on the 
 old homestead on section 30 which formerly be- 
 longed to his father, Theodore Langen. He is 
 one of the progressive agriculturists of this com- 
 munity, and has been very successful in general 
 farming and stock-raising. He was born Septem- 
 ber 17, 1861, in Greene Count}', 111., and has spent 
 nearly his entire life in Christian County, in the 
 development of which he has done his share. 
 
 Theodore F. Langen, our subject's father, was 
 born in the village of Wiennenburg, Prussia, Feb- 
 ruary 27, 1827. His parents were Frederick and 
 Elizabeth (Wegener) Langen, and he was the 
 youngest of eight children. His father being a 
 farmer in good circumstances, he received superior 
 educational advantages, and attended the higher 
 schools, where he always stood at the head of his 
 class and became proficient in Latin. He served 
 for three years in the Prussian army during the 
 Revolution of 1848. In the spring of 1852 he 
 landed in New York, and proceeded to Jersey 
 County, 111., in which county his brother was liv- 
 ing. On the 17th of October, 1855, he married 
 Elizabeth Brockamp, who was born in Allenburg, 
 Germany, March 10, 1840, being a daughter of 
 Henry B. and Catherine (Morman) Brockamp. 
 Her father, who died in February, 1870, was 
 for many years previous engaged in operating his 
 farm seven miles west of Jerseyville. He was a 
 blacksmith by trade, and had served in the German
 
 324 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 army. Mrs. Langen came to America with her 
 parents when five years of age. 
 
 After his marriage, the father of our subject 
 removed to Greene County, this State, and rented | 
 a farm three miles distant from Carrollton, where 
 he resided for eight years. In the spring of 
 1853 he came to Christian County and bought 
 one hundred and sixty acres of wild land on sec- 
 tion 30, Ricks Township. He made the road and 
 surveyed it from his farm to Nokomis, fourteen 
 miles across the prairie. The country was wild 
 and the farm unimproved, but he was industrious 
 and energetic, and at the time of his death left six 
 hundred and forty acres, which were divided among 
 his children. He died August 31, 1876, in the faith 
 of the Catholic Church, to which his family all 
 belonged. He was straightforward and upright in 
 his business and made many friends. In politics, 
 he was a Democrat. His wife was appointed ad- 
 ministrator of his estate and wisely managed the 
 affairs. Sho is now living in Morrisonville, where 
 she has a pleasant residence and makes her home 
 with her youngest daughter. She gave her chil- 
 dren good educations, and her daughters attended 
 the convent at St. Louis, where they became pro- 
 ficient in music and other accomplishments. 
 
 In the spring of 1863 William Langen came 
 with his parents to Christian County and assisted 
 his father in improving his land, which was nearly 
 all a swamp. After his father's death he contin- 
 ued to make his home with his mother, brothers 
 and sisters. Of the children, Henry lives in Mor- 
 risonville and is married. His wife was formerly 
 Miss Amelia Schwab. Katie is the wife of Antony 
 Lantz, of Morrisonville. Mary is the wife of Her- 
 man Todt, a farmer living in Montgomery Coun- 
 ty. Eleanora is the wife of Frank Todt, of the 
 same county. John, who is also a farmer there, 
 married Maggie Todt. Elizabeth and Helena live 
 at the home of their mother in Morrisonville. 
 
 The education of William Langen was acquired 
 in the common schools and in Alton, 111., where 
 for two winters he attended the German Catholic 
 school, where his brothers and sisters were also 
 students. Until reaching his majority he lived on 
 the old homestead, of which he had charge for 
 many years. His farm comprises two hundred 
 
 and forty acres, in addition to which he operates 
 another farm of a like amount. He lias brought 
 the place under good improvement and has laid 
 over four miles of tile on the farm. 
 
 In Raymond, Mr. Langen was married in Sep- 
 tember, 1885, to Miss Elizabeth Todt, a daughter 
 of John and Mary Todt, both natives of Germany. 
 She was reared to womanhood on her father's 
 farm, located five miles north of Raymond, and 
 received her education in the public schools and 
 the convent at Litchfield. " She has become the 
 mother of five children: Johnnie, Theodore, Mary, 
 Joseph and Florence. Our subject has served for 
 six successive years as Township Commissioner 
 and is now School Director. His first Presidential 
 ballot was cast for Grover Cleveland, and he al- 
 ways votes on the side of the Democratic party. 
 He and his wife are members of the Catholic 
 Church at Morrisonville, and are highly respected 
 in this vicinity. 
 
 y>ILLIAMM. PROVINE,an attorney-at-law 
 of Taylorville, 111., was born in McDon- 
 ough County, 111.. August 22, 1841. His 
 father and mother are now living, at the age of 
 seventy-seven, in Vermont, 111., where the boyhood 
 days of the subject of this sketch were mostly 
 spent. His education was acquired in the com- 
 mon schools, supplemented by a few months in an 
 academy at Macomb, 111. After a short expe- 
 rience as a clerk and school teacher successively, 
 he enlisted on July 30, 1862, in Company B, 
 Eighty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Infantry, and 
 was elected Sergeant on the organization of the 
 company. He was afterward elected First Ser- 
 geant, and in 1863 First Lieutenant. He served 
 in the Army of the Cumberland in all its campaigns 
 until July 20, 1864, when he was taken prisoner 
 at Peach Tree Creek, in front of Atlanta, Ga. 
 Shortly afterward he was one of six hundred Un- 
 ion officers who were placed by the Confederates 
 in the city of Charleston under fire of the Union
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 325 
 
 guns on Morris Island. From Charleston the 
 prisoners were removed to Columbia, S. C., and 
 on March 1, 1865, were exchanged at Wilmington, 
 N. C. Upon the expiration of his thirty days' 
 leave of absence, the war being over, he was 
 ordered to Ben ton Barracks, St. Louis, Mo., where 
 he was assigned to duty as adjutant of paroled 
 prisoners, who were then coming North in large 
 numbers. He was discharged- from the service 
 May 15, 1865. 
 
 After a brief visit to his home, our subject en- 
 tered Mayhew's Business College, at Albion, Mich., 
 where after completing the.course of study he re- 
 mained two years as Principal of the "theory de- 
 partment," reading law in the mean time. On 
 severing his connection with the college, Mr. Pro- 
 vine entered the law office of Palmer & Hay, of 
 Springfield, and was admitted, upon examination, 
 to the Bar of the Supreme Court in the fall of 
 1868. He was tendered and accepted the position 
 of Cashier of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank 
 of Galesburg, 111., but, preferring the law, resigned 
 his position there after a year's service. Since 
 1872 he has resided continuously in Taylorville, 
 and devoted his energies assiduously to his chosen 
 profession. His attention is chiefly devoted to 
 commercial and chancery laws. He is an able ad- 
 vocate, and receives from the public a liberal pat- 
 ronage, which is well deserved. In politics, he 
 was long a supporter of the Republican party, 
 but in 1888 and again in 1892 he voted for Mr. 
 Cleveland for the Presidency, on account of his 
 views on the tariff question. 
 
 Other interests have found in Mr. Provine a 
 supporter. He was one of the organizers of the 
 First National Bank of Taylorville, and since its 
 organization has been one of its Directors. He 
 has served on the Township Board of Education 
 since its organization and is President of the Board, 
 which numbers five members. Under their super- 
 vision and through their instrumentality the fine 
 High School building of Taylorville was erected in 
 1890, the building and grounds being valued at 
 $32,000. Mr. Provine takes a commendable in- 
 terest in educational matters and in every enter- 
 prise calculated to prove of public benefit. 
 
 On the llth of May, 1869, in Vermont, 111., was 
 
 celebrated the marriage of William M. Provine 
 and Mary Murray. They have two children. 
 Bertha graduated from Oxford College of Ohio, 
 in the Class of '91, and is now a teacher of litera- 
 ture and languages in the High School of Taylor- 
 ville. She is a cultured and refined young lady, 
 and has marked ability as an instructor. Walter 
 is now a student in the High School. The parents 
 are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. 
 Provine is connected with the Masonic fraternity. 
 
 ENJAMIN H. HAILEY, who is engaged in 
 the grocery business in Palmer, is one of 
 the veterans of the late war, having en- 
 listed for the defense of the Old Flag when 
 he was only twenty years of age. He saw much 
 active service, taking part in many of the impor- 
 tant battles and skirmishes. He may justly be 
 proud of his army record, for few men were called 
 upon to do more active duty and suffer more 
 hardships. In local affairs he has been prominent 
 for many years, and has always been esteemed as 
 one of the most public-spirited citizens of the place. 
 He was the genial and efficient Postmaster for 
 four years under Harrison's administration, retir- 
 ing from that office in June, 1893, of his own ac- 
 cord. 
 
 Born in Sangamon County, 111., January 9, 
 1841, Mr. Hailey is a son of Thomas J. and Mel- 
 venia M. (Higgins) Hailey. They were the parents 
 of two children, our subject, and Edward, who 
 died in 1864, shortly after being discharged from 
 the army, on account of disease contracted while 
 in the service. He had enlisted and was a mem- 
 ber of Company A, Third Illinois Cavalry. 
 
 Thomas J. Hailey learned the trade of a carpen- 
 ter and followed that occupation in early life. 
 He was bora in Virginia, and removed to Tennes- 
 see when a boy, with the family of the man to 
 whom he was apprenticed. In 1830, he came to 
 Illinois, and settled in Sangamon County. He as-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 sisted in putting on the first shingled roof in 
 Springfield, and served in the first Black Hawk 
 campaign, in 1832. In 1871, he came to this 
 county and made his home in Palmer until his 
 death, which occurred in 1887, at the age of 
 eighty-two years, lacking one month. His first 
 marriage -was with a lady by the name of Narcissa 
 Moore, by whom he had two children, only one of j 
 whom is now living, Emeline E. Thomas, who is j 
 now a widow. Mr. Hailey afterward married Miss 
 Melvenia Higgins, whose death occurred in 1885, 
 at the age of sixty-eight years. Our subject's pa- 
 ternal grandfather, Edmund Hailey, was a native 
 of the Old Dominion and participated in the War 
 of 1812. He was twice married, and lived to be 
 about seventy-six years of age, dying in Virginia. 
 William Higgins, the maternal grandfather, was 
 also born in Virginia, and served in Anthony 
 Wayne's campaign. He was twice married, and 
 was the father of eighteen children. He emigrated 
 to Illinois in 1831, and died when sevent3 r -five 
 years of age, in Sangamon County. 
 
 Benjamin H. Hailej 1 , whose name heads this 
 sketch, lived until his twentieth year on a farm in 
 Sangamon County, six miles from Springfield. He 
 enlisted in Company A, Third Illinois Cavalry, 
 and served three years and fourteen days. He 
 participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Chickasaw 
 Bayou, Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, Big Black 
 Ridge, the sieges of Vicksburg and Jackson, and 
 participated in over forty skirmishes. For thirteen 
 successive days he was engaged in the skirmishes 
 of Green's cavalry. He was very fortunate in 
 never meeting with injury and was never in a hos- 
 pital. Indeed, he has always been extremely 
 healthy and robust, and perhaps to this fact is due 
 much of his success in life. 
 
 Returning to Sangamon County after the war, 
 our subject engaged in farming for one year, and, 
 feeling the need of a better education to qualify 
 him for his future life work, he attended the Illi- 
 nois State University at Springfield for three 
 terms and also took a commercial course in the 
 Bryant & Stratton Business College of that city. 
 In partnership with George E. Stake, he next 
 opened a general store at Cotton Hill, and was 
 soon afterward appointed Postmaster, acting as 
 
 such for a year and a-half. In 1869, he came with 
 his partner to Palmer, where they did business to- 
 gether for about two years, at the end of which 
 time our subject bought the interest of Mr. Stake 
 and has since continued in business alone, with the 
 exception of a year and a-half during the panic of 
 1873. He was soon on his feet again financially, 
 and has an extensive trade. 
 
 Mr. Hailey was united in marriage on the 29th 
 of June, 1871, with Miss Mary E. Wood, whose 
 birth occurred in Ohio. Mrs. Hailey is a daughter 
 of George and Sarah (Hodge) Wood, of Blue 
 Mound, 111. Mr. Wood is a native of Virginia, 
 while his wife claims Ohio as her birthplace. Two 
 children born to our subject and his wife died in 
 infancy, Frances E. and Eleanora E. They have 
 three daughters living, namely: Lilian C., Stella 
 M. and Cora E. 
 
 Jn his social relations, Mr. Hailey holds mem- 
 bership with William A. Higgins Post No. 400, 
 G. A. R., Department of Illinois, and has served 
 as Commander of the post for seven years. He is 
 a Republican in politics and has filled several lo- 
 cal positions of trust and honor. He was Town 
 Clerk for two years, and was President of the Vil- 
 lage Board at one time. In 1887, he was made 
 a candidate for the position of Sheriff, and only 
 missed the nomination by one vote. For several 
 years he has been Notary Public. In the various 
 capacities of his public life his work has been con- 
 ducted with fidelity and zeal. In addition to his 
 business and store in Palmer he owns a pleasant 
 modern residence. 
 
 EORGE ROSS, a native of Scotland, was 
 born in Sterlingborough on the 27th of 
 [ay, 1865. Having learned the tailoring 
 business thoroughly in all its branches, and hav- 
 ing heard of the fine facilities for enterprising men 
 to acquire wealth, or at least a competency, in the 
 New World, he embarked for America in the fal 
 of 1887, being then only twenty-two years of age
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 327 
 
 yet his proficiency will be readily acknowledged, 
 when it is known that he learned his trade in Lang- 
 holm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He first located at 
 the capital of Illinois, but in March, 1891, came to 
 Christian County. 
 
 Having previously formed the acquaintance of 
 his life partner in Macon County, on Christmas 
 Eve of 1889, in Decatur, Mr. Ross was united in 
 marriage with Miss Ada F. Boaz, daughter of Mr. 
 and Mrs. E. A. Boaz. The father was long known 
 as Lieut. Boaz, having been promoted from the 
 ranks for his valiant service in the Civil War. 
 He displayed more than ordinary merit, and hence 
 received from the Governor of Missouri the posi- 
 tion of Officer of the Guard in the Jefferson City 
 Peniteutiar}'. From the Governor of Illinois, he 
 received a like appointment for the Joliet Peni- 
 tentiary, which position he held when he died, 
 having acted in the same capacity for a period of 
 eighteen years in the two States. He was buried 
 at Decatur, 111., in 1889, with military honors. 
 His wife bore the maiden name of Nancy E. 
 Murphy, and she, with Ada, the only child, born 
 January 1, 1868, are the only survivors of the 
 family. They mourn the loss of a kind and de- 
 voted husband and loving father, and the com- 
 munity remembers him with gratefulness as a 
 brave soldier and valiant officer, both in war and 
 peace. 
 
 Our subject's parents were John and Catherine 
 (Cuthbert) Ross, both natives of Scotland. He is 
 the fourth in order of birth in a family of ten 
 children. John was born in 1861; William, in 
 1863; James, in 1864; Maggie, in 1867; Annie, in 
 1868; David, in 1870; Jessie Jane, in 1873; Nellie, 
 in 1875; and Robert in 1879. They all reside in 
 the Fatherland with the exception of the eldest son, 
 eldest daughter and our subject. 
 
 On embarking for the United States, George 
 Ross took passage in the vessel '"Lake Nepigon," 
 a Canadian liner. After they had been on the 
 ocean for about fourteen days, a dense fog settled 
 down on the vessel, and they were unable to sight 
 anything for six days. When the fog lifted they 
 found that they were near the coast of Newfound- 
 land. Mr. Ross is one of those genial gentlemen 
 whom America may be proud to receive, and he has 
 
 chosen for his companion a lady of rare merit and 
 goodness. The children that have come to share 
 their home are Roxie, born October 1, 1890; Ed- 
 ward, February 10, 1892; and Robert, May 6, 
 1893. This is one of the well-respected families 
 of Taylorville, and Mr. Ross may well be proud 
 of the enviable position he has alreadj' achieved 
 among his fellow-citizens. He ranks first as a 
 practical tailor, and the variety and extent of the 
 patterns which he is enabled to give the customer 
 are gaining for him a liberal patronage, and it is a 
 pleasure to number him with the enterprising 
 business men of this community who are entitled 
 to representation in this record. 
 
 ;ILLIAM AUGUSTUS GOODRICH. The 
 public offices of Taylorville and Christian 
 County have found no more efficient in- 
 cumbent than the gentleman whose name heads 
 this record. He has long been prominently iden- 
 tified with public interests, and his name is inse[ - 
 arably connected with the history of this com- 
 munity. Genial and pleasant in manner, he is 
 quite popular, and we feel assured that this sketch 
 will be received with pleasure by his many friends. 
 The Goodrich family from which our subject 
 sprang were long prominent in Great Britain. Fre- 
 quent mention is made of land-holders of the 
 name at the time of the Norman conquest, in 1066. 
 In the Tower of London is a cannon, the inscrip- 
 tion upon which tells us that it was presented to 
 King Charles I. by Sir Maurice Goodrich; while 
 history tells us that Thomas Goodrich became Bish- 
 op of Ely and Lord High Chancellor of England, 
 under Henry VIII. Goodrich Castle stands on the 
 Wye River, in Herefordshire, Wales, and was the 
 seat of the late Sir Samuel C. Rush Meyrich, LL. D., 
 the famous antiquarian. This castle is now a ruin, 
 but it is a grand and gloomy one. An authentic 
 account of the family says that a Goodrich mar- 
 ried a sister of the Duke of Marlborough,and had 
 two sons: John, named for the Duke, and William.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 The father dying, his brother brought the two 
 boys to New England. John afterward started 
 back to the Old Country in accordance with a re- 
 quest .of the Duke, who desired to make him his 
 heir, but died en route. In 1640 the uncle pur- 
 chased a farm for William in Weathersfield, Conn. 
 The family had come directly from Suffolk and 
 Bury St. Edmunds, England. 
 
 From William Goodrich just mentioned our 
 subject is descended. He was born near Bury 
 St. Edmunds, and his marriage in 1648 to Sarah 
 Marvin is the first mention of him in the records 
 of Connecticut. He died in 1676. His son Eph- 
 raim, who was his eighth child, continues the suc- 
 cession. He died in 1739, his home having been in 
 Rocky Hill, Conn. He married Sarah Treat, and 
 after her death wedded Jerusha Treat. The sev- 
 enth child of that family, Gideon Goodrich, was 
 born in 1705, and died in 1769. He was a sea- 
 captain, and lived in Weathersfield and Upper 
 Middletown, Conn. His sixth child was Lieut. 
 Caleb Goodrich, who was born in 1731, and died 
 in 1777. He was a Revolutionary soldier, was 
 present at Burgoyne's surrender, and died just 
 three weeks after returning home. Orin Good- 
 rich, the fifth child of his family, and the fifth in 
 succession, was born January 15, 1771, and died 
 July 17, 1855. For more than a quarter of a cen- 
 tury he served as a magistrate, and served in each 
 branch of the State Legislature. In 1793, he mar- 
 ried Lydia Sackett, and after her death wedded 
 Mary Bagg. He was a prominent and influential 
 man, and had the respect of all who knew him. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of our 
 subject, who was born in Pittsfield, Berkshire 
 County, Mass., November 24, 1818, and remained 
 in his native State until nineteen years of age, 
 when, in November, 1837, he emigrated to Spring- 
 field, 111., where his sister Frances was living. For 
 two years he engaged in railroading. The day 
 after the Presidential election of 1840, at which he 
 cast his first vote for Martin Van Buren, he came 
 to Christian County. His father had purchased 
 three hundred and twenty acres of land in Mt. 
 Auburn, for which he paid $10 per acre, and Will- 
 iam and his brother Montgomery settled upon 
 that tract. The}' had a span of horses and possi- 
 
 bly about $200 in money. For ten years our sub- 
 ject resided upon that farm, devoting his energies 
 to its cultivation, and was quite successful in his 
 undertakings. After two years the land was di- 
 vided between himself and his brother. 
 
 On the 24th of December, 1841, Mr. Goodi-ich 
 married Miss Nancy Auger, sister of A. L. Auger, 
 now of Mt. Auburn. Unto them were born the 
 following children: Charles F., who carries on 
 farming two and a-half miles west of Taylorville; 
 Henry A., a farmerof the same neighborhood; and 
 Julia B., who became the wife of I. N. Richard- 
 son, and died three years later. The mother of 
 this family was called to her final rest November 
 29, 1854, and June 17, 1855, Mr. Goodrich mar- 
 ried Miss Martha A. Ryan, of Springfield, Ohio, ;i 
 daughter of James H. Ryan. Their only child, 
 William R., died in infancy. 
 
 In August, 1843, while living on his farm, Mr. 
 Goodrich was elected Surveyor of Christian Coun- 
 ty, and filled that office until 1850, in which year 
 he was elected County Sheriff 011 the Democratic 
 ticket. In order to fill the position, he removed 
 to Taylorville, and six years later he sold his farm. 
 His first term comprised two years, after which he 
 served as Deputy for two years under William C. 
 Brentz. In 1854, he was again elected Sheriff, but 
 before his two years' term had expired he was ap- 
 pointed to take charge of the County Clerk's 
 office, filling theunexpired term of his predecessor, 
 John Hinton, who had died in office. He was 
 then four times elected to the position, serving in 
 all for seventeen years. At length he retired, in 
 1873. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich has also been interested in the 
 real-estate business, buying, selling and trading 
 lands. For two years he was associated in this en- 
 terprise with his son-in-law, I. N. Richardson. He 
 has also built a number of residences, and laid out 
 a forty-acre addition to Taylorville in 1853. In 
 1868 he was elected as Representative on the Re- 
 publican ticket. In his earlier life he had been a 
 Democrat, but in that year he supported Gen. 
 Grant, and joined the ranks of the Republican 
 party, with which he has since been identified. 
 Mr. Goodrich takes some interest in civic socie- 
 ties. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and became con-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 329 
 
 nected with that fraternity in Mound Lodge No. 
 122, A. F. & A. M., of Taylorville, in 1852. He 
 has passed the chairs, served as Worthy Master 
 one year, and was also a member of the Grand 
 Lodge. In the same year he also became a mem- 
 ber of the Baptist Church. His public and private 
 life are alike above reproach, and the faithfulness 
 with which he has discharged his official duties is 
 equalled only by the fidelity with which he has 
 performed private trusts. From the early days of 
 its history he has been identified with Christian 
 County, and its best interests have ever found in 
 him a friend. Good words and works make up 
 his well-spent life. 
 
 PHINEAS LEECH DODGE, a grain dealer, 
 and proprietor of the elevator in Rosemohd, 
 was born in the village of Glenn, Mont- 
 gomery County, N. Y., June 10, 1843, and 
 is the second in order of birth in a family of ten 
 children, whose parents were Asa P. and Mary J. 
 (Faulkner) Dodge. The paternal great-grandfa- 
 ther, Asa Dodge, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and 
 died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. 
 The grandfather, Phineas Dodge, and the father 
 of our subject were both born in Montgomery 
 County, N. Y. The latter was a cooper by trade, 
 and also followed the occupation of farming. He 
 married Miss Faulkner, a native of Glenn, N. Y., 
 and a daughter of Daniel Faulkner, who was born 
 in Connecticut, and was of English lineage. The 
 parents of our subject celebrated their marriage in 
 their native county, and there began their domestic 
 life,and in 1891 they celebrated, their golden wed- 
 ding. The mother survived her husband a few 
 months and died August 30, 1893. The father 
 died May 14, 1893, at the age of seventy-four 
 years. Of their seven sons and three daughters, 
 six grew to manhood and womanhood, and are 
 still living. 
 
 Under the parental roof Phineas L. Dodge was 
 reared to manhood, remaining at home until his 
 
 removal to the West, in'1865. His education was 
 acquired in the common schools, which he at- 
 tended through the winter season, while in the 
 summer months he worked on a farm. In the year 
 above mentioned he became a resident of Hills- 
 borough, 111., and in that neighborhood worked 
 by the month as a farm hand for a short time. On 
 the 4th of June of the same year he came to Chris- 
 tian County, where he followed farm work until 
 1866, when he became clerk for the firm of Cope- 
 land & Bros., dealers in general merchandise, and 
 grain buyers, with whom he remained about one 
 year. He then became messenger for the Ameri- 
 can Express Company, running from St. Louis to 
 Indianapolis, Ind., on what was then the Indian- 
 apolis & St. Louis Railroad, but is now the Big 
 Four. After nineteen months he returned to 
 Rosemond, and began clerking for B. M. Schermer- 
 horn, in which capacity he served for a year and 
 a-half. In 1869 he became station agent at Rose- 
 mond, and for more than ten years served in that 
 capacity, filling the position until December 16, 
 1880, when he became a dealer in hay, buying and 
 shipping that commodity. He also added dealing 
 in grain, and now uses four buildings in his busi- 
 ness, two hay barns, a building for grain and the 
 elevator. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was married in 1869, to Marie A. 
 Chase, who was born in Schuyler County, 111., and 
 is a daughter of William A. and Mary M. (Cook) 
 Chase, the former a native of Massachusetts, and 
 the latter of Baltimore, Md. Mrs. Dodge is the 
 eldest of seven daughters. With her parents she 
 catne to Christian County in 1857. Her mother 
 is still living with her children. Unto our subject 
 and his wife have been born three daughters: 
 Mary Agnes, who became the wife of H. W. Wad- 
 dington, a farmer of Rosemond Township, Febru- 
 ary 24, 1892; Mabel Reed, who on the 6th of Sep- 
 tember, 1893, married A. B. Smith, and resides in 
 Chicago; and Grace E., who is at home. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Dodge is a Re- 
 publican, and for six successive years served as 
 Tax Collector. He is School Treasurer of the 
 township, and has filled the position for twenty- 
 one years, his faithfulness and fidelity insuring 
 his continuance in office. He is a member and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Treasurer of the First Congregational Church of 
 Rosemond, and belongs to the Masonic lodge and 
 to the Modern Woodmen of America. Besides his 
 business, he owns a valuable farm of seventy-five 
 acres, adjoining the corporate limits of Rosemond. 
 He is a wide-awake and enterprising business man, 
 and the community in which he lives recognizes 
 in him a valued citizen. 
 
 jjUfc.ON. JOHN L. DRENNAN, the founder of 
 if))) the Drennan family in Christian County, 
 /.^^ is a native of Kentucky, his birth having 
 (jjy) occurred in Caldwell County, November 
 14, 1836. His grandfather, John Drennan, was a 
 resident of South Carolina at the time of the 
 Revolutionary War, and served in the Colonial 
 army. About the year 1802, he removed from 
 that State to Kentucky, settling in Caldwell, then 
 Livingston County, and was one of the pioneers 
 of that part of the State. The location in which 
 he took up his residence was a wilderness and still 
 inhabited by the Indians. The father of our sub- 
 ject, Eli Drennan, was born in South Carolina in 
 the year 1800. From 1802 he resided in Caldwell 
 County, Ky., until his death, which occurred in 
 1872. He married Margaret McDowell, of the 
 same county, about 1824. She was descended 
 from an Irish family that had also settled in South 
 Carolina and removed from there to Kentucky at 
 an early day. 
 
 John L. Drennan, whose name heads this record, 
 was the eldest of nine children. The family was 
 poor, work plentiful and schools scarce. The re- 
 sult was he only attended school for about three 
 months, and for the education he received he is 
 indebted entirely to his own efforts. On the 13th 
 of March, 1850, he married Henrietta Wimburley, 
 only daughter of Moore and Emily Wimburley. 
 Her father was of French and German descent, 
 and his wife was a daughter of Isaac Rucker, who 
 was a soldier iu the Revolutionary War, and be- 
 
 longed to the distinguished Rucker family so 
 numerous in Kentucky. Moore Wimburley was 
 captain of a boat on the Mississippi in an early 
 day. He lost his life from a relapse after measles, 
 brought about from exposure on the river. His 
 widow afterwards married Henry Sanders. She 
 was the mother of five children and is still living, 
 her home being now in Taylorville. She is a wo- 
 man of powerful intellect and great force of char- 
 acter, which qualities she transmitted to her daugh- 
 ter Henrietta. 
 
 John L. Drennan, with his wife and four chil- 
 dren, Alfred M., Frank P., John G. and Adelia J., 
 removed from Kentucky to Mt. Auburn Township 
 in the fall of 1856, and thence to the present 
 homestead of the family in Mosquito Township in 
 1862. The other children are Laura A. E., M. 
 Emily, Henry E., George R., Henrietta A., Cora A., 
 James L., Thomas M., Oscar W. and Charlotte O. 
 These were born in Christian County. Alfred M. 
 now resides in Taylorville. Frank P. is an able 
 and painstaking lawyer of Taylorville, and is re- 
 garded as one of the safest counselors, as well as 
 one of the most careful business men, in the coun- 
 ty. He has been quite successful. In 1881. he 
 married May, youngest daughter of Judge W. S- 
 Moore, and has two charming daughters. He 
 served one term as Master in Chancery, and has 
 always taken a prominent part in the councils of 
 the Democratic party. John G., now residing in 
 Springfield, 111., is the junior member of the well- 
 known law firm of Palmer, Shutt & Drennan, the 
 first-named being now United States Senator, while 
 Mr. Shutt is United States District Attorney for the 
 Southern District of Illinois. He married Mag- 
 gie, daughter of Dr. L. B. Slater, May 26, 1881, and 
 has two promising boys. Adelia J. is the wife of 
 John F. Cole, and with their seven children they 
 reside in Edinburgh, this county. Laura is the 
 wife of James George, of Caldwell County, Ky., 
 and they have three children. Emily is the wife 
 of Clayton Clements, of Decatur, 111., by whom she 
 has four children. Henry E., now of Denver, Colo., 
 has been twice married and has one daughter. 
 George R., who married Miss Hignight and has 
 three children, is a successful farmer and resides 
 on the old homestead in Mosquito Township.
 
 of the 
 
 itv of

 
 MRS. Jos. A DAMS.
 
 I lie Libfirj 
 l the 
 o< IW
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 335 
 
 Henrietta A. is the wife of Lewis Wilson, by whom 
 she has four sons, and they reside on their farm 
 near Greeley, Kan. Cora A. married Miles Scott, 
 and lives in Kansas. They have four bright lit- 
 tle boys to gladden their home. James L. mar- 
 ried May, daughter of Richard Jones, of Mt. Au- 
 burn. He is a law student of much promise, and 
 has displayed much capacity and tact as a trial 
 lawyer, although he has not yet been admitted to 
 the Bar. Thomas M. is a young man of promise. 
 He is also studying law and gives evidence of suc- 
 cess. Oscar W., an amiable young man of twenty, 
 died a few months ago in Texas, where he had 
 gone in the hope of regaining his health. Al- 
 though he was too young for a business career, he 
 displayed all the family qualities of a useful citi- 
 zen. Charlotte A., now a young lady, resides with 
 her mother in Taylorville. 
 
 The father of this family, John L. Drennan, 
 died at his home in Mosquito Township, Septem- 
 ber 5,1882, of typhoid fever. He always com- 
 manded the confidence and respect of the people, 
 and creditably filled several positions of public 
 trust. He was several times Assessor of Mosquito 
 Township, and also represented his township as 
 Supervisor for nine years. Political!} 7 , he was al- 
 ways a Democrat and cast his first vote for Gen. 
 Cass. A man of good habits and much force of 
 character, he was devoted to his family and used 
 every effort to promote habits of industry and 
 integrity in his children. The family is one of 
 prominence throughout the county, and well de- 
 serves representation in this volume. 
 
 
 jlL_ ON- JOSEPH ADAMS is one of the worthy 
 ifjV citizens of Christian County whose home 
 uhgr is situated on section 11, Prairieton Town- 
 (^) ship. He served his district in the Legis- 
 lature in the winter of 1891, and is one of the 
 memorable one hundred and one who stood firmly 
 by and voted for Hon. John M. Palmer until he 
 was triumphantly elected on the one hundred and 
 16 
 
 fifty-fourth ballot. He has also occupied nearly 
 all of the local positions within the gift of the 
 people, and his discharge of the duties pertaining 
 to whatever office he has filled has been marked 
 by fidelity and a realization of the trust be- 
 stowed in him. He is one of the honored pioneers 
 of this county, with whose welfare he has been 
 connected since 1836. 
 
 Mr. Adams was born in Montgomery County, 
 Ky., January 17, 1833, and is a son of Ellington 
 and Elizabeth (Gordon) Adams. The father was 
 also born in Montgomery County, Ky., coming 
 from one of the early pioneer families of that State. 
 His father was of English descent and a native of 
 the Old Dominion. Our subject's mother was a 
 daughter of Randel Gordon, who was also from 
 Virginia, and one of the early settlers of Ken- 
 tucky. Ellington Adams removed to Illinois in 
 1833 and first made a settlement in Sangamon 
 County. After a residence there of three years lie 
 finally located in what is now Christian County, 
 the date.being 1836. He entered land in Prairie- 
 ton Township and proceeded with industry to de- 
 velop a farm in the wilderness. He reared his 
 family and spent the remainder of his life on this 
 farm, dying in 1875, aged seventy-two years. The 
 wife and mother survived him for several years, 
 passing away in 1885. 
 
 Joseph Adams is one of a family of ten chil- 
 dren, namely: Rachel, who died in her thirty- 
 fifth year; Isom, a well-known farmer of this 
 township, whose sketch may be found elsewhere in 
 this work; Joseph, the subject of this sketch; 
 Richardson, who is engaged in farming in the 
 same township; G. W., who was formerly a promi- 
 inent farmer of the county, but met his death by 
 accident in July, 1893; James Martin, deceased; 
 Robert, whose death occurred at the age of four- 
 teen; Martha, wife of Benjamin Bramlett, of this 
 county; and Lucy, who died at the age of sixteen 
 years. 
 
 Our subject's boyhood was passed in Christian 
 Count}', and in those early days, as educational 
 advantages were of the most limited description, 
 he was not able to obtain much assistance, and 
 therefore has had to depend upon his own study 
 and resources. The nearest school was situated
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 tlyee miles from his home, but the subscription 
 school which he attended, and which was kept 
 only three months during the year, was six miles 
 distant from his home, and he made the distance 
 on foot. 
 
 On reaching his majority, Mr. Adams bought a 
 tract of three hundred and sixty acres of railroad 
 land and one hundred acres of other land ad- 
 joining. On this farm he located in 1856, at 
 which time only about thirty acres had been 
 cleared for cultivation, and a small frame building 
 was the only improvement. This was the home 
 of himself and family for a few years, during 
 which time he rapidly developed the farm, and as 
 the years rolled by the income of his industry and 
 energy was invested in more land, until he now 
 owns sixteen hundred acres. Much of this is rich 
 bottom land, and on these various farms are six 
 large and substantial residences, good barns and 
 other buildings. The success of Mr. Adams shows 
 what can be done on these fertile Western prairies 
 by a man who is able and willing to do his utmost 
 in their development. 
 
 In Decatur, Macon County, Mr. Adams and Miss 
 Nancy Widick were married, June 9, 1856. The 
 lady was born in Macon County and is a daugh- 
 ter of Samuel Widick, who was one of the original 
 settlers of Kentucky and participated in the War 
 of 1812. He also fought valiantly for the Old 
 Flag during the late Civil War, and at the end of 
 three years died in the service. Our subject and 
 his wife have reared a family of nine children. 
 Millie became the wife of John Myers, now de- 
 ceased; George A. is married and is engaged in 
 business in Moweaqua, Shelby County; Wheeler, a 
 farmer, lives in Shelby County; Florence is the 
 wife of Henry Harpool, also a farmer, of Christian 
 County; Iva is the wife of Leonard Cazalet, a 
 fanner of Assumption Township; Eva is the wife 
 of Frank Johnson, of Shelby County; Bettie and 
 Annie are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have 
 twelve grandchildren, one of whom, Johnnie Myers, 
 resides with them. 
 
 Mr. Adams is well known as a supporter of the 
 Democratic party and has supported its candidates 
 since 1856, when he voted for Hon. James Bu- 
 chanan. He has also taken an active part in lo- 
 
 cal politics, and for a great many years has served 
 his friends and neighbors in various positions, 
 among which we mention that for twenty years 
 he was Supervisor of Prairieton Township, and 
 was for thirty-four years one of its School Trus- 
 tees. It is very fitting that to one who is faithful 
 over a few things greater honors should be added, 
 and it was with this idea in view that his many 
 friends chose him as their Representative in the 
 Legislature. Mrs. Adams is a member of the 
 Christian Church, while our subject, though not 
 a member of any church organization, is very 
 liberal in the support of this and other denomina- 
 tions, as well as of all general benevolent enter- 
 prises. 
 
 JOHN L. SANDERS, one of the honored old 
 pioneers and representative farmers of Ston- 
 ington Township, resides on section 26. For 
 over half a century he has been identified 
 with the history of Christian County, and has seen 
 its development from a wilderness to the garden 
 spot of Illinois. He well remembers when the 
 family were obliged to go to Springfield for their 
 mail and to do their trading, although that city 
 was thirty-two miles distant. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred February 11, 
 1831, in Voluntown, Conn. He is the third in a 
 family of five children born to Nicholas and Sarah 
 (Douglass) Sanders. Louisa, the eldest, died only 
 six weeks after the family's arrival in Illinois, 
 when she was ten years of age. Nicholas D. is 
 now one of the active farmers and stock-dealers of 
 this count} 1 . Lydia married Tyler Chapman, a re- 
 tired farmer and one of the pioneers of Christian 
 County. Julia became the wife of Alfred Briggs, 
 also engaged in farming in this locality. The 
 father was born and reared in Connecticut on a 
 farm. For several years after his marriage he con- 
 tinued a resident of the Nutmeg State, but believ- 
 ing that he could better his fortune in the West, 
 he came in 1837 with several other families to Illi- 
 nois, and founded what was known as the Ston-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 337 
 
 ington Colony. He was one of the most respected 
 citizens of the township and for a number of years 
 was Justice of the Peace. Here he continued to 
 reside until called from his labors by death in Sep- 
 tember, 1878. His wife, who was also born in Con- 
 necticut, is still living, though she is eighty-nine 
 years of age. 
 
 John L. Sanders was a child of only six years 
 when his parents brought him to the West. They 
 made the journey by water to St. Louis, proceed- 
 ing from that city to Christian County by ox- 
 teams. They found the country sparsely settled 
 and wild animals still numerous. Mr. Sanders re- 
 sided with his parents until he had reached his ma- 
 jority, and received but limited educational oppor- 
 tunities, as the schools of the early days, which were 
 poor, were only kept for a couple of months in a 
 year and were conducted on the subscription plan. 
 When he was thirty years of age he purchased a 
 farm of eighty acres, which he has improved and 
 lived upon ever since. 
 
 On the 19th of February, 1860, Mr. Sanders was 
 united in marriage with Achsah F. Palmer, who 
 was born in the same county in Connecticut as her 
 husband, and came to this county with her parents 
 when about twelve years old. Nine children have 
 been born of this union. Mary became the wife 
 of William Bugg, who is a well-known agricul- 
 turist of Christian County; Nicholas is carrying 
 on the home farm; Laura lives at home; Ernest is 
 assisting his brother in managing the homestead; 
 Katie Pearl is the wife of Edward D. Moore, who 
 is a progressive farmer of the county; Oliver is still 
 at home; and three children died in infancy. 
 
 The homestead belonging to Mr. Sanders com- 
 prises at the present time four hundred acres of 
 valuable farm land. The property is located four 
 miles southeast of Stonington and is well improved. 
 Until 1892, our subject affiliated with the Repub- 
 lican party, but at that time joined th'e ranks of 
 the Prohibition party. He has no desire to fill of- 
 ficial positions and has ever declined to serve. For 
 about thirty-six years he has been a consistent 
 member of the Baptist Church, and is active in all 
 good works. He is well posted on all of the lead- 
 ing topics of the day, and is largely self-educated, 
 as he is also a self-made man in financial matters. 
 
 He has a large circle of friends and probably not 
 an enemy, as he is upright and a man of integrity, 
 who makes friends wherever he goes. 
 
 AMUEL MILLIGAN, deceased, who was 
 prominently identified with the growth 
 and upbuilding of Taylorville, was born 
 in Champaign County, Ohio, August 10, 
 1827, and died at his home in this city on the 21st 
 of April, 1884, respected by all who knew him. 
 His parents were William and Eliza (Pollock) 
 Milligan. The former, a native of Pennsylvania, 
 died November 7, 1850, and the death of the lat- 
 ter occurred in 1865. 
 
 No event of special importance occurred during 
 the youth of our subject, which was quietly passed 
 in his parents' home. It was in 1856 that Mr. 
 Milligan left the State of his nativity and re- 
 moved to Taylorville, 111., where he made his home 
 until his death. He was a butcher by trade, and 
 in this place opened a meat-market, which he car- 
 ried on continuously for many years. From the 
 beginning his business constantly increased, and 
 he enjoyed a liberal patronage, which was well de- 
 served, for his dealings were ever characterized by 
 the strictest honor and integrity. 
 
 Our subject was married in Taylorville, in 1866, 
 the lady of his choice being Mrs. Rebecca Mc- 
 Arthur, widow of Thomas McArthur, who was a 
 member of Company H, Thirty-sixth Ohio Infan- 
 try, during the late war, and died in the service 
 in 1864. The following year his widow came to 
 Taylorville, and on the 18th of November, 1866, 
 occurred her marriage with Mr. Milligan. She 
 bore the maiden name of Rebecca Snuffln,and is a 
 native of Champaign County, Ohio, her girlhood 
 being passed in the same community in which our 
 subject was reared. By her first marriage she had 
 five children: Duncan, who is engaged in the 
 dairy business; Levi, who is a jeweler of Taylor- 
 ville; Walter, who is connected with a coal mine
 
 338 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of this city; and two who died in childhood. Mr. 
 Milligan's family numbered the following children: 
 Mary, who became the wife of William Fousnacht, 
 and died at the age of nineteen; William, who 
 died at the age of three years; David F., who car- 
 ries on the business formerly conducted by his fa- 
 ther; Anon C., Charles II. and Walter, who died 
 at the age of fifteen, seven and two years, re- 
 spectively; Amos, who died at the age of eighteen 
 months; Rosa May, who is engaged in the milli- 
 nery business; and Nellie, who is pursuing a course 
 in music. 
 
 Mr. Milligan came to Taylorville a poor man, 
 but by his industry, perseverance and well-directed 
 efforts he accumulated a handsome competency, 
 and left his family in comfortable circumstances. 
 He platted five acres of ground, known as Milli- 
 gan's Addition to Taylorville, and erected thereon 
 a number of desirable residences, the greater part 
 of which he had sold before his death. In politics, 
 he was a supporter of the Republican partv, but 
 was never an aspirant for the honors or emolu- 
 ments of public office. His death resulted from 
 blood poisoning, and occurred three weeks after sus- 
 taining an injury, the point of a small saw pene- 
 trating his foot. He lived a quiet, unassuming 
 life, yet was a public-spirited and progressive citi- 
 zen, and had the esteem of all who knew him. 
 Mrs. Milligan is a member of the Cumberland 
 Presbyterian Church, and is a most estimable lady. 
 Since her husband's death she has continued to 
 make her home in Taylorville. 
 
 ,EV. WILLIAM W. WEEDON, pastor of 
 the 'Christian Church of Taylorville, was 
 born in Columbiana Count}', Ohio, Decem- 
 ! ber 23, 1846, and his parents, Samuel and 
 Letitia (Farr) Weedon, were natives of the same 
 State. The paternal grandfather, James Weedon, 
 however, was a native of Virginia, and was a 
 farmer by occupation. In an early day he emi- 
 
 grated to Illinois and located in Wayne County, 
 where he spent the remainder of his life. 
 
 Samuel Weedon has always been an agricultur- 
 ist. Although in early life he learned the cooper's 
 trade, lie followed that pursuit for only a short 
 time. In Ohio he married Miss Farr, daughter of 
 William Farr, a native of Virginia, who in an 
 early day removed to Ohio, living for many 
 ye'ars in Columbiana County, where his last days 
 were speut. Mrs. Woedon died in 1854. She was 
 a member of the United Brethren Church. In 
 her family were four children, two sons and two 
 daughters, but Teresa C., the eldest, is now de- 
 ceased. William W. is the next in order of birth; 
 Rachel A. is the wife of Lindley W. Rossiter, of 
 St. Louis; Leven H. completes the family. After 
 the death of his first wife, Mr. Weedon was mar- 
 ried, in 1856, to Sarah A. Casebeer, daughter of 
 Samuel Casebeer. She too was a member of the 
 United Brethren Church, and her death occurred 
 in 1876. The present wife of Samuel Weedon 
 was formerly Mrs. Joan Hood. They were mar- 
 ried in 1879, and arc now living near Fairfield, in 
 Wayne County, 111. Mr. Weedon came to this 
 State in 1860, and has since lived in Wayne 
 Count} 7 , where he owns a farm of forty acres. He 
 is a member of the Christian Church, and a highly 
 respected citizen. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was a youth of four- 
 teen years when he came to Illinois. He acquired 
 his early education in the public schools of Ohio, 
 afterward attended in Wayne County, and com- 
 pleted his studies in the High School in Fairfield. 
 He lived at home until the war broke out, when 
 he entered the service as a member of Company G, 
 Eighth Illinois Infantry, in which he served one 
 year, participating in the battles of Spanish Fort 
 and Ft. Blakeley and the engagements of the 
 Mobile campaign. After the war he spent one 
 year at home, and then went back to Ohio, where 
 he farmed and worked at carpentering. 
 
 In June, 1867, Mr. Weedon was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Julia A. Morlan, a daughter of 
 Salathiel and Minerva (Burson) Morlan, of Ohio. 
 Three children were born unto them, a son and two 
 daughters, but all are now deceased. They were 
 Edwin S., who died in childhood; Lettie M., who
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 339 
 
 became the wife of William Darnell, of Kansas 
 City, Mo., where she died in her twenty-third year; 
 and Lillie, who died in her eighteenth year. The 
 mother of this family died in June, 1872, in the 
 faitli of the Christian Church, of which she was 
 a consistent member. Two years after the death 
 of his wife, Mr. Weedon left Ohio, and in 1874 | 
 came to Illinois, locating in Cisne for a short time. 
 On the 24th of December, 1874, he married Miss 
 Carrie Van Fossen, of Cisne, daughter of Dr. T. 
 and Christina (Lamp) Van Fossen. Their union 
 .has been blessed with four children, two sons and 
 two daughters: Fred O., Lulu Mabel, Frank L. 
 and Sarah Edna, all at home. 
 
 Feeling a desire to enter the ministry, in 1876 
 .Mr. Weedon began studying to fit himself for 
 what he now makes his life work, and in 1878 
 passed his ordination, and in 1879 accepted a 
 pastorate at Brownstown, Fayette County, 111. 
 Since then he has preached at Edinburgh, South 
 Fork, Assumption, Blue Mound, Barnett and Tay- 
 lorville. He has occupied the last-named pastorate 
 for about seven years. The weak congregation of 
 which he took charge is now a strong one, and 
 during his work here he has received about two 
 hundred and fifty into the church, besides receiv- 
 ing hundreds of others while working in the 
 .evangelistic field. Through the instrumentality 
 of Mr. Weedon, a fine new church building is now 
 being erected, costing about $15,000, the Davis 
 Memorial Christian Church. Hois untiring in his 
 labors, and his example, as well as his precept, lias 
 led many to walk in the right path. 
 
 Our subject is a member of the Odd Fellows' 
 fraternity, and is at present serving his third term 
 as Grand Chaplain of the State of Illinois. He 
 has lectured frequently to Odd Fellows, and has 
 filled all the subordinate .offices in the lodge, be- 
 ing Noble Grand for three terms, "and representa- 
 tive to the Grand Lodge. He is at present Past 
 Chancellor of Mystic Lodge No. 64, K. P., and is 
 Chaplain of the Second Regiment, Uniformed 
 Rank. With Francis M. Long Post No. 347, 
 G. A. R., he also holds membership. In politics, 
 he is a Republican. He was honored with an elec- 
 tion to the Thirty-seventh Illinois General Assem- 
 bly, being the nominee of the Republican party, 
 
 though a minority candidate. He had a position 
 on five important committees: Insurance, Libraries, 
 Sanitary. Soldiers' and Orphans' Homes, and Mili- 
 tary, and made one of the nomination speeches in 
 favor of Richard J. Oglesby against John M. 
 Palmer. Mr. AVeedon enters with enthusiasm and 
 energy into any work that he undertakes, and his 
 progressive spirit has no doubt been an important 
 factor in much of his success. That he is loved 
 by the people of his church is well indicated by 
 his long-continued service, and outside of his 
 own denomination he is also held in high regard. 
 
 yiLLIS H. SKELTON, the efficient and well- 
 known agent of the Wabash Railroad at 
 Taylorville, has occupied his present posi- 
 tion since the spring of 1887, and has been con- 
 nected with railroad work throughout his entire 
 business career. His life record is as follows: A 
 native of West Virginia, he was born in Parkers- 
 burg on the 25th of September, 1856, and is a son 
 of William M. Skelton, who was born in the same 
 State. His mother bore the maiden name of Ellen 
 S. Douglas. His parents remained in the South 
 until 1866, when, with their family, they emigrated 
 to Illinois, taking up their residence in Litchfield. 
 As will be seen, our subject spent the first ten 
 years of his boyhood in the city of his birth. In 
 the public schools he acquired his education, and 
 at the age of fourteen he started out to make his 
 own way in the world. Since that time he has 
 been dependent entirely upon his own resources. 
 At that time he secured a position as telegraph 
 messenger in the Western Union Telegraph office 
 at Litchfield, on the Big Four Railroad, where he 
 remained two years. When a youth of sixteen he 
 began braking for that road, with which he con- 
 tinued his connection until 1885. During the 
 last year he served as conductor. On leaving the 
 old company, he entered the employ of the Wa- 
 bash Road, with which he continued as conductor 
 for two years, his run being between St. Louis and
 
 340 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Decatur. On account of meritorious and faithful 
 service, he was placed in charge of the office in 
 Taylorville in September, 1887, and has since 
 filled that responsible position. He now has five 
 employes under his care. 
 
 A.n important event in the life of Mr. Skelton 
 occurred on the 25th of March, 1883, when was 
 celebrated his marriage with Miss Clara Yates, of 
 Gillespie, 111. Their union has been blessed with 
 three children, a son and two daughters: Anna, 
 Earl and Lottie. The parents are highly respected 
 citizens, and although their residence here is of 
 comparatively short duration, they have already 
 won many friends. In politics, Mr. Skelton is a 
 supporter of Republican principles, but has never 
 been an aspirant for office. Socially, he is con- 
 nected with Mystic Lodge No. 64, K. P. He is a 
 trusted and faithful employe of the Wabash Com- 
 pan3', and the interests of his employers will never 
 suffer at his hands. 
 
 ^^ EORGE ARMITAGE is a practical farmer 
 |f| (_, of Bear Creek Township, and has lived on 
 '^Jjj his farm, which is located on section 5, for 
 thirty years. This is a well-improved piece of 
 property, known by the name of Pleasant View 
 ( Farm. The owner has of late years engaged in 
 stock-raising extensively, making a specialty of 
 fine grades of cattle and hogs. He has been a 
 witness of much of the development of the county, 
 and has seen its transformation from an unculti- 
 vated prairie to its present condition of thrifty 
 farms and enterprising villages. 
 
 Our subject's paternal grandfather, Thomas Ar- 
 mitage, was a native of England, and was an agri- 
 culturist. His family consisted of four sons and 
 one daughter, and after living a long and 'useful 
 life he was called to the home beyond. His son, 
 Arthur, who became the father of our subject, was 
 reared to the life of a farmer, but in later years 
 was a manufacturer. He married Elizabeth Stead, 
 
 daughter of Benjamin M. Stead, who was a fore- 
 man in a shoe manufactory. He was a member 
 of the Society of Friends, and was over seventy 
 years of age at the time of his death. The pa- 
 rents of our subject passed their entire lives in 
 England, where they died within two weeks of 
 each other. They had a family of three sons and 
 three daughters, and of the number George is 
 probably the only one now living. 
 
 Like his father, our subject was reared on a 
 farm, and when nineteen years of age he con- 
 cluded to try his fortune in the United States. 
 This was in 1841, and lie was born March 1, 1822. 
 On his arrival, he at once turned his face toward 
 the West, going to live witli an uncle in Macoupin 
 County, 111, near the village of Harris Point. 
 After remaining with him for a year, he went to 
 Zanesville, where he spent one winter. About 
 this time he undertook to learn the tanner's trade, 
 but on account of sickness was obliged to give up 
 the idea, and in a short time resumed agricultural 
 pursuits. In 1844 he rented a farm of thirty-five 
 acres, and thus got his first start in business life. 
 After his marriage, in 1845, he purchased a farm 
 of thirty acres, adjoining a tract of fifty acres in 
 Sangamon County which belonged to his wife. 
 As his resources allowed, he added land until their 
 joint possessions comprised three hundred acres. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Armitage and Miss Frances 
 M. Crow was celebrated January 27, 1845. She 
 is. a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Cashner) 
 Crow, the former a native of Ireland, while the 
 mother was a native of Maryland and of German 
 descent. Four children have been born to our 
 subject and his wife. Uriah G. married Miss 
 Eliza Loveless, and is engaged in farming one 
 mile west of the old homestead. They have two 
 sons, Clarence E. and Homer. Margaret A. resides 
 with her parents. Robert B., who wedded Miss 
 Jane Craig, has two children, Roy and- Bessie, and is 
 a resident of Willow Ford, this county. Edward 
 C., who married Miss Alice Prime, and is the fa- 
 ther of two children, Bertha and Ray, is a res- 
 ident of Virden, 111. 
 
 Selling his farm of three hundred acres in San- 
 gamon County, Mr. Armitage removed to this 
 county in November, 1863, and invested his
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 341 
 
 means in a place of two hundred and seventy 
 acres, where he still continues to live. He has 
 since added more land, and now owns three hun- 
 dred and sixty acres. He raises fine Durham cat- 
 tle and Berkshire and Poland-China hogs. He has 
 held a number of local offices, such as School Di- 
 rector, Road Commissioner, etc., and has used his 
 influence in securing good roads and other im- 
 provements beneficial to the people and county at 
 large. He is a Mason of longstanding, and, polit- 
 ically, is a Democrat. With his family he holds 
 membership with the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 G. RICHARDS, who carries on general 
 farming on section 10, Rosemond Town- 
 ship, where he owns and operates one liun- 
 . dred and twenty acres of good land, is a native 
 of the Buckeye State, his birth having occurred 
 near Canton, in Stark County, on the 21st of 
 March, 1839. His father, Abraham Richards, was 
 a native of Pennsylvania, and was a farmer by 
 occupation. The paternal grand father of our sub- 
 ject died in Albany, N. Y. Abraham Richards, 
 having attained to mature years, was united in 
 marriage with Miss Anna Gerber, a native of Ohio 
 and a daughter of John Gerber, who was born in 
 Pennsylvania, and became one of the pioneers of 
 the Buckeye State. He settled in the midst of 
 the forest and hewed out a farm, one hundred 
 miles from Pittsburgh, and sixty miles from Cleve- 
 land. The latter was the nearest trading-post, and 
 they had to obtain many of their supplies from 
 the Indians. The father of Mr. Gerber was a 
 slave-holder of Maryland, and removed from that 
 State to Pennsylvania. 
 
 The parents of our subject were married near 
 Canton, Ohio, and located upon a farm in Stark 
 County, where they reared their family. The fa- 
 ther died at the age of sixty-four years. He was 
 a prominent agriculturist of the community and 
 one of the honored pioneers. He was a member 
 of the Methodist Church. His widow, who was 
 
 born in 1812, is still living, and makes her home 
 near Lincoln. Neb. The family of this worthy 
 couple numbered five children, four sons and a 
 daughter, all of whom are still living. Lydia is 
 the wife of Samuel Grove, of Stark County, Ohio. 
 John is living on the old homestead in Stark 
 County. C. G. is the next younger. David is 
 living in Nebraska, and Joseph lives in Canton, 
 Ohio. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is the only represent- 
 ative of the family in Illinois. He was reared in 
 the county of his nativity, and acquired the 
 greater part of hiseducation in the district schools, 
 but for one year was a student in Greenbush, Ohio. 
 Under the parental roof he remained and to his 
 father gave the benefit of his services until twenty- 
 five years of age, when he started out in life for 
 himself. Going to Noble County, Ind., he worked 
 on a farm for $14 per month, and after a year re- 
 turned to his native State, where he ran an en- 
 gine for a year. He then again went to Indiana, 
 and worked for his old employer for $20 per 
 month. With the money which he could save he 
 would purchase stock, and did considerable trad- 
 ing in horses and cattle. In 1865 we again find 
 him in Stark County, Ohio, where he spent one 
 year, operating a sawmill south of Canton, in 
 which he purchased a half-interest. 
 
 On the 3d of October, 1867, Mr. Richards was 
 united in marriage with Miss Lucy Yant, who was 
 born in that county and is a daughter of Daniel 
 Yant, a native of Pennsylvania. They became the 
 parents of four children, but two are now de- 
 ceased, the eldest having died in infancy, while 
 Arthur died at the age of six years. Maud and 
 Blanche are still at home. 
 
 In the year following his marriage, Mr. Rich- 
 ards brought his young wife to Christian County, 
 111., and purchased the farm on which he now re- 
 sides. It was an unimproved place, the land was 
 wild, there were no fences, and the only building 
 was a small frame house. The many improve- 
 ments now seen thereon are the handiwork of our 
 subject. The well-tilled fields and good buildings 
 all indicate his thrift and enterprise, and he is justly 
 classed among the representative and progressive 
 agriculturists of the community. He has made a
 
 342 
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 specialty of the breeding of Jersey cattle, and has 
 some fine stock now on hand. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Richards is a stalwart Republi- 
 can. He was elected Supervisor in 1890, and 
 again in 1892, and is now holding that office. He 
 has been School Trustee for fifteen years, and was 
 Assessor for six years. He is a member of the 
 Congregational Church of Rosemond, and has 
 served as Trustee and Deacon. No man is more 
 highly esteemed in the community than the sub- 
 ject of this sketch. 
 
 GILBERT BURNETT HANKINS, wh6 for 
 
 )me years was connected with the agri- 
 cultural interests of Christian County, is 
 now living a retired life in Taylorville. He is a 
 self-made man, and his business career of strict 
 honor and integrity is well worthy of emulation. 
 He has been successful, yet his prosperity is not the 
 result of good fortune, it being the legitimate out- 
 come of toil and energy. 
 
 Mr. Hankins is a native of Kentucky. He was 
 born April 12, 1828, in Shelby County, and comes 
 on the maternal side from a family of German 
 origin, which was founded in America by his 
 grandparents. His father, Gilbert Hankins, Sr., 
 was a native of Virginia, and when a young man 
 went to Kentucky, where he spent his remaining 
 days.' His wife, who bore the maiden name of Re- 
 becca Caress, was born in that State. 
 
 Under the parental roof our subject spent his 
 boyhood days midst play and work, no event of 
 special importance occurring during his child- 
 hood. In 1856, he left the State of his nativity 
 with the determination to try his fortune on the 
 broad prairies of Illinois, and located near Roch- 
 ester, in Sangamon County. The following year 
 he came to Christian County, and when a young 
 man he followed the carpenter's trade. In this 
 way he secured sufficient money to purchase a 
 farm, and became the owner of a slightly im- 
 proved tract of land in South Fork Township, 
 
 nine miles west of Taylorville, for which he paid 
 $12.50 per acre. With characteristic energy he 
 began the development of his land, and in the 
 course of time abundant harvests rewarded his la- 
 bors, the wild prairie being transformed into rich 
 and fertile fields. 
 
 For a companion and helpmate on life's jour- 
 ney, Mr. Hankins chose Miss Mary Mason, the 
 daughter of John and Isabella (Clemens) Ma- 
 son. Her father was a native of England, and 
 when a young man came to Illinois, entering 
 land near Springfield. He is numbered among 
 the pioneer settlers of Sangamon County. Up- 
 on his farm he was married when about twenty- 
 one years of age. His wife was a native of Vir- 
 ginia, was reared in Kentucky, and at an early 
 day came with her parents to Illinois. In 1856, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Mason removed to Christian Coun- 
 ty, where they lived until called to the home 
 beyond. His death occurred in South Fork Town- 
 ship in 1878, at the age of eighty-one; and she 
 died in Taylorville, in 1892, at the age of eighty- 
 four, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hankins. 
 Of their family of eleven children, all grew to 
 mature years, and nine still survive at this writ- 
 ing, in the fall of 1893. Mr. Mason was an exten- 
 sive farmer and land-owner in Christian and Macon 
 Counties, and his possessions were all acquired 
 through his own efforts. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hankins was cele- 
 brated in South Fork Township, February 11, 
 1864. They have no children of their own, but 
 have reared two: William Kelley, who came to them 
 at the age of thirteen, and is now living in Twin 
 City, Tex.; and Mary Prince, who made her home 
 with them from the age of four years until her 
 marriage to R. S. Peck, of Taylorville. They now 
 reside in Ft. Smith, Ark. These children received 
 good educational advantages and were carefully 
 and tenderly reared. 
 
 In 1875, Mr. Hankins left his farm and came to 
 Taylorville, since which time he has engaged 
 quite extensively in selling nursery stock. He 
 still owns his home farm of one hundred and sixty 
 acres of valuable land, and another tract of eighty 
 acres in this county, besides some fine city prop- 
 erty, including four lots where he now ' lives,
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 343 
 
 upon which are two good residences. Mr. Han- 
 kins has never taken a very prominent part in 
 public affairs, yet always faithfully performs his 
 duties of citizenship. He was formerly a Republi- 
 can in politics, but is now a stalwart supporter of 
 the Prohibition party. He was made a Mason in 
 Shelby County, Ky., about 1854, and now holds 
 membership with Mound Lodge No. 122. A. F. & 
 A. M., of Taylorville. 
 
 JOSEPH C. PHINNEY is engaged in busi- 
 ness in Taylorville as a contractor and 
 builder. He began operations in this line 
 in 1872, and during the greater part of the 
 time since has been a leading member of the trade. 
 As he is widely and favorably known, both in bus- 
 iness and social circles, we feel assured that this 
 record of his life will prove of interest to many of 
 our readers. 
 
 A native of New York, Mr. Phinney was born 
 in Lewis County, on the 18th of July, 1836, and 
 there spent his first thirteen years. His father, 
 Clark Phinney, then emigrated with the family to 
 Lake County, 111., settling in Hainesville. He 
 was a carpenter by trade, and under his instruc- 
 tion our subject began learning the business. His 
 father died when Joseph was twenty years of age, 
 after which our subject went to Lowville, N. Y., 
 his native town, and further perfected himself in 
 his knowledge of carpentering. After finishing 
 his trade, he continued to follow the business in 
 the East for a year. He began contracting im- 
 mediately after his father's death, but on going 
 to the Empire State, he found that he could ad- 
 vance in his business, and in consequence de- 
 voted himself to further improvement along that 
 line. 
 
 While in New York, our subject was married, 
 on the 17th of September, 1861, the lady of his 
 choice being Miss Mary Ellen Phinney, his cousin. 
 Their union has been blessed with two children: 
 Charlie C., who is now working with his father; 
 
 and Grace, wife of Frank Martin, agent for the 
 Adams Express Company of Taylorville. The 
 family is one of prominence in the community 
 and its members rank high in social circles. 
 
 Returning with his young wife to Illinois, Mr. 
 Phinney began contracting in McLean Countj', 
 where he remained until his removal to Taylor- 
 ville, in 1872. Since coming here, however, he 
 spent one year in Independence, Iowa, and for 
 two years, in 1888 and 1889, he was foreman 
 in White's lumber-yard. With the exception of 
 these short periods, he has continuously carried 
 on business for himself in Taylorville. He em- 
 ploys from six to twelve men, and as he always 
 lives up to his contracts, fulfilling his part of the 
 agreement, he has received a liberal patronage, 
 which has constantly increased from the begin- 
 ning. In connection with contracting and build- 
 ing, he has, to some extent, carried on farming, and 
 has improved property in his own interest, erect- 
 ing and selling a number of residences. He now 
 owns seven and a-half acres of land, lying adjacent 
 to the village, which he expects soon to plat and add 
 to Taylorville. Straightforward and honorable 
 in all his business dealings, he is a man of un- 
 swerving integrity, and has the confidence and 
 high regard of all with whom he has been brought 
 in contact 
 
 x^APT. JOHN EDWARD HOGAN, one of 
 ((( r Ta y lorville ' s popular and representative 
 ^^^7 citizens, is here engaged in the practice of 
 law, as a member of the firm of Drennan <fe Hogan, 
 and is Master in Chancery for Christian County. 
 He has the honor of being one of the native sons 
 of this county, his birth having occurred in Pana 
 on the 30th of July, 1865. His parents are Thomas 
 and Mary A. (Murphy) Hogan. The father was a 
 native of Ireland, and on leaving the Emerald 
 Isle crossed the Atlantic to America, where he 
 met and married Miss Murphy, a native of Canada. 
 In 1866 he came with his family to Taylorville,
 
 344 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 where he is still living, at the age of sixty-six 
 years. For some time he was proprietor of the 
 Central Hotel, but is now living, a retired life. 
 His wife was called to her final rest in December, 
 1891. 
 
 The subject of this sketch has always lived in 
 the county of his nativity. When in his first year, 
 he was brought by his parents to Taylorville, 
 where midst play and work his boyhood days 
 were passed. He entered upon his business career 
 at the age of fifteen, at which time he secured a 
 clerkship in the grocery store of W. R. Callaway. 
 He also served in the same capacity with Baughman 
 & White, continuing as a clerk for five years. 
 Preferring a professional to a commercial life, how- 
 ever, he decided to take up the study of law, and 
 at the age of twenty entered the office of J. G. 
 Drennan, a well-known and prominent practi- 
 tioner. After receiving thorough instruction, he 
 was admitted to the Bar before the Supreme Court 
 of Mt. Vernon, in March, 1888. He then em- 
 barked in practice, and has since followed his 
 chosen profession. The next month after being 
 admitted to the Bar, he was elected Police Judge, 
 and served in that office for a year. In 1889 the 
 present partnership with Mr. Drennan was formed. 
 The connection still continues, but in 1892 Mr. 
 Drennan removed to Springfield, and became a 
 partner with the firm of Palmer <fe Shutt, of the 
 capital city* The senior member of the firm is 
 John M. Palmer, United States Senator, and Will- 
 iam E. Shutt is the present District Attorney for 
 the United States. 
 
 Our subject exercises his right of franchise in 
 support of the Democratic party, and is one of the 
 stalwart advocates of the Democracy. He has 
 been a member of the County Central Committee 
 for some time, and is now its Secretary. In cam- 
 paign work he is very active, and is an able 
 speaker. Mr. Hogan is also the popular Captain 
 of Company B, Fifth Regiment Illinois National 
 Guards, which numbers sixty men. It was for- 
 merly commanded by Capt. Arthur Crooker, and 
 under his leadership took part in many compet- 
 itive drills and won a number of prizes. The 
 troops attended the New Orleans Exposition in 
 1885, camping at Mobile. This company has fur- 
 
 nished a number of illustrious men, including 
 Col. McKnight, who served on the staff of the 
 Governor, and Col. Culver, of Springfield, who 
 commands the Fifth Regiment. Capt. Hogan has 
 filled his office for a year. In 1892 he attended 
 the Encampment at Springfield, and in October of 
 that year went with his men to Chicago to take 
 part in the dedicatory exercises of the World's 
 Fair. The company is now well equipped, and 
 takes rank among the best in the State. Mr. Ho- 
 gan isalsoVice-President of the Arion Club. His 
 pleasant, genial nature makes him a favorite, and 
 throughout the community he has a large circle of 
 friends. 
 
 WILLIAM L. COHENOUR, one of the prom- 
 inent and representative citizens of Pana, 
 has the honor of being a native of Illinois, 
 his birth having occurred near Griggsville, in 
 Pike County, September 10, 1837. His parents, 
 Jacob N. and Jane (Likeley) Cohenour, were both 
 natives of Pennsylvania, and in the Keystone 
 State were married. One child was there born 
 unto them, and in 1836 they came with it to Illi- 
 nois. The father was a carpenter and farmer, and 
 spent his remaining days in Pike County, where his 
 death occurred in 1868, at the age of fifty-seven 
 years. His wife was called to her final rest in 
 1857. 
 
 The boyhood days of our subject were quietly 
 passed upon his father's farm until eighteen years 
 of age, when he turned his attention to commer- 
 cial pursuits. He had been educated in the pub- 
 lic schools and in the Pittsfield Academy, and at 
 the age of eighteen he entered a store in Pitts- 
 field, where he engaged in clerking for several 
 years. He later engaged in teaching in Pike 
 County, and was also employed as a teacher in 
 Nodaway County, Mo., after which he returned to 
 the State of his nativity and taught school in St. 
 Clair County until 1863. 
 
 On the 10th of December, 1863, was celebrated 
 the marriage of Mr. Cohenour and Miss Mary S.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 345 
 
 Moore, of St. Clair County. Uuto them have 
 been born the following children: Charles A., who 
 read law in Algona, Iowa, was admitted to the Bar 
 in June, 1892, and is now practicing in Sioux City, 
 Iowa; Jacob A., a hardware merchant of Oconee, 
 111.; William L., who is engaged in farming in 
 Harper County, Kan.; Mertie J., Howard H., Cora 
 J. and Mary Florence. The four last named are 
 still under the parental roof. 
 
 Mr. Cohenour located in Bond County, 111., in 
 1864, and in the spring of 1865 came to Christian 
 County, settling four miles northwest of Pana, 
 where he purchased of the Illinois Central Rail- 
 road Company one hundred and twenty acres of 
 wild land, at $11 per acre. Since that time he has 
 engaged in farming in Pana and Assumption 
 Townships, having improved two hundred and 
 forty acres of fine farming land iii Assumption 
 Township, besides the tract of one hundred and 
 twenty acres above mentioned. He has also lived 
 on two other farms. He now owns and manages 
 a quarter-section of land in Assumption Township, 
 and has thirty acres where he now lives, adjoin- 
 ing the city of Pana. In addition, he has some 
 land in Clark County, Kan., and some in Florida, 
 which is adapted to orange-growing. He has car- 
 ried on a general line of farming and has culti- 
 vated a fine orchard of about seventeen acres. At 
 one time he resided in Pana for about four years, 
 during which time he was engaged in the grocery 
 trade. 
 
 Mr. Cohenour has been honored with a number 
 of local offices, having served as Justice of the 
 Peace and Supervisor of Assumption Township 
 with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of 
 his constituents. He was made a Mason in New 
 Salem Lodge, of Pike County, when he was twenty- 
 one years of age, is a member of both the blue 
 lodge and chapter in Pana, an'd himself and wife 
 belong to the Order of the Eastern Star. She is 
 also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Mr. Cohenour has been prominently connected 
 with the business interests of Pana and was one of 
 the incorporates of the First National Bank, which 
 was established in May, 1889. At the first elec- 
 tion held he was made its President, and has since 
 continued to fill that position. He gives tlie bank 
 
 his personal supervision, and under his able man- 
 agement it is now in a flourishing condition. He 
 was one of the promoters of, and is a stockholder in, 
 the Pana Fair Association, and up to within a year 
 was superintendent of the textile department. In 
 connection with others he was prominent in the 
 development of the coal interests, which have 
 proven one of the leading industries of this locality. 
 Our subject is a man of excellent business ability, 
 sagacious and far-sighted, enterprising arid pro- 
 gressive, and to his efforts the upbuilding and 
 prosperity of the community are due in no small 
 degree. His labors have brought him success, and 
 he is now the owner of a handsome competency as 
 the result of his good management. 
 
 J^jft RTHUR CLARK BUTLER, who is Princi- 
 I^O| pal of the Taylorville Township High 
 jnt School, and is recognized as one of the 
 ^f/ leading educators of central Illinois, has 
 spent his entire life in this State, being numbered 
 among her native sons. He was born near Jack- 
 sonville, in Morgan County, on the llth of April, 
 1848. His father, James L. Butler, was a native 
 of Virginia, and after arriving at years of matur- 
 ity he married Oletha Sargent, who was born in 
 the Buckeye State. 
 
 Prof. Butler spent the first fourteen years of his 
 life in the county of his nativity, and from that 
 time until he had arrived at man's estate he lived 
 upon a prairie farm in Macon County, near Blue 
 Mound. He early became familiar with agricul- 
 tural pursuits, and aided his father in the cultiva- 
 tion of the land until he had arrived at years of 
 maturity. His educational privileges previous to 
 that time were limited. He had attended the 
 common schools, and for two years was a student 
 in the State Normal. Anxious to acquire a good 
 education, his own labors made it possible for him 
 to carry out this desire. While still upon the 
 home farm he engaged in teaching, and for some 
 years his time was spent between teaching and study
 
 346 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in the State Normal. It was seven years before 
 he had completed the four-year course of that in- 
 stitution, as his studies were interrupted by the 
 teaching, which made it possible for him to pay 
 his tuition and meet his other expenses. 
 
 At length, however, Prof. Butler was graduated 
 in 1878, and among twenty-six pupils carried off 
 the class honors. He also studied the languages, 
 not included in the regular course. Since that 
 time he has been continuously engaged in educa- 
 tional work. For two years he was employed as 
 Principal of the schools of Virginia, Cass County, 
 and then went to Beardstown, where for nine 
 years he was employed as Superintendent of the 
 schools of that city of five thousand inhabitants. 
 While there he introduced manual training into 
 the schools, a feature which attracted much atten- 
 tion among educators. In July, 1891, he came to 
 Taylorville, where he has now taught for two 
 years. This was an instance of the place seeking 
 the man, for after the committee visited his school 
 at Beardstown the position was offered him. 
 
 On the loth of June, 1871, in Christian County, 
 Prof. Butler married Miss Eliza Eaton, of Prairie- 
 town Township, a daughter of William K. and E. 
 Eaton, early settlers of this county. Unto them 
 have been born three children: Wilbur F., who is 
 now serving as operator in Taylorville; Gazella,who 
 devotes her time to the study of music; and Ruby 
 Alberta. The ancestors of our subject were prom- 
 inent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and he and his family hold the same faith. He 
 takes quite an active part in church work, is a 
 member of the Board of Trustees, and has borne a 
 prominent part in building the new house of wor- 
 ship. He was made a Mason in Beardstown. 
 
 Mr. Butler devotes much of his vacations to in- 
 stitute work. He is a member of the State Teach- 
 ers' Association, and for one year was President 
 of the Central Illinois Teachers' Association. He 
 has contributed many able articles to educational 
 journals, and in 1892 the Blackburn University, of 
 Carlinville, conferred upon him the honorary de- 
 gree of A. M. In May, 1893, he commenced a 
 series of articles in the School News, entitled 
 "Tea-table Talks on Education." These articles 
 are of special interest to teachers, and have re- 
 
 ceived favorable comment from many persons in- 
 terested in promoting the best welfare of our edu- 
 cational system. The same enterprise and resolute 
 spirit which secured for him his education have 
 made Mr. Butler's life a success and won for him 
 the high position which he to-day occupies among 
 teachers. 
 
 . WALLS, editor of the Democrat, is a na- 
 tive of Edgar County, 111., and first saw 
 the light at Paris December 3, 1852. He 
 attended the public schools of that city until 
 he was nine years old, when his father, Elza 
 Walls, having died, he removed with his mother, 
 (who re-married two years afterward) to a farm. 
 The war coming on unsettled the country school, 
 and for the next eight years he had little or no 
 opportunity for education. Happening to see in 
 a copy of a local newspaper that a boy was wanted 
 to learn the printing trade, he applied for the po- 
 sition, was accepted, and in two years became fore- 
 man. Having employed all his time between 7 
 p. M. and midnight in study, a year later he was 
 advanced to the position of associate editor, which 
 he threw up to enter college at Chicago. While a 
 student, he dashed off a few lines of jingle, which 
 he sent to the Terre Haute (Ind.) Gazette, and which 
 attracted the attention of the editor, O. J. Smith, 
 who offered him a place on the editorial staff of 
 the Saturday Evening Mail, which he contemplated 
 establishing. He remained with the Mail for nine 
 months, when he took editorial charge of the Mo- 
 ravia (Iowa) Vedette. He left Moravia to estab- 
 lish the Democrat at Princeton, Mo., but in a few 
 months returned to Moravia and started the Mess- 
 enger. 
 
 Mr. Walls married Miss Mary McDivitt, of Ed- 
 gar County, 111., and bought the Indianian, the 
 Democratic organ of Hendricks County, and re- 
 moved to Danville, Ind., in June, 1872. He re- 
 mained at Danville for five years, and was Chair-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 347 
 
 man of the Democratic Central Committee during 
 all of that time. In 1879 he removed to Decatur, 
 111., and established the Decatur Saturday Herald, 
 now the Herald Despatch. His health failing, he 
 sold the Herald and did a little reportorial work 
 on the Republican, at Paris, 111. In 1881 he bought 
 the Macon (111.) Independent, and a year later es- 
 tablished the Assumption Enterprise. He ran both 
 papers for two years, and then bought the Monti- 
 cello (111.) Bulletin, making Monticello his head- 
 quarters. Not content with having three papers 
 on his hands, he entered the Railway Mail Service 
 as Postal Clerk on the Champaign <fe Havana Line. 
 He passed a final examination at the end of three 
 months, in half the time required, leased the Ma- 
 con and Assumption papers, and remained in the 
 service for nearly two and a-half years, when he 
 sold the two smaller papers and bought the Tay- 
 lorville Democrat and removed to Taylorville 
 March 31, 1888. In May he resigned ; as Postal 
 Clerk, and in October following he sold the Mon- 
 ticello Bulletin. Having only one paper to run, 
 he turned his attention partially to invention, and 
 had obtained ten patents up to the date of the is- 
 sue of this work. He was Secretary of the Demo- 
 cratic Central Committee of Christian County for 
 more than four years, and since Januaiy, 1893, 
 has been Chairman. Such, in brief, is the record 
 of a busy life, and a gratifying triumph over many 
 difficulties. 
 
 jr_ENRY A. PEABODY, a successful and en. 
 
 rjV terprising merchant of Taylorville, now 
 ii)^^ carries on business as a dealer in groceries, 
 
 (^) glass and queensware and pocket and 
 table cutlery. He has carried on business along 
 this line since 1878, and has succeeded in securing 
 a good trade, which is constantly increasing. It 
 is his desire to please his custo mers, and, carrying 
 a stock of goods such as the public demands, he 
 has met with success. 
 
 Mr. Peabody is a native of the county which is 
 
 still his home, his birth having occurred on the 
 27th of September, 1848. His father, Amos Pea- 
 body, was born in Connecticut, and the grand- 
 father, Samuel Peabody, was also a native of the 
 same State. The latter left the East and, joining 
 the Stonington colony, came with his family to 
 Illinois in 1837. He was a farmer by occupation 
 and followed that pursuit throughout his whole 
 life. He died in this county, being drowned in 
 Flat Branch when more than seventy years of 
 age. Amos Peabody for many years followed 
 farming in Christian County. He married Wil- 
 helmina Fredericka Stetcher, a native of Germany, 
 who when a young lad}' crossed the Atlantic with 
 her parents, the family settling in Christian 
 County. Her father died in Springfield at an ad- 
 vanced age, and her mother reached the age of 
 eighty years. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Peabody were 
 born three children, but two died in infancy. 
 The mother died in 1850, after which Mr. Pea- 
 body was again married. By the second union 
 four children were born. Orrin, Samuel, and two 
 who died in infancy. The father of our subject 
 is now eighty years of age. With his wife he is 
 still living in Taylorville, one of its respected 
 citizens. 
 
 Henry A., whose name heads this record, was 
 reared in the county of his nativity, and began 
 his education in the district schools, but his 
 primary course was afterwards supplemented by 
 study in the High School of Decatur and in the 
 Commercial College at Springfield, so that he was 
 well fitted to enter upon the practical duties of 
 life. On the 5th of October, 1880, he was joined 
 in marriage with Miss Elizabeth A. Jones, of Sang- 
 amon County, a daughter of Moses A. and Nancy 
 (Armstrong) Jones. -Their marriage has been 
 blessed with one child, a son, Frederick A. 
 
 Mr. Peabody takes considerable interest in 
 civic societies and belongs to Mystic Lodge No. 
 64, K. P., and Birchfield Camp No. 130, M. W. A. 
 He is a charter member of both societies, and has 
 been Clerk of the Camp since its organization. In 
 politics, he is independent, preferring to support the 
 man whom he thinks best qualified for the office, 
 regardless of party affiliations. In 1893, he was 
 called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who
 
 348 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 was called to her final rest in March, at tlie age of 
 forty-two years. She was a lady of many excel- 
 lencies of character, and a large circle of friends 
 and acquaintances mourned her loss. 
 
 Mr. Peabody continued to follow farming with 
 good success until 1875, when he determined to 
 make his home in the city. However, he still 
 owns one hundred and twenty acres of rich and 
 valuable land in Prairieton Township, which 
 yields him a good income. He also has a pleasant 
 residence in Taylorville besides his store. His 
 property has all been accumulated by his own in- 
 dustry and economy, and is the reward which 
 crowns his well-directed efforts. 
 
 JOHN W. PRICE, of the firm of Price & Wil- 
 kinson, proprietors of the Ruth Mills, of 
 Taylorville, has been engaged in his present 
 line of business since 1867, and the present 
 partnership has continued since 1869. A native 
 of Ohio, he was born in Leesville, Carroll County, 
 October 12, 1829, and is a son of James Price, 
 who was also born in Ohio, and is still living in 
 Carroll County, at the advanced age of ninety- 
 four. 
 
 Our subject spent the days of his boyhood and 
 youth in the county of his nativity, and served a 
 four-years apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. 
 In 1856, he bade good-bye to friends and home and 
 came to the West, believing that he could better 
 his financial condition thereby. He started for 
 Kansas, but the slavery troubles were then agitat- 
 ing that community, and he made a location in 
 Christian County, where he has since resided. 
 He was first employed on the court house, and 
 then worked as a journeyman for two years, when 
 he began contracting in his own interest. The 
 first work upon which he was engaged was the 
 erection of the old Forest Mills, which were 
 burned about 1870. He then built the residence 
 of W. A. Goodrich and Judge W. S. Moore, erect- 
 ing the latter in 1860, on the site of the present 
 
 High School. Mr. Price continued contracting and 
 building until'lie built his mill, since which time 
 he has devoted his energies to milling and to the 
 grain business. 
 
 On the 18th of February, 1862, Mr. Price mar- 
 ried Miss Ilattie Cowgill, who was born in the 
 Buckeye State. They are both members of the 
 Presbyterian Church, and are pleasant, genial peo- 
 ple, who in their intercourse with the residents of 
 the community have gained man}' warm friends 
 who esteem them highly. In early life, Mr. Price 
 was a supporter of the Whig party, but on the or- 
 ganization of the Republican party he joined its 
 ranks, voting for Fremont in 1856, and has since 
 fought under its banner. He has efficiently served 
 as Township Trustee, and in other ways has been 
 connected with public affairs, especially in aiding 
 and encouraging any enterprise calculated to 
 prove of public benefit. He is a strong friend to 
 temperance and has always opposed license. In 
 1855, he was made a Mason in Urichsville, Ohio, 
 and has been an active member of the fraternity, 
 being now Worthy Master of Mound Lodge No. 
 122, A. F. & A. M. His wife holds membership 
 with the Order of the Eastern Star. They have an 
 attractive home, situated on the principal street of 
 Taylorville, and it is always open for the recep- 
 tion of their many friends. 
 
 Mr. Price has made some investments in real 
 estate, and now owns two residences in the city, 
 but gives his principal attention to the milling 
 business. The Ruth Mill was built by Moore, 
 Price & Co. in 1867, at a cost of $27,000. After 
 a year Judge W. S. Moore, the senior partner, 
 who is now living in Morrisonville, 111., retired, 
 leaving Mr. Price and Mr. Wilkinson as proprie- 
 tors, and their connection has continued, under the 
 name of Price & Wilkinson, from the year 1869 
 up to the present time. The mill stands near the 
 Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. An addition was 
 made in 1883, and the roller process was intro- 
 duced. It has a capacity of two hundred barrels 
 daily. They also handle grain at other places. 
 They have a mill and do business at Farmingdale, 
 and have an elevator at Morrisonville, but it is 
 rented. They have mad extensive shipments of 
 their flour, which has been sent into the Caroliuas,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 349 
 
 Florida and Georgia, and even to Minneapolis, 
 which is considered to be the centre of flour manu- 
 factories. Mr. Price is a man of excellent busi- 
 ness ability, and by close attention to his business, 
 together with perseverance and enterprise, he has 
 succeeded in establishing a fine trade and acquir- 
 ing a handsome competence. Thirty-seven years 
 have passed since he came to the county, during 
 which time he has not only witnessed its growth 
 and upbuilding but has aided materially in its 
 welfare and progress. He well deserves mention 
 in this volume among the honored early settlers 
 and men of prominence. 
 
 JACOB YOCKEY, a retired farmer now resid- 
 ing in Taylorville, has made his home in 
 Christian County for almost thirty years. 
 As he is both widely and favorably known, 
 we feel assured that this record of his life will 
 prove of interest to many of our readers, and 
 therefore gladly give this sketch a place in the 
 history of his adopted county. The place of his 
 birth was near Chambersburg, Franklin County, 
 Pa., the date being November 17, 1835. His pa- 
 rents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Snyder) Yockey,were 
 also natives of the Keystone State, and the father 
 was a farmer by occupation. With their family 
 they emigrated to Ohio about 1852, and there 
 the parents spent their remaining days. 
 
 Mr. Yockey comes of a very old Pennsylvania 
 family, his great-grandfather having been born in 
 Lancaster County, that State, as was also his 
 grandfather, John Yockey, who removed to Frank- 
 lin County, where his son Joseph, the father of 
 our subject, was born. His great-grandfather on 
 the maternal side, Conrad Snyder, was born in 
 Prussia, and emigrated to this country when a 
 young man, settling in Pennsylvania. John Sny- 
 der, son of Conrad, was born in Franklin County. 
 He served as a Colonel in the War of 1812 and 
 was a prominent man in his time. 
 
 Mr. Yockey of this sketch was a young man of 
 seventeen years at the time of the removal. At 
 the age of twenty he left home and went to Akron, 
 Ohio, where he secured a clerkship in a drug and 
 grocery store, receiving about $800 per year for 
 his services. Later he suffered from a lingering 
 illness, and in order to benefit his health removed 
 to Columbus, Ind., in 1857. He then engaged in 
 teaching school in Bartholomew County until the 
 fall of 1864, and proved an able and successful 
 instructor. 
 
 On the llth of August, 1864, Mr. Yockey was 
 united in marriage with Miss Sarah Martin, their 
 union being celebrated in Indianapolis, Ind. The 
 same year they came to Christian County, where 
 they have since resided. Their union has been 
 blessed by the birth of six children, as follows: 
 Dr. William M.,who was graduated from the Nor- 
 mal School of Valparaiso, Ind., and was graduated 
 from the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, in 
 1891, has since been engaged in the practice of his 
 profession in Joplin, Mo.; Jacob Arthur is now a 
 student in the Valparaiso Normal School; Sarah 
 Louise, Charlotte Emma, Jane Miriam and Ella 
 May are the younger members of the family. 
 
 On coming to Christian County, Mr. Yockey 
 located in Mt. Auburn Township, about twelve 
 miles north of Taylorville, and resided just east 
 of Grove City for nineteen years. Subsequently 
 he purchased a farm two miles southwest of Mt. 
 Auburn, comprising two hundred and eighty-two 
 acres of arable and valuable land, upon which he 
 resided until the 1st of January, 1893. This is 
 one of the best farms and most desirable places in 
 the county, being complete in all its appointments 
 and supplied with all modern conveniences. The 
 fields are well tilled and the improvements stand 
 as monuments to the thrift and enterprise of the 
 owner. His property lias increased in value from 
 $44 to $80 per acre. When he came to the county 
 he had only about $1,500, but is now numbered 
 among the substantial citizens of Taylorville. In 
 addition to his other property he owns a one hun- 
 dred and sixty acre farm in May Township, north 
 of Willey Station, which is rented. 
 
 In 1892 Mr. Yockey erected a neat residence in 
 Taylorville at a cost of $2,500, and since the 1st
 
 350 
 
 PORTRAIT AXD BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of January, 1893, has made his home in this city, 
 where he is now living a retired life, enjoying a 
 well-earned rest. In politics, he is a supporter of 
 Democratic principles, takes an active interest in 
 the success of his party, and has been called upon 
 to fill various township offices, the duties of which 
 lie has ever discharged with promptness and fidel- 
 ity. He and his wife are members of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church, and he served the congrega- 
 tion at Grove City as Trustee. 
 
 JOSEPH DAWSON, a retired farmer, now 
 living in Taylorvillc, is a native of the 
 Buckeye State. He was born in Tuscarawas 
 County, Ohio, September 14, 1823, and is a 
 son of Joseph and Orpha (Bufflngton) Dawson. 
 His parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, 
 and their marriage was celebrated in that State. 
 Removing to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, they 
 there spent the remainder of their lives. 
 
 Our subject is the youngest in a family of six 
 ions and three daughters, all of whom grew to 
 mature years, while four are now living. He was 
 a lad of only four summers when his parents 
 located upon the old homestead farm, where their 
 last days were spent. He aided in the labors of 
 the field and attended the public schools until 
 seventeen years of age, after which he served an 
 apprenticeship of two years and a-half to the black- 
 smith trade in Uhrichsville. The first year he re- 
 ceived $35, the second $50, and $125 for the last 
 six months. After his term had expired he con- 
 tinued to work for his employer, Andrew Brisbane, 
 who is now a Justice of the Peace at Pana. 
 
 On the 12th of March, 184(5, in Uhrichsville, 
 Mr. Dawson wedded Lucinda Treakle. He then 
 formed a partnership and opened a shop. He had 
 only $65 in cash and went in debt $75 for his 
 tools. There he remained for eight years, carry- 
 ing on business with fair success. On the 25th of 
 September, 1854, he started from his Ohio home 
 to Illinois by team, and at length arrived in 
 
 Taylorville. He settled on the Buckeye Prairie, 
 but in the spring of 1855 removed to John- 
 son Township, where he rented land for three 
 years, operating it in the summer months and 
 working at his trade in town during the winter. 
 When he had obtained a sufficient capital, he pur- 
 chased eighty acres of partially improved land in 
 Johnson Township, three and a-half miles south- 
 east of Taylorville, and also a tract of raw land 
 of eighty acres. Previously he had traded a horse 
 for forty acres near Rosemond,and subsequently 
 bought another forty-acre tract. Mr. Dawson 
 continued to carry on agricultural pursuits in 
 Johnson Township until September, 1890, and 
 made of his place a finely improved farm, one of 
 the best in the county. It sold for $50 cash per 
 acre. In connection with the raising of crops, he 
 engaged in breeding and raising fine hogs, and 
 was quite successful in the undertaking. On 
 account of rheumatism that crippled one arm, Mr. 
 Dawson was forced to lay aside business cares, and 
 in 1890 he removed to Taylorville. 
 
 In 1878. our subject was called upon to mourn 
 the loss of his wife, who died on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember, his fifty-fifth birthday. She had proved 
 a faithful companion and helpmate to him for 
 thirty-two years. Unto them were born the follow- 
 ing children: Sarah Emeline, who died at the age 
 of eighteen; John F., a farmer and stock-dealer of 
 Missouri; Amanda A., wife of Samuel Denton, of 
 Taylorville; Alice A., wife of John Robinson, of 
 Kansas; William A., a carpenter of Missouri; 
 Cynna A., wife of Ed H. Hopson, of Texas; Laura 
 B.,at home; Julia A., widow of Adam J. Aufrecht; 
 and Henry, who died at the age of three years. 
 Julia was married May 13, 1891, to Adam Auf- 
 recht, who for three years had been employed as 
 motorman on the St. Louis Street Railway. Shortly 
 after his marriage he was stricken with typhoid 
 fever, and died at the home of Mr. Dawson 
 August 22, 1891. His widow has since lived with 
 her father. Four years before her marriage she 
 engaged in teaching, and recently she has taken a 
 course of study in the business college of Spring- 
 field. 
 
 Since coming to Taylorville, Mr. Dawson has 
 purchased a number of residences, which he rents,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 351 
 
 and thus a good income is afforded him. His own 
 home is a pleasant dwelling on Franklin Street. 
 He has led a busy and useful life, and his industry 
 and perseverance have gained for him a comfort- 
 able competence, which is well deserved. 
 
 WALTON, M. D., is a physician 
 surgeon of Clarksdale, Christian Coun- 
 ty, where he has been engaged in practice 
 for nearly twenty years. His patients do not 
 come merely from the town, but are scattered 
 throughout the neighboring country. He is de- 
 scended from an old North Carolina family, his 
 birth having occurred near Morgan ton, that State, 
 January 22, 1849. His parents, Thomas G. and 
 Eliza (Murphy) Walton, were also natives of North 
 Carolina. The father was a son of Thomas Wal- 
 ton, whose birth occurred in the Old Dominion. 
 When very young he removed to North Carolina, 
 and was the first merchant and Postmaster in Mor- 
 gan ton. He reared a large family, and died at the 
 age of seventy-nine years. Our subject's ma- 
 ternal grandfather attained the age of about 
 sixty years. 
 
 Thomas G. Walton, who is still living near Mor- 
 ganton, is a farmer and politician of local promi- 
 nence. He was a soldier during the late war in 
 the Confederate army, and for a time was Captain 
 of an independent company. He did not, how- 
 ever, serve until the close of the conflict, but was 
 retired on account of his age. He is a member of 
 the Episcopal Church, as was also his wife, who 
 died in 1881. They were the parents of eleven 
 children, six sons and five daughters. All but 
 three of the family are still liviug. They are as 
 follows: Edward $.; James T.; George; Herbert H.; 
 Margaret T., wife of C. F. Kesson, of Morgan ton; 
 Lucy W., wife of Rev. Nielson Falls, of Washing- 
 ton, D. C.; Martha M., now Mrs. C. S. Smith, of 
 Morgan ton; and Florence L., wife of John H. 
 Pierson. also of the same place. 
 
 Dr. Walton grew to mature years in his native 
 17 
 
 town and received a superior education at David- 
 son College, Mecklenburgh County, N. C. Heat- 
 tended the New York University afterward, and 
 was graduated from the medical department in 
 the Class of '73. He began the practice of his 
 profession at once in the eastern part of his native 
 State, being for one year located in the village of 
 Stantonsburg. Believing that the West afforded 
 better opportunities for a young professional man, 
 he removed to Illinois in February, 1875, since 
 which time he has been situated in Clarksdale, 
 where he has built up a large and remunerative 
 practice. He owns a good home property and a 
 store building in this village, and is one of her 
 public-spirited citizens. 
 
 On the 26th of September, 1876, the Doctor was 
 united in marriage with Mrs. Annie Johnson, 
 widow of James Johnson, and a daughter of 
 John and Teresa Shehan. Three children have 
 come to bless their home: Loretta, who died in 
 infancy; Thomas George and Ellen Teresa. Mrs. 
 Walton is a member of the Catholic Church, is a 
 lady of good education, and presides over her 
 husband's home with genial grace and hospitality. 
 
 In his social relations, the Doctor is a member 
 of the Modern Woodmen of America. He ad- 
 heres to the principles of the Democratic party 
 and supports its candidates with his ballot. For 
 two terms he held the office of Justice of the 
 Peace, making an efficient and trustworthy officer. 
 
 >ILLIAM EDGAR MORRISON is a promi- 
 nent attorney of Morrisonville and comes 
 from a pioneer family of this State. His 
 grandfather, Robert Morrison, came West about 
 1792, settling in Kaskaskia, 111., where he became 
 a leader in commercial enterprises and one of the 
 influential men of the times. Our subject's fa- 
 ther, James L. D. Morrison, was born in Kaskaskia, 
 April 12, 1818. He was also a lawyer, and was 
 actively engaged in practice at Belleville, 111., and 
 St. Louis for many years, his specialty being real-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 estate titles. He was u prominent man and was 
 one of the principal supporters of Stephen A. 
 Douglas in the West, but after the defeat of that 
 statesman for the Presidency in 1860, he aban- 
 doned his political career. 
 
 During the Mexican War, the father of our sub- 
 ject was a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second 
 Regiment, and was .in command of the regiment 
 at Buena Vista. His services were fittingly recog- 
 nized on his return from the war by the Legisla- 
 ture of Illinois, which presented him with a sword 
 suitably inscribed. He succeeded Lyman Trum- 
 bull as a member of Congress when the latter was 
 elected to the Senate, and was afterward elected to 
 fill the full term. On returning from Mexico, he 
 devoted his attention to his law practice and in- 
 vestment in lands. 
 
 In 1842, James L. D. Morrison wedded Miss 
 Mar} 7 A., daughter of Ex-Governor Thomas A. 
 Carlin. The lady was also a native of Illinois, 
 and by her marriage became the mother of five 
 children, namely: J. L. D., William Edgar, Eugene 
 M., Guy R. and Mary E. Only two of the number 
 are now living, our subject and his sister, who is 
 the wife of Joseph P. Carr, of St. Louis. The 
 parents were devoted members of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. The father died in St. Louis, 
 August 17, 1888, and his wife passed away many 
 years before, on the llth of September, 1855. Ex- 
 Governor Thomas A. Carfin, our subject's maternal 
 grandfather, entered land in Christian County in 
 1852. The Wabash Railroad Company named the 
 village of Morrisonville in honor of the father 
 of our subject. 
 
 The boyhood of our subject was mainly spent 
 at Belleville, and his education was chiefly ob- 
 tained at the Christian Brothers' College in St. 
 Louis. He was only sixteen years old when, in 
 1862, he entered the United States navy as a mid- 
 shipman, his first service being on board the good 
 ship "Constitution." He was on the sea for about 
 two years, when, at the request of his father, who 
 wished him to enter the legal profession, he re- 
 signed from the navy, February 16, 1866. Return- 
 ing to Belleville, he entered the law office of 
 Judge William II. Snyder, now deceased. At the 
 end of two years he was examined by a committee 
 
 appointed by the Supreme Court, who pronounced 
 him qualified for the practice of the legal profes- 
 sion. As he was then less than twenty-one years 
 of age, he could not be admitted to the Bar ac- 
 cording to the law, and was therefore given the 
 oath on his twenty-first birthday, April 13, 1867. 
 The succeeding fall he embarked in practice at 
 Springfield in the office of Stuart, Edwards & 
 Brown, and afterward in that of McLernand, 
 Broadwell & Springer. He remained in Spring- 
 field until May, 1871. 
 
 Mr. Morrison has always taken an active inter- 
 est in politics, and from boyhood has been a stanch 
 advocate of the Democratic party. During the 
 campaign of 1868, in which Seymour was the Dem- 
 ocratic candidate for President in opposition to 
 Grant, he made the canvass of seven counties in 
 this State at the request of the State Central Com- 
 mittee. He inherited a talent for oratory, and his 
 speeches have always been received with favor. 
 In this part of the State Mr. Morrison has been 
 very influential in shaping the policy of his party. 
 In 1876 he received the Democratic nomination 
 for Representative to the Legislature, and was 
 elected by a majority of several hundred votes 
 in excess of that received by the general ticket. 
 On taking his seat he was, with one excep- 
 tion, the youngest man in the House. He was 
 placed on the Committee on Railroads, and took 
 an active part in the work of that session. The 
 resolution for the appropriation of 850,000 for 
 the completion of the Douglas monument was 
 introduced in 1877, and his speech in favor of its 
 acceptance, and in answer to the bitter speech of 
 Mr. Merritt, was greeted with tremendous ap- 
 plause, and was afterward conceded to be one of 
 the finest oratorical efforts ever made in the 
 House. 
 
 October 20, 1869, Mr. Morrison married Miss 
 Annie C. Perkins, a native of Springfield and 
 daughter of Joseph Perkins, an old resident of 
 Sangamon County. Her death occurred March 
 20, 1874, and she left one child, James L. D. 
 Morrison, Jr., who is now at the University 
 of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, completing his law 
 studies, and will graduate in the Class of '94. 
 Our subject, having gone to Iowa in 1882, was
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 353 
 
 active in the canvass of that State for Cleveland, 
 and afterward was one of the first to bring Mr. 
 Boies into prominence as the Democratic candi- 
 date for Governor in Iowa. 
 
 JAMES MONROE SIMPSON, one of the old 
 settlers of Christian County, has been for 
 long years engaged in farming in Bear 
 Creek Township, and is one of the mos* 
 substantial and prosperous agriculturists of the lo- 
 cality. He is especially interested in stock-raising, 
 and introduced the first thoroughbred horse into 
 the county. He has handled some of the finest 
 racehorses in America, and has won a national 
 reputation in that line. Many of the business con- 
 cerns and enterprises of Palmer have been furth- 
 ered by the influence and means of Mr. Simpson, 
 who is public-spirited to a marked degree. 
 
 The parents of our subject were Thomas and 
 Caroline (Badger) Simpson. The former, who was 
 born in Virginia, was a son of Andrew Simpson, 
 also of the Old Dominion, who was one of the 
 early settlers of Kentucky, where he made his 
 home for many years. He followed agricultural 
 pursuits for a livelihood, and was the owner of a 
 large number of slaves. In 1835 he went to 
 Springfield, 111., where he died at the age of fifty- 
 six years. His family consisted of six daughters 
 and two sons. Mrs. Simpson, whose birth occurred 
 in Kentucky, was oneof ten children, eight daugh- 
 ters and two sons, whose father was David Badger. 
 He was of Scotch-Irish descent, born in Virginia 
 in 1777, and died in Indiana in 1849. He followed 
 the life of a farmer and was a man of considerable 
 wealth. At the time of his death he was sixty-six 
 years of age. 
 
 The family of Thomas and Caroline Simpson 
 consisted of two daughters and four sons, namely: 
 Andrew, David, James M., Emily, Mary and Ham- 
 ilton. James M. is the only survivor. In 1835 
 the father brought his family to Illinois, spending 
 
 his first winter in the Prairie State in Springfield. 
 Afterward he settled in Mechanicsburg, where he 
 made his home until 1846. He then removed to 
 this county, buying a farm of two hundred and 
 sixty-two acres in Bear Creek Township, one mile 
 northeast of the present site of Palmer. For this 
 property lie paid $800 and made a good bargain, 
 as the place was improved and had a good house, 
 barns and fences upon it. At that time it was the 
 best-improved farm in the county. The owner 
 afterward extended his possessions, until at the 
 time of his death he owned four hundred and 
 forty-four acres. One tract of one hundred and 
 sixty acres he secured by paying only $125. On 
 this farm he made his home until his demise, which 
 occurred in December, 1856, at the age of fifty-six 
 years. His wife died in 1842, and was buried in 
 Sangamon County. Mr. Simpson was a promi- 
 nent Mason, and during the early days held vari- 
 ous township offices, both in Sangamon and Chris- 
 tian Counties, once serving as County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred near Sharps- . 
 burg, Ky., October 3, 1834, and he was just a year 
 old on the day when his father set out for Illinois. 
 He was a lad of eleven years when he came to this 
 county, which has since been the scene of his life 
 career. Though his educational advantages were 
 limited, he improved what opportunities he had, 
 and by observation and study has become a well- 
 informed man. In 1853 he crossed the plains to 
 California, taking five months to make the trip. 
 For the succeeding six years he was engaged in 
 mining much of the time, but also raised, bought 
 and sold cattle in partnership with his brother 
 David. In December, 1858, he returned to his old 
 home, which he inherited. He has made great im- 
 provements on the place since it became his, and 
 now owns one thousand acres. For the property 
 which he has purchased in addition to the old 
 home place, he has paid from $1.25 to $40 per acre. 
 His place he has turned into a stock farm, and he 
 makes a specialty of breeding fine horses. For his 
 first thoroughbred horse he paid $1,025 when he 
 was only a year old. At the present time there are 
 from sixty to seventy head of horses on the farm. 
 Mr. Simpson is constantly raising, buying and
 
 354 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 selling high-grade horses and has made a decided 
 success of the business. 
 
 A marriage ceremony was performed on the 
 29th of March, 1860, uniting the fortunes of 
 Mr. Simpson and Miss Margaret Ricks, who is 
 a daughter of William S. and Margaret (Bond) 
 Ricks, natives of Christian County, Ky. Of the 
 children born to our subject and his wife, An- 
 drew, Nellie, Eva and Katie are deceased. Cyrus 
 D. married Miss Mary Dietz and lives near the old 
 homestead. Quintas I. married Miss Rosa Miller, 
 and resides near Palmer. Andrew is the next in 
 order of birth. Thomas L. married Miss Effie May 
 Chapel and lives in Oklahoma. Jessie P., Caroline, 
 Eugene, Emma and Hamilton complete the family. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Simpson is a stanch supporter of 
 the Republican party. Besides his extensive farm 
 and stock-raising interests he is a partner in the 
 firm of Simpson & Boyd, dealers in hardware, ag- 
 ricultural implements and furniture in Palmer. 
 
 JAMES PARKER WALKER, who after a 
 successful career is now living a retired 
 life in Taylorville, was born near Almira, 
 in Tioga County, N. Y., July 23, 1828, and 
 is a son of Daniel E. and Rachel (Miller) Walker, 
 the former a native of New Jersey, and the latter 
 of Pennsylvania. In 1835, the family removed 
 to Champaign County, Ohio, and in 1839 came to 
 Illinois, locating in Springfield. The father was 
 a farmer and stock-raiser. In 1847 he came with 
 his family to Christian County, and settled in 
 Greenwood Township, where he secured eight 
 hundred and eighty acres of land, of which only- 
 sixty acres had been improved, paying $1.25, $5 
 and $10 per acre. He also obtained a part of it on 
 land warrants, and the cost of that was about 
 ninety-two cents per acre. Here he carried on 
 farming until 1862, when he went to Montgomery- 
 County, and there carried on agricultural pursuits. 
 His death occurred February 14, 1882, in his 
 eighty-third year. He had improved the greater 
 
 part of his land, was an extensive farmer, and be- 
 came quite wealthy. P\>r a number of years before 
 his death he lived retired. His wife passed away 
 in 1872, at the age of seventy-six years. Their 
 family numbered eight children, five of whom are 
 now living. Charlotte, widow of George Comp- 
 ton, is living in Christian County; two members 
 of the family reside in Montgomery County; and 
 one brother is living in Texas. 
 
 The first seven years of his life our subject 
 spent in the State of his nativity, and then accom- 
 panied his parents to Ohio. He was a lad of 
 eleven years at the time of the removal to Illinois. 
 Upon the home farm he remained, and to his fa- 
 ther gave the benefit of his services, until nine- 
 teen years of age, when he left the parental roof, 
 and became overseer on a farm six miles south of 
 Springfield, receiving from $12 to $20 per month 
 | for his services. In connection with his brother 
 William, he then began improving Congress land, 
 as he had not enough money to enter land from 
 the Government. He soon, however, managed to 
 purchase a land warrant of one hundred and sixty 
 acres for $150, and thus secured a farm. Upon it 
 he built a cabin and with his brother kept "bach- 
 elors' hall." They lived in primitive style in this 
 rude and hastily constructed log cabin, their table 
 being a dry-goods box, and their chairs rude 
 benches. They did their cooking at a fire place. 
 
 He again entered land, in 1851 and 1852, in 
 Johnson and Greenwood Townships, and de- 
 voted his energies to its cultivation during the 
 summer months, and also engaged in breaking 
 prairie for $2.50 per acre, his team being made up 
 of five yoke of oxen. In winter he would pur- 
 chase hogs and drive them to the St. Louis market. 
 In this way he secured money with which he pur- 
 chased land warrants, and in time he and his 
 brother became owners of six hundred acres. 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1854, Mr. Walker wedded 
 Nancy, daughter of John and Margaret (Randall) 
 Bowman, who had settled in Johnson Township 
 in 1852. Unto them were born two sons: Joshua 
 Bowman, who is book-keeper for the First Na- 
 tional Bank, of Taylorville; and Charles Henry, 
 who is at the head of a large publishing house in 
 Houston, Tex.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 355 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Walker began their domestic life 
 upon the farm, the young husband devoting him- 
 self to the improvement of his land, while the 
 wife cared for the household. He grew corn, wheat 
 and oats exclusively for a few years, and then be- 
 gan feeding and shipping cattle and hogs, which 
 business he carried on until 1870. During the 
 three last years of the war, especially, he had an 
 extensive and profitable trade in that line. In 
 1870, he left his farm, removing to Pana, where 
 for three years he engaged in the grocery business 
 under the firm name of Walker & Vandever. 
 They had two stores in that place and did an ex- 
 tensive business. After disposing of his interest, 
 Mr. Walker engaged in stock-dealing for two 
 years in connection with Messrs. Miller & Abel, 
 owning two farms near Pana. He then embarked 
 in the dry-goods business with his old partner of 
 the grocery trade. They carried a stock of $23,- 
 000, and from the beginning they enjoyed a lib- 
 eral patronage, which yielded them excellent re- 
 turns. Again he sold out after three years, and 
 for two years dealt in stock with his former part- 
 ners, Messrs. Miller and Abel. In 1881 he began 
 dealing in real estate. The following year he dis- 
 posed of all his businss interests in Pana, includ- 
 ing a bank, with which he had been associated 
 and which had proven quite a successful venture, 
 and came to Taylorville, where a year later he 
 opened a grocery store, which he carried on for 
 three years, his sou Joshua being his partner. 
 The firm of Walker & Son also carried on a mar- 
 ble-yard for eighteen months. To quite an ex- 
 tent our subject has dealt in real estate all along 
 his business life, and he still owns three hundred 
 acres of land, a part of which he had entered from 
 the Government at a cost of about ninety-two 
 cents per acre. He holds the reputation of a care- 
 ful, shrewd financier, and no man in the county 
 stands higher among business associates. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Walker and his sons are Demo- 
 crats. For forty-three years he has been a faithful 
 and consistent member of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church, and has served as Trustee and in oth- 
 er official positions. He has been active in raising 
 money for the building of a new church in Tay- 
 lorville, and does all in his power for the cause of 
 
 Christianity. The cause of temperance finds in 
 him a true friend, and socially he is connected 
 with the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Or- 
 der of United Workmen. Mr. Walker may truly 
 be called a self-made man, for he started out in 
 life without a cent, and all that he has acquired 
 has been gained through his own efforts. He car- 
 ries forward to a successful completion whatever 
 he undertakes, and his prosperity is the just reward 
 of his labors. He is numbered among Christian 
 County's representative and honored citizens. 
 
 ILLIAM GRIMES, a farmer residing on 
 section 30, Rosemond Township, claims 
 Maryland as the State of his nativity. He 
 was born in Baltimore County, seven miles east of 
 the city of Baltimore, January 30, 1811. His fa- 
 ther, Nicholas Grimes, was born in the same State, 
 was of English descent, and was a farmer by occu- 
 pation. He married Keziah Rolland, who was 
 born in the same State and is of German lineage. 
 
 Our subject, who is their eldest child, was reared 
 in the county of his nativity until seventeen years 
 old. He then began learning the blacksmith's trade, 
 at which lie served a three-years apprenticeship, 
 and then worked at that business in Pittsburgh, 
 Cincinnati and Mississippi. In 1835 he came to 111- 
 nois, locating in Macoupin County, where he suc- 
 cessfully followed his chosen occupation for some 
 years, and later engaged in farming until his re- 
 moval to Christian County, in 1873. Since then he 
 has devoted his time to farming, and he now owns 
 eight hundred and fifty acres of valuable land in 
 the home farm in Rosemond Township, besides 
 other tracts elsewhere in the county. 
 
 In 1837 Mr. Grimes was married to Nancy Wag- 
 ner, a native of Madison County, 111., who died 
 many years ago, leaving three children, a son and 
 two daughters: Elizabeth K., wife of F. M. Adams, 
 of Macoupin County; Mary Ann, widow of John 
 Kessinger; and Stephen N., who now operates the 
 home farm.
 
 356 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Mr. Grimes cast his first Presidential vote for 
 Andrew Jackson, and has since been a supporter 
 of the Democracy, the principles of which he 
 warmly advocates. He was once a member of the 
 Blacksmiths' and Mechanics' Society, of Balti- 
 more, Md. All that he has he has made by his 
 own efforts, and he may truly be called a self-made 
 man. When he became one of the pioneer settlers 
 of Macoupin County, 111., he was in quite limited 
 circumstances, having nothing to depend upon 
 but his own exertions. He has led an industri- 
 ous, busy and useful life, and as the result of his 
 labors, good management and business ability he 
 has risen to a position of wealth and affluence. 
 He is one of the largest land-holders of Christian 
 County, his possessions aggregating some two 
 thousand acres in Christian, Montgomery and 
 Macoupin Counties. His children now manage 
 part of his land and the remainder is rented. Mr. 
 Grimes is now practically living a retired life, and 
 his rest is certainly well earned after the years of 
 arduous toil which have preceded it. His exam- 
 ple may well serve to encourage others who like 
 himself have been dependent upon their own ex- 
 ertions from an early age. Success is not the result 
 of chance, but is the reward of labor and may 
 come to all. 
 
 ( ANIEL K. CORNELL, M. D., has been 
 continuously engaged in the practice of 
 the medical profession in Taylorville since 
 the spring of 1877, and is recognized as 
 one of the leading and successful practitioners of 
 the county, his ability being attested by the liberal 
 patronage which he receives. The Doctor comes 
 from the far East. He was born in Providence, R. 
 I., on the 18th of January, 1840, and the Cornell 
 family traces its ancestors back two hundred years. 
 His parents, Serril and Eliza (Hopkins) Cornell, 
 were also natives of Rhode Island, and the mother 
 was a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins, one 
 
 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
 In 1858 the family came to Illinois, locating in 
 Bloomington, and two years later removed to Cen- 
 tralia, where the mother is still living, at the ad- 
 vanced age of eighty-three years. The father, who 
 was born in 1812, was called to his final rest No- 
 vember 23, 1889. He was a tanner by trade, and 
 established a tannery in Centralia. Almost up to 
 the day of lus death he carried on business, his 
 last illness covering only a week. 
 
 In the city of his birth, Dr. Cornell spent the 
 days of his boyhood and youth, and at the age of 
 eighteen was graduated from the High School of 
 Providence. He then came with his parents to 
 the West, and at the age of nineteen began teach- 
 ing, following that profession through the winter 
 season. His choice of a life work falling upon the 
 practice of medicine, he began reading in the 
 office of Dr. D. H. McCord, in Centralia, 111., and 
 subsequently, in order to further perfect himself, 
 entered the St. Louis Medical College, from which 
 institution he was graduated in 1866, with the de- 
 gree of M. D. In October, 1861, he had enlisted 
 in the late war as a musician in the Twenty-sev- 
 enth Illinois Infantry, becoming cornetist in the 
 band of that regiment, but as the full number of 
 musicians was not secured, he was discharged, af- 
 ter being stationed at Cairo for three months. 
 
 Dr. Cornell began practice in Centralia, as a 
 partner of Dr. McCord, his old preceptor, and for 
 three years the connection was continued. He 
 then removed to St. Anne, Kankakec County, 111., 
 where he spent the succeeding seven years of his 
 life, after which he came to Taylorville. Dr. Kitz- 
 miller and Dr. Fiery are the only physicians now 
 in practice who were here on his arrival. Having 
 ever been a close student of his profession, the 
 Doctor is abreast with all the discoveries and theo- 
 ries connected with the science, and his skill and 
 ability have gained him an excellent reputation. 
 On coming to Taylorville, lie was made surgeon 
 of the Ohio <fe Mississippi Railroad Company, and 
 served as such until the 1st of January, 1893. 
 
 On the llth of June, 1870, in Centralia, Dr. 
 Cornell and Miss Mary Hay were married. The 
 lady is a native of Illinois. By their union were 
 born three children. Lynn, who studied dentistry
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 857 
 
 with Dr. Bonbrake, was graduated from the Illi- 
 nois College at Jacksonville in 1892, with the de- 
 gree of B. A. He has spent the summer of 1893 
 as express messenger on the Northern Pac-ific Rail- 
 road, but in the autumn he expects to enter the 
 Cincinnati Dental College. Margaret is now a 
 student of elocution in St. Paul, Minn.; and Cora 
 is still at home. 
 
 For some years the Doctor has been a member 
 of the Board of Health, and is a member of the 
 Central District Medical Society. He also belongs 
 to the Grand Army of the Republic, and he and 
 his wife hold membership with the Presbyterian 
 Church, in which he serves as Elder. He has 
 taken a prominent part in church work, contributes 
 liberally to its support, and has done much for its 
 upbuilding. Few men are more widely known in 
 Christian County than the Doctor, and he has a 
 host of friends among all classes of people. 
 
 eYRUS RAYHILL, who is numbered among 
 the early settlers of the county, where he 
 has lived since 1864, now resides on sec- 
 tion 22, Pana Township. With the agricultural 
 interests of the community he was identified for a 
 quarter of a century, but is now living retired in 
 the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. He 
 was born in Washington County, Ind., near New 
 Philadelphia, April 24, 1835, and is a son of John 
 and Elizabeth (Cathcart) Rayhill. The paternal 
 grandfather was a native of Virginia. The father 
 was born in Botetourt County, Va., in 1810, and 
 at the age of six years accompanied -his parents on 
 their removal to Washington County, Ind., where 
 he was reared to manhood. He there married Miss 
 Cathcart, who was born fifty miles from Charles- 
 ton, S. C., February 4, 1814. Her father, Hugh 
 Cathcart, was a native of the same State, and was 
 of Irish descent. Their marriage was celebrated 
 December 16, 1831, and they began their domestic 
 life near New Philadelphia, where Mr. Rayhill fol- 
 lowed farming, though he was a tanner by trade. In 
 
 1864, he came direct to Christian County, 111., and 
 located upon a farm in Pana Township, where he 
 spent his remaining days, dying in 1883. His 
 widow still survives him. 
 
 The Rayhill' family numbered teu children: 
 Catherine S., now the wife of Harry C. Johnson; 
 Cyrus, of this sketch; Alexander, of Davis County, 
 Ind.; Henrietta, now deceased; Elizabeth, widow 
 of John Snyder; John, of Pana Township; Sarah 
 Jane, wife of C. Yount, of Pana; Carrie L. C., wife 
 of William Hoj'le, of Pana; and two children who 
 died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Rayhill of this sketch, who is the eldest son, 
 was reared in the county of his nativity and early 
 became familiar with the tanning business, working 
 in hi* father's tanyard. He was trained to habits of 
 industry and usefulness and through his labors in 
 early life developed self-reliance and force of char- 
 acter which have proven of much benefit to him in 
 his later years. On attaining to man's estate, he left 
 home and in 1860 was joined in marriage with Miss 
 Hannah E. Wilson, a native of Indiana. Eight chil- 
 dren were born unto them, namely: John M., de- 
 ceased; Maria E., wife of A. A. Austin, of Pana 
 Township; James A., of Pana Township; C. W., 
 who is employed as a salesman in Chicago; Joseph 
 C. and David R., both of whom reside in Pana 
 Township; one child who died in infancy; and 
 Sarah A. who died at the age of fourteen years. 
 Mrs. Rayhill died at her home in Pana Town- 
 ship, August 16, 1878, at the age of forty-four 
 years, and her remains were interred in the West 
 Cemetery, of Pana. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rayhill began their domestic life 
 in Washington County, Ind., but in 1862, he left 
 home to enter the service of his country as a 
 member of Company B, Sixteenth Indiana Infan- 
 try. He aided in raising his company and was 
 elected First Lieutenant. During his first battle, 
 at Richmond, Ky., he was wounded by a piece of 
 shell, which passed through the lower part of his 
 left arm. This disabled him for further duty, and 
 in 1863 he was honorably discharged. 
 
 Mr. Rayhill at once returned to his home in 
 Indiana, and in 1864 came with his family to 
 Christian County, 111. Locating on a farm in 
 Pana Township, he has since here made his home,
 
 358 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 and to its cultivation he gave his time and atten- 
 tion until the year 1887, but since then has lived 
 retired. Under his arduous labors acre after acre 
 was placed under the plow, until waving fields of 
 grain took the place of the once barren tract, and 
 the farm became a valuable and desirable place. 
 Our subject has led a useful and busy life and has 
 now a handsome competence, which surrounds him 
 with many comforts and luxuries. He keeps up 
 his army acquaintance through his relations with 
 Pope Post No. 411, G. A. R., of which he is a 
 charter member. He also belongs to Adair Lodge, 
 No. 334, I. O. O. F., and is a demitted Mason. 
 In politics, he is a supporter of the Republican 
 party, and at one time served as Assistant Super- 
 
 eHRISTIAN WENZLER, who is engaged in 
 farming on section 35, Bear Creek Town- 
 ship, has been a resident of Illinois for 
 about forty years. It is now over two decades 
 since he cast in his lot with the citizens of Bear 
 Creek Township, his home being still on the farm 
 where he first located. He has accumulated a large 
 properly by his own industiy and thriftiness, and 
 is highly esteemed by his neighbors and friends. 
 They have honored him a number of times by 
 electing him to fill positions of trust, and their 
 confidence has never been misplaced. 
 
 Mr. Wenzler is a native of Germany, having 
 been born in Wurtemberg, December 20, 1831. 
 He is a son of Joseph and Monica (Haller) Wenz- 
 ler, both natives of Germany. The grandfather 
 of our subject, George Wenzler, was a cabinet- 
 maker by trade, and was a fine musician. He was 
 the father of a large family, and lived to be about 
 fifty-five years of age. Mathias Haller, the mater- 
 nal grandfather, was celebrated as a teacher, and 
 conducted a school in one town for forty-seven 
 years. He died at the age of sixty-six years. 
 
 Joseph Wenzler was also a wood-turner and 
 cabinet-maker by trade. He was a musician in 
 the regular standing army of Germany, and died 
 
 in his native land at the age of sixty years. His 
 wife died some years previously. They were both 
 adherents of the Catholic faith. Their family 
 comprised eight sons and four daughters, namely: 
 Christian, Paulina (deceased), Kate, Mary Ann 
 (deceased), Magdalene, Bertha, Mary, Paulina (de- 
 ceased), Ludwig, Stephen (deceased), John, and 
 one who died in infancy. 
 
 The subject of this sketch in his youth learned 
 from his father the cabinet-maker's and wood- 
 turner's trade, and followed that vocation until 
 twenty .eight years old, when he was obliged to 
 abandon it on account of failing eyesight. Be- 
 lieving he could better make a livelihood in 
 America, he left his native land in 1851, and for a 
 short time, as he did not know what other means 
 to take, continued at his trade in Pike County, 
 Pa. In the fall of 1853 he removed to Indiana, 
 and in the following year located at Springfield, 
 111., where he worked at various occupations for 
 the following six years. 
 
 Jn 1860, Mr. Wenzler concluded to try his 
 hand at farming, and rented a farm in Pawnee 
 Township, Sangamon County, where for the eleven 
 years succeeding he farmed on rented land. In 
 1872, he came to Christian County, and invested 
 in one hundred and sixty acres of land in Bear 
 Creek Township, which has been his home ever 
 since. To his original purchase he has since added 
 fifty acres. He has made good improvements 
 upon the farm, which has upon it substantial build- 
 ings and is one of the most fertile and best-culti- 
 vated places in the district. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Wenzler was celebrated 
 July 19, 1860, with Miss Hester Ann Staley, 
 daughter of Thomas and Jane (Fikes) Staley. 
 The father, who was a native of Kentucky, was 
 a man of patriotic impulses, and although past the 
 usual age when he enlisted, served for two years 
 as a soldier in the late war. He was wounded at 
 the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and afterward 
 died of his injuries at Benton Barracks, near St. 
 Louis, Mo. His father before him was also a pa- 
 triot, being in the service during the War of 1812. 
 Nine children blessed the union of our subject and 
 wife. In order of birth they are as follows: Will- 
 iam T., Louis C., Joseph E., Mary Ann, Ida Belle,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 359 
 
 Laura, Ella, Rosetta L., and one who died in in- 
 fancy. They are deceased with the exception of 
 Joseph, Ida Belle and Rosetta L. The latter is 
 the wife of John L. Corn, and has one daughter, 
 Alice. Their home is now in Taylorville. Mrs. 
 Wenzler, the mother of these children, was called 
 from this life in 1878. She was a consistent mem- 
 ber of the Baptist Church, and was a lady who 
 was greatly beloved by all who had the pleasure 
 of her acquaintance. 
 
 Foi a number of years, Mr. Wenzler served in 
 the capacity of Commissioner of Highways. He is 
 greatly interested in educational movements, and 
 served for several years as School Director, and 
 was also School Trustee for one year. He is a 
 Republican in politics, and religiously holds mem- 
 bership with the German Reformed Church. He 
 is greatly esteemed by his neighbors and friends, 
 and is unquestionably a man of high character 
 and unblemished reputation. 
 
 WILLIAM W. BAILEY, one of the early 
 settlers of Illinois, and a representative 
 farmer, residing on section 35, Rosemond 
 Township, has here lived since 1867. His farm 
 comprises two hundred acres of rich land, which 
 was but slightly improved twenty-five years ago, 
 but which he has transformed into rich and fertile 
 fields. The little house which was upon it at the 
 time of his purchase has been replaced by a sub- 
 stantial and tasty farm residence, which he erected 
 in 1882 at a cost of $4,000. 
 
 The owner of this desirable place was born 
 in Springfield, Essex County, N. J., June 21, 1812, 
 and is a son of David W. Bailey, who was also a 
 native of New Jersey. The grandfather, Abram 
 Bailey, was of Welsh descent. When a young 
 man, David Bailey engaged in the manufacture 
 of nails, afterward carried on a shoeshop, and later 
 operated a gristmill. He married Elizabeth Vree- 
 land, who was born in New Jersey and was of 
 
 Dutch descent. Their marriage was celebrated in 
 Essex County, and there they spent their entire 
 lives. Unto them were born nine children, five 
 sons and four daughters, of whom our subject is 
 third in order of birth. 
 
 W. W. Bailey acquired his education in the sub- 
 scription schools of his native State, and at the 
 age of twenty started out in life for himself. 
 Since that time he has made his own way in the 
 world. He began earning a livelihood by work- 
 ing at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for 
 some years. In 1835 he emigrated to Greene 
 County, 111., and aided in building the town of 
 Jerseyville. During his residence there he helped 
 divide Greene and Jersey Counties and to estab- 
 lish Jerseyville as the county seat of the latter. 
 He became Trustee of the town and was one of its 
 prominent and influential citizens. Some of the 
 first houses erected in that place were his handi- 
 work, many of its important buildings were put 
 up by him, and he was largely interested in prop- 
 erty there for many years. 
 
 In 1843 Mr. Bailey was united in marriage with 
 Mary A. Parker, a native of Hartford, Conn., who 
 removed to Jerseyville when a little child. She 
 died in 1874. Nine children had been born to 
 them: John C., who served as Sergeant during the 
 late war and is now deceased; Mary, widow of 
 Rev. C. T. Deering, a Congregational minister; 
 W. W., who served as one of the boys in blue and 
 now resides in Bates City, Mo.; David W., of 
 Leadville, Colo.; Laura, who died in infancy; 
 Laura P., Lottie I. and Charles S., all at home; 
 and one who died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Bailey came direct to Christian County in 
 1867, and has since lived upon the farm which is 
 now his home. In politics, he has always been a 
 stalwart Republican. During the late war he tried 
 to enter the army, but was not accepted on account 
 of his age. Although he has always taken an ac- 
 tive part in political affairs, he has never been an 
 office-seeker, and though once elected Constable he 
 refused to serve. He was made a Mason in Morn- 
 ing Sun Lodge No. 47, and later became a charter 
 member of Darsey Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Jer- 
 seyville. When he started out in life he was a 
 poor boy, but he was ambitious and industrious,
 
 360 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and he determined to win a foremost place among 
 those with whom he should cast his lot. To this 
 resolution lie steadily adhered, and in the legiti- 
 mate channels of business through well-directed 
 efforts and perseverance he has acquired a compe- 
 tency which places him among Christian Coun- 
 ty's substantial citizens. 
 
 JOHN RAYHILL, who is engaged in general 
 farming on section 1, Pana Township, is a 
 native of the Hoosier State. He was born 
 in Washington County, Ind., May 14, 1844, 
 and is the sixth child and third son in a famil_y of 
 ten children. We see him in his boyhood spend- 
 ing his time in work around the home and in the 
 fields, or else engaged in the sports which furnish 
 entertainment for farmer lads. He remained un- 
 der the parental roof until eighteen years of age. 
 when, prompted by patriotic impulses, he offered 
 his services to the Government, enlisting as a 
 drummer boy in Company B, Sixteenth Indiana 
 Infantry. He thus served for one year, after 
 which he was made Corporal. He participated in 
 twenty-six regular engagements, and for forty- 
 seven days aided in besieging Vicksburg. He was 
 also in the siege of Jackson seven days, and took 
 part in the Red River expedition. He served in 
 the mounted infantry, and although he was at the 
 front in so man}' important and hotly-contested en- 
 gagements, he was never wounded. His brother 
 Cyrus, however, was wounded in his first battle, 
 and entirely disabled for further duty. When the 
 war was over and the country no longer needed 
 his services, our subject was honorably discharged 
 and mustered out at New Orleans. On the 22d 
 of July, 1862, he went into camp, and on the 22d 
 of July, 1865, just three years later, he arrived in 
 Pana. 
 
 Mr. Rayhill at once embarked in farming at the 
 place of his present residence. He was married 
 February 21, 1867, the lady of his choice being 
 Mary Brooks, a native of Kentucky, who came to 
 
 Illinois when a maiden of seventeen summers. In 
 early life she was left an orphan, and has no 
 recollection of her parents. Six children were 
 born of this union, but Alexander died at the age 
 of seven years; and John died at the age of six- 
 teen months. Lillia M., twenty years of age; Nel- 
 lie B., aged seventeen; and Frank and Fred, twins, 
 aged ten, are still with their parents. 
 
 The Republican party finds in Mr. Rayhill a 
 stalwart advocate. He has been honored with dif- 
 ferent local offices, for six years acceptably filling 
 the position of Highway Commissioner, and he has 
 also served as School Director, to the satisfaction 
 of all concerned. Socially, he holds membership 
 with Pope Post No. 411, G. A. R., of Pana. He 
 is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and 
 does all in his power for the best interests of the 
 community, but his time and attention are chiefly 
 given to his business interests. He owns a half- 
 interest in the old homestead farm of one hundred 
 and forty acres, and in connection with the cul- 
 tivation of the fields ho also carries on stock-rais- 
 ing. He has long been a resident of this commu- 
 nity and is both widely and favorably known. 
 
 JOHN E. NEELY is a contractor and builder 
 of Pana. He has made his home in this 
 city for thirty-five years, and has been 
 closely identified with its growth and prog- 
 ress. On all sides may be seen evidences of his 
 handiwork, for many of the business houses and 
 residences of the city were erected under his su- 
 pervision. In other ways, aside from his business, 
 he has also aided in the promotion of Pana's best 
 interests. 
 
 A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Neely was born 
 in Chesapeake County March 19, 1828. His par- 
 ents, William and Maria (Hesseick) Neely, were 
 also natives of the Keystone State. Of their fam- 
 ily of eleven children, numbering six sons and 
 five daughters, seven are yet living: Rachel Ann, 
 wife of Albert Dil worth, of Pennsylvania; Anna
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 361 
 
 Maria, widow of Philip Hughes; Emma Jane, wife 
 of Thomas Wyun; Sarah, wife of S. McAfee; John 
 E., William and Frank. The father of this family 
 was a Pennsylvania!! farmer, and died in his na- 
 tive State in 1873, at the age of seventy-three. 
 His wife had passed away some twenty years pre- 
 vious, in the faith of the Methodist Church, with 
 which she held membership. Mr. Neely was reared 
 as an Episcopalian, and was ever a great student 
 of the Bible. The family is of Irish origin, hav- 
 ing been founded in America by James Neely, the 
 grandfather of our subject, who was a native of 
 the Emerald Isle. The maternal grandfather, 
 John Hesseick, was an agriculturist of Pennsyl- 
 vania, his native State. 
 
 In taking up the personal history of our subject, 
 we present to our readers the life record of one of 
 Pana's influential citizens. His boyhood days 
 were quietly passed under the parental roof, where 
 he was reared to habits of industry and useful- 
 ness, and in the public schools of Chesapeake 
 County he acquired his education. Not wishing 
 to devote himself to agricultural pursuits through- 
 out life, when a young man he learned the car- 
 penter's trade, which he has followed in connec- 
 tion with the undertaking business continuously 
 since. His excellent workmanship, and the faith- 
 fulness with which he performs his part of a con- 
 tract, have won him an excellent trade, which in 
 turn has yielded him a good income. 
 
 The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. Nee- 
 ly was in her maidenhood Mary Ann Mil lard, 
 daughter of Joseph and Maria (Heatherly) Mil- 
 lard, natives of Pennsylvania. Five children were 
 born to our subject and his wife, but Emma Jane 
 and John are now deceased. The three still liv- 
 ing are Ida, William M. and Hannah Maria. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Neely was form, 
 erly a Republican, but is now independent in pol- 
 itics. His wife is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. He has twice served on the City 
 Council, but has never been an office-seeker in the 
 popular sense of the term, preferring to devote 
 his attention to business interests. As his finan- 
 cial resources have increased, he has made judi- 
 cious investments in real estate, and now owns 
 one hundred and sixty acres of good farming land 
 
 in Missouri, besides his home and other city prop- 
 erty in Pana. He is a public-spirited and pro- 
 gressive man, and during his residence here of 
 more than a third of a century his life of upright- 
 ness has won him warm regard. 
 
 ffi YMAN WILCOX, who carries on agricul- 
 I (fS) tural pursuits on sections 14 and 23, Rose- 
 /ILsi&i mond Township, is one of the worthy citi- 
 zens that New York has furnished to Christian 
 County. He was born in Oneida County, near 
 Utica, and is one of eight children, three sons and 
 five daughters, all of whom grew to manhood and 
 womanhood. The father of this family, Charles 
 Wilcox, was born in the Empire State, was of Eng- 
 lish descent, and was a machinist by trade. He 
 married Harriet Robinson, a native of Oneida 
 County, and a daughter of Nathan Robinson, who 
 was born in Connecticut, of English parentage. 
 His occupation was that of farming. After their 
 marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox located in the 
 town of Paris, N. Y., where he worked as a ma- 
 chinist. Subsequently they removed to Niagara 
 Falls, where the father died at the age of sixty- 
 nine. The mother passed away the same year. 
 
 In the county of his nativity, Lyman Wilcox 
 spent his boyhood and youth, and at the early age 
 of fourteen years began to make his own way in 
 Hie world, so that he is now a self-made man. He 
 commenced learning the shoemaker's trade, serv- 
 ing an apprenticeship of six years, and receiving 
 on an average $35 per year. Of this sum he re- 
 quired $30 to clothe himself, and the remaining $5 
 went for miscellaneous expenses. He earned his 
 first money when a youth of eleven, working at 
 six and a-fourth cents per day printing calico by 
 hand. When he had learned the shoemaker's trade, 
 he worked as a journeyman for two years, and 
 subsequently started in business for himself in 
 Oriskany, N. Y., in 1833. 
 
 During his residence there, Mr. Wilcox was mar- 
 ried, in 1835, to Sallie Osborn, a native of Fair-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 field County, Conn., and a daughter of Daniel 
 Osborn, of the same count} 7 . Her parents died 
 when she was fourteen years of age, after which 
 she went to Oneida County, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wilcox removed to Verona, N. Y., where he en- 
 gaged in farming until 1866, when he came to 
 Christian County with his family, taking up his 
 residence on the farm which is now his home. In 
 1887 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his 
 wife, who died on the 8th of April, the fifty-sec- 
 ond anniversary of their marriage. Four chil- 
 dren were born unto them;. Harriet R., Catherine 
 E. and Sarah, who died in childhood; and Will- 
 iam, who aids his father in the cultivation of the 
 home farm. The latter was born in Oneida County, 
 N. Y., and married Emma, daughter of O. M. and 
 Debby Aurelia (Hawley) Hawkes. They have 
 seven children: Charles Arthur, Clara E., Mary 
 O. and Martha H. (twins), Herbert R., Hattie A. 
 and Ethel M. William Wilcox is an enterprising 
 and progressive farmer. 
 
 In connection with his son, our subject owns 
 one hundred and sixty acres of good land, and 
 they are successfully engaged in general farming. 
 During the late war, the latter entered the service 
 of his country, enlisting in 1861 as a member of 
 the Third New York Cavalry. After his previ- 
 ous term had expired, he re-enlisted in the same 
 company and regiment as a veteran, and remained 
 in the service throughout the entire war. He 
 never received a wound, although lie participated 
 in many hard-fought battles. He was promoted 
 to the rank of Corporal. He is now a member of 
 Pope Post No. 411, G. A. R., of Pana, and holds 
 membership with the Congregational Church, in 
 which he is now serving as Trustee. Mr. Wilcox 
 was Chairman of the first Republican convention 
 held in the Third Assembly District of Oneida 
 County, N. Y., and assisted in organizing the 
 party there. 
 
 Lyman Wilcox is an inflexible adherent of Re- 
 publican principles, and served as Highway Com- 
 missioner of Rosemond Township for three years. 
 He belongs to the Congregational Church, and in 
 church work takes an active interest, doing all in 
 his power to promote the cause. At various in- 
 tervals through sixty years lie was Superintendent 
 
 of the Sunday-school, and through his training of 
 the 3'oung exerted an influence for good which 
 will be felt long after he has passed to his reward. 
 He is a stanch advocate of temperance principles 
 and never uses tobacco or intoxicants in any form. 
 His life has been a true and upright one, devoted 
 to the cause of the Master, and full of kindly and 
 generous deeds. His example is well worth}' of 
 emulation, for it will never lead to wrong. 
 
 \lp^OBERT WATT, who carries on general 
 |W( farming on section 9, Rosemoud Township, 
 ^\ is numbered among the honored pioneers 
 of Christian County, his residence here, 
 which covers a period of forty-one years, dating 
 from 1852. He has therefore been an eye-witness 
 of the greater part of the growth and develop- 
 ment of the county, and has seen the transforma- 
 tion which has changed it from an unbroken and 
 unsettled tract to a region of comfortable homes, 
 good farms and flourishing towns. 
 
 Mr. Watt was born in the North of Ireland, 
 March 22, 1833, and is a son of Robert Watt, 
 who was also born in the same locality. The fa- 
 ther was a flax manufacturer and owned two mills. 
 He was killed in one of his mills on the 1st of 
 August, 1840. His wife, who was in her maiden- 
 hood Margaret McNickal, was also born in Ireland, 
 and never left that land. They became the pa- 
 rents of five children. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who is the second in 
 order of birth and the eldest son, spent the first 
 fourteen years of his life on the Green Isle of 
 Erin, and then crossed the broad Atlantic to Amer- 
 ica, lie landed in Philadelphia, Pa., and in that 
 city spent the five succeeding years of his life, 
 working by the day and month at various pur- 
 suits whereby he might earn an honest living. 
 Thinking the West furnished better opportunities 
 for young men than the older and more thickly- 
 settled States of the East, with the desire of bene- 
 fiting his financial condition he came to Illinois
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 :KI3 
 
 at the age of nineteen years. He worked by the 
 month as a farm hand in Christian County for 
 some years, but since 1872 has resided upon the 
 farm which is now his home. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Watt wedded Miss Mary Hines, a 
 native of Ireland. Their union has been blessed 
 with a family of five children, a son and four 
 daughters, viz.: Mary, Eliza, Maggie, Josephine 
 and George W. The family have a pleasant home 
 in the midst of a fine farm of one hundred and 
 forty acres. The greater part of this land is 
 under a high state of cultivation. In connection 
 with the residence there are good barns and 
 other necessary outbuildings, and these are sur- 
 rounded by well-tilled fields. The place is neat 
 and thrifty in appearance, a fact which indicates 
 the careful supervision of the owner. Mr. Watt 
 is recognized as one of the representative and 
 progressive agriculturists of the community. He 
 possesses the sturdy independence and force of 
 the Irish people, and has therefore won success. 
 He has always borne his part in the advancement 
 and upbuilding of the county in which he has so 
 long made his home, and well deserves represen- 
 tation among its honored pioneers. 
 
 ri|^ ON. CHARLES A. MANNERS, of Taylor- 
 l|f)y ville, who has been prominent in public af- 
 ubt: f a ' vs ' in this county, is an example of the 
 l|p self-made men in which the Northwestern 
 States abound. A native of New Jersey, he was born 
 in Somerset County, on the 2d of August, 1827, and 
 is a son of John S. and Penelope (Stout) Manners, 
 who were also born in the same State. His father 
 was a farmer in moderate but comfortable circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Our subject received a fair common-school edu- 
 cation and excellent training in mathematics, his 
 preceptor being a retired sea-captain, from whom 
 he doubtless imbibed a love of the ocean, for after 
 leaving school he went to sea, where he remained 
 
 until the age of twenty-two years, commencing as a 
 boy before the mast and steadily advancing until 
 he had attained to be second in command of a 
 merchant trader. In this service he made several 
 voyages around the navigable world, but at length 
 his health broke down, and in consequence he dis- 
 continued nautical pursuits. In 1850, at the age 
 of twenty-three years, the scene of his labors was 
 changed. 
 
 At that time Mr. Manners came to the West, lo- 
 cating in Christian County, 111., where he still re- 
 sides. In the following year he was elected County 
 Surveyor, which position he filled for three years. 
 In 1855, he was employed by the United States 
 Survey Department to fix the boundary between the 
 States of Kansas and Nebraska, and he continued 
 on the public surveys of the latter State until 1860. 
 In that year he returned to Illinois, and in 1862 
 he was elected Sheriff of Christian County, a posi- 
 tion which he filled until 18C4, since which time 
 he has been extensively engaged in the construction 
 of railroads, being one of the largest and most suc- 
 cessful contractors in the West. He built a section 
 of thirty-four miles of the Pana <fe Northwestern 
 Railroad, from Pana to Rochester; sixty miles of 
 the Toledo, Wabash & Western, from Decatur to 
 Litchfield, and also a division of the Vandalia Line. 
 He aided in extending the Terre Haute and Rich- 
 mond Line from Terre Haute Westward to the State 
 line, and built a division of the Springfield, Gil- 
 man & Clinton Railroad, and the Warren Division 
 of the Ashtabula, Youngstown & Pittsburg Rail- 
 road. He also received a contract for the Port- 
 land Division of the Cincinnati, Richmond & Ft. 
 Wayne Railroad; the Indiana & Illinois Central 
 from Decatur, 111., to Montezuma, Ind.; and the 
 Cairo Short Line from New Athens to Du Quoin. 
 Mr. Manners also built a portion of the Indianapo- 
 lis <fe St. Louis Road between Terre Haute and In- 
 dianapolis, and in connection with his railroad 
 work he has been engaged in various other enter- 
 prises. It is his custom to carry forward to a suc- 
 cessful completion whatever he undertakes, and in 
 consequence he has accumulated a competence. 
 
 On the 2d of October, 1861, Mr. Manners was 
 joined in wedlock with Miss Elizabeth A. Long, 
 daughter of the late Maj. Thomas Long, of Taylor-
 
 .KM 
 
 i-ORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 ville, and their union has been blessed with two 
 children, a son and daughter: Tom and Frances 
 C. The family is one widely and favorably known 
 in this community, and the parents hold an envia- 
 ble position in social circles. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Manners is a supporter of Dem- 
 ocratic principles. He is a most energetic and ac- 
 tive business man, and his prosperity in life is 
 mainly due to the promptness which has charac- 
 terized all his transactions. 
 
 JUDGE ANDREW SIMPSON was born near 
 Mt. Sterling, Ky., October 22, 1830, and 
 was a son of Thomas and Caroline (Badger) 
 Simpson, also natives of Kentucky. His 
 paternal grandfather, Andrew Simpson, was born 
 of English parentage. He reared a large fam- 
 ily of two sons and seven daughters, one of 
 whom, Thomas, became the father of the Judge. 
 He was a farmer by occupation, and followed 
 that pursuit in his native State until 1831, when 
 he emigrated to Sangamon County, 111. About 
 1848 he came to Christian Count3% locating on 
 the present site of Palmer, at the head of Bear 
 Creek, where he made his home until his death, 
 which occurred about 1853. The family num- 
 bered six children, four sons and two daughters, 
 but James is the only one now living. 
 
 Andrew Simpson was a lad of nine summers 
 when the family came to Illinois. In the public 
 schools he acquired his education, and upon the 
 home farm was reared, remaining under the pa- 
 rental roof until nineteen years of age, when he ac- 
 cepted a position in the office of the County Clerk 
 (then Judge William Moore), in Taylorville. It 
 then became his desire to enter the legal profes- 
 sion, and, after studying for some time, he en- 
 gaged in practice for a number of years. His 
 natural and acquired ability made him a success- 
 ful practitioner, placed him in the front ranks of 
 his professional brethren, and won him the honor 
 of an election to the office of County Judge, 
 
 though a Republican in a Democratic County, 
 which position he creditably filled for some years. 
 His rulings were always wise and just, and the 
 attorneys with whom he was associated in busi- 
 ness always held him in the highest regard. 
 
 The Judge was twice married. He wedded Miss 
 Eliza Caldwell, of Mt. Sterling, Ky., who died 
 about 1861. Soon after her death he entered the 
 army as a member of Company H, Fourteenth Ill- 
 inois Infantry, which company he had himself 
 raised in Taylorville, and of which he was elected 
 Captain. He was wounded at the battle of Pitts- 
 burg Landing, in April, 1862, and on the 4th of 
 October following resigned. Returning home, he 
 resumed his law practice. On the 5th of August, 
 1863, he was again married, his second union 
 being with Miss Almeda daughter of Dr. Richard 
 and Mary A. (Fender) Fulton, the former a na- 
 tive of Loudoun County, Va., and the latter of 
 Wayne County, Ind. Her paternal grandfather, 
 Elisha W. Fulton, was a native of Virginia. He 
 died at the age of seventy-two years, his last 
 days being spent in Putnam County, Ind. The 
 maternal grandfather, Henry L. Fender, was born 
 in North Carolina, and was a farmer by occupa- 
 tion and a soldier in 1812. He died in Wayne 
 County, aged eighty-three years. Richard Ful- 
 ton was a physician, and successfully engaged 
 in the practice of medicine in Wayne, Union 
 and Putnam Counties, Ind., for some years. After 
 her husband's death, he made his home with his 
 daughter, Mrs. Simpson, until called to his final 
 rest, in April, 1893, at the age of seventy-five 
 years. His wife still survives him and is now 
 living with her daughter, Mrs. Simpson. She is 
 a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as 
 was her husband. 
 
 Unto the Judge and Mrs. Simpson were born 
 three children, a son and two daughters. Cullen, 
 who died at the age of seven years; Mary, wife 
 of William Scott, a shoe dealer of Taylorville, 
 by whom she has a little daughter, Eleanor; and 
 Caroline, an accomplished young lady, who gradu- 
 ated from De Pauw University, iu Greencastle, 
 Ind., in the Class of '91, and who lives at home. 
 
 Mr. Simpson was a stalwart Republican in poli- 
 tics. He was a deep thinker and a logical reasoner.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 365 
 
 and his conclusions were reached as the result of 
 earnest and careful meditation. He was firm in 
 support of what lie believed to be right, and 
 neither fear nor favor could change his purpose. 
 In his business dealings he was very success- 
 ful, and became the owner of nineteen hundred 
 and forty acres of land in Christian County, be- 
 sides his fine residence and a number of business 
 houses on the square of Taylorville. He was a 
 lover of fine horses, and always had some excel- 
 lent specimens of the noble steed in his stable. 
 Possessing many excellencies of character, he gained 
 many warm friends and won their high regard. 
 He passed away March 10, 1883, at the age of 
 fifty-three years, and his loss was widely mourned. 
 His widow is still living in the home which he 
 left her, and she shares its comforts with her 
 mother. She is a faithful member of the Meth- 
 odist Church, and, like her husband, has the con- 
 fidence and respect of all. 
 
 PR. B. GREENWOOD, a leading physician of 
 Edinburgh, has long made his home in this 
 county, dating his arrival from 1865, and 
 well deserves representation among its early set- 
 tlers. In the years which have since come and gone 
 he has been prominently connected with the growth 
 and upbuilding of the community, and has ever 
 borne his part in the work of public improvement 
 and advancement. He was born in Barren County, 
 Ky., September 29, 1810, and is a son of John 
 Greenwood, a native of Virginia. His grandfa- 
 ther, Dr. Basil Greenwood, was a native of Eng- 
 land, in that country was reared and married, 
 and then emigrated to America, taking up his 
 residence in the Old Dominion. 
 
 John Greenwood married Triphena Garrctson, 
 who was born in Virginia, of Welsh parentage, 
 their union being celebrated in Bowling Green, 
 Ky., where they resided for two years. Remov- 
 ing to St. Louis at that time, they spent only a 
 few months in the West, being driven out by the 
 
 Indians. They then went back to Kentucky, but 
 afterward went to lllinoistown, near St. Louis. 
 Again they were driven away by the redmen, and 
 the Doctor, who was then only four years old, was 
 separated from his parents. lie was taken by the 
 savages and lived with them for several years, and 
 in 1819 he was taken by them to where the city 
 of Springfield now stands. About 1824 he was 
 ransomed by the Government, and remained in 
 the Government employ for several years as an 
 interpreter. 
 
 In 1836 Dr. Greenwood engaged with the firm of 
 Cope & Harpester, drovers, to lead the lead-ox from 
 Springfield to Philadelphia, Pa. While on the way 
 his employers failed, and thus he, without money or 
 friends, was left to work his way back as he might. 
 After three months he again reached Springfield, 
 where he began serving an apprenticeship to the 
 millwright and carpenter's trade. He then em- 
 barked in business for himself, and in the next 
 few years built mills in Iowa, Illinois and Mis- 
 souri. During this time he was studying medi- 
 cine, and was graduated from the old Missouri 
 Medical Institute in 1847. Locating in Spring- 
 field, he there remained for two years, when he 
 sold out and went with an emigrant train en- 
 gaged in exploration under Fremont. 
 
 Returning to Springfield, the Doctor was there 
 married, November 15, 1849, to Eliza A. Town- 
 send, a native of Cape May, N. J. In 1852 he 
 joined the Illinois & California Mutual Insurance 
 Company for a trip across the plains. Return- 
 ing in the fall of 1856, he formed a partnership 
 with a brother physician and engaged in the 
 practice of medicine. The war came on and his 
 property was all destroyed, so he again went to 
 Springfield to make a new start. On the 14th of 
 February, 1865, however, he came to Christian 
 County, locating four miles from his present office, 
 for the town of Edinburgh had not then sprung 
 into existence. In connection with medical prac- 
 tice, he conducted a general store and a grist and 
 saw mill. At length he sold out and removed to 
 Edinburgh, establishing the first store in the place. 
 He assisted in starting many lines of business, in 
 fact the growth and success of the town are due 
 in no small degree to his labors. At his own ex-
 
 366 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 pense, and at a groat cost, he sunk the first coal 
 shaft. A company who worked the mine was 
 afterward incorporated with a capital stock of 
 $50,000, and the Doctor was elected President. 
 This company is now known as the Electric Light, 
 Coal and Tile and Brick Company, and has a capi- 
 tal stock of $150,000, all of which has grown out of 
 the first efforts of our subject, who is still President 
 of the company. He has continuously carried on 
 the practice of medicine with good success, and 
 has been connected with other business interests. 
 Greenwood Township was named in his honor. 
 
 Unto the Doctor and his wife have been born 
 four children: Triphena A., wife of Charles Whit- 
 mer, of Springfield; Parthenia, deceased; John R., 
 assistant superintendent of the coal shaft of Edin- 
 burgh; Sarah M., wife of Robert H. Poole; and 
 Julia A., wife of Asa H. Culver, now of Bates 
 County, Mo. The mother of this family died in 
 1885, leaving many friends to mourn her loss. 
 
 The Doctor was a Whig in early life, but since 
 the organization of the Republican party has been 
 one of its stanch supporters. He was a personal 
 friend of Lincoln, with whom he worked in his 
 early years, and was also a personal friend of 
 Douglas. Few men in Christian County are bet- 
 ter known than Dr. Greenwood, on account of his 
 connection with its upbuilding and development. 
 He may well be called one of the founders of 
 Edinburgh. His life has been a well-spent and use- 
 ful one, and has been quite eventful. Wherever 
 he has gone he has made friends, and in the corn- 
 in unity where he now lives he is alike esteemed 
 by young and old, rich and poor. 
 
 OSES HUTCHINS is the owner of one of 
 Christian County's fine farms. He resides 
 on section 22, Rosemond Township, where 
 he has one hundred and sixty acres of 
 valuable land, whereon he has made his home since 
 1875. In all its appointments the place is com- 
 plete and may well be numbered among the model 
 
 farms of the community. The substantial and 
 pleasant residence was erected in 1875, at a cost 
 of $2,000. Good barns and other necessary out- 
 buildings stand in the midst of well-tilled fields, 
 and the neat and thrifty appearance of the place 
 indicates the careful supervision of the owner, 
 who is both practical and progressive. 
 
 Mr. Hutchins was born in Edwardsville, Madi- 
 son County, 111., on the 10th of January, 1845, 
 and on both the paternal and maternal sides is of 
 English descent. His father, William Hutchins, 
 was born in St. Mary's, Md., April 20, 1802, was 
 there reared to manhood, and wedded Matilda 
 Dorsey, who was born in 1808, in Calvert County, 
 Md., and was a daughter of William Dorsey, of 
 that State. They located on a farm in Maryland, 
 and in 1842 removed to Baltimore, spending two 
 years in that city. In 1844 they came to the 
 West, locating in Madison County, 111., upon a 
 farm, where they spent their remaining days. The 
 father died at the age of eighty-seven, and his 
 wife passed away when sixty-three years of age. 
 They were members of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Church, in which Mr. Hutchins served as 
 Elder for some time. In politics, he was first a 
 Whig, and afterward a Republican. Their family 
 of four children numbered three sons and a daugh- 
 ter, but the latter, Susan, died at the age of nine 
 years; Daniel died at the age of twenty-seven; 
 and David is living in Madison County, 111. 
 
 Moses, who is the youngest of the family, was 
 reared in the county of his nativity until twenty- 
 three years of age, and conned his lessons in the 
 district schools of the neighborhood. In 1869 he 
 removed to this county and took up his residence 
 on section 20, Rosemond Township, where he pur- 
 chased a farm, to which he devoted his time and 
 attention until 1875. He then purchased and 
 removed to the farm which has since been his 
 home. He now has it under a- high state of cul- 
 tivation, and in connection with its improvement 
 he also engages quite extensive^ in stock-raising, 
 making a specialty of cattle and hogs. 
 
 In 1871 Mr. Hutchins was united in marriage 
 with Sarah J. Estabrook, a native of Madison 
 County, 111., and a daughter of John and Nancy 
 Estabrook, who were early settlers of that county,
 
 Fl Ubttrj 
 
 f the 
 v of
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 369 
 
 there locating in 1818, at which time the father 
 secured the land from the Government and began 
 the development of a home on the frontier. Of 
 the family of ten children, Mrs. Hutch ins is the 
 youngest. By her marriage she became the mother 
 of three daughters: Clara May, Emeline Matilda 
 and Bessie Estabrook, all at home. 
 
 As his financial resources have increased, Mr. 
 Hutching has made additional purchases of land, 
 until he ig now the owner of eight hundred acres 
 in Christian County, all acquired through his 
 good management, diligence and business ability. 
 In politics he is a supporter of Republican prin- 
 ciples. He holds membership with the Congrega- 
 tional Church of Rosemond, and is now serving 
 as Trustee. He takes an active part in church 
 work, and gives his support and co-operation to 
 all that tends to promote its growth and insure its 
 upbuilding. 
 
 ROUNTREE ANDERSON. In the 
 ifjj) death of H. R. Anderson, which occurred 
 vkJ? September 5, 1890, Taylorville lost one of 
 ((jt)j its most useful and enterprising citizens. 
 He was a son of W. W. Anderson, whose biography 
 will be found on another page of this work, and 
 was born in Taylorville April 30, 18G1. His 
 school days were spent at Lake Forest, 111., and at 
 the Illinois Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, 
 his education being completed at the latter institu- 
 tion in 1881. Shortly after graduation, he en- 
 tered the banking business with his father, under 
 the firm name of W. W. Anderson & Co., and he de- 
 voted his great energy, talents and business ability 
 to extending the popularity of that enterprise. 
 He made a thorough study of the laws relating to 
 banking and finance, and the success of the First 
 National Bank of Taylorville is principally 7 due to 
 his exceptional capacity, industry and faithfulness 
 in its management. Associated with his father, 
 he was the prime mover in its organization, and 
 18 
 
 occupied the responsible position of cashier until 
 failing health, in January, 1890, compelled him to 
 resign. He was ambitious and energetic to a 
 marked degree, and his name was a synonym for 
 truth and honor. With qualities such as these, 
 his prospects for fame and fortune were very 
 brilliant, but his spirit was too strong for his frail 
 body, and in early manhood he perished at the 
 threshhold of the goal he hoped to win. 
 
 The following extract from the funeral address^ 
 made by one who was privileged to know him 
 intimately, Rev. W. A. Smith, pastor of Grace 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bloomington, 111., 
 will serve to show his character: "Some of you 
 were acquainted with his home life, and knew 
 how pure, true and devoted he was to his own, 
 within the sacred precincts of home. In all these 
 relations, he was an honest, honorable, manly 
 man. He was a man who had a mother, a real, 
 true, genuine mother, who left the stamp of her 
 goodness and refinement on the heart and life of 
 her son. Through all his years on earth, he car- 
 ried the impress of her loving touch, and felt the 
 inspiration of her noble life, which was a part of 
 that deathless life beyond. He lived largely 
 within himself and his home, mingling only with 
 congenial associates; he could not be a companion 
 of one who was coarse or uncouth. He was a man 
 of principle, of high aims and good purposes, and 
 scorned to stoop to any unmanly act. He pos- 
 sessed a keen mentality, a well-stored mind, a re- 
 tentive memory, and was a remarkable conver- 
 sationalist. He took an active and intelligent in- 
 terest in the affairs of men, and in men of affairs. 
 He was a wide reader, and was abreast of the times 
 in the advanced thought of the day. He delighted 
 in music, and was himself an accomplished musi- 
 cian, was a lover of flowers, appreciated art of all 
 kinds and the beautiful in nature wherever found. 
 Regarding religious matters, he was somewhat in- 
 dependent in his thought, but liberal in the best 
 sense, and perfectly sincere and conscientious in 
 his views, while he was in harmony with the 
 orthodox teaching of the day on the cardinal and 
 essential facts of Christianity. There was no re- 
 ligious cant or hypocrisy about him. He pinned 
 his faith to the Bible of Christ and the Christ of
 
 370 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 the Bible. He said: 'I can never feel anyway but 
 kindly towards my mother's church.' Dying, he 
 pillowed his head on the promises that supported 
 her, and has probably already met that mother 
 and greeted her in Heaven, for in his last hours he 
 had victory, through his Lord and Savior." 
 
 LIENHART is proprietor of a 
 wagon factory and blacksmith -and paint 
 shop of Taylorville. The record of his life 
 is as follows: A native of Alsace, Germany, he 
 was born on the 6th of May, 1834, and was reared 
 to manhood in his native land. His boyhood days 
 were spent midst play and work and in his youth 
 he served a two-years apprenticeship to the trade 
 of wagon-making and blacksmithing. Hearing 
 favorable accounts of the opportunities and ad- 
 vantages afforded youcg men in the New World, 
 he determined to test the truth of these reports by 
 emigrating to America and trying his fortune in 
 this land of freedom. Crossing the briny deep in 
 1852, he spent the first six months after his arrival 
 in Buffalo, N. Y., and during the succeeding year 
 was employed in that county. 
 
 The year 1854 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Lien- 
 hart in Illinois. For one year he worked as a 
 journeyman in Springfield, and in 1855 came to 
 Taylorville, where he spent two and a-half years 
 in the employ of Amos Cheny. In 1858, he went 
 to Dallas, Tex., remaining in the South for nearly 
 ten years, when, in July, 1868, he returned to this 
 place. On again reaching Taylorville, Mr. Lien- 
 hart established himself in business in his present 
 line, and has since carried on operations. He 
 thoroughly understands his business in all its de- 
 tails, and as the result of his excellent workman- 
 ship and fair dealing, he has gained a liberal pat- 
 ronage. His trade has so increased that he now 
 furnishes employment to three men. 
 
 On the 4th of September, 1860, in Dallas, Tex., 
 Mr. Lienhart was joined in wedlock with Mary 
 Adeline Ridgeway, a native of Tennessee. Three 
 
 children have been born unto them: Margaret Eliza- 
 beth; John Edward, a druggist; and Mary Ida, who 
 became the wife of John E. Harrison, of Owen 
 County, Ind., and died November 20, 1892, at the 
 age of twenty-six years, leaving an infant son, 
 George Chase Harrison, who is now with his grand- 
 parents. 
 
 Mr. Lienhart has made considerable investments 
 in real estate and built five residences in Taylor- 
 ville. His home is situated in the midst of a tract 
 of four and a-half acres. He also owns a number 
 of city lots in Dallas, Tex. When he left the South 
 property couM not be sold except at a very low 
 figure, but it has now greatly risen in value. Our 
 subject is an industrious and enterprising man and 
 his well-directed efforts and untiring labors have 
 brought him the property which now places him 
 among the substantial citizens of the community. 
 His wife is a member of the Christian Church, and 
 both are highly respected people, having many 
 friends in Taylorville. 
 
 JOSEPH N. EMERSON, who is engaged in 
 general farming and stock-raising on his 
 well-equipped and ably-conducted farm, lo- 
 cated on section 32, Stonington Township, 
 is a native of this county, having been born March 
 4, 1856, in the same township where he still makes 
 his home. He is a son of Richard N. and Ann E. 
 (Keiser) Emerson, whose sketch may be found in 
 another portion of this volume. 
 
 Our subject is the second child in a family of 
 eleven, and passed his boyhood on his father's 
 old homestead, which was his birthplace. He was 
 only a youth of fifteen years when death deprived 
 him of a father's care, and he therefore continued 
 to live with his mother, rendering her dutiful as- 
 sistance on the home farm, until he was twenty- 
 eight years of age. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Emerson and Miss Angie 
 O'Brien, also a native of Stonington Township, 
 was celebrated April 8, 1884. Two children have
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 371 
 
 been born of their union, a son and a daughter, 
 namely: Ila G. and Clarence W. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Emerson are well received in the social circles of 
 the neighborhood, where they are well known, 
 having made their home here since their births. 
 Mrs. Emerson is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 Like his father before him, our subject is a true- 
 blue Republican. He has always been interested 
 in promoting the cause of education, has served 
 as School Director for several terms, and is now 
 School Trustee of his district. His desirable farm 
 comprises one hundred and sixty acres of fertile 
 and well-cultivated land. It is well adapted for 
 general farming and stock-raising, to which it is 
 devoted. The greater portion of the farm repre- 
 sents our subject's own earnings and is the result 
 of his years of industry. The place is located only 
 two and a-half miles southwest of Stonington, 
 and is considered one of the best farms in the 
 township. In his business enterprises Mr. Emer- 
 son has been abundantly blessed with success, and 
 it is eminently fitting that such should be the 
 case, for his transactions are marked witli justice 
 and fair dealing. He bears an enviable reputa- 
 tion in the county as a man of honor and strict 
 observance of his word and contracts. 
 
 >ILLIAM A. NEWELL. The business in- 
 terests of Pana are well represented by the 
 jentleman whose name heads this sketch. 
 He is one of the leading grocers, having estab- 
 lished himself in business in this line some twelve 
 years since. By his earnest desire to please his 
 customers and fair dealings he has won the confi- 
 dence and good-will of all, and has secured a lib- 
 eral share of the public patronage. 
 
 Mr. Newell is a Canadian by birth. He was 
 born in Peterboro, Ontario, March 30, 1857, and is 
 one of twelve children whose parents were Alfred 
 and Harriet (Ryan) Newell. The paternal grand- 
 father, John Newell, spent his entire life in Eng- 
 
 land, his native land. He was long a soldier, 
 continuing in the service for twenty -seven years. 
 His death occurred at the age of eighty-seven. 
 The maternal grandfather, Thomas Ryan, was a 
 native of Ireland, an inn-keepei of that country. 
 He was called to his final rest at the age of fifty. 
 
 The father of our subject was born and reared 
 in England, and throughout the greater part of his 
 life devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits, 
 which he followed many years in Canada and 
 Michigan. He came to the United States in 1857, 
 and made his home in Michigan until 1878, when 
 he came to Pana, where he lived retired until his 
 death, which occurred January 3, 1886, at the age 
 of seventy-two years. His wife survived him a 
 few years and passed away on Christmas Day, 
 1890, also at the age of seventy-two. They were 
 both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and their lives were in harmony with their pro- 
 fession. Of their five sons and seven daughters, 
 Ann Jane is now the wife of Robert Bennett, of 
 Marshall, Mich.; Maggie is the wife of James C. 
 Essick, of Chicago; Julia is the wife of John Mur- 
 dock, of Ft. Worth, Tex.; Bessie is the wife of 
 James Limer, of Rosemond, 111.; Eva is the widow 
 of Preston W. Smith, of Chicago; Robert is living 
 in Roseraond; and William A. and Thomas C. 
 complete the family. 
 
 William A. Newell, whose name heads this rec- 
 ord, was still in his infancy when his parents left 
 Canada. He was reared on his father's farm, and 
 acquired his education in the schools of Kalama- 
 zoo, Mich. He may truly be called a self-made 
 man, for at the age of fourteen he began to earn 
 his own livelihood and has since been dependent 
 upon his own resources. In 1880, he came to 
 Pana, where he has since made his home, and em- 
 barked in the bakery business, which he conducted 
 for a year, and then opened a grocery store, which 
 he has successfully carried on continuously since. 
 
 An important event in the life of Mr. Newell 
 occurred October 31, 1883, when was celebrated 
 his marriage with Miss Arabella Higgins, daughter 
 of L. D. and Cordelia (McDaniels) Higgins, of 
 Pana. Four children have been born unto them, 
 a son and three daughters: Cordelia, June, Creigh- 
 ton and Pearl. The family has a pleasant home,
 
 372 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and the parents are prominent people in the com- 
 rnunity. Mr. Newell is a member of the Tonti 
 fraternity, and in politics is a supporter of Repub- 
 lican principles, but has never been an aspirant 
 for public office, preferring to devote his time and 
 attention to his business interests, in which he has 
 met with prosperity. Working his way upward 
 from an humble beginning, he has now reached a 
 place among the substantial citizens of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 BARREN CORZINE is one of the leading 
 merchants and business men of Christian 
 County, and has been successfully en- 
 
 in the lumber and coal business in Ston- 
 ington for several years. In addition to this, he 
 owns a half-interest in a general merchandise store 
 in the village, and a good farm of one hundred 
 and twenty acres in this county, which is well im- 
 proved, besides one hundred and twenty acres in- 
 herited by his wife. 
 
 The birthplace of Mr. Corzine is in Guernsey 
 County, Ohio. He was born January 24, 1857, to 
 Allen and Mary Ann (Warren) Corzine. They 
 were the parents of nine children, six sons and 
 three daughters, of whom our subject is the sixth 
 child. All but one of the family are' still living. 
 The father was a native of Pennsylvania, where 
 he lived until reaching manhood. Going to Guern- 
 sey County, he bought a tract of wild land, 
 which he cultivated until 1868. Then, com- 
 ing to this county, he located on a farm, which 
 he carried on for a number of years, but is now 
 living a retired life in Assumption, being eighty- 
 seven years of age. His grandfather was a na- 
 tive of Holland, and was killed during the War 
 of 1812, while he was in the service. Our sub- 
 ject's mother, who was born in the Buckeye State, is 
 of German descent, and, though nearly eighty years 
 of age, is still living. 
 
 The early years of Warren Corzine were passed 
 on his father's farm, where he remained until 
 
 reaching his majority. He acquired a good edu- 
 cation in the common schools, and, on starting 
 out to carve his own fortune, rented a farm for a 
 short time. The first land he ever owned was 
 located in Otoe County, Neb., near the village of 
 Douglas. After a couple of years spent in cul- 
 tivating his Western farm, Mr. Corzine returned 
 to Christian County and engaged in farming until 
 1888, when he sold his property in Nebraska and 
 became a resident of Stonington. Since that time 
 he has been engaged in the lumber and coal busi- 
 ness, of which he has made a good success. Only 
 a few years ago he was a poor boy, but now he 
 owns the leading lumber and coal yard in Ston- 
 ington, and has money invested in various other 
 profitable business enterprises. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Corzine and Miss Emma 
 Burdick was celebrated in October, 1881. The 
 lady is a native of this county, and by her mar- 
 riage has become the mother of five children, all 
 of whom are now living. They are as follows: 
 Maud E., Charles J., Jessie M., Lutie Pearl and 
 Edith. Mr. Corzine-is a member of the Presby- 
 terian Church, while his wife belongs to the Meth- 
 odist denomination. For two terms our subject 
 served as Tax Collector of the township, and for 
 a like period has acted in the capacity of Trustee 
 of Stonington. He is a stanch Republican, being 
 a firm believer in a high protective tariff. 
 
 JACOB KAUFFMAN EBERLE, M. D, who 
 is engaged in the practice of medicine in 
 Pana, was born in Petersburg, Huntingdon 
 County, Pa., May 17, 1824, and is the fourth 
 son and seventh child born of the union of Jacob 
 Eberle and Catherine Hewitt. The Eberle family 
 emigrated to Pennsylvania from Switzerland with 
 the Kauffmans, Neffs, Freylingliuysens, Muhlen- 
 burgs and Newcomes. Nicholas Hewitt, the mater- 
 nal grandfather of our subject, was a Revolution- 
 ary hero and served under Washington. The pa- 
 ternal grandfather, Henry Eberle, accompanied by
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 373 
 
 his two older brothers, emigrated from Switzer- 
 land and settled in Lancaster County, Pa., where 
 he carried on a large gun factory in the interest 
 of the State during the Revolutionary War. It 
 is said that he was one of the most ingenious men 
 in the working of iron in Pennsylvania, and his 
 sons all inherited this trait. Jacob Eberle, father 
 of our subject, was born in 1782, at about the 
 time of the close of the struggle for independence. 
 A prominent relative of our subject was Prof. John 
 Eberle, one of the founders of Jefferson Medical 
 College, and who, with Prof. Drake, founded the 
 first medical college in Ohio. He was the author 
 of several standard medical works, and his untir- 
 ing mind and industry marked out a way for 
 many a befogged allopathic student to reach his 
 mooring. He was also a thorough linguist, be- 
 ing familiar with eight languages. He died in 
 Lexington, Ky., in 1836. 
 
 Dr. Eberle, whose name heads this record, spent 
 four years in Alleghany College, of Meadville, 
 Pa., with the intention of entering the ministry, 
 and on returning home in July, 1850, was licensed 
 as a local preacher. In Jauuarj 7 , 1851, he was 
 recommended to the Baltimore Conference, which 
 would convene in February, but during the in- 
 terval he visited a young lady friend who was at 
 the point of death, and after conversing with her 
 and her cousin the thought flashed through his 
 mind that he could do much greater good as a 
 local preacher and doctor. Telling this to his 
 friends, they at once advised him to withdraw his 
 recommendation to the conference and begin the 
 Mtidy of medicine. In April, 1851, he entered 
 the otliee of Dr. John D. Ross, an eminent physi- 
 cian of Williamsburg, Pa., and fitted himself to 
 enter the medical college of Philadelphia, from 
 which he was graduated in 1854. He also grad- 
 uated at the Warrington Obstetrical Institute, of 
 Philadelphia. Not long after, Dr. Eberle entered 
 the office of Dr. Bishop, of that city, but as sum- 
 mer came on he left for Salladasburgh, Lycoming 
 County. While there he received a letter asking 
 him to go to Upper Canada and take a practice 
 which an old physician wished to give up. He, 
 however, refused, and in the fall returned home, 
 and from there he went to Martinsburg, Pa., where 
 
 he spent the winter. It was his intention to re- 
 move to the West, but he was urged to go to Rays 
 Hill and enter upon the practice of Dr. Hudson, 
 who had just died. After a year and a-half, how- 
 ever, he came West and located in Sterling, I1L, 
 but there was no need there for more physicians, 
 so he spent the succeeding summer in Grand De- 
 tour, Ogle County, removing thence to Amboy, 
 Lee County. After a year, however, he emigrated 
 South. 
 
 Dr. Eberle married Miss Marab, daughter of 
 Henry Shipley, of Baltimore. She lived in Cherry 
 Grove, Carroll County, and was a niece of Gen. 
 Win field Scott. She was a woman of great force 
 of character, determination and ability, and bore 
 a strong resemblance to Gen. Scott, having the 
 same firm mouth, indicating great decision, and 
 her other features as shown in her portrait re- 
 call at once the fine physique and similar tem- 
 perament of the old hero of the Mexican War. 
 She died September 26, 1888, in her fifty-seventh 
 year. Beloved by all, a wide circle of friends 
 mourned her loss. She was very beautiful ill 
 youth, and her loveliness of feature was an index 
 to her greater beauty of character. Unto the 
 Doctor and his wife were born the following chil- 
 dren: William Winfield Scott, who engaged in 
 law practice in Bloomington and Chicago, but is 
 now an attorney of Portland, Ore.; Homer J., a 
 railroad employe living in Mattoon, 111.; and 
 Grant, a jeweler of Portland, Ore. 
 
 After his marriage, Dr. Eberle removed to Louis- 
 ville, Ky., but, on account of the excitement pre- 
 ceding the war, after a year removed to Terre 
 Haute, Ind., where he remained for seven years, 
 enjoying a large practice. He also preached each 
 alternate Sunday, and was Superintendent of the 
 Sunday-school, but his arduous duties affected his 
 health and he went to Chicago. Finding there 
 was no lack of physicians there, he went -to Rock- 
 ford, 111., where he engaged in office practice, but 
 his friends in Sterling requested his return, and he 
 acceded, and there he remained till June, 1880, 
 when he came to Pana, where he has since made 
 his home. The Doctor was trained in the allo- 
 pathic schools, but becoming convinced that the 
 practice of the homeopathic line of the science is
 
 374 
 
 PORTKAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 the only correct one, he made a special study of it. 
 and has since given his patrons the benefit of his 
 researches in that direction. He has had a wide 
 practice, and for thirly-nine years has met with 
 most excellent success a well-deserved tribute to 
 his skill and ability. He is a member of the Stale 
 Medical Society, and attended the World's Medi- 
 cal Congress in Chicago. His life has been an 
 honorable, upright one, and he has been a healer of 
 the mind as well as of the body, for his words of 
 encouragement and Christian influence have aided 
 many. 
 
 EV. EDGAR WARNER CLARKE, who is 
 now pastor of the Presbyterian Church in 
 Pana,Ill., is widely known among his den- 
 ominational brethren, and in the county 
 where he makes his home is held in high esteem 
 by a large circle of friends. The history of the 
 community would be incomplete without his 
 sketch, for although he has resided here for a com- 
 paratively short time only, he has done much to 
 mold public opinion, and his influence will long be 
 felt after he is no longer numbered among the 
 citizens of the neighborhood. He was born on the 
 old Clarke homestead, near Milton. N. Y., May 29, 
 1825, and is the fifth child of Nathaniel and Han- 
 nah Clarke. He received excellent educational 
 privileges, and after a four-years course grad- 
 uated from Williams College, of Berkshire County, 
 Mass., August 16, 1848. He then spent three 
 years in the Union Theological Seminary of New 
 York City, from which he was graduated on the 
 18th of June, 1851. He had been licensed to preach 
 by the Presbytery of North River at Freedom 
 Plains, Dutchess County, N. Y., on the 16th of 
 April previously, and delivered his first sermon in 
 the church of Dr. Pennington, D. D.,of New York 
 City, who, a colored man, was then a fugitive in 
 England from his master. 
 
 The same year, on the 9th of October, 1851, 
 Rev. Mr. Clarke was united in marriage by Rev. 
 
 W. T. Eustis, of Chapel Street Church, of New 
 Haven, with Miss Martha A., daughter of Luther 
 Northrop, of New Haven, Conn., formerly of 
 Poughkeepsie, N. Y. She was a native of Con- 
 necticut, born in Bethjehem, Li tch field County, on 
 the 4th of August, 1824. Her education was ac- 
 quired in the Pouglikeepsie Female Academy and 
 Leroy Seminary, now Ingham University. She 
 possesses excellent ability as an instructor and has 
 been a teacher in Poughkeepsie, Marlboro and 
 New Haven, Conn., and in Riverside Seminary, of 
 Milton, N. Y. She early became a member of the 
 First Dutch Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie. 
 
 Of the children of this worthy couple, Herbert 
 Marsh, an adopted son, who was born in Buffalo, 
 N. Y., May 5, 1853, died in North Evans, Erie 
 County, N. Y., September 2, 1853. Charles Na- 
 thaniel, an adopted sou, who was born in Aurora, 
 N. Y., May 21, 1853, died of consumption in 
 North K vans, September 21, 1855. Emma Northrop, 
 who was born in North Evans November 10, 1854, 
 died of consumption in Medina, N. Y., September 
 27, 1858, and was buried in North Evans. Walter 
 Hopkins, who was born in North Evans, on the 
 25th of October, 1855, there died January 4, 1856. 
 Sophia Adelia, who was born in Medina on the 
 12th of October, 1856, died in that place June 
 14, 1857. Edg:ir Luther, who was born in Medina 
 on the 25th of January, 1858, was Professor of 
 Mathematics in Irvington 'College for five years, 
 but is now a fruit-grower of Pana, residing with 
 his parents. Albert Oscar, who was born in Me- 
 dina on the 23d of May 1859, was a teacher, 
 in Irvington College, but is now an architect of 
 St. Louis, a member of the firm of Matthews & 
 Clarke. He was married September 27, 1888, to 
 Grace Emma Brownlec. Frances Elizabeth was 
 born in Rochester, N. Y., August 29, 1854, adopted 
 from the "Home of Rochester" in February, 1859, 
 educated at Riverside Seminary, at Milton, N. Y., 
 and on February 3, 1873, became the wife of Clark- 
 son Jennings. They now reside in Baltimore, 
 Md., witli their three children: Lora Marian, Amy 
 Louise and Arthur Edgar. Louise, born in River- 
 side Seminary, Milton, N. Y., December 2, 1864, 
 was educated at Washington Seminary, Irvington 
 College and Knox College. She taught in the
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 375 
 
 High School of Pana for two years and two years 
 iij Blair, Neb., where she is now the Principal of 
 the High School. 
 
 After being licensed to preach, Rev. Mr. Clarke 
 spent one year at Yale University as a resident 
 graduate. His first call was to the Congregational 
 Church of North Evans, where he went in May, 
 1852, being ordained and installed by a council 
 December 9, 1852. In March, 1856, he accepted 
 a call from the church in Medina, N. Y., but left 
 that place with broken health in May, 1861, and 
 spent one year on the old Clarke homestead. He 
 then established the Riverside Seminary at Milton, 
 which he and his wife conducted untilJune, 1869, 
 and then sold. Removing to Cornwall, N. Y., he 
 there preached for the Presbyterian Church for 
 two and a-half years, but declined to be installed. 
 He has served as Commissioner to four General 
 Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church. On the 
 llth of June, 1868, he received the degree of A. 
 M. from Williams College. Receiving a call from 
 the Congregational Church of Sterling, 111., he be- 
 came its pastor September 1, 1872; there remain- 
 ing for a year and a-half, when he removed to 
 Richview, 111., in April, 1874, having purchased 
 the Washington Seminary at that place. Five 
 years later he sold the seminary and removed to 
 Irvington, 111., in April, 1880, to take charge of 
 Irvington College. Irvington College had been 
 established as an agricultural school. Mr. Clarke 
 conducted it for five years as a boarding-school 
 with marked success, in fact he has met with an 
 excellent degree of success in all his educational 
 labors. He preached in Richview from 1876 to 
 1881, also in Nashville for two summers, and for 
 two years in the Methodist Church of Irvington. 
 
 The location of his Cornwall seminary in New 
 York was a popular summer resort. Near there was 
 the old home of N. P. Willis, and it was at that 
 time the home of E. P. Roe, the novelist. Rev. 
 Mr. Clarke frequently visited "Idle Wild," the old 
 home of Willis, with whom he was on intimate 
 terms, and was familiar with all the places of note 
 in that locality, one of the most interesting spots 
 in New York. His work there was of a very en- 
 tertaining character, and on leaving that church 
 his successor was the Rev. Lyman Abbott. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1885, our subject began 
 pastoral work for the First Presbyterian Church 
 of Pana. He would at first agree to remain but 
 five months at this place, but from year to year he 
 yielded to the earnest solicitation of his friends, 
 and consenting finally, on the 29th of May, 1893, 
 on his sixty-eighth birthday, he was formally in- 
 stalled as pastor. The church has flourished un- 
 der his able ministration and he has added to it 
 about one hundred and fifty new members. The 
 house of worship has been remodeled and painted, 
 and a pipe organ has been secured. This church 
 stands at the head for its liberality toward mis- 
 sionary work. Mr. Clarke is a member of the 
 Board of Home Missions and has the oversight of 
 the churches in Christian, Shelby and Moultrie 
 Counties. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Clarke and his family reside upon a 
 fruit farm, a mile west of Pana, which is con- 
 ducted by his son. In politics, he has always been 
 on the side of reform, and is a supporter of the 
 Republican party. The cause of temperance finds 
 in him a stanch advocate. His life has been de- 
 voted to Christian service, and he has followed in 
 the footsteps of the Master, preaching and tench- 
 ing wherever he has gone. He has the love not 
 only of his entire congregation, but of all who 
 know him in this community. 
 
 JOHN N. MARION is one of the foremost 
 agriculturists of Stonington Township, and 
 owns a valuable farm on section 27, ad- 
 joining the corporation of Stonington. He 
 has acquired a fortune since coming to this county 
 when a young man. at which time he was entirely 
 without means. The birth of Mr. Marion occurred 
 in Knox County, Ohio, March 26, 1831. His fa- 
 ther, John Marion, was of German descent, and 
 was born in Newton, N. J., in 1803. His father 
 was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Mr. 
 Marion remained in New Jersey until arriving at
 
 376 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 manhood, when he removed to Knox County, 
 Ohio, and there engaged in farming until his 
 death, in 1849. His wife, who was also of Ger- 
 man descent, was born in Knox County in 1805, 
 and had the honor of being one of the very first 
 white children born in that county. Her parents 
 were among the first settlers of that region, and 
 suffered many hardships, both from privations 
 and from the Indians. 
 
 Our subject is one of seven sons and two daugh- 
 ters, of whom he is the fourth child. Jacob H. 
 is now living a retired life in Clarence, Mo.; Frank 
 W. is editor of the Plant City Courier, of Plant 
 City, Fla.; Lodenia is the widow of Henry Howe, 
 and makes her home in Omaha, Neb.; and Elizabeth 
 is the wife of John I. Trimmer, an agriculturist 
 residing near New Point, Mo. 
 
 Until his twenty-second year John N. Marion 
 assisted his father in carrying on the old home- 
 stead. He then married Miss Lizzie Coleman, 
 who was born October 18, 1829, in Knox County, 
 Ohio. She is a daughter of Ichabod and Barbara 
 (McKirmot) Coleman. The former was born in 
 Washington County, Pa., in 1802, and the latter 
 was a native of Ireland. Her father was only a 
 year old when his parents located in Knox Coun- 
 ty. In early life he was a machinist, but later 
 turned his attention to farming. He died in that 
 county at the age of seventy-five years. His fa- 
 ther, who came from Germany, took part in the 
 Revolution. Mrs. Coleman was only three months 
 old when her parents came from Ireland to Amer- 
 ica. Her father was a highly educated man and 
 taught school in Dublin, and in Harlem, N. Y. 
 The death of Mrs. Coleman occurred in Knox 
 County, when she had attained to fifty-three 
 years of age. The only son and child of our 
 subject and his wife, Frank H., was called from 
 this life at the age of thirty-three years. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Marion emigrated to 
 Holt County, Mo., making the trip by team. He 
 rented a farm for five years, after which he bought 
 a tract of land, to the cultivation of which he 
 gave his attention until 1860, when he left the 
 State on account of the imminence of the Civil 
 War. Coming to Christian County, he rented a 
 farm for three years, after which he purchased a 
 
 place of forty acres. As the years passed he greatly 
 extended his domain, and is now the owner of 
 four hundred and sixty acres of highly fertile 
 land. 
 
 Mr. Marion was not given much advantage in 
 the way of an education in his youth, and was 
 quite a young man when he attended the district 
 schools for three months in the year in order to 
 increase his knowledge.. He has been an exten- 
 sive reader and is mainly self-educated. In poli- 
 tics he casts his ballot for Democratic nominees, 
 and, though not a member of any church, contrib- 
 utes liberally to churches and benevolent work. 
 For a number of years he has served as one of 
 the School Directors. In this community, where 
 he is so well known, he is universally respected. 
 
 E MANUEL T. LEIGH is one of the honored 
 pioneers of Illinois, having been a resident 
 of this State for seventy years. He has 
 made his home for fifty-four years of this time in 
 Bear Creek Township, his place of residence being 
 situated on section 21, where he owns a valuable 
 farm. Mr. Leigli experienced many hardships 
 during his early years in the Prairie State, and 
 well remembers when wolves, rattlesnakes and 
 wild animals of various kinds were very numerous. 
 The birth of our subject occurred in Prince Ed- 
 ward County, Va., July 27, 1816. His parents, 
 Emanuel J. and Martha (Thomason) Leigh, were 
 likewise natives of the Old Dominion, where their 
 marriage was celebrated. The father was a soldier 
 during the War of 1812, entering the service as a 
 Captain, and being later promoted to the rank 
 of Major. Afterward he followed merchandising 
 at Prince Edward Court House for main' years. 
 His store having been destroyed by fire, he moved 
 to Indiana in October, 1822, and remained there 
 during the winter. In the springof the following 
 year he took his family to Illinois and made a set- 
 tlement on a farm three miles southeast of Ed- 
 wardsville, Madison County. For this place,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 377 
 
 which is now valued at over $100 per acre, he paid 
 $3 an acie, after having lived upon it for seven 
 years. For a period of eleven years he engaged 
 in cultivating the farm, and during his residence 
 in that county was Commissioner for eight years. 
 Later he removed to Brushy Mound, in Macoupin 
 County, living on a farm there for five years. In 
 1839, he permanently located on land which is 
 now comprised within the limits of Bear Creek 
 Township, and which is the present home of our 
 subject. The father was much respected in this 
 community and with his wife held membership in 
 the Methodist Church. He passed from this life 
 February 15, 1848, when in his seventy-third year. 
 Mrs. Leigh survived him three years, dying at the 
 age of sixty-eight. The Leigh family is of Eng- 
 lish descent. 
 
 The family of which our subject is a member 
 numbered eleven children, as follows: Albert G., 
 Jane, Emanuel T., John, Martha A., Daniel I)., 
 Indiana, James M., David, Mary, and one who 
 died in infancy. Of this large family only one, 
 Emanuel, yet survives. His boyhood was passed 
 in his native county and in Madison County, 111. 
 His educational privileges were of a limited de- 
 scription, as schools were few and poorly conducted 
 in those early days. In fact, many hardships were 
 necessarily endured by those early pioneers who 
 paved the way to the present prosperity of this 
 State. Until he was thirty years of age, Mr. 
 Leigh never boasted the possession of a pair of 
 boots or an overcoat. He remained with his par- 
 ents until separated from them by death. 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1842, was celebrated 
 - the marriage of Mr. Leigh and Miss Mary Ann, 
 daughter of John and Betsey (Reed) Hill, the 
 former born in Virginia, and the latter in Lexing-' 
 ton, Ky. Eleven children graced the union of 
 our subject and wife. Martha A. became the wife 
 of James Boyd, now of Palmer. They have had a 
 family of ten children. Benjamin F. is the second 
 in order of birth and lives on the old homestead. 
 William T. wedded Miss Jennie Simpson, now de- 
 ceased, who became the mother of three children, 
 Noah, Ross and Flora. David G. is living with 
 his father. James W. married Miss Angle Curvy, 
 and makes his home in Palmer. They have one 
 
 child, a daughter, Cora. John H. took for his 
 wife Miss Minnie Heuffner, and they have one 
 daughter, Bessie. Their home is three miles 
 northwest of Palmer. Elizabeth, who is now de- 
 ceased, was the wife of John Kline, and was the 
 mother of a son, Elmer. Julia, who is now Mrs. 
 William Clark, has one child, Maude. The fam- 
 ily lives three miles east of Palmer. Lydia Marga- 
 ret, who lives in Raj r mond, 111., is the wife of 
 William Starr. Clara resides at home, and one 
 child who died in infancy completed the family. 
 The faithful wife and mother of these children 
 died in 1886, iu her sixty-eighth year. 
 
 For some years Mr. Leigh was connected with 
 the Odd Fellows' fraternity. He has never de- 
 sired office, but served for one term as Supervisor 
 of his township. In former years he was a Whig, 
 and has acted with the Republican party ever 
 since its organization. He has been a witness of 
 vast changes in Christian County, in the develop- 
 ment of which he has taken an active share. On 
 his arrival here there were no fences, and grain 
 was reaped with a scythe or a small sickle. 
 
 PR. GEORGE FRINGER, who is engaged in 
 the practice of medicine and surgery in Pana, 
 is one of the well-informed physicians of the 
 county, holding an enviable reputation among his 
 professional brethren. Thorough preparation and 
 study in various colleges have well fitted him for 
 his life work, and his deep researches have gained 
 him a skill and ability that now win him a liberal 
 patronage. 
 
 The Doctor was born in Carroll County, Md., 
 March 24, 1834, and his parents, George and Susan 
 (Null) Fringer, were natives of the same State. 
 Their family numbered six sons and a daughter, as 
 follows: Alice Ann, now the wife of Samuel Bow- 
 ers, of Baltimore, Md.; George W., Nicholas, Mi- 
 chael M., Jacob, Worthington and Ephraim J. The 
 father of this family was a miller by trade and fol- 
 lowed that business near Taneytowu, Md., where
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 he died in 1847, at the age of forty-three years. 
 He was a member of the German Reformed Church, 
 and his wife is a Lutheran in religious belief. She 
 is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-four. 
 The Friuger family is of German descent, and was 
 founded in America by the paternal grandfather 
 of our subject, who for many years resided in Mary- 
 land, and died at the age of eighty. He reared a 
 family of four sons and two daughters. The ma- 
 ternal grandfather, Michael Null, was also a native 
 of Germany, and died in Maryland when past the 
 age of eighty years. 
 
 The Doctor was reared in the State of his na- 
 tivity and acquired his literary education in its 
 public schools and in the seminary of Taneytown. 
 At the age of seventeen he started Westward and 
 spent one year near Tiffin, Ohio, after which he 
 returned to Maryland. A year later he removed 
 to Indiana,and thence to Shelbyville, 111., where he 
 made his home from 1859 until 1866. His next 
 place of residence was Tower Hill, where he con- 
 tinued to reside until 1889, since which time he 
 has made his home in Paua. 
 
 At the age of twenty-eight, Dr. Fringer began 
 the study of medicine in Shelbyville, where he was 
 at that time engaged in the drug business. He af- 
 terward took a course of lectures in the Missouri 
 Medical College, of St. Louis, in 1863 and again in 
 1869. In 1865, he was a student in Rush Medical 
 College of Chicago, but four years later was grad- 
 uated from the Missouri Medical College. In 1889, 
 he received a diploma from the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons of St. Louis. He has ever been 
 a close student of his profession and has done all 
 in his power to perfect himself in the science. 
 
 On the 13th of February, 1862, near Gettysburg, 
 Pa., Dr. Fringer wedded Miss Martha V. Cover, a 
 daughter of Jacob and Mary (Jones) Cover. Three 
 children have blessed this union: William R., Mol- 
 lie V., and Erfie S. Tue elder daughter is now the 
 wife of John F. Cover. They reside in Toulon, 
 111., and have one son, Gus D. 
 
 During the late war, the Doctor enlisted in the 
 service as a member of the One Hundred and Fif- 
 teenth Illinois Infantry, and continued at the front 
 until December, 1862, when he was discharged at 
 Paducah, Ky., on account of physical disability. 
 
 He and his wife are members of the Presbyteris 
 Church, and are ranked among the prominent anc 
 influential citizens of this community. Besides 
 his pleasant home in Pana he owns two hundred 
 acres of improved land in Shelby County, which 
 3'ields to him a good income. He is surgeon for 
 the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for 
 Penwells Coal Mining Company of Pana. In poli- 
 tics, he is a Democoat. He holds membership with 
 the State and District Medical Societies, and is a 
 member of Pana Lodge No. 226, A. F. & A. M., 
 and the Ancient Order of United Workmen of 
 Tower Hill. 
 
 OAPOLEON B. CHALFANT is one of the 
 most prominent and leading stock-dealers 
 of Pana Township. He resides on section 
 30, where he has a good farm. A native of Ohio, 
 he was born near Philadelphia, Tuscarawas Coun- 
 ty, on the 9th of December, 1846, and is a son of 
 Abner and Rachel (McDonough) Chalfant. The 
 father was born in Brownsville, Pa., and the 
 mother in Tuscarawas County. The paternal 
 grandfather, Charles Chalfant, was also a native 
 of Pennsylvania, but was of French descent. By 
 trade he was a wheelwright. Hugh McDonough, 
 the maternal grandfather, was born in Harrison 
 County, Ohio, and was of Irish lineage. He served 
 in the War of 1812 under Gen. Harrison, and the 
 father of our subject also bore arms in that strug- 
 gle. Abner Chalfant was a farmer and speculator. 
 He came to Illinois in 1863, and settled in Clay 
 County, where he died in 1865, in his seventy- 
 ninth year. His wife died in her fifty-second year. 
 They were the parents of four sons and a daughter. 
 Our subject was the third child and second son, 
 and is the only one of the family now living. He 
 was reared in the county of his nativity, and the 
 common schools afforded him his educational priv- 
 ileges. During the late war he abandoned his text 
 books and the plow to shoulder the musket in his 
 country's defense, and became a member of Com-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 379 
 
 pan}- E, Fifty-first Ohio Infantry, under Capt. 
 David Chalfant, his brother, and Col. Stanley 
 Matthews. Our subject was then only in his four- 
 teenth year. He was not regularly mustered in, 
 but went as a drummer-boy and remained with 
 the regiment for two years without pay. After 
 his brother was killed at the battle of Stone River 
 he returned home and re-enlisted in Company E, 
 One Hundred and Fifty-second Illinois Infantry, 
 in which he served until the close of the war, be- 
 ing mustered out in Springfield, 111., September 16, 
 1865. 
 
 Mr. Chalfant then returned to his father's home 
 in Clay County, 111., and carried on his farm until 
 
 1876. January 13, 1876, he was united in mar- 
 riage with Caroline Bourquin, a native of Tusca- 
 rawas County, Ohio. Her parents were natives 
 of France, who, emigrating to America, located in 
 the Buckeye State in an early day. She died very 
 suddenly on the 15th of June, 1881, leaving two 
 children, Edward and Otto. Mr. Chalfant was 
 again married, October 17, 1887, his second union 
 being with Miss Am'anda Speke, a native of San- 
 gamou County, 111. Three children grace this 
 union, Leon, Garred and Mary. 
 
 Mr. Chalfant continued in Clay County until 
 
 1877, when he came to Christian County, locating 
 on a farm in Rosemond Township, where he re- 
 mained until the 2d of March, 1880, when he re- 
 moved to his present farm. He owns one hundred 
 and sixty acres of good land, which is highly cul- 
 tivated, but he is now making a specialty of the 
 breeding of Jersey cattle, having a fine herd of 
 thirty head. In politics he is a Republican, and is a 
 member of Pope Post No. 411, G. A. R., and served 
 for some years as Aide de-Camp on the staff of the 
 Department Commander. He attends all the State 
 and national encampments, has been a delegate to 
 these, and in 1893 was a delegate to the National 
 Encampment in Indianapolis. Mr. Chalfant is 
 practically a self-made man, his possessions hav- 
 ing all been acquired through his own efforts. He 
 is also a self-educated man, and is one of the best- 
 informed citizens of the community. He has al- 
 ways been a great reader of standard works and 
 has been a special student of history and biogra- 
 phy. He has a fine library, and his familiarity with 
 
 the thoughts of our best writers has not only made 
 him an intelligent man, but an entertaining and 
 interesting conversationalist as well. 
 
 EM. ALVERSON, M. D., the popular and 
 only physician of Stonington, has been suc- 
 cessfully engaged in practice at this point 
 for a period of about fourteen years. He numbers 
 a great many friends and patrons in this commu- 
 nity who hold him in high esteem. He is a na- 
 tive of Schuyler County, Mo., where his birth oc- 
 curred August 27, 1851. He is the eldest child of 
 L. M. and Margaret (Gates) Alverson. Of their 
 family of five sons and three daughters, only four 
 still survive. M. D. is engaged in farming near 
 Armstrong, Mo.; P. H. is also a farmer of Mis- 
 souri; and Mary became the wife of William Ros- 
 well, an agriculturist of Missouri. 
 
 The father of the Doctor, L. M. Alverson, was 
 born in Madison County, Ky., and was taken by 
 his parents when quite young to Howard County, 
 Mo., where he grew up on his father's farm. He 
 remained at home until he was of age, being given 
 a common-school education. After his marriage 
 he removed to Schuyler County, Mo., where he 
 engaged in farming for a few years, later returning 
 to Howard County, where he still resides. He is 
 greatly interested in politics, using his influence 
 in support of the Democratic party. His ancestors 
 were from Scotland, while those of his wife were 
 natives of England. She was also a native of 
 Kentucky, and is still living. 
 
 The early years of Dr. Alverson were passed on 
 
 his father's farm in Missouri, where he attended 
 
 I the common schools until nineteen years of age. 
 
 He then engaged in teaching in the district schools 
 
 for two years, after which he for a year pursued 
 
 higher studies in the State Normal School at 
 
 Kirksville, Mo. After teaching for three years 
 
 longer in order to obtain sufficient means to pur- 
 
 i sue the study of medicine, the Doctor entered the
 
 380 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, from which 
 institution he was graduated in 1879. He at once 
 located in Stonington, and has continued in prac- 
 tice up to the present time, and as he is the only 
 physician in the town, has the field all to himself. 
 
 On the 4th of October, 1881, Dr. Alverson wed- 
 ded Miss Amelia Weiser, of Stonington. They 
 have had four daughters, namely: Grace, Eva, 
 Maud and Verna. The mother is a member of 
 the German Reformed Church, and is a lady who 
 is universally beloved. 
 
 Like his father before him, the Doctor supports 
 the Democratic party, and is an active worker in 
 the ranks. For a number of years he has been a 
 member of the Democratic Central Committee, 
 representing Stonington Township. For two terms 
 he served as Supervisor of the township, and has 
 been City Clerk for about five years. He is inter- 
 ested in educational matters, as he has always been 
 from early years, and has acted as School Director. 
 Fraternally, he is associated with the Odd Fellows, 
 belonging to Lodge No. 695, of Stonington. He 
 is examining physician, and a member of Camp 
 No. 334, M. W. A., of the same place. He is a 
 Notary Public, and also writes up fire insurance. 
 During his residence here the Doctor has made 
 many friends, and is very popular. He is a self- 
 made man, having acquired his medical education 
 and success in professional life by earnest en- 
 deavor and perseverance. 
 
 JOHN N. NELMS, M. D., who has been en- 
 gaged in the practice of medicine in Tay- 
 lorville since August, 1889, was born in 
 Grimes County, Tex., October 6, 1856, and 
 at the age of four years went to Illinois with his 
 parents, the family settling in Christian County. 
 His father, James D. Nelms, is a carpenter, and for 
 man}' years has followed that trade, and is now 
 residing in Edinburgh. He isa native of Kentucky, 
 and first came to Christian County in 1830 with 
 his father, Thomas Nelms, who for some time fol- 
 
 lowed farming near Mt. Zion, 111., and was killed 
 by a tree falling upon him. In 1852 James Nelms 
 went to Texas, where he remained until 1860. As 
 before stated, he and his wife are now living in 
 Edinburgh. She bore the maiden name of Sallie 
 L. Neely, and is a native of Tennessee. 
 
 The subject of this sketch remained with his 
 parents until eighteen years of age. Since that 
 time he has earned his own livelihood, and what- 
 ever success he has achieved in life is due entirely 
 to his own efforts. He acquired his education in 
 the district schools, and by private study. In 
 1878 lie began teaching school, and followed that 
 profession in Christian and Macon Counties for 
 ten years, being employed at Blue Mound, Palmer, 
 Owaneco, Stonington, and in the district schools. 
 For one year he read law, and while engaged in 
 teaching began the study of medicine with the 
 firm of Toby & Harvey, of Blue Mound. In the 
 terms of 1888 and 1889 he was a student in the 
 medical department of the University of Wooster, 
 at Cleveland, Ohio, and was graduated from that 
 institution on the 24th of July of the latter year, 
 with the degree of M. D. 
 
 On the 8th of April, 1880, the Doctor was united 
 in marriage with Miss Charlotte Yockey, who was 
 born in Bartholomew County, Ind.,and isa daugh- 
 ter of John and Lydia (Baughman) Yockey, of 
 Stonington Township. They have a daughter, 
 Luella Pearl, now a maiden of ten summers; they 
 also lost one child, Minnie Irene, who died at the 
 age of fourteen months. 
 
 Immediately following his graduation, Dr. Nelms 
 located in Taylorville, where he has since engaged 
 in the practice of medicine and surgery. Although 
 quite young in his chosen work, he has already 
 gained a reputation whicli many an older prac- 
 titioner might well envy. Several very difficult 
 cases have come under his care, and have been 
 successfully treated. He is a member and Sec- 
 retary of the Central Illinois District Medical So- 
 ciety, having held that position since April, 1893, 
 and is also a member of the State Medical Society. 
 He takes an active and prominent part in these 
 organizations, and has been a frequent contributor 
 to medical journals, especially to the Cleveland 
 Medical Gazette. Socially, he belongs to Mystic
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 381 
 
 Lodge No. 64, K> P., has been Keeper of the Rec- 
 ords and Seals and is now Vice-Chancellor. In 
 politics, he is a supporter of the Democratic party, 
 and takes an active interest in its success and 
 growth. The Doctor is a pleasant, genial gentle- 
 man, very popular, and has a host of friends 
 throughout the community. 
 
 ENJAMIN FRANKLIN CARPER is one 
 of the most prominent and enterprising 
 farmers and stock-raisers of Christian 
 County. He resides on section 23, Rose- 
 mond Township, where he owns two hundred and 
 thirty-four acres of valuable land. In return for 
 the care and labor he bestows upon it, it yields to 
 him a golden tribute, for much of it is highly 
 cultivated. He makes a specialty of the breeding 
 of fine Jersey cattle, horses and sheep. Upon his 
 farm may be found seven head of Jersey cows, 
 one hundred and forty head of Shropshire sheep, 
 and eight fine Percheron horses. No man lias 
 done more to advance the grade of stock in this 
 community than our subject, and no finer speci- 
 mens of stock can be shown in Illinois than may 
 be found on his place. 
 
 Mr. Carper was born in Upshur County, W. Va., 
 January 7, 1849. His paternal grandfather, Abram 
 Carper, a native of Pennsylvania, was of German 
 descent, and was a hatter by trade. Daniel Car- 
 per, the father, was born in West Virginia, and 
 became an extensive farmer. He married Sarah J. 
 Squires, a native of the same State, and a daugh- 
 ter of Asa Squires, an agriculturist, who was born 
 in Maryland. 
 
 Our subject is the second in order of birth in a 
 family of five sons and one daughter who graced 
 the union of his parents. His early education 
 was acquired in the district school, and lie after- 
 ward attended Morgantown University. He en- 
 gaged in merchandising in Buckhannon, W. Va., 
 which was his first business venture. After two 
 
 years he sold out, and in 1869 he came to Chris- 
 tian County, locating in Rosemond Township, 
 where he purchased a farm. In February, 1 871, 
 he married Amelia Hutton, who died leaving a 
 daughter, Amelia, who is now with her grand- 
 mother in West Virginia. For his second wife 
 Mr. Carper chose Clarissa Childs, who died leav- 
 ing two children, Daniel and Clara. The lady 
 who now bears the name of Mrs. Carper was 
 Catherine B. Cowgill, daughter of Alfred and 
 Sarah Cowgill. 
 
 In 1884, Mi-. Carper went to Rockford, Mich., 
 where for three years he engaged in the manu- 
 facture of paper. He then returned to his pres- 
 ent home and has since extensively engaged in 
 farming and stock-raising, meeting witti good 
 success in his undertakings. In politics, he is a 
 supporter of Democratic principles, and socially 
 belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America of 
 Rosemond. He also belongs to the Congrega- 
 tional Church. His home, a commodious and 
 beautiful two-story irame dwelling, is the best 
 residence in Rosemond. Mr. Carper has made his 
 way in life unaided by financial assistance, and 
 from a humble position has worked his way up- 
 ward to one of wealth and affluence. His busi- 
 ness career has been a profitable and prosperous 
 one, and for his success he certainly deserves much 
 credit. He is a public-spirited and progressive 
 citizen, and manifests a commendable interest in 
 everything pertaining to the welfare of the com- 
 munity and its upbuilding. 
 
 GEORGE HUTCHINSON, a well-known mer- 
 chant and the efficient Mayor of Assump- 
 tion, is numbered among the leading and 
 influential citizens of this place, and well deserves 
 representation in the history of his adopted county. 
 It is with pleasure that we add his sketch to those 
 of other men of prominence in this community. 
 Mr. Hutchinson is a native of Canada. lie WMS 
 born in Phillipsburg, Province of Quebec, Canada,
 
 382 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 in 1844, and is a son of William Hutchinson, who 
 is supposed to have been killed in the Rocky 
 Mountains while on his way to California, in 
 1849. 
 
 Our subject came to the United States when a 
 lad of twelve years, and was reared on a farm in 
 Vermont, being early inured to hard labor. In 
 early life he attended the common schools, and his 
 education was completed in the High School of 
 New St. Albans, Vt. He then worked as a farm 
 hand in the Green Mountain State until, when a 
 young man of twenty-five, he came Westward to 
 Illinois, in 1869, and took up his residence in 
 Assumption, then a small village of about four 
 hundred inhabitants. For some years he was em- 
 ployed as a salesman, but in 1876 embarked in 
 business for himself as a dealer in groceries and 
 restaurant-keeper. His store he has since car- 
 ried on, and it is now well stocked with every- 
 thing found in a first-class establishment of the 
 kind. On account of his straightforward and 
 honorable dealings, his courteous treatment and 
 his desire to please his customers, he has built up 
 a good trade. 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Hutchinson was united in marriage 
 with Miss Siloma Hall, a native of "Ohio, who 
 came to Illinois in early girlhood and was reared 
 and educated in Christian County. By their 
 union have been born six children:, William R., 
 who is married and resides in Assumption; John 
 F., Mary, Lulu, Myrtle and Florence Belinda. The 
 family is widely known throughout the commun- 
 ity, and its members rank high in social circles. 
 . Mr. Hutchinson has voted with the Democratic 
 party since attaining his majority, and is a warm 
 advocate of its principles. He takes quite an 
 active part in politics and has held a number of 
 local positions of honor and trust. He was first 
 elected City Marshal, and served in that office for 
 five consecutive years. He has also been Col- 
 lector and Constable, and is now serving his third 
 term in the office of Mayor of Assumption. In 
 whatever position he has been elected he has 
 proved a capable and efficient officer, prompt and 
 faithful in the discharge of his duties. By many 
 elections his fellow-townsmen have manifested 
 their trust in him, and it has never been betrayed. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson is a member of the Odd Fellows' 
 society and is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to 
 Pana Chapter No. 115, R. A. M., of Pana. He 
 has represented the Blue Lodge in the Grand 
 Lodge. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church. He started out in life empty-handed, 
 but though he had no capital he was ambitious 
 and energetic and determined to win success. A 
 wish to succeed and well-directed efforts are all 
 that are necessary to gain success, and as Mr. 
 Hutchinson possessed these he has worked his way 
 upward to a position of affluence. He and his 
 estimable wife well deserve the high regard in 
 which they are held throughout the community, 
 and it is with pleasure that we present to our 
 readers this record of their lives. 
 
 NDREW T. MICHAELS, who holds the 
 position of freight agent on the Ohio & 
 Mississippi Railroad at Pana, claims Mary- 
 land as the State of his nativity. He was 
 born in Frederick County, May 28, 1841, and is a 
 son of Samuel A. and Sarah A. (Jenkins) Michaels, 
 who were also natives of the same State. The 
 paternal grandfather also bore the name of An- 
 drew Michaels. He was born in Maryland, and 
 was of German parentage. Throughout his life 
 he followed agricultural pursuits, and died on his 
 farm in his native State at the age of seventy- 
 seven. The maternal grandfather, Theodore Jen- 
 kins, was of Irish lineage, and he too was a Mary- 
 land farmer. 
 
 Samuel Michaels, however, followed other pur- 
 suits. He served as freight and ticket agent for 
 the Illinois Central Railroad for many years, and 
 was then on the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, 
 now the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago <fe St. 
 Louis, at St. Mary's, Ind., where he died in the 
 year 1891, at the age of seventy-one. His wife 
 passed away in 1887, at the age of sixty-eight. 
 Both were members of the Catholic Church. Mr. 
 Michaels served as Constable in Virginia, and was
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Justice of the Peace in St. Mary's. Of their five 
 sons and eight daughters, ten are now living: Our 
 subject, and Aloysius S., Mary, Anna, Regina, 
 Daniel T., Joseph P., Cecelia (wife of Charles 
 Hagen,of St. Mary's, Ind.), Margaret and William 
 A. The eldest brother is a wealthy farmer of 
 Assumption. Daniel T. is ex-Sheriff of Christian 
 County and resides in Taylorville, where he owns 
 considerable real estate and is engaged in the 
 manufacture of pressed brick. Joseph P. is an 
 engineer on the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad and 
 resides in Pana. William A. is a general mer- 
 chant of St. Mary's, Ind. Three sisters, Mary, 
 Regina and Margaret, are Sisters of Providence 
 in St. Mary's Institute, of St. Mary's Ind. 
 
 Our subject spent the first fifteen years of his 
 life in the three Stales of Maryland, Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia. In 1856, he removed to Stephen- 
 son County, 111., with his parents, and worked on 
 a section of the Illinois Central Railroad for a 
 short time. In June, 1859, he was appointed freight 
 and ticket agent at Eleroy, on the Illinois Central, 
 which position lie filled about sixteen months, 
 when he came to Christian County, and joined his 
 parents in Assumption, whither they had removed 
 a few months previous. There he did the work 
 in the freight and ticket office, while his father, 
 who was the regularly appointed agent, attended 
 to his landed interests. 
 
 Mr Michaels was married November 23, 1863, 
 to Mrs. Adelaide A. Williams, daughter of H. B. 
 and Olive (Little) Higbee.of New York, who were 
 then residents of Michigan. Four children have 
 been born of this union, two sons and two daugh- 
 ters, namely: Sarah Frankie; Emma Leota, wife 
 of George W. Gorman, who is now clerking in De- 
 ment, 111.; Andrew Lee and Freddie E. The 
 father of this family was reared in the Catholic 
 faith, and his wife holds membership with the 
 Presbyterian Church. Socially, he is connected 
 with Mound Lodge No. 222; A. F. & A. M., of 
 Taylorville, and in politics he is a Democrat. 
 
 From Assumption Mr. Michaels removed to 
 Taylorville, and was freight and ticket agent for 
 the Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Railroad 
 Company, now the Ohio & Mississippi, where he 
 remained until 1877. In that year he came to 
 
 Pana and took charge of the freight office for the 
 same road. This position he has filled continu- 
 ously since, a high testimonial in favor of his 
 faithfulness, fidelity and prompt discharge of duty. 
 
 JAMES RILEY ANDERSON is connected 
 with one of Taylorville's leading industries, 
 being a partner in the Anderson Brothers 
 Brick and Tile Factory, and manager of 
 the south yard. He has carried on business along 
 this line for fifteen years, or since 1878, when, in 
 connection with his brothers, he began operations 
 on a small scale. The products of their factory 
 meeting the popular idea of what such articles 
 should be, they have succeeded in building up 
 what is now a very large trade. They own two 
 extensive yards, furnish employment to many 
 hands, and are now at the head of one of the most 
 prominent business interests of Christian County. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Greene 
 County, Ind., March 26, 1856. His grandfather, 
 William Anderson, was a native of Kentucky, and 
 from there emigrated to the Hoosier State, where 
 his son, William Anderson, the father of our sub- 
 ject, was born and reared. Having arrived at 
 years of maturity, he married Miss Nancy Turner, 
 a native of Indiana, as was also her father. Six 
 children were born of this union, all sons: Cyrus; 
 William T., now deceased; Arch; Samuel; James R.; 
 and Charles T., also deceased. When a 3'oung man 
 the father of this family engaged in clerking, and 
 also acted as steamboat pilot on White River. It 
 was in 1858 that he came to Illinois, and located 
 twelve miles south of Pana with his wife and six 
 children. His death occurred shortly afterward, 
 but his wife still survives him. She is a member 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, to which 
 Mr. Anderson also belonged. 
 
 James R. Anderson, whose name heads this 
 record, was a babe of only two years when his pa- 
 rents came to Illinois. The days of his boyhood 
 and youth were passed in this county. When a
 
 384 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Ind of ten summers, he came with his mother and 
 the family to Taylorville, where he hassince made 
 his home. His education was acquired in its pub- 
 lic schools, and his history has been identified with 
 that of the community. 
 
 The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. An- 
 derson was in her maidenhood Miss Mary A. 
 Brown, daughter of J. W. and Rebecca (Gather- 
 wood) Brown. The marriage ceremony was per- 
 formed on the 21st of March, 1883, and their un- 
 ion has been blessed with a family of five children, 
 four of whom are yet living: Ralph, Bessie, Roscoe 
 and Essie. Eva, the third child, died at the age 
 of four years. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and are num- 
 bered among the most highly respected citizens of 
 this community. In politics, he is a supporter of 
 Republican principles. He owns a fine farm of 
 one hundred and seventy-two acres, south of Tay- 
 lorville, which yields to him a good income, be- 
 sides his own residence in the city, and the one in 
 which his mother resides. The Anderson Broth- 
 ers are among the most prominent business men 
 of the community, and may truly be called self- 
 made men, for their father died when they were 
 quite young, and they started out in life empty- 
 handed, so that the success that has crowned their 
 efforts is but the result of their own achievements. 
 
 JOHN M. COLEMAN, deceased, was born on 
 the 3 1st of January, 1816, in Virginia, where 
 the first fifteen years of his life were passed. 
 On the expiration of that period his home 
 was changed to the West, where he lived for many 
 years. He first made a location in Indiana, and 
 became a prominent and influential citizen of the 
 community in which he resided. He served as 
 Sheriff of Owen County and filled other official po- 
 sitions with credit to himself and to the satisfac- 
 tion of his constituents. While living in the 
 
 Hoosier State, he was twice married, and became 
 the father of two children. His daughter, Mrs. 
 Samuel Clark, is now living near Assumption, in 
 Christian County. 
 
 In 1867, Mr. Coleman left his home in Indiana 
 and came to Illinois. From that year until 1874, 
 he made his home in South Fork Township, Chris- 
 tian County. On the llth of September, 1867, in 
 Decatur, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Lydia 
 J. Van deveer widow of Charles Vandeveer, who 
 was a cousin of H. M. Vandeveer. His parents 
 were George and Jennie (Spears) Vandeveer. 
 Charles was born March 1, 1816, in Orange 
 Count}', Ind., and on the same day the birth of 
 his cousin, the Judge, occurred. He came to 
 Christian County with his parents in 1829, be- 
 ing at that time about fourteen years of age. 
 The family settled in South Fork Township, 
 where the father spent the remainder of his life. 
 His children were Charles. Henry, Aaron and Joel, 
 but all are now deceased. 
 
 Charles Vandeveer and Lydia J. Hill were mar- 
 ried December 12, 1852. He followed farming for 
 some time, and then removed to Pana, where he 
 died April 1, 1865. After his death, Mrs. Van- 
 deveer returned to the farm. Her parents, John 
 and Elizabeth (Reed) Hill, located in Sangamon 
 County in 1836, and the following year removed 
 to what is now Christian County, settling in Bear 
 Creek Township, near Palmer. Her parents died 
 at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Coleman, the 
 father passing away September 25, 1863, while his 
 wife died on the 5th of February of the same year. 
 Mrs. Coleman was the seventh in order of birth in 
 their family of ten children, but she has only two 
 brothers now living: John Tilford. of Bear Creek 
 Township; and William, a resident of Sangamon 
 County. 
 
 For a number of years after his marriage, Mr. 
 Coleman followed farming, but during the last 
 years of his life he lived retired. He was a public- 
 spirited and progressive citizen and manifested a 
 commendable interest in everything pertaining to 
 the welfare of the community in which he made 
 his home. Those who knew him esteemed him 
 highly for his many excellencies of character and 
 sterling worth. He passed away August 14, 1889,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and his loss was mourned by many friends. Mrs. 
 Coleman now makes her home in Taylorville, and 
 her niece Mattie, daughter of Newton D. Hill, is 
 now living with her. She is a member of the 
 Christian Church, a most estimable lady, and a 
 worthy representative of one of the honored pio- 
 neer families of Christian County. 
 
 JAMES L. HUFMAN, who carries on gen- 
 eral farming and stock-raising on section 
 28, Pana Township, claims Missouri as the 
 State of his nativity. He was born in the 
 city of St. Louis, May 2, 1825. His father, Sam- 
 uel Hufman, was a native of Jefferson County, 
 Va., and in 1820 emigrated Westward to St. Louis. 
 He married Matilda Jones, who was also born in 
 the Old Dominion. Removing to New Orleans, 
 he there spent his last days, and his wife died in 
 St. Clair County, 111., at the age of sixty-five. 
 Their family numbered only two children, and the 
 younger son died in early childhood. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who is the only sur- 
 vivor of the family, spent the first twelve years of 
 his life in his native city, and then accompanied 
 his mother on her removal to St. Clair County, 
 III. They located on a farm of raw prairie land, 
 twenty-four miles from Belleville, where our sub- 
 ject worked by the month for $8. Saving his 
 money, he was at length enabled to purchase some 
 wild land for himself, and began farming in his 
 own interest. Not a furrow had been turned or 
 an improvement made upon the place, but his la- 
 bors soon transformed the undeveloped tract into 
 rich and fertile fields. For eighteen years he 
 lived upon that place and successfully carried on 
 agricultural pursuits. Selling out in 1866, he then 
 came to Christian Count}', and purchased the farm 
 on which he now resides. It was also unimproved, 
 and the arduous toil of developing a new farm he 
 underwent again. There were no buildings, and 
 he erected a small house, 14x18 feet, into which he 
 at once moved. To this he has since added, until 
 19 
 
 he now has a fine two-story frame residence, val- 
 ued at $3,000' In 1885, he erected a large barn, 
 108x68 feet, at a cost of $1,500. This is covered 
 with an iron roof. The farm is six hundred acres 
 in extent, and is a valuable and desirable tract. 
 Mr. Hufman now rents the greater part of it while 
 he lives retired. His wife also owns eighty acres 
 in Pana Township. 
 
 Our subject was married January 22, 1850, to 
 Catherine Beedle, who was born in St. Clair 
 Count}*, 111. They became the parents of nine 
 children, but only five are now living: Angeline, 
 wife of James Woodsides, of Pana; Esther, Emma, 
 Joseph and Alonzo, who are still at home. Those 
 who have passed away are James, Matilda, Nancy 
 and George. 
 
 Mr. Hufman exercises his right of franchise in 
 support of the Republican party, but has never 
 been an aspirant for public olfice. He is truly a 
 self-made man. All the education he acquired 
 was obtained through his own efforts, he earning 
 the money with which he paid his tuition. He got 
 his start in life by working as a farm hand at $8 
 per month. From that humble beginning he has 
 risen to a position among Christian County's 
 most substantial citizens, and of his success he may 
 justly be proud. The key of his success is work. 
 He has labored with untiring zeal, and his indus- 
 try, perseverance and determination have brought 
 him a handsome competence. 
 
 ;p^ AMUEL ANDERSON, a member of the 
 %^ well-known firm of Anderson Bros., ex- 
 Ift^Jw tensive brick manufacturers and eontrac- 
 ^ tors and builders of Taylorville, has been 
 connected with this business since a lad of thir- 
 teen years, for his uncle was then owner of a 
 yard, and in course of time he succeeded to an in- 
 terest in the same. His history is the life record 
 of a self-made man. He was born December 3, 
 1853, near Bloomfield, Greene County, Ind., and
 
 386 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 when he was only three years of age the family re- 
 moved to Montgomery County, 111., locating upon 
 a farm. His father, William Anderson, was a na- ' 
 tivc of Kentucky. While en route for Illinois he 
 was taken sick, and died a few days after reaching 
 his destination, leaving his widow with six chil- 
 dren to care for and support. 
 
 Mrs. Anderson bore the maiden name of Nancy 
 Turner, and is a native of Tennessee. At her 
 husband's death her eldest child was only ten 
 years of age. They had secured forty acres of 
 land, and she began to make a home for her chil- 
 dren, resolving to keep the family together if 
 possible. In order to supply their needs and 
 wants, she engaged in weaving carpets and jeans, 
 and thus met the expenses of the family. As soon 
 as the boys were old enough they would secure 
 work with neighboring farmers, and thus the fam- 
 ily income was somewhat increased. Upon the 
 home farm Mrs. Anderson remained until 1865. 
 In the spring of the following year she came to 
 Taylorville, where she is now living at the age 
 of sixty-five years. Hers has been a noble life, 
 and her labors in behalf of her children will never 
 be forgotten. While providing for the temporal 
 wants of her children, she also instilled into their 
 minds lessons of honor and morality, and she is 
 now blessed with the knowledge that her sons 
 are honored and respected wherever they go. She 
 is a faithful and consistent member of the Cum- 
 berland Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The second son of the family, William T. An- 
 derson, purchased a brickyard in 1872, but after 
 carrying it on a few months his death occurred, 
 in 1873, and the business was closed up. Charles 
 T., the youngest son, died just ten days before 
 his brother, of the same disease cerebro-spinal 
 mengitis. 
 
 As before stated, at the age of thirteen years, 
 Samuel Anderson began working in a brickyard, 
 and for some time continued in the employ of his 
 uncle, J. R. Turner. His brothers also learned 
 this business, and after u number of years they 
 succeeded to the business owned by their uncle. 
 In the fall of 1873 Samuel and Cyrus went to 
 Denver, Colo., where they engaged in laying 
 brick. In 1880 the firm of Anderson Bros, was 
 
 established, composed of Samuel, Archelaus and 
 James R. They began the manufacture of brick 
 and tile with a capital of about $3,000, and dur- 
 ing the first year manufactured about seventy- 
 five thousand tile and one million brick. They 
 now have about $15,000 invested in the business, 
 and during the past year they made one million 
 eight hundred thousand brick and about five hun- 
 dred thousand tile. They operate two factories, 
 one situated on the east side of the town near the 
 coal shaft, and the other to the southeast. With 
 these are twelve and sixteen acres of clay, respect- 
 ively. Employment is furnished to about twenty- 
 five hands, and all of the latest improved machin- 
 ery is used. The brick is burned in both up and 
 down draft kilns. The business is now established 
 on a solid financial basis and is constantly in- 
 creasing. 
 
 The firm of Anderson Bros, is also engaged in 
 contracting and building, and does an annual busi- 
 ness amounting to about $15,000. Besides doing 
 brick work, they also contract for the entire 
 building, and have erected some of the most im- 
 portant structures in this community, including 
 the High School building at a cost of $23,000, the 
 new double brick block at the southeast corner of 
 the square at a cost of $11,500, and the brick work 
 on the new Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
 members of the firm are men of good business 
 ability, practical and progressive, and, as a result 
 of their enterprise and labor, have achieved suc- 
 cess. 
 
 On the 29th of May, 1890, was celebrated the 
 marriage of Samuel Anderson and Miss Emma 
 Slater, daughter of Dr. L. B. and Sarah Slater. 
 Their union has been blessed with one son, Everett 
 Slater, who was born December 26, 1891. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Anderson are worthy members of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in social 
 circles they hold an enviable position. Our sub- 
 ject also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of 
 Ameiica. In connection with his other business in- 
 terests, he is also Vice-Presideut of the Taylorville 
 Coal Company, was one of its incorporators, and 
 since its organization has been one of its board of 
 managers, consisting of three members. To this 
 enterprise he has given considerable time and at-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 387 
 
 tention, and it is one of the leading concerns of 
 the city. To such men as Anderson Bros, the 
 prosperity of the town is due, aud they are num- 
 bered among its valued citizens. 
 
 1 SOM ADAMS, an extensive farmer of Prairie- 
 ton Township, is one of the honored early set- 
 tlers of Christian County. His home is on 
 section 21, where lie has resided since 1856, hav- 
 ing succeeded to a portion of his father's old 
 homestead. He was a lad of only five years when 
 his parents permanently located here, and thus he 
 has passed over half a century in this immediate 
 locality. 
 
 Our subject was born in Montgomery. County, 
 Ky., February 21, 1831, his parents being Allerton 
 and Elizabeth (Gordon) Adams, who were both 
 likewise from the Blue Grass region. The father 
 followed agricultural pursuits in his native State, 
 and removed to Illinois in 1833, spending a few 
 vears in Sangamon County. In 1836 he made a 
 settlement in what is now known as Adams Grove, 
 this county, where he developed a large farm and 
 reared his family. 
 
 Isom Adams is the eldest son and second in or- 
 der of birth in a family of seven sons and three 
 daughters, who with the exception of one brother 
 all grew to manhood and womanhood. Our sub- 
 ject's youth was passed on his father's homestead, 
 where he remained until grown. In 1851 he was 
 united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, and 
 for five years after this event he continued on his 
 father's farm. In 1856 he removed to the place 
 which he still cultivates. As the years passed, he 
 added to his original inheritance, until he now 
 possesses over seven hundred acres of valuable 
 and fertile land. His farm is one of the most 
 thrifty and well-kept places in the county, and has 
 been entirely developed from its virgin state by 
 the owner. 
 
 Mis. Adams was called from this life in Janu- 
 ary, 1854, and left two children, namely: Nancy 
 
 Isabel, now deceased, who was the wife of Will- 
 iam Gordon, of Macon County; and one child 
 who died in infancy. In April, 1858, Mr. Adams 
 was again married, Miss Lydia Bilyeu becoming 
 his wife. She is a daughter of John Bilyeu, one 
 of the honored earty settlers of this region. Mrs. 
 Adams is a native of Sangamon Count}', 111., and 
 by her marriage became the mother of thirteen chil- 
 dren. The two eldest are deceased, Allington dying 
 in infancy, and Josiah at the age of sixteen years. 
 Elizabeth is the wife of George Crews; John is a 
 well-to-do farmer of Christian County; Lucy J. is 
 the wife of James Workman; Sallie Ann is the wife 
 of Alexander Mathews, also of this county; Viren- 
 da is the wife of Jacob Bilyeu ; Wilbur is a prosper- 
 ous fanner of Macon County; James is assisting in 
 carrying on the homestead; and Minerva, Thomas 
 J., Malinda and Isom complete the surviving mem- 
 bers of the family. 
 
 Mrs. Adams is a member of the Christian Church, 
 in which she is an earnest worker. Our subject 
 has always been known as a friend to education, 
 and is a firm believer in our excellent public- 
 school system. He served for a number of years 
 as a member of the School Boavd, but has never 
 cared for political preferment. For over half a 
 century he has taken his share in forwarding all 
 enterprises tending to the development and good 
 of this section, and is favorably known in this and 
 adjoining counties. He and his estimable wife en- 
 joy the friendship and high esteem of their many 
 friends and neighbors, and are well worthy to have 
 their names placed in this biographical record of 
 representative citizens. 
 
 JAMES RIDGE is one of the most enterpris- 
 ing and well-to-do farmers of Assumption 
 Township, his home being on section 21. 
 He is a native of England, having been 
 born in Devonshire, January 11, 1829, and is a 
 son of James and Charity (Lewerthy) Ridge, botli
 
 388 
 
 POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 likewise natives of Devonshire. Our subject grew 
 to manhood in England, having fairly good edu- 
 cational advantages. Having arrived at the age 
 of twenty-two years, he took passage on a vessel 
 bound from Plymouth to Quebec, and arrived at 
 his destination May 5, 1851. He proceeded di- 
 rectly to Illinois, and joined relatives in Greene 
 County. His wife's brother, Richard Tucker, 
 had located in 1844 in the Prairie State, and this 
 influenced our subject's choice of a settlement. 
 For the first year he worked as a farm hand, and 
 then rented land, which he engaged in farming 
 for eight years. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Ridge left Greene County and lo- 
 cated in Christian County, settling on a tract of 
 land he had purchased the fall previous. This 
 consisted of one hundred and twenty acres of 
 wild land, with only a log cabin on it in tlie 
 way of improvement, and was the home of the 
 Ridge family for several years. With character- 
 istic energy, our subject proceeded to clear and 
 cultivate the farm, and after some years had 
 passed he bought an adjoining forty acres, now 
 having one hundred and sixty acres within the 
 boundaries of lias farm. It is all under good 
 cultivation, has a commodious residence, good 
 barns and outbuildings. The house is about forty 
 rods back from the main road, and the entire farm 
 is fenced with a neat and well-trimmed osage 
 hedge. There is also a beautiful grove of forest 
 trees, which were planted by Mr. Ridge, and these 
 trees now measure nearly two feet in diameter. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Ridge and Mrs. Sarah 
 Sage was celebrated in Devonshire, England, in 
 the spring of 1851. Two children graced the 
 union: David, whose sketch appears on another 
 page of this work; and Sarah A., wife of William 
 Moreton, who is engaged in fanning on the Ridge 
 homestead. They have a daughter, Mrs. M. E. 
 Litt, who resides in Assumption. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ridge and daughter are members of the Baptist 
 Church. 
 
 Since becoming a voter Mr. Ridge has been 
 identified with the Republican party, and cast his 
 ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He has never de- 
 sired official recognition, but has preferred to de- 
 vote his entire time and attention to his farm. He 
 
 was one of the first Directors of the school dis- 
 trict, and served as a member of the School Board 
 for nearly a quarter of a century. Largely through 
 his influence the first schoolhouse in the district 
 was erected. He is a member of the Assumption 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and was elected 
 President of the Association in January, 1893, 
 after having acted in the capacity of Treasurer 
 for fifteen years. During the thirty-four years 
 which have elapsed since his settlement in Illinois 
 he has seen great changes, and has assisted mate- 
 rially in its welfare. He is a man of pride and 
 integrity and manly worth, and is held in the 
 highest regard by nil who come in contact with 
 him. In 1883, accompanied by his daughter, he 
 returned to England and spent several months 
 visiting old friends and the scenes of his youth. 
 
 JOHN S. HAYWARD, who was one of the 
 largest land-owners and one of the fore- 
 most citizens, not only of Hillsboro, but of 
 Illinois, was a native of Massachusetts, hav- 
 ing been born at Bridgewater in the year 1803. 
 The family is of English extraction, and the pub- 
 lished genealogy contains accounts of the family 
 dating back to 1638. John S. was educated in 
 Massachusetts, and for several years after complet- 
 ing his scholastic course acted as accountant in 
 one of the most extensive business houses of Bos- 
 ton, where he gained the entire confidence of his 
 employer. 
 
 It was in 1832 that our subject came to Illinois, 
 and two years later he located in Hillsboro, 
 Montgomery County, where he engaged in the 
 mercantile business. After a short but eminently 
 successful and honorable career as a merchant, 
 Mr. Hay ward turned his attention to the more 
 congenial occupation of operating in lands. This 
 he pursued on a most magnificent scale, his trans- 
 actions covering the princely and unprecedented 
 amount of seventy-five thousand acres. The vast 
 wealth which rewarded his uncommon sagacity
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 found investment in the promotion of all worthy 
 enterprises and in the most unobtrusive and kindly 
 charities. But it was not as a millionaire that he 
 was most distinguished, for in every relation of 
 life lie played his role well and won the esteem of 
 all with whom lie came in contact. Upright and 
 unassuming as a citizen, sympathetic to an un- 
 common degree, of refined and most elevated tastes, 
 an affectionate husband, a kind and indulgent 
 father, a generous friend and most exemplary 
 Christian man, his pure soul knew no guile, and 
 it may truly be said that he was an honor to his 
 race, and an example of whom any community 
 might well be proud. 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Hayward married Miss Harriet F. 
 Comstock, of Hartford, Conn., by whom he had 
 three children who grew to maturity, but Will- 
 iam Eugene, the eldest, is the only one now living. 
 Mr. Hay ward's death occurred at his residence in 
 Hillsboro, May 3, 1869. His wife survived him 
 five years, dying in Pana in 1874. In educational 
 matters Mr. Ilaj'ward alwa^ys took a deep inter- 
 est, and gave his personal attention to the fur- 
 therance of schemes for their welfare. Believing 
 in the education of the people, he was an early and 
 ever a strong advocate of the free-school system, 
 and, though paying yearly large sums in the way 
 of taxes for the support of schools in which he 
 could have no personal interest, he always did it 
 cheerfully. 
 
 &jjl NTHONY ALDERSON, one of the exten 
 &/ I sivc hind-owners of I'ana Township, re- 
 ]|n* siding on section 26, is a native of York- 
 1^' shire, England, and the date of his birth 
 is February 9, 1824. His father, Anthony Alder- 
 son, was born in the same locality, and his occupa- 
 tion was that of mining. He married Ann Sun- 
 ter, who died in England at the age of fifty-four. 
 In 18o2, he crossed the Atlantic to America, and 
 located in Ohio, where he spent his remaining 
 days, passing away at the age of sixty-eight. 
 
 Our subject is the youngest of three sons in a 
 family of eleven children. At the age of seven 
 years he began wo/king jn a lead mine, and a year 
 later was transferred to a coal mine eighteen hun- 
 dred feet below the surface of the earth. On 
 reaching the mine, he had to go about three miles 
 to where the digging was done. Between the ages 
 of seven and twenty-five years our subject was 
 thus employed. He then determined to seek a 
 home elsewhere, hoping to better his financial con- 
 dition. Crossing the broad Atlantic to America, 
 he went to Ohio, where he again followed coal 
 mining for two years. On the expiration of that 
 period, he purchased land in Tuscarawas County, 
 Ohio, buying eighty acres, upon which lie opened 
 a coal mine. He had less than $100 at the time 
 of his purchase, but in two years he had cleared 
 $4,000. At length, in the spring of 1864, he sold 
 out and came to Christian County, 111., and pur- 
 chased eighty acres of land, part of his present 
 farm. Then he opened a coal mine on forty acres 
 in Shelby County, which he carried on for some 
 time. 
 
 Ere leaving his native land, Mr. Alderson was 
 married, in 1844, at the age of twenty, to Mary 
 Moore, who was also born in Yorkshire, England. 
 In 1891 he was called upon to mourn the loss of 
 his wife, who was called to her final rest on the 
 30th of November. Seven children had been born 
 of that union: Thomas, now a prominent farmer 
 and stock-dealer of Shelby County, owning seven 
 hundred acres of laud; Anthony, who died at the 
 age of seventeen years; Dr. John J., a well-known 
 physician of Chicago; William M. C., who died at 
 the age of twenty-five; Albert M., a leading agri- 
 culturist of Christian County, who owns eighty 
 acres in this county and five hundred acres in 
 Fayette County; Sarah Alice, who keeps house 
 for her father; and Charles H., who died at the 
 age of seventeen months. 
 
 The home farm comprises three hundred and 
 twenty acres of rich and highly cultivated land, 
 and in all its appointments it is complete. Mr. 
 Alderson also owns one hundred and sixty acres 
 in Shelby County, and one hundred and twenty- 
 five acres in Fayette County. At one time his 
 landed possessions were much more extensive, but
 
 390 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL EECORD. 
 
 be has since sold a considerable portion of it. He 
 now owns a fine bouse of fifteen rooms in Pana, 
 which he has rented. He has been very successful 
 in his business interests since coining to Christian 
 County, and has now laid aside business cares, his 
 income from his farms making it possible for him 
 to live a retired life. He has met with many re- 
 verses, and where many another man would have 
 been discouraged be has kept on his way with a 
 courage and determination that have ultimately 
 brought him prosperity. His example in this par- 
 ticular is certainly well worthy of emulation. In 
 politics, he is a supporter of Republican principles 
 and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. He is a man of kindly and benevolent 
 impulses, and throughout the community has a 
 wide circle of friends, who esteem him highly for 
 bis many excellencies of character. 
 
 bEWIS R. HEDRICK, one of the honored 
 veterans of the late war, is now prominent 
 in business circles in Taylorville, being 
 proprietor of one of its leading stores. He car- 
 ries a large stock of groceries, queens ware, stoves, 
 hardware, tinware, etc., and is enjoying a con- 
 stantly increasing trade. From the first he has 
 received a liberal patronage, and by his fair deal- 
 ing and earnest desire to please his customers he 
 has gained their confidence and good-will. His 
 success is certainly well merited. 
 
 Mr. Hedrick is a native of Sangamon County, 
 111. He was born May 7, 1838, and is one of a 
 family of ten children, whose parents were Alfred 
 and Nancy (Hoover) Hedrick, the former a native 
 of Tennessee, and the latter of Ohio. Of their 
 five sons and five daughters, six are yet living, 
 namely: Lewis R.; Louisa, wife of William Art- 
 man, of Wellington, Kan.; Margaret Jane, wife of 
 James George, of Christian County, III.; Caroline 
 F., wife of James H. Williams, who resides near 
 Cicero, Kan.; William, also of Cicero; and Henry, 
 who is living near Bentonville, Ark. The father 
 
 of this family was for man}' years a resident of 
 Sangamon Count}', 111., where be located in a very- 
 early day. In 1867, he removed to Christian 
 County and purchased two hundred and forty 
 acres of land in Bear Creek Township, where he 
 carried on agricultural pursuits until his death. 
 He died July 20, 1892, at the age of seventy-eight 
 years, and his wife passed away in 1890, at the age 
 of seventy-five years. She was a member of the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 The paternal grandfather of our subject, Samuel 
 Hedrick, was a native of Tennessee. His father, 
 however, was born in Germany, and was the 
 founder of the family in America. Samuel fol- 
 lowed the occupation of farming, and reared a 
 large family. In religious faith he was a Hard- 
 shell Baptist. The maternal grandfather of our 
 subject, Lewis Renault, was a native of France. 
 
 Lewis R. Hedrick spent the days of his boy- 
 hood in Sangamon County, and remained with his 
 parents until twenty-four years of age, when he 
 responded to the country's call for troops and en- 
 listed in Company E, One Hundred and Four- 
 teenth Illinois Infantry, in which he served for 
 three years. He was in the siege of Vicksburg 
 and helped to take Jackson, Miss., three times. He 
 entered the service as a private, but his meritori- 
 ous conduct and bravery on the field of battle won 
 him promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant. 
 A fearless soldier, he was ever found, at his post 
 of duty, faithfully defending the Old Flag. After 
 his return from the war, he located in Blue Mound 
 Township, Macon County, upon a farm, where he 
 remained for a year. He then removed to South 
 Fork Township, Christian County, where he car- 
 ried on agricultural pursuits for four years, and 
 then came to Taylorville, where he has since 
 made his home. 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1865, Mr. Hedrick 
 wedded Miss Sarah A., daughter of Davis and 
 Mary (Newcomer) Meredith, of Sangamon County. 
 There are a number of singular coincidences in 
 the Hedrick and Meredith families. The father 
 and father-in-law of our subject were born on the 
 same day, and the mother and mother-in-law. 
 Their marriages were celebrated on the same day 
 and each family had seven children when Lewis R.
 
 PORTKAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 391 
 
 Hedrick and Sarah A. Meredith were married. By 
 the union of our subject and his wife have been 
 born eight children, but five of the number are 
 now deceased, namely: Charles D., Nannie A., 
 Rosa, Robert I. and Calvin D. Mary S., Alice 
 and Alfred are still living. The parents are both 
 members of the Christian Church, in which Mr. 
 Hedrick has served as Elder for many years, and 
 are faithful workers in its interest. He was for- 
 merly a Republican in politics, but is now a sup- 
 porter of the Prohibition party. The best inter- 
 ests of Taylorville always find in him a friend, 
 and he is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, 
 whose aid is never withheld from any enterprise 
 calculated to advance the general welfare. 
 
 ^ESLEY SIMPSON, one of the early set- 
 tlers of Christian County, now residing 
 on section 13, Rosemond Township, is 
 numbered among the extensive land-owners of 
 the community, his possessions aggregating seven 
 hundred and sixty acres. In his business affaire 
 he has been very successful and has achieved a 
 prosperity which numbers him among the substan- 
 tial citizens of central Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Simpson was born in Harrison County, 
 Ohio, January 9, 1831, and is of Irish descent. 
 His grandfather, John Simpson, was born in the 
 Emerald Isle, and when a young man emigrated 
 to America. He became one of the early settlers 
 of Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1810, and afterwards 
 removed to Harrison County, where he took up 
 land from the Government, making his home 
 thereon until called to his final rest. The father 
 of our subject, Alexander Simpson, was born in 
 Huntingdon County, Pa., in 1796, and at the age 
 of six years accompanied his paients to the Buck- 
 eye State. He married Eliza Mary Evans, a na- 
 tive of Ireland, who was a maiden of sixteen sum- 
 mers when she came with her sister to America. 
 Their union was celebrated in Harrison County, 
 and they began their domestic life upon a farm, 
 
 Mr. Simpson entering land from the Government. 
 About 1860, they came to Christian County, 111., 
 locating in Rosemond Township, where the mother 
 passed away. The death of the father occurred 
 in Kansas. They were the parents of ten chil- 
 dren, seven sons and three daughters, all of whom 
 grew to manhood and womanhood, while nine are 
 now living. 
 
 Our subject, who is the third in order of birth, 
 remained upon the home farm until he had at- 
 tained his majority, his childhood being passed in 
 the usual manner of farmer Inds. In 1852, he 
 started Westward, hoping to benefit his financial 
 condition thereby. Locating in Pike County, 111., 
 he worked by the month as a farm hand for a time, 
 and then engaged in clerking in a store. Subse- 
 quently he returned to Ohio, where, January 17, 
 1856, he married Miss Sarah J. Cheney, at New Cum- 
 berland. Mrs. Simpson was born in Jackson Coun- 
 ty, Va., February 14, 1834. To them was born a 
 family of nine children: Charles W., Asa O., Elmer 
 E., Jennie, William G., Clyde, Austin U. and Royal 
 D.,all of whom are living, and Sarah E., who died in 
 childhood. The mother of this family died May 
 30, 1873. She was for many years a member of 
 the Methodist Church. 
 
 On the 6th of December, 1877, Mr. Simpson 
 was again married, when Miss Martha S. Cheney 
 became his wife. She is a niece of his former wife, 
 and a native of Louisville, Ky. Six children 
 were born of this union, but two died in infancy. 
 Those living are Frank, Emma J., John A. Logan 
 and Mary E. Again coining to this State, Mr. 
 Simpson made a location upon a farm in Pike 
 County, which he operated for a year, and then 
 came to Christian County, the date of his arrival 
 being April, 1857. 
 
 Mr. Simpson here'reuted a farm for a year at the 
 head of South Fork, and then purchased railroad 
 laud of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, in 
 what is now Greenwood Township, and turned 
 his attention to general farming. He devoted his 
 energies to the development and cultivation of his 
 first purchase until 1886, when he removed to the 
 farm on which he now resides, comprising five 
 hundred acres. The old homestead is one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres in extent, and he also has
 
 392 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 another farm of one hundred acres, his possessions 
 therefore aggregating seven hundred and sixty 
 acres of valuable land, the greater part of which 
 is under a high state of cultivation and yields to 
 the owner a good income. His son, Asa O., now 
 operates the old home place. 
 
 For many years Mr. Simpson has now engaged 
 in general farming and stock-raising. He gives 
 his special attention to the latter branch of busi- 
 ness at this writing and now has over one hundred 
 head of cattle. Our subject started out in life a poor 
 man, with no capital save a young man's bright 
 hope of the future and a determination to win 
 success if it could be achieved through industry 
 and perseverance. He has succeeded, having 
 more than realized the hopes of his early man- 
 hood. That his prosperity is well deserved is ac- 
 knowledged by all. In politics, Mr. Simpson has 
 been a supporter of Republican principles since 
 the organization of the party, and socially is a 
 member of the Masonic fraternity. He is num- 
 bered among the early settlers of this community, 
 and among the leading citizens of Christian 
 County. 
 
 ENJAMIN FRANKLIN LANTZ occupies 
 the position of Postmaster of Taylorville, 
 and is proving himself a capable and ef- 
 ficient officer, as well as a popular one. He 
 is widely known throughout the community, and 
 is a man who has many warm friends. He was 
 born in Lancaster, Ohio, October 19, 1840, and 
 his parents, Martin and Lavina (Hines) Lantz, 
 were also natives of the Buckeye State. They 
 had only two children, Benjamin, and Samuel W., 
 who now resides in Lyons, Kan. Tiie father car- 
 ried on the butchering business in Lancaster for 
 many years. At length he came to Illinois, in 
 1870, and located in Taylorville, where he carried 
 on business until his death, which occurred in 
 1873, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife sur- 
 vived him, and departed this life in 1883, at the 
 
 age of sixty-nine. The paternal grandfather, 
 Martin Lantz, was a Pennsylvania!! by birth, and 
 became one of the early settlers of Ohio. He en- 
 tered land within three miles of Lancaster, and 
 there made his home until his death, which oc- 
 curred when more than eighty years of age. He 
 was twice married, and reared a family of seven 
 children. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this record 
 spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his 
 native city, and there acquired a good practical 
 English education. At the age of eighteen, he 
 began learning the blacksmith's trade, at which he 
 served a three-years apprenticeship, but on the 
 breaking out of the war he abandoned the forge 
 and shouldered the musket. Prompted by patri- 
 otic impulses, he responded to the President's call 
 for troops in the beginning of the strife, and 
 served for nearly four years in Company F, Forty- 
 sixth Ohio Infantry. At the battle of Pittsburg 
 Landing, in which he participated, during the first 
 day of the struggle he was taken prisoner, and after 
 being incarcerated for about thirty days, he 
 was paroled, but was not exchanged for almost a 
 year, returning to his regiment just a year after he 
 had been made a prisoner. The next battle in which 
 he took part was at Memphis, Tenn., it commenc- 
 ing on the 2d of May, at Resaca. He was in front 
 of Atlanta during the siege of that city, and on 
 account of a wound received on the 5th of Au- 
 gust was incapacitated for duty for thirty days. 
 Rejoining his regiment at Jonesboro, he went into 
 battle there and remained with the troops until 
 reaching Washington, when he left the Capitol 
 City for Louisville, Ky., where he was mustered 
 out. Mr. Lantz saw much hard service, but he 
 remained true to the Old Flag and to the cause of 
 the Union until the fact of her preservation was 
 an established one. 
 
 Our subject was then returned to Lancaster, 
 Ohio, and worked at his trade for a j'ear. In 1866, 
 he went to Decatur, III., where he joined an old 
 army comrade. Forming a partnership, they went 
 to Wheatland, and, opening a blacksmith shop, 
 there did business for a year, from which place 
 Mr. Lantz came to Taylorville. He was here em- 
 ployed in the agricultural implement warehouse
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of Sattley Brothers for four years, after -which he 
 secured a position with Brooks <fe Shu tier, with 
 whom he remained for about three years. He then 
 served ns Deputy in the office of the County Clerk, 
 under William H. Kirkwood. On the 17th of 
 June, 1875, he entered the postoffice as assistant 
 to John J. Squires, and has here remained contin- 
 uously since. On the 27th of January, 1891, he 
 was made Postmaster by President Harrison, and 
 is the present incumbent. His connection with 
 the office covers a period of eighteen years, a fact 
 which well indicates faithfulness to duty, prompt- 
 ness and fidelit3 r . 
 
 Turning from the public to the private life of 
 Mr. Lantz, we record that on the 8th of October, 
 1867, was celebrated his marriage with Miss Ber- 
 lina J. Dean, a daughter of Allen and Maria (Webb) 
 Dean, of Lancaster, Ohio. Four children grace 
 this union, Albert E., Bertha, Roy and Minnie, 
 and they also lost a daughter in infancy. Albert, 
 a cigarmaker of Taylorville, married Miss Belle 
 Murphy, and unto them has been born a son, La- 
 Moine. 
 
 The Lantz family has a pleasant home in Tay- 
 lorville, which is the abode of hospitality, and the 
 members of the household rank high in the social 
 circles in which they move. Mr. Lantz is a warm 
 advocate of Republican principles, and socially is 
 connected with F. M. Long Post No. 392, G. A. 
 R. His wife is a consistent member of the Meth- 
 odist Church. One of the honored boys in blue, 
 a public-spirited citizen and a faithful officer, Mr. 
 Lantz well deserves representation in this history 
 of his adopted county. 
 
 
 ^ILLIAM C. HAINES, who occupies the re- 
 sponsible position of County Clerk of 
 Christian County, and makes his home in 
 Taylorville, is a native of Virginia. lie was born 
 in Rappahannock County, September 21, 1832, 
 and is a son- of Isaac and Lucy C. (Ferguson) 
 
 Haines, who were also natives of the Old Domin- 
 ion. The paternal grandfather, Ezekiel Haines, 
 was born in Virginia, and was of German descent. 
 He was a farmer by occupation, and spent his en- 
 tire life in the State of his nativity. In religious 
 belief he was a Methodist. He reared a large 
 family of fourteen children, and lived to quite an 
 advanced age. 
 
 Rev. Isaac Ilaines, father of our subject, was a 
 farmer, and also a minister of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. He came to Illinois with his family 
 in 1836, and located in Cooper Township, Sanga- 
 mon County, four miles east of Rochester, where 
 he died in 1838, at the age of thirty-one years and 
 three months. ' At the time of his death he was a 
 candidate on the Democratic ticket for the Legis- 
 lature. After the death of her first husband, Mrs. 
 Haines married Thomas S. Young, by whom she 
 had a daughter, Ellen T., now the wife of F. M. 
 Young, a farmer of Christian County. She, too, 
 was a member of the Methodist Church, and died 
 in Christian County in August, 1849, at the age 
 of forty-four years. Her father, Benjamin Frank- 
 lin Ferguson, was a Virginia farmer and quite a 
 prominent and public-spirited man. The Fergu- 
 sons are of Scotch descent, and in religious belief 
 the grandfather of our subject was an Episco- 
 palian. 
 
 William C. Haines was one of four children, but 
 has only a sister now living, Lucy, wife of Joseph 
 N. Clark, of Frederickstown, Mo. Our subject 
 was only four years old when his parents came to 
 Illinois. He received his early education in the 
 old-fashioned subscription schools, and in his 
 youth he worked at the carpenter's trade for two 
 years. Attracted by the discovery of gold in 
 California, he went by wagon to the Pacific Slope 
 in 1852, and there engaged in mining until 
 1859, when he returned home, reaching his 
 destination on the 5th of October. 
 
 On the 16th of November following, Mr. Haines 
 was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Ellen, 
 daughter of Ezekiel and Nancy (Jones) Young, 
 who were natives of Kentucky. Her father was 
 the first County Clerk of Christian County. Two 
 children were born of their union: Maude E., who 
 died in infancy; and Dora Eugenia, now the wife
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of Amos Johnson. They have two children, 
 Clarence anrl Eleanor. Mrs. Haines, who was a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died 
 November 14, 1864, and Mr. Haines was again 
 married, in 1866, his second union being with Miss 
 Margaret E., daughter of Henderson Hancock, of 
 Kentucky. By this marriage eight children have 
 been born: Belle; Clarence, now deceased; Will- 
 iam C., Irene, Eugene H., Mamie, Anna F., and 
 one that died in infancy. 
 
 After his return from California, Mr. Haines 
 engaged in farming until 1861, when he went to 
 Texas, where he remained ten months. He then 
 carried on farming in this county until 1878, his 
 home being located a mile west of Taylorville. 
 In November of that year he was appointed Dep- 
 uty Sheriff under A. L. Clark, and served for six- 
 teen months, when Mr. Clark died and Mr. Humes 
 was appointed Sheriff to till the unexpired term. 
 He was then elected to the office for two years. 
 Under the new law he was again elected, and served 
 a term of four years. On leaving that office he 
 embarked in the grocery business in partnership 
 with Charles B. Young, which connection contin- 
 ued for two years. He then purchased his part- 
 ner's interest and carried on the business alone for 
 a year, when he admitted John Lewis to partner- 
 ship. After eighteen months, Mr. Lewis sold his 
 interest to John W. Bedwell, and business is now 
 carried on under the firm name of Haines & Bed- 
 well. In March, 1893, Mr. Haiues was elected at 
 a special election to the oftice of County Clerk to 
 fill the unexpired term of Charles Whitmer, who 
 resigned to accept the first clerkship in the State 
 Auditor's office. Mr. Haines has also served as 
 Alderman for six years. It is needless to say to 
 those who know him that it has been faithful per- 
 formance of duty that has kept him in office for 
 such long-continued periods, and that the honor 
 thus conferred upon him has been well merited. 
 
 In his social relations, Mr. Haines is connected 
 with the Independent Order of Mutual Aid. His 
 wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. In public and private life his career has 
 been alike above reproach, in his business dealings 
 he is upright and honorable, in his official duties 
 he is prompt and careful. All who know Mr. 
 
 Haines esteem him for his sterling worth and many 
 excellencies of character, and as one of the influen- 
 tial citizens of Taylorville he well deserves rep- 
 resentation in this volume. 
 
 JC. SHAFER, a merchant and undertaker 
 of Assumption, is one of the early settlers 
 of Christian County. He is a native of 
 Ohio, born in Fairfield County July 7, 
 1853. His father, G. A. Shafer, was also born in 
 the same county, the date of that event being 
 November 14, 1827. The latter on his arrival at 
 mature years wedded Miss C. A. Myers, also of the 
 same county. For many years Mr. Shafer engaged 
 in farming in Ohio, and in 1854 removed to Illi- 
 nois. His first location in this State was Shelbj'- 
 ville, where he remained only a short time, how- 
 ever. He purchased some land in Christian 
 County, but engaged in farming in Tazewell 
 County until 1872, at which time he sold his farm 
 and bought land adjoining Assumption. For the 
 succeeding fourteen years he devoted his energies 
 to improving and cultivating this farm. He has 
 now retired from business affairs, and though well 
 along in years is hale and hearty, bidding fair to 
 live many years longer. 
 
 The boyhood of our subject was passed without 
 any unusual event, in the manner of farmer lads, 
 his time being divided between work on the farm 
 and attendance at the district schools. He was 
 studious and made the most of his advantages, and 
 in later years has been an extensive reader, thus 
 becoming well informed on all the leading ques- 
 tions of the day. He came to Christian County 
 when a young man and engaged in farming for 
 some time with his father. He afterward sold farm 
 machinery for the Walter A. Wood Manufacturing 
 Company, and next worked for his brother in the 
 hardware business. Mr. Shafer next became agent 
 for the Gliddcn Barb Wire Man u factoring Com- 
 pany. In 1884, he left the road and went to 
 Kansas, where he engaged in farming for three
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 395 
 
 years. In 1887 lie bought his present business 
 and has since added sewing-machines and organs. 
 He makes a specialty of undertaking and embalm- 
 ing. He owns a large farm in Kansas and has a 
 pleasant home in Assumption. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Shafer was celebrated in 
 1871, in Litchfleld, 111., with Miss Clara C. Ben- 
 ope, who was born in Ohio, but grew to woman- 
 hood and was educated in Illinois. She passed 
 away in 1872. In 1874, Mr. Shafer wedded Miss 
 Tranna Ellis, the ceremony being performed in 
 Tazewell County. The lady was born in Tazewell 
 County, 111., and passed her girlhood and was mar- 
 ried in the house she was born in. She has be- 
 come the mother of two children: Royal and 
 Ethel. Mr. and Mrs. Shafer are members of the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 Our subject is greatly interested in civic so- 
 cieties, belonging to the Odd Fellows, in which he 
 has served as Past Grand, and is a member of the 
 Modern Woodmen of America and is Chief Ex- 
 ecutive of his lodge, also of the Knights of Honor. 
 In politics, he supports the principles and nom- 
 inees of the Republican party, and is zealous in the 
 cause. He is recognized as a man of good busi- 
 ness ability, and with his estimable wife has the 
 high esteem and respect of all. 
 
 /ffij& ASSIUS DE LOSS CUTLER, one of Chris- 
 (l( Y- tian County's most prominent, progressive 
 ^^^/ and successful farmers, resides on section 
 33, Pana Township. Few citizens are more widely 
 or favorably known than our subject, and it is 
 therefore with pleasure that we present this record 
 of his life to our readers, knowing that it will be 
 received with interest by many. 
 
 Mr. Cutler was born in Ohio, on the 1st of Jan- 
 uary, 1848, and comes of one of the old families 
 of Massach usetts. His grandfather, John Cutler, 
 was a Massachusetts fanner. The family came 
 originally from England, and the great-great-great- 
 grandfather of our subject was born in that coun- 
 
 try. The father of our subject also bore the name of 
 John Cutler, and was a native of Ohio. By trade 
 he was a carpenter, and followed contracting for 
 many years. His wife, who bore the maiden nanic 
 of Marj' A. Parks, was also born in the Buckeye 
 State, and was of French descent. Their family 
 numbered seven children, five sons and two daugh- 
 ters, of whom our subject is the eldest. 
 
 Mr. Cutler whose name heads this record at- 
 tended the schools of Benton, Ohio, and became 
 familiar with the common English branches of 
 learning. No event of any special importance 
 occurred during his youth, and the history of any 
 farmer lad is almost identical with that of the 
 early years of our subject. He was a young man 
 of nineteen years when he left the State of his 
 nativity and emigrated Westward to Illinois. The 
 year 1865 witnessed his arrival in Christian Coun- 
 ty, and March 18, 1869, having attained to mature 
 years, he celebrated his marriage. At that time 
 he was united with Miss Agnes McConnell, also a 
 native of Ohio. Her death occurred April -28, 
 1878, and she left three sons to mourn her loss, 
 namely: Harry A., on the farm; Frank A., a book- 
 keeper in Schnyler's Bank, in Pana; and Alvin R., 
 at home. Mr. Cutler was afterward married, on 
 the 23d of March, 1880, his second union being 
 with Miss Mollie Dickey, a native of this county. 
 
 The father of Mrs. Cutler, Dr. Salem Dickey, 
 deceased, was a pioneer physician of this commu- 
 nity, in fact one of the earliest settlers of the 
 county. His business interests made him widely 
 known, and he became a leading and influential 
 citizen. Of his family of four children, Mrs. Cut- 
 ler was the third in order of birth. By her mar- 
 riage she has become the mother of five children, 
 two sons and three daughters, as follows: Bertha, 
 Elmer, Eva, John and an infant unnamed. 
 
 The Cutler farm comprises two hundred and 
 ninety acres of valuable land, under a high slate of 
 cultivation, and well improved with all the acces- 
 sories and equipments of a model farm. There 
 are a substantial residence, barns and outbuildings, 
 which are models of convenience, and the latest 
 improved machinery, etc. A glance at this place 
 shows the owner to be a most thrifty and progress- 
 ive agriculturist. On one occasion he received
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 the majority of votes cast at the Pana Fair for the 
 best farmer in the county, and received the prize 
 for the same, a fioe road cart. He owns one hun- 
 dred acres of land in Shelby County, which is also 
 under his personal supervision and yields to him 
 a good income. 
 
 Mr. Cutler exercises his right of franchise in 
 support of the Republican party. He formerly 
 served as Road Commissioner, and is now Assistant 
 Supervisor of Pana Township. He takes consid- 
 erable interest in civic societies and is a member of 
 Pana Lodge No. 222, A. F. & A. M.; Chapter No. 
 115, R. A. M.; and the Ancient Order of United 
 Workmen. Mr. Cutler certainly deserves great 
 credit for his success in life, for it is the result of 
 his own efforts, and his business career is certainly 
 worthy of emulation. 
 
 JOHN WICKLIFFE KITCHELL, one of 
 Christian County's most prominent attor- 
 neys, is a resident of P*ana, and belongs to 
 one of the honored pioneer families of the 
 State. He is one of Illinois' native sons, his birth 
 having occurred in Palestine, Crawford County, 
 May 30, 1835. His father, Wickliff Kitchell, was 
 born in New York, and came to Illinois in 1818, 
 the year of its admission to the Union. His wife, 
 who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Ross, was 
 a native of New Jersey, and had a family of 
 eleven children, of whom three daughters are now 
 living, and our subject, who is the youngest in 
 the family, and the only one residing in Christian 
 County. 
 
 Wickliff Kitchell removed to Hillsboro, Mont- 
 gomery Count}-, in 1838. Wherever he resided 
 he at once became recognized as a prominent and 
 influential citizen. He at one time served as 
 Attorney-General of the State, to which position 
 he was appointed by the Governor. He was also 
 State's Attorney, and was Register of the Land 
 Office located at Palestine. He was, at one time, 
 candidate for Congress. In politics, he was a 
 
 Democrat until the close of the Mexican War. 
 A firm opponent of the extension of slavery, 
 he was a strong anti-Nebraska man, and became 
 one of the founders of the Republican party in 
 Illinois, and attended the first Republican State 
 Convention, held at Bloomington in 1856. In 
 1847, he left Illinois, and spent seven years in 
 Ft. Madison, Iowa, after which he returned, and 
 henceforth was identified with the interests of 
 Illinois. He was acquainted with all the promi- 
 nent men of the State, and was intimately associ- 
 ated in law and politics with A. T. Fields, Gen. 
 James Shields, U. F. Linder, John M. Palmer, O. 
 B. Ficklin, Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, 
 Lyman Trumbull and Joseph Gillespie. He took 
 a very active interest in public affairs, and his in- 
 fluence was widely felt. He was a man of 
 advanced views, fitted to mould public opinion 
 and to be a leader of the people. He owned a 
 section of land near Pana, Christian County, 
 which he was improving at the time of his death, 
 in 1869, when in his eightieth year. His wife had 
 passed away in October, 1862. 
 
 Judge Alfred Kitchell, the eldest son of this 
 worthy couple, was a prominent lawyer of Olney, 
 111. He served several terms as State's Attorney, 
 and about 1860 was elected to the Bench as Judge 
 of the Circuit Court. In 1866, he removed to 
 Galesburg, 111., where his death occurred ten years 
 later. Edward Kitchell, the second son, residing 
 in Olney, was also a stalwart supporter of the 
 Republican party. In 1862, he enlisted, and was 
 commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninety- 
 eighth Illinois Infantry, and was afterwards 
 breveted Brigadier-General for gallant service on 
 the field. He was Collector of Internal Revenue 
 for his district, and ran as Republican candidate 
 for Congress, making a strong race. His death 
 occurred in Olney, in 1870. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of John 
 Wickliffe Kitchell. At an early age it became his 
 desire to enter the legal profession, and when a 
 young man of seventeen he began reading law 
 with the firm of Miller & Beck, both distinguished 
 attorneys of Ft. Madison, Iowa, the former a 
 member of Congress, and the latter afterwards 
 Supreme Judge for more than twenty' years.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 397 
 
 After one year's study, he was admitted to the 
 Iowa Bar. lie began practice in Hillsboro, 111., 
 while still in his minority, being for a time a 
 partner of Judge E. Y. Rice, and he remained in 
 Hillsboro until after the close of the War of the 
 Rebellion, except for one year, which lie spent in 
 Charleston, 111. 
 
 In 1854, the members elect of the Illinois Gen- 
 eral Assembly consisted of Old-line Whigs and 
 Democrats and a few so-called Anti-Nebraska 
 Democrats. The opposition to the Democrats 
 combined, elected the officers, and subsequently 
 Lyraan Trumbull to the United States Senate. 
 Air. Kitchell, then in his twentieth year, applied 
 for a position, and was elected Assistant Clerk of 
 the House of Representatives. The session was 
 made memorable by a severe snow-storm, which 
 happened during an adjournment, blockading 
 the railroads in the northern portion of the State, 
 and keeping away a majority of the members for 
 many days. The Assistant Clerk went to Chicago, 
 along with others, and his recollections of the re- 
 turn are not the most agreeable, as the train was 
 frozen in beyond Pontiac. A walk of a dozen 
 miles, with the mercury many degrees below zero, 
 and a passage by sleigh the balance of the way to 
 the capital ended that adventure. 
 
 The sweeping triumph of the Republican party 
 in the fall of 1860 gave to Illinois its first Repub- 
 lican Legislature, and Mr. Kitchell was for a 
 second time chosen First. Assistant Clerk of the 
 House, and performed the duties of Reading Clerk 
 throughout the entire session. After the close of 
 the sittings each day, the clerks had to make up 
 the journals to be read the following day, and 
 this frequently kept them until the small hours of 
 the morning. Just prior to the final adjourn- 
 ment, on motion of Mr. Church, a resolution, 
 perhaps the only one of the kind to be found on 
 the journals of the Legislature, was unanimously 
 passed, granting to the chief clerk and his first 
 assistant extra pay for work performed after 
 midnight. The session of 1860-61 was doubtless 
 the most important and exciting in the history of 
 the State. S. M. Cullom, afterwards Governor, 
 and now United States Senator, was Speaker of the 
 House, and Church and Hurlbut leaders on the 
 
 Republican side, and those who heard Gov. Yates' 
 inaugural address, will long remember it. Re- 
 maining after the close of the session to finish up 
 the journals, Mr. Kitchell had the good fortune to 
 be among those who assembled to bid farewell to 
 Mr. Lincoln as he took his departure for Wash- 
 ington, and to hear, from the platform of the car 
 on which he stood, the memorable last words 
 which the President elect uttered at his old home 
 to the throng of anxious friends. The next time 
 he saw Mr. Lincoln was on that sadder occasion, 
 when the body of the martyred President was 
 lying in state at the capitol in Springfield, and 
 when thousands passed by the sarcophagus, Mr. 
 Kitchell being one of the staff-officers detailed for 
 duty as guard within the chamber on that day. 
 
 Returning to his home at Hillsboro, only a few 
 weeks elapsed until Mr. Lincoln made his first call 
 for seventy-five thousand troops to aid in crush- 
 ing out the rebellion, and Mr. Kitchell at once 
 enlisted in the first company raised in Montgomery 
 County. On arriving at Springfield, he resigned 
 his clerkship in the Legislature, and went to Camp 
 Yates with his company. He was chosen First 
 Lieutenant, then appointed Adjutant of the regi- 
 ment, and afterwards Captain of Company H, 
 and on the expiration of his term was discharged. 
 At the next most pressing call for troops, in 1862, 
 he was principally instrumental in raising a com- 
 pany, of which he was to have been the Captain, 
 but the sudden sickness and subsequent death of 
 his mother detained him at home until the 
 company was filled and sworn into service and 
 already in the field. Anxious to do his part in 
 the then desperate struggle, and disappointed in 
 his purpose to enter the service with his compan- 
 ions and friends, he then established and con- 
 ducted the Hillsboro Monitor. He had previously 
 been engaged in journalistic work, having pub- 
 lished the Montgomery County Herald, a non- 
 partisan paper, for a couple of years, and edited 
 the Charleston Courier, a Republican paper, during 
 his residence in that town. The Monitor took 
 strong grounds in favor of the prosecution of the 
 war, and greatly aided the Union cause, and 
 many copies weekly found their way to the front 
 to cheer the absent soldiers. When the draft
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 came, in 1864, organizations were formed in the 
 county with the avowed purpose of resisting it, 
 but Mr. Kitchell counseled obedience to the law in 
 every respect. When the drawing was published, 
 his name was found to be among the rest. In 
 pursuance of a vow he had previously made no I 
 to furnish a substitute in case he should be 
 drafted, he at once sold out his paper, turned over 
 his law office and practice to Gen. Jesse J. Phil- 
 lips, who had then just .returned from the army, 
 and entered the service as a drafted soldier. He 
 was assigned to one of the regiments then raising, 
 served as a private for some months, and when 
 the war was over was mustered out with the rank 
 of Lieutenant. 
 
 Previous to this time, our subject was married, 
 on the 27th of February, 1862, to Miss Mary 
 Frances Little, only daughter of Robert Little, of 
 Audubon, Montgomery County, 111. They made 
 their home in Hillsboro until October, 1866, 
 when they carne to Pana, which was then a small 
 village. Mr. Kitchell at once opened an office and 
 began the practice of law. He is now the oldest 
 practitioner of Pana, as well as the most promi- 
 nent. For a few years he was associated with A. 
 C. McMillen, but during the greater part of the 
 time he has been alone in practice. His abil- 
 ities, natural and acquired, have won him a 
 high reputation as a lawyer, and have made him 
 extremelv successful in practice. A clear thinker, 
 a logical reasoucr, and quick at reaching conclu- 
 sions, he has become widely known as a legal 
 advocate. In other lines, Mr. Kitchell is also 
 known, for he has been identified with many 
 public interests. Prominent among these has been 
 the effort to develop the coal-fields in the vicinity 
 of Pana. Strongly impressed, in common with 
 many others of his fellow-townsmen, with a belief 
 in the existence of mineral wealth beneath the 
 soil, he took active part as early as 1872, when 
 the first unsuccessful attempt was made to find 
 coal by the help of an old-fashioned drill, at a loss 
 to the citizens of several thousands of dollars. 
 Ten years later, he contributed his time and means 
 towards the more successful search by the use of a 
 diamond drill, which took out a solid core, result- 
 ing in the discovery of the long-hoped-for vein 
 
 of fine bituminous coal, seven feet and three inches 
 thick, at a depth of seven hundred and twentj'- 
 thrce feet. The borings were carefully kept by 
 Mr. Kitchell, as one of the committee, and selec- 
 tions from these were mounted in a glass case, and 
 are to be found in his office, making an interesting 
 object lesson in geology. The result of this finding 
 was the sinking of a shaft the following year by 
 capitalists from a neighboring county. Subse- 
 quently, a business men's organization was formed, 
 called the Pana Improvement Association, witli 
 Mr. Kitchell as President. As a sequel to this 
 was the formation, in 1887, of a company to sink 
 another shaft, called the Penwell-Kitchell Coal 
 Mining Co.. with J. W. Kitchell as President, and 
 G. V. Penwell, Treasurer. Mr. Kitchell sold out 
 his interest before coal was reached to Mr. Pen- 
 well, and m a few months afterwards, in the early 
 part of 1889, in company with D. J. Overholt and 
 others, he organized the Springside Coal Min- 
 ing Company, and sunk another shaft, he be- 
 ing President and Treasurer, and Mr. Overholt 
 Secretary. He continued in control until after 
 the successful operation of the shaft, and retired 
 from the management in May, 1891. His faith in 
 the future of Pana was shown in the erection of 
 his residence on East Mound, 'in the Centennial 
 year, and a block of business houses on Second 
 Street in 1887, and he holds himself ready to 
 assist in all matters looking to the building up 
 and the improvement of the city. Much of his 
 attention 'has been given to the reclaiming of a 
 body of swamp and overflowed land a short dis- 
 tance from Pana, which has been thereby rendered 
 highly productive, at the same time adding value 
 to the neighboring lands and removing a source 
 of disease. In these and kindred pursuits, Mr. 
 Kitchell seems to find his time more agreeably, if 
 not profitably, occupied than in conducting liti- 
 gated suits, and' has therefore in a great measure 
 ceased active practice in the courts, confining his 
 labors in law mostly to an office practice. He is a 
 member of no secret order or society, except the 
 Grand Army of the Republic. He rigidly ab- 
 stains from all use of intoxicating liquors, and ab- 
 jures the use of tobacco in all its forms. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Kitchell has ever been a stalwart
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Republican, having cast his first vote for Fremont 
 in 1856. He was candidate for Congress in 1874, 
 his competitor being his former law partner, Judge 
 E. Y. Rice, but on account of the districts being 
 strongly Democratic lie suffered defeat. He is 
 frequently on the stumps during the campaigns, 
 and was a delegate from the Thirteenth District to 
 the Minneapolis Convention in 1892, where he 
 was a firm supporter of Harrison. Mr. Kitchell 
 belongs to a family well known throughout the 
 State, and he has been prominently identified with 
 matters of public welfare as editor, lawyer and 
 politician. His career has been one that has gained 
 him the respect of all with whom he has been 
 brought in contact. True to the Old Flag, faithful 
 in public office, honorable in business, and trust- 
 worthy in private life, he ranks among Christian 
 County's best citizens. 
 
 ROF. LLEWELLYN SPRAGUE HAM, 
 who is Principal of the West School of 
 Pana, and is an educator of fine ability, 
 was born in Wales, Me., on the 15th of 
 January, 1843, and is a son of Joel and Maria 
 (Maxwell) Ham, who were also natives of (he Pine 
 Tree State. He was reared on a farm until eighteen 
 years of age, and during that time attended the 
 common schools and an academy. From early 
 boyhood he manifested special aptitude in his 
 studies and a great fondness for books. 
 
 At the age of eighteen, Prof. Ham attended a 
 seminary for a short time, then followed teaching, 
 and afterward entered the Maine State Seminary, 
 at Lewiston, Me., now known as Bates College. 
 There he pursued a preparatory course, after 
 which he entered Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, 
 Me., which institution has graduated many of the 
 most prominent men of the country, including 
 poets, professors, men of letters, etc. He began 
 his studies there in 1864, and after completing the 
 classical course was graduated in 1868 with the 
 
 degree of A. B. in a class of twenty-three, among 
 whom was Prof. Robert L. Packard. He was also 
 a member of the Psi Upsilon, a Greek society. 
 Prof. Ham met the greater part of his expenses in 
 college with the capital which he had formerly 
 acquired in teaching, and with teaching special 
 classes in Bowdoin. It will thus be seen that he 
 is a self-educated and self-made man, and through 
 his own efforts may be attributed his success in 
 life. 
 
 When his collegiate course was completed, our 
 subject resumed teaching, becoming principal of 
 the High school in Alfred, Me. In the spring of 
 1869, he removed to Wisconsin and took charge of 
 the La Crosse Valley Seminary, at West Salem, 
 where he remained two years. On the expiration 
 of that period we find him in Springfield, 111., 
 where he engaged in civil engineering on what is 
 now the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. He served 
 as assistant engineer on the survey from Edge- 
 wood to Pana, and was division engineer on con- 
 struction from Edgewood to Tower Hill. He also 
 assisted in building the shops in Pana, after which 
 lie entered the works here as book-keeper. Sub- 
 sequently for one year he filled the position of 
 chief clerk in the freight office. Altogether he 
 was connected with the Ohio & Mississippi Road 
 for three years. 
 
 In 1873, Mr. Ham became Superintendent of the 
 public schools and acceptably filled the position 
 for four years, when the schools were divided and 
 two principals selected. Three years later he re- 
 signed his position. For one year he engaged in 
 teaching in Rosemond, and for two years served 
 as Principal of the East School in Taylorville. He 
 then returned to take charge of the West School 
 of Pana, in 1881, and under his able management 
 it has been so successfully conducted that Pana is 
 justly proud of her schools, which rank among 
 the best in this part of the State. He has eight 
 teachers under his supervision and has an enroll- 
 ment of three hundred and fifty pupils. 
 
 On the 7th of December, 1875, in Pana, Mr. Ham 
 was united in marriage with Frankie Tomlinson, 
 daughter of John Tomlinson, a native of Massa- 
 chusetts. She was born in Adrian, Mich. Seven 
 children have been born of their union: Bertha A.,
 
 400 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Elmer L., Eva I., Arthur C., Harold, Alice E., and 
 Walter L., who died wlien three years of age. 
 
 Prof. Ham and his wife occupy an enviable 
 position in social circles, and are prominent mem- 
 bers of the Presbyterian Church. He has been 
 closely connected with church and Sunday-school 
 work and is now serving as Elder. Prof. Ham 
 may always be called upon to advance the best 
 interests of the community, and his influence is 
 widely felt for good throughout Pana. In poli- 
 tics, he is a Republican. He is now serving as 
 Secretary of the Pana Building and Loan Asso- 
 ciation, and has aided in laying out additions to 
 the city. He is a member of the State Teachers' 
 Association, and each summer devotes much of 
 his time to institute work. Prof. Ham has the 
 faculty of readily and clearly imparting to others 
 liis knowledge of any study, and this, combined 
 with his excellent management and executive 
 ability, has made him a very successful instructor. 
 His long-continued service in Pana indicates his 
 popularity with her citizens and the confidence 
 they repose in his ability. 
 
 
 DELSON WARREN, a prominent farmer and 
 early settler of Christian County, residing 
 on section 23, Pana Township, has long 
 been identified with the history of this community, 
 and has been an eye-witness of its growth and 
 development. His part he has always borne in 
 the work of public improvement and advancement, 
 and therefore well deserves mention among its 
 honored pioneers. 
 
 Mr. Warren was born in Walnut Township, 
 Pickaway Township, Ohio, April 23, 1826. His 
 father, Silas Warren, was a native of Delaware, 
 and in his youth removed to Pickaway County, 
 where he married Sarah Riley, who was also born 
 in Delaware. They began their domestic life upon 
 a farm, and their last days were spent in Shelby 
 County, 111., where the father passed away at the 
 age of seventy- three, while the mother readied 
 
 the allotted age of three score-years and ten. Mr. 
 Warren was a Whig, and took quite an active inter- 
 est in politics. He was a well-read man and was 
 always well versed on questions of the day. Both 
 he and his wife were members of the United Breth- 
 ren Church. Of their family of seven children, 
 six grew to manhood and womanhood, but only 
 four are now living. 
 
 Our subject is the fifth in order of birth. The 
 days of his boyhood and youth were quietly 
 passed upon his father's farm midst play and work. 
 In the summer months he aided in the labors of 
 the field, and in the winter months attended the 
 district schools, where he become familiar with the 
 common branches of English learning. On attain- 
 ing his majority, he left home to make his own 
 way in the world, and began working by the 
 month as a farm hand. The highest wages he 
 received while engaged in that labor was $12 pel- 
 month. 
 
 In his native county, Mr. Warren was married, 
 August 17, 1849, to Lavina Br inker, also a native 
 of Pickaway County. She was born February 9, 
 1830, and is a daughter of George and Mary 
 (Shope) Brinker. Her parents were both born in 
 Pennsylvania, and were of German descent. At 
 the age of nineteen her father left the Keystone 
 State and went to Ohio, where he married Miss 
 Shope. Mrs. Warren is the youngest child and 
 seventh daughter in a family of thirteen children. 
 Her mother died when she was only four days old, 
 after which her father married again. Eight chil- 
 dren have been born to our subject and his wife: 
 Bennett and George, who were born in Pickaway 
 County; Silas, who was born in Christian County; 
 John R., who died at the age of four months; 
 Sarah E., Lawrence, Mary A. and Nettie B. 
 
 After his marriage, Mr. Warren settled on a 
 rented farm in Pickaway County, which he oper- 
 ated three years. He first came to Christian 
 County on horseback in 1851, and purchased one 
 hundred and sixty acres of raw land, a part of his 
 present farm, paying $3 per acre. The follow- 
 ing year he brought his family, and they took up 
 their residence in a log cabin, 16x16 feet, with a 
 puncheon floor and clapboard door. Mr. Warren 
 went to Springfield and purchased the first cook
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 401 
 
 stove brought to this neighborhood. The furni- 
 ture consisted of a set of common wooden chairs 
 and a table, and they lived in true pioneer style. 
 There were only nine voters in what is now Pana 
 and Rosemond Townships. With characteristic 
 energy, Mr. Warren began the development of his 
 farm, and in his business undertakings has met 
 with excellent success. In the home place he now 
 owns six hundred and twenty acres of valuable 
 land, mostly under cultivation, four hundred acres 
 being devoted to growing hay. He also owns 
 three other farms, including eighty acres in this 
 county, two hundred and thirty acres in Shelby 
 County, another tract of two hundred acres, 
 and seventy acres of timber-land, making alto- 
 gether about twelve hundred acres. He com- 
 menced life a poor boy, but by his industrious 
 efforts has steadily worked his way upwards. Suc- 
 cess was before him, and he possessed the necessary 
 energy and perseverance to reach the goal. With 
 untiring zeal he has labored, and is now numbered 
 among the wealthy citizens of Christian County, 
 a position which he has justty reached. His pros- 
 perity is certainly well merited. In politics, Mr. 
 Warren is a most ardent Republican, but hasnever 
 been an office-seeker. For over thirty years he 
 has been connected with the Masonic fraternity. 
 
 JOHN HOWELL DAWDY, who is police 
 magistrate of Pana, is one of Illinois' na- 
 tive sons, his birth having occurred in Ham- 
 ilton County, March 6, 1820. His father, 
 Daniel Dawdy, was a native of Tennessee, and in 
 that State married Nancy Tindall, a native of 
 Georgia. He brought his family to Illinois in 
 1818, the year in which the .State was admitted to 
 the Union, and in 1828 removed to Shelby County, 
 locating four miles north of Shelbyville, where 
 his death occurred in 1855, at the age of sixty-six. 
 His wife died a few months later. The family 
 numbered ten children, five sons and five daugh- 
 
 ters, of whom three are now living: Daniel J., of 
 Shelby County; Perliua, widow of Joseph Walker, 
 i of Shelby County; and John Howell. Henry, the 
 I eldest son, served as Collector of Shelby County 
 for several years in a verj' early day. He died 
 when a young man. The father was County Com- 
 missioner for a year, and served under Gen. Coffee 
 at New Orleans during the War of 1812. 
 
 Mr. Dawdy whose name heads this sketch was 
 reared to manhood under the parental roof, re- 
 maining upon the home farm until his marriage, at 
 the age of twenty-four. On the 25th of January, 
 1844, he wedded Miss Jane Frazcr, of Shelby 
 County, who was born in Kentucky, and when a 
 maiden of ten summers came to Illinois with her 
 father, John Frazer, one of the early 'settlers of 
 Shelby County. The young people began their 
 domestic life upon a farm in that vicinity, and 
 thtne remained until 1849, when they removed to 
 Shelbyville. Mr. Dawdy was appointed Deputy 
 Sheriff of the county; he also served as Constable, 
 and engaged in merchandising in that city for 
 some time. 
 
 The year 1856 witnessed the arrival of our sub- 
 ject in Pana, which was then a small town of 
 about three hundred inhabitants. He opened a 
 general store, which he carried on for two years. 
 His fellow-townsmen, appreciating his worth and 
 ability, elected him County Commissioner in 1856, 
 and for four years he acceptably filled that office. 
 Previously large tracts of swamp-land had been 
 given to the count}', but some of it had been taken 
 by the railroads, and measures were now started to 
 recover payment for this. Mr. Dawdy was instru- 
 mental in bringing about the result, which secured 
 $15,000 cash for the county. About this time he 
 began practicing law, and for a number of years he 
 followed that profession in connection with his du- 
 ties as Justice of the Peace. He is now serving 
 his twelfth year as Police Magistrate. 
 
 Of the children born to our subject and his 
 wife, William H., of Greenville, 111., is an at- 
 torney-at-law, who served as a member of the 
 State Legislature and was one of the famous one 
 hundred and one who elected Palmer; Charles, 
 who was engaged in the grocery trade, died in 
 Pana of consumption. They have also reared
 
 402 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 two girls, daughters of Mrs. Dawdy's youngest sis- 
 ter, Serilda, wife of Daniel Albro. The elder, 
 Amanda Albro, became the wife of Samuel II. 
 Wright, of Shelby County, and died in Pana in 
 1873. Jennie died in 1874, at the age of twenty- 
 two. Their parents died within one year of each 
 other, and from early childhood the daughters were 
 members of the Dawdy family. 
 
 For a number of years our subject was a sup- 
 porter of the Democracy, but is now a stanch 
 Prohibitionist, and although Pana has been a 
 licensed town he has been repeatedly elected Mag- 
 istrate, a fact which indicates his faithful per- 
 formance of duty and his popularity. In his so- 
 cial relations he is an Odd Fellow and has been a 
 prominent Mason. He has attended the Grand 
 Lodge and is a Past Master. For forty-six years 
 he has been a member of the Christian Church, 
 and an earnest laborer in the cause of Christianity, 
 doing all in his power for the spread of the Gospel 
 and the promotion of its truths. In connection 
 with his other business interests he was engaged in 
 real-estate dealing for a number of years, and has 
 been prominent in the development of the coal 
 interests of this locality, which have been the 
 making of Pana. He was one of the first to de- 
 posit money in the bank for the first boring with 
 a diamond drill. No enterprise worthy of the 
 support of the best people need be afraid to seek 
 the aid of our subject, for he has the interests of 
 the city at heart and does all in his power to pro- 
 mote its welfare. 
 
 
 jzjjR NDREW BRISBEN has devoted the greater 
 C*y I part of his life to agricultural pursuits, but 
 a IB is now living retired in Pana, in the en- 
 (t|f joyment of a rest which he has truly 
 earned and well deserves. He was born in Ches- 
 ter County, Pa., August 18, 1815, and is a son of 
 John and Jane (McNeal) Brisben. On the pater- 
 nal side he is of Irish, and on the maternal side of 
 Scotch, descent. His paternal grandfather never 
 
 left the Emerald Isle. John Brisben, who was 
 there born, came to America, an orphan boy of 
 seven years, and settled in Chester County, Pa., 
 where he learned the blacksmith's trade, which lie 
 followed during the greater part of his life. In 
 1818 he removed to Ohio, and after a few years 
 spent in Harrison County went to Tuscarawas 
 County, where he made his home until 186,5. That 
 year witnessed his arrival in Illinois, and on the 
 1st of November he settled in Christian County, 
 on a farm two miles east of Pana, where he died in 
 1873, at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife 
 passed away in 1872, at the age of eighty-six. 
 They were members of the Presbyterian Church. 
 The Brisben family numbered seven children, two 
 sons and five daughters, but only two are now liv- 
 ing: Margaret Ann, widow of Jacob Huston, of 
 Urichville, Ohio; and Andrew, of this sketch, who 
 was only three years of age when his parents re- 
 moved to the Buckeye State, where he was reared 
 and educated. He learned the blacksmith's trade 
 witli his father, and followed that pursuit for sev- 
 eral years. Under the parental roof he remained 
 until he had attained his majority, and even after 
 his marriage he continued on the home farm for 
 some time. At length he opened a blacksmith 
 shop in Urichville, where he carried on business 
 for some fifteen years. 
 
 On the 23d of April, 1837, was celebrated the 
 m 'image of Mr. Brisben and Miss Rebecca, daugh- 
 ter of Thomas and Sarah (Rippeth) Price, who 
 then resided in Ohio, but were natives of Virginia. 
 Fourteen children were born of this union, but 
 several died in infancy. Sarah Jane and William 
 G. died in childhood. John P., who resides in 
 Lyons, Kan., married Belle Messer, and they have 
 one son, John. Mary B. is the wife of Emanuel 
 Johns, of Washington, by whom she has five chil- 
 dren now living, namely: Charles, Belle, Carrie, 
 Helen and Victor E. Alice, deceased, was the wife 
 of Gus Brown, of Taylorville, by whom she had 
 four sons, two yet living, Bert W. and Milton O. 
 Carrie completes the family. Mrs. Brisben, the 
 mother, died on the 19th of July, 1891, at the age 
 of seventy-one years. She was a devoted member 
 of the Presbyterian Church and a lady whose many 
 excellencies of character gained her a wide circle
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of friends and acquaintances. Her son John was 
 a soldier of the late war. lie belonged to the 
 Ninety-eighth Ohio Infantry and participated in 
 many hard-fought battles. He enlisted as Cor- 
 poral and was mustered out with the rank of Cap- 
 tain. After the war he served for twelve years as 
 a civil engineer in Shelby County. 
 
 Mr. Brisben of this sketch has been a resident 
 of Christian County since 1865. He located upon 
 a farm near Pana, and there successfully engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits, making his home at that 
 place until after the death of his wife. At length 
 he retired from active business life, rented his 
 land and removed to the city. In politics, he is a 
 supporter of the Democracy. He was elected and 
 served as Highway Commissioner one term, and 
 was Township Collector in 1868. In 1889 he was 
 elected Justice of the Peace, which position he still 
 holds. Socially, he is a member of Pana Lodge 
 No. 226, A. F. & A. M., and for many years has 
 been a member of the Presbyterian Church, in the 
 work of which lie is actively interested. Mr. Bris- 
 ben has been the architect of his own fortune, and 
 has builded wisely and well. 
 
 
 JOHN VIDLER, who is now living retired in 
 Pana, is a native of England. He was born 
 in Tichourst, Sussex County, on the 29th 
 of July, 1826, and there his boyhood days 
 were quietly passed. At the age of twenty he be- 
 gan learning the trade of brick-making, and in 
 1853, when twenty-seven years of age, emigrated 
 to the United States. After crossing the Atlantic, 
 he spent one summer in New York, and in the suc- 
 ceeding fall went to Pike County, 111., locating in 
 Griggsville. He made the journey from Chicago 
 toLaSalleby way of the Rock Island Railroad, 
 and by boat to his destination. 
 
 Ere leaving England, Mr. Vidler. was married, 
 November 1, 1851, to Mary Ann Powell, of Sus- 
 sex County, born September 29, 1816. For a year 
 after arriving in Illinois, Mr.. Vidler worked by 
 
 the day, tending a brick mason, and then engaged 
 in brick-making for himself, with a capital of only 
 8300, his hard earned savings of the previous 
 year. He remained in Griggsville until 1866, and 
 during his residence there he made $4,000. In 
 that year he came to Pana and opened a brick- 
 yard. The summer of 1865 he had spent in Eng- 
 land on a visit to friends and native land. He 
 carried on brick-making in Pana until 1881. Af- 
 ter a few years his was the only manufactory of 
 the kind in Pana, and he built up a large trade. 
 He also engaged in contracting for some time, and 
 as the result of his perseverance, enterprise and in- 
 dustry, he accumulated a handsome competency, 
 and is now enabled to live retired, enjoying the 
 rest which he has so truly earned and richly de- 
 serves. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Vidler purchased forty acres of 
 land at $75 per acre, and has also erected some 
 residences. However, the greater part of his time 
 and attention was given to the manufacture of 
 brick. He exercises his right of franchise in sup- 
 port of the Democratic party, and has taken quite 
 an active part in political affairs. His wife is a 
 member of the Baptist Church, and a most estima- 
 ble lady. Mr. Vidler may truly be called a self- 
 made man, for he started out empty-handed, and 
 therefore the success which has come to him is the 
 just reward of his own labors. 
 
 Thomas John Vidler, the only son of the gen- 
 tleman mentioned above, is Cashier of the First 
 National Bank of Pana. He was born in Griggs- 
 ville, 111., August 16, 1858, was educated in the 
 public schools, and under the parental roof was 
 reared to manhood. On the 19th of January, 
 1882, he was united in marriage with Miss Belle, 
 daughter of Jerry and Kate (Walsh) Hogan, of 
 Pana. Her father came to Pana at the time of the 
 building of the Illinois Central Railroad, was sec- 
 tion boss for some time, and is now employed in 
 the machine shops of the company. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Vidler now have three children, Fannie, May and 
 Paul John, and they also lost one child, Ida, who 
 died in infancy. 
 
 For a time Mr. Vidler served as Assistant Coun- 
 ty Treasurer, serving for three years in that ca- 
 pacity under William J. Jordan, of Pana, and for
 
 404 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 two years with A. G. Barnes, a banker of Taylor- 
 ville. On the expiration of that period he re- 
 turned to Pana, and opened an insurance office, 
 which he conducted until earnestly solicited by 
 the Directors of the First National Bank to become 
 assistant Cashier and book-keeper of the concern. 
 For two years he held that position, and in Jan- 
 uary, 1891. he was made cashier. He is a wide- 
 awake and energetic young business man, full of 
 life and activity, and the bank finds in him a 
 trustworthy and efficient employe. 
 
 ELI AS P. SANDERS, who is engaged in gen- 
 eral merchandising in Pana, is one of her 
 honored pioneers, and his name is insepar- 
 ably connected with her history from the begin- 
 ning of her existence. He well deserves represen- 
 tation in this volume, and it is with pleasure that 
 we present his life record to our readers. He was 
 born in Montgomery County, 111., May 31, 1833, 
 and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Powell) San- 
 ders, who were natives of Kentucky. His pater- 
 nal grandfather, John Sanders, was born in North 
 Carolina, and in an early day emigrated to Ken- 
 tucky, becoming one of its pioneers. There he 
 spent his remaining days, his death occurring at 
 the advanced age of ninety. The maternal grand- 
 father was also born in North Carolina, and re- 
 moved to Kentucky when the Indians were far 
 more numerous than the white settlers. He fol- 
 lowed agricultural pursuits throughout his entire 
 life, and died in Illinois while visiting relatives, at 
 the age of one hundred years. 
 
 In 1826, John Sanders left the State of his na- 
 tivity and settled in Montgomery County, 111., 
 when it was still inhabited by the redmen, and 
 when buffalo and deer could still be seen on the 
 prairie. He served as a soldier in the Black Hawk 
 War. In 1861 he removed to Pana, where he 
 passed away in 1864, at the age of sixty-six. His 
 wife survived him until September, 1892, and 
 died in her eighty-ninth year. He was a member 
 
 of the Lutheran Church in early life, but after- 
 ward both he and his wife became members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. Their family num- 
 bered twelve children, eight sons and four daugh- 
 ters: Alvin, Elza, Jahn, Ervin, Elizabeth (wife of 
 E. Whitten), Elias P., Jefferson, Robert, Jane 
 (wife of James Brown), Rebecca (wife of John 
 Boss), Finley and Leuvina. 
 
 Mr. Sanders whose name heads this record was 
 reared among the wild scenes of frontier life and 
 was early inured to the arduous labors of cultivat- 
 ing and improving a farm. In 1853, when a 
 young man of twenty years, he cast in his lot with 
 the early settlers of Christian Count}', and has 
 here since made his home, with the exception of 
 three years when he was steward or supply agent 
 for the army and navy, with headquarters at 
 Mound City. He began his education in his na- 
 tive county, and his primary privileges were sup- 
 plemented by study in Shurtleff College, of Alton. 
 During those early days Mr. Sanders graded for 
 the railway, and was Superintendent of Construc- 
 tion on the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Rail- 
 road between Litchfield and Hillsboro, in 1853. He 
 engaged in selling goods to the pioneers in Mont- 
 gomery County, and after his arrival in Pana car- 
 ried on general merchandising for four years. He 
 then established the Central Illinois Democrat, 
 which he edited for a year. About that time he 
 shipped a stock of dry goods to Memphis, Tenn., 
 but the war broke out and he did not unload his 
 goods, shipping them back to Mound City, where 
 he carried on business during the war. Subse- 
 quently, he bought a steamboat, and while run- 
 ning on the river made his home in Pulaski 
 County, 111., having there purchased land of John 
 A. McClernand, Gov. French and Gen. Rollins. 
 
 No male settler of Pana who resided here at 
 the time of Mr. Sanders' arrival now survives. In 
 fact, he was one of the earliest settlers and helped 
 to bury the first man who died in this locality. Mr. 
 Sanders built the first brick house in Pana, and 
 dug the first cellar. He once owned the block 
 on which the court house now stands, using it for 
 a park, which he kept full of deer. He served as 
 the first express agent of Pana, and had the first 
 money safe in the place. From the beginning he
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 405 
 
 has been prominently identified with all its growth 
 and upbuilding, and its progress and prosperity are 
 due in no small degree to his untiring efforts in its 
 behalf. 
 
 Mr. Sanders was married April 23, 1854, to Miss 
 Elizabeth Fletcher, daughter of James and Jane 
 (Powell) Fletcher, natives of Kentucky. Six chil- 
 dren were born unto them, four sons and two 
 daughters, of whom Fletcher and Harry died in 
 early childhood. Frank married Miss Maggie 
 Loyd, by whom he has two children, Clyde and 
 Bertha, and is now occup3 - ing the position of 
 salesman with the firm of Barrett & Barrett, of 
 Chicago. Rose, Will and Zella are the other mem- 
 bers of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders hold 
 membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and have been active workers in its interests. He 
 was Class-leader and Steward for many years, and 
 is now serving as Trustee. Socially, he belongs 
 to Adair Lodge No. 334, I. O. O. F. In politics, 
 he is a Democrat, and for four years filled the of- 
 fice of Justice of the Peace. From a financial 
 standpoint, his life has also been successful. He 
 now owns one hundred and twenty acres of land 
 in Shelby and Fayette Counties, and has a good 
 home and other city property in Pana. 
 
 SAMUEL F. WINTERS, one of the well- 
 known citizens of Pana Township, resid- 
 ing on section 20, where lie owns and op- 
 erates a good farm, has been a resident of 
 the community for a quarter of a century, hav- 
 ing located here in the year 1867. Since that 
 time many changes have taken place in the coun- 
 ty, and the work of development and progres- 
 sion has been steadily carried forward. He always 
 bears his part in everything tending to promote 
 the best interests of the community, and is there- 
 fore recognized as a valued citizen. 
 
 Mr. Winters was born in Scott County, 111., near 
 Winchester, September 27, 1841, and comes of 
 
 an old Virginian family. His grandfather, Rev. 
 Nathan Winters, was a native of Virginia and 
 was of Scotch-Irish descent. He became one of 
 the pioneer settlers of what is now St. Clair 
 County, 111., coming to this State when it was yet 
 a Territory. He entered land and began the de- 
 velopment of a farm, but after a time removed to 
 North Missouri, which was also then a Territory. 
 There he again secured Government land and de- 
 voted his energies to agricultural pursuits. He 
 was a preacher of the Baptist Church, and a very 
 prominent man of his da}'. He took a great de- 
 light in the chase, especially in fox-hunting. His 
 death, the result of an injury on horseback, oc- 
 curred when he was seventy-eight years of age. 
 
 Joshua C. Winters, father of our subject, was 
 born in what is now St. Clair County, 111., during 
 the territorial days of the State, and after his mar- 
 riage removed to Scott County, where he located 
 on a farm. He served as a Lieutenant in the 
 Mexican War, and during the late war he became 
 a member of the Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry, 
 of which he was made Lieutenant-Colonel. He 
 first raised a company in Illinois, and then joined 
 the Ninth Missouri Infantry, but was afterwards 
 made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Ninth Reg- 
 iment of Illinois Volunteers, as above stated. Af- 
 ter three years' service he resigned and returned 
 to Greene County, III., where he resumed farming. 
 In 1883, he removed to Whitehall, where he is 
 now living a retired life. He supports the Re- 
 publican party and at one time took quite a prom- 
 inent part in politics, holding many offices. 
 
 The Winters family numbers seven sons: Frank 
 M., now of Whitehall, 111.; Samuel F., of this 
 sketch; G. L., an attorney of Trenton, Mo.; Solon, 
 of Assumption; Josiah, Joseph us and Byron, all 
 of Whitehall. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was reared in Morgan 
 and Scott Counties, and continued to give his fa- 
 ther the benefit of his services until the war broke 
 out, when, in 1861, he enlisted and was assigned 
 to Company A, Sixty-first Illinois Infantry, with 
 which he remained for two and a-half years, par- 
 ticipating in many important battles, among oth- 
 ers that of Shiloh. He was then discharged at Bul- 
 wer, Tenn., but re-enlisted the same year in Com-
 
 406 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 pany A, One Hundred and Thirty-third Infantry, 
 as a private. He continued with that command 
 until mustered out in 1864. He was a faithful and 
 valiant soldier. The country has cause to grate- 
 fully remember her boys in blue who defended the 
 Union and placed the United States of America in 
 the foremost rank among the countries of the 
 world. 
 
 Mr. Winters came to Christian County in 1864, 
 and at once turned his attention to agricultural 
 pursuits. March 25, 1867, he was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Laura F., daughter of Harrison and 
 Martha (Kirgan) Day, and a native of Carrollton, 
 Greene County, 111., born April 1, 1849. They 
 began their domestic life upon a farm in Pan a 
 Township, which has since been their residence, 
 and their home has been blessed with the presence 
 of four sons and one daughter: Byron N., Forest 
 D. M., Jessie E., Sydney F. and Colonel Logan. 
 
 Mr. Winters carries on general farming, owning 
 one hundred .and eighty-one acres of rich land, 
 which is all under a high state of cultivation and 
 in return for his care and labor yields to him a good 
 income. In addition he also engages in auc- 
 tioneering. He is a man of good business abil- 
 ity and has met with success in his undertakings. 
 In politics, he is a Republican and is now serving 
 as Assistant Supervisor of Pana Township. So- 
 cially, he is a member of Pope Post No. 411, 
 G. A. R., of Pana, and is a member of the Pana 
 Protective Association. A valiant defender of 
 his country, a faithful citizen in times of peace, 
 and a practical and progressive agriculturist, he 
 well deserves representation in this volume. 
 
 OLIVER RUSSELL, proprietor of 
 
 lhe City Mills f Pana ' wilh which llc has 
 
 been connected since 1879, is a native of 
 the Pine Tree State, his birth having occurred in 
 Somerset County, on the 22d of July, 1835. No 
 event of special importance occurred during his 
 youth, which was quietly passed upon his father's 
 
 farm. When a young man of twenty-two years, 
 he left the State of his nativity, and in 1857 emi- 
 grated Westward to Illinois, locating in Pulaski 
 County, in the southern part of the State. He 
 had been reared in a lumber region, and became 
 familiar with the workings of a sawmill. After 
 his arrival in this State, he secured employment in 
 a sawmill, and to that work devoted his energies 
 for two years. 
 
 On the expiration of that period, Mr. Russell re- 
 turned to Maine and was married. On the 4th of 
 January, 1860, he wedded Miss Adeline French, a 
 friend of his youth, who has since been his faithful 
 companion and helpmate, sharing with him the 
 joys and sorrows of life, its adversity and prosper- 
 ity. They had no children of their own, but have 
 reared an adopted daughter, Lulu, who is now a 
 young lady of twenty-one. She has lived with 
 them since her third year. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Russell began their domestic life 
 upon a farm in Somerset County, Me., and he con- 
 tinued its cultivation with good success until 
 1869, when he again sought a home in the West, 
 locating in Pana. During the succeeding ten 
 years of his life he was engaged at work in a sash, 
 door and blind factory. He then invested about 
 $2,000 in the City Mills, and in 1879 became pro- 
 prietor of the same as a partner of Adam Miller. 
 The plant at that time was worth about $15,000. 
 In 1886, Mr. Russell became sole proprietor. He 
 has since remodeled and repaired the mill, fitting 
 it out with complete roller-process machinery, and 
 it now has a daily capacity of one hundred and 
 twenty-five barrels of flour. The favorite brands 
 which he manufactures are Golden Sheaf, Favorite 
 and Gold Band. He does a merchant and general 
 exchange business, and is now enjoying a liberal 
 patronage, which lias constantly increased from the 
 beginning. He also deals in all kinds of grain 
 grown in this part of the State, as well as Imy, and 
 ships to the principal markets of the country. Mr. 
 Russell has been very successful in his undertak- 
 ings, and nearly all of his property has been ac- 
 quired during his residence in Pana. 
 
 Our subject is a stalwart supporter of the Re- 
 publican party, but has never been an office-seeker, 
 although for five years he served as a member of
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 407 
 
 the School Board. He takes considerable interest 
 in civic societies, is a Royal Arch Mason, an Odd 
 Fellow and a member of the Knights of Pythias. 
 He also belongs to the Encampment, and lias at- 
 tended the Grand Lodge of the Independent Or- 
 der of Odd Fellows. In manner Mr. Russell is 
 cordial and pleasant, and has those sterling quali- 
 ties of character which win confidence and respect 
 for the possessor wherever he goes. 
 
 0ASSIUS B. TRACY, a photographer of Pana, 
 and one of the well-known and representa- 
 tive business men, was born in Illinois, his 
 birth having occurred near Carthage, in Hancock 
 County, on the 31st of August, 1856. He is the 
 only son of Elias and Damans (Lemon) Tracy, 
 the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of tin's 
 .State. The father was a lumber-dealer, carrying 
 on business in Carthage and Augusta for some 
 years. He died in Independence, Kan., about 
 1881, at the age of fifty. His wife survives him 
 and is now living in Denver, Colo. Like her 
 husband, she is a member of the Christian Church. 
 Besides our subject they had two daughters, Min- 
 tie, and Candace, wife of Col. A. M. York, ex-Sen- 
 ator of Kansas, now living in La Porte, Tex. 
 
 The Tracy family is of Scotch origin and was 
 founded in America at an early day. The grand- 
 father of our subject, George Tracy, was a native 
 of Virginia. By occupation he was a farmer, and 
 also a Close-Communion Baptist preacher. He 
 died in Illinois at the age of fifty years. The ma- 
 ternal grandfather, Hardin Lemon, was a native of 
 Kentucky and was born of Irish parentage. He, 
 too, followed agricultural pursuits as a means of 
 livelihood. He reached the allotted age of three- 
 score years and ten. 
 
 The subject of this sketch resided in the county 
 of his nativity until sixteen years of age and there 
 acquired the greater part of his education. His 
 boyhood days were spent midst play and work, 
 but when a youth of sixteen he began learning 
 
 photograph;, which he has since followed, making 
 it his life labor. Ho is a young, wide-awake and 
 ambitious man, and his business career will no 
 doubt prove one of success. On the 6th of Sep- 
 tember, 1882, Mr. Tracy was united in marriage 
 with Miss Carrie Davis, daughter of Duane T. and 
 Frances A. (Dudley) Davis, who are natives of 
 Pennsylvania but now reside in Pana. The 
 union of this young couple has been blessed by 
 two children, a son and daughter, Ralph D. and 
 lone T. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Tracy is connected with Pana 
 Lodge No. 226, A. F. & A. M., and is a member of 
 Litha Lodge No. 159, K. P. He also belongs to 
 the Modern Woodmen of America. He has some 
 good property in the city, including his own resi- 
 dence. The Tracy household is the abode of hos- 
 pitality, its doors being ever open for the recep- 
 tion of the many friends of our subject and his 
 wife, who are widely and favorably known in this 
 communitj' and rank high in social circles. Mr. 
 Tracy is now well established in business and has 
 a well-nppointed and equipped gallery, where he 
 does all kinds of first-class work in his line. 
 
 ,1 LLIAM ARMSTRONG is one of the large 
 land-owners and wealthy farmers of Mos- 
 quito Township, and makes his home on 
 section 30. His father, William Armstrong, Sr., 
 was one of the early settlers of the county, and 
 was born in Orange County, N. C., May 1, 1806. 
 His great-great-grandfather was born in Ireland 
 and settled in North Carolina in Colonial days. 
 The great-grandfather was born in 1736, and served 
 in the Continental army during the whole of the 
 Revolutionary War. He took part in several bat- 
 tles, being twice taken prisoner by the British. 
 His son James was also born in North Carolina, 
 and wedded Mary Allen, who was of English de- 
 scent. 
 
 The father of our subject removed with his 
 parents to Tennessee in 1812, where on arriving
 
 408 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 at man 's estate he wedded Martha Oldbain, a na- 
 tive of Virginia. Mr. Armstrong first visited Illi- 
 nois in 1836, and entered land in Logan County. 
 Returning the next year, he brought his family to 
 this Slate and continued to live until 1865 in San- 
 gamon County. At that time he located in Chris- 
 tian County, where he is still engaged in farming. 
 His first wife died in Tennessee, and in June, 
 1837, he married Statira Fickland, a native of 
 Montgomery County, Ky. Mr. Armstrong has had 
 ten children, of whom six are now living. John 
 A. is a resident of Blue Mound, 111.; James T. 
 lives in Missouri; Ann M. is the wife of Mr. Hous- 
 ley, of Mosquito Township; William is our subject; 
 George W. died in 1868 and lies buried in Grove 
 Cit}' Cemetery; Daniel C. is a farmer of this town- 
 ship; Emrna C., who died in 1872, was buried in 
 Grove City Cemetery; Edwin A. died in infancy; 
 and Leander, who was in the service during the 
 late war, died in 1866, from disease contracted in 
 the service. John A. and James T. were also in the 
 army, the latter in the Seventy-third Illinois In- 
 fantry, and the former in the Third Illinois Cav- 
 alry. The father was for four years Associate 
 Judge of the County Court in Sangamon County. 
 Since 1824, he has been a member of the Method- 
 ist Church. Though born in a slave-holding com- 
 munity, he was always opposed to the system, 
 and for that reason removed to a free State. He 
 was a stanch Union man during the war, was for- 
 merly a Whig, and since the organization of tiie 
 Republican party has been one of its supporters. 
 
 The subject of this sketch started out to earn 
 his own livelihood in 1868, and chose as his help- 
 mate Miss Ann Rebecca Housley, their marriage 
 being celebrated November 7, 1868. The lady 
 was bora in Ohio, and is of German descent. Six 
 children have been born to this worthy couple, 
 George W., Lewis C., Robert, Winona E., Harry 
 S. and Jessie, who are all at home and have been 
 educated in this county. Robert has also further 
 pursued his studies for two years in Burkville 
 College. 
 
 The farm now carried on by Mr. Armstrong 
 comprises four hundred and forty-five acres of 
 land. He was given a start in life by his father, 
 but has added many acres to the property origin- 
 
 ally given him. He has a pleasant and commodi- 
 ous residence and has made many substantial ad- 
 ditions to his farm. Since becoming a voter, Mr. 
 Armstrong has been identified with the Repub- 
 lican party, and though he takes an active part in 
 politics is not an office-seeker. Socially, he is 
 connected with the Masonic order, and his estima- 
 ble wife is a member of the Christian Church. 
 The}- enjoy the friendship and high regard of the 
 entire community in which they live, and this is 
 well deserved, for they are good neighbors and 
 friendly and hospitable to one and all. 
 
 &jjK MOS A. RHODES, who is now living a re- 
 laOi tired life on his farm on section 17, Paua 
 
 |ni Township, was born in Shelby County, 
 '%jj 111., May 23, 1841. He traces his ances- 
 try back to one of the Revolutionary heroes, his 
 great-grandfather, Hezekiah Rhodes, having been 
 a soldier in the War for Independence. The fam- 
 ily is of Scotch-Irish descent. The grandfather, 
 Jesse Rhodes, was a native of North Carolina, and 
 a farmer by occupation. In 1830 he came to 
 Shelby County, 111., and was one of the Commis- 
 sioners appointed by the Governor to select a site 
 for the county seat of Maeon County, and was 
 one of the three that located the same where De- 
 catur now stands. In politics, he was a Democrat 
 and was honored with a number of public offices. 
 
 James M. Rhodes,-father of our subject, was born 
 and reared in Wilson County, Tenn. The mother 
 bore the maiden name of Permetty Wakefield. She 
 was born October 13, 1824, in Shelby County, 111., 
 and is the oldest native citizen of Shelby County 
 now living, and now resides with her son Amos at 
 Pana. Her father, Andrew Wakefleld, was born in 
 Georgia, and became a pioneer of Shelby County. 
 About 1820, locating on what became known as 
 the Wakefield settlement, he entered land from the 
 Government, and was thus one of the first perma- 
 nent settlers. Indians were still numerous in the
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 409 
 
 neighborhood, and everything was in its primitive 
 condition. His deatli occurred at the age of forty- 
 eight years. His mother's father and mother, 
 Charles and Anna Wakefield, were born on the 
 same ship while their respective parents were 
 crossing the Atlantic to America. 
 
 The parents of our subject were married in 
 Shelby County in 1840. The father was one of 
 the pioneer teachers of that locality and was an 
 extensive farmer. His death occurred in Shelby 
 County at the age of forty-three. In the family 
 there were but two sons, Amos and Jesse. The 
 latter was born in 1844, and died in the service of 
 his coutitry in 1864, from disease contracted in the 
 army. lie was a member of Company G, One 
 Hundred and Forty-third Illinois Infantry. Amos 
 was reared in his native county, and the first 
 school which he attended convened in a log cabin, 
 his father being the teacher. During the time of 
 the late war he was a student in Quincy Col- 
 lege, and would have graduated in 1863, had 
 not the Government appropriated the building for 
 a hospital. In 1864 Mr. Rhodes embarked in the 
 grocery business in Pana, under the firm name of 
 Eichelberger & Rhodes, which he carried on for 
 five years, and then engaged in the real-estate 
 business. In 1873 he was elected County Treas- 
 urer and ex-officio County Collector on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, and held that office for six years, 
 having been re-elected at the two succeeding elec- 
 tions. When his term had expired, in the year 
 1879, lie retired to his farm two miles south of 
 Pana, having resolved to live a private life, 
 but later held the office of Township Super- 
 visor for three terms, and in the year 1884 
 was again called to the county seat, being elected 
 Clerk of the Circuit Court, which position he ac- 
 ceptably filled for four years. Declining to be 
 nominated again, he returned to his present farm 
 of eighty acres, lying just west of Pana, where he 
 has since lived retired. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes was married January 2, 1865, to 
 Miss Dora, daughter of Ignatz Jageman, of Madi- 
 son County. She was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
 Germany, and when she was six years of age the 
 family settled in Trenton, N. J. Her father was a 
 prominent man, being Burgomaster of Furth, his 
 
 native city. Four children were born unto our 
 subject and his wife: Edward J., who is Deputy 
 Circuit Clerk of Christian County and resides in 
 Taylorville; Charles A., Deputy County Clerk, and 
 also living in Taylorville; and two sons who died 
 in infancy. Mr. Rhodes is a member of Pana 
 Lodge No. 226, A. F.& A. M.,and of Orient Chap- 
 ter, O. E. S. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes has been called upon to mourn the 
 loss of his life companion, she being called hence on 
 the 6th of May, 1892, as the result of a lingering 
 illness. She was a lady of education and refine- 
 ment, and had good advantages in both German 
 and English, having finished her education in 
 Trenton, N. J. A lady of wide acquaintance, 
 her place in the community will be difficult to 
 fill. Mr. Rhodes was elected in the j'ear 1868 the 
 first City Clerk of Pana, and held that office for 
 three successive terms. In the various offices in 
 which he has been called upon to serve, he has 
 discharged his duties with a promptness and fidel- 
 ity that have won him high commendation. He is 
 true to every public and private trust, and naught 
 is said against him in the community where he 
 has so long made his home. 
 
 RS. MELINDA JACOBS is one of the pio- 
 neers of Illinois, her father having settled 
 in Sangamon County at a very early day. 
 For over forty years she has been a resi- 
 dent of Christian County, and is now passing her 
 declining years at her pleasant home, which is sit- 
 uated on section 26, Prairieton Township. Her 
 birth occurred August 9, 1837, in Sangamon 
 County. Her father, David Hayes, was born in 
 Union County, S. C. When he was a child of 
 four years he went with his father, William Hayes, 
 to Indiana, where he grew to manhood. After his 
 marriage he removed to Illinois and, as previously 
 mentioned, took up his abode in Sangamon County, 
 this being in 1830. After his first wife's death, 
 he married Mrs. Nancy (Hall) Taylor, a widow,
 
 410 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 who was born in Pittsylvania County, Va. AVhen 
 a young girl of fourteen years she emigrated to 
 Indiana, where she married William Taylor. 
 
 David Hayes engaged in farming in Sangamon 
 County until 1849, when he removed to this 
 county and here spent the remainder of his life, 
 dying in July, 1886, honored and respected by all. 
 His wife is still living, residing on the old home- 
 stead with her daughter, and lias attained the ripe 
 old age of ninety-three years. 
 
 Mrs. Jacobs was only twelve years old when 
 her parents removed with their family to Christian 
 County. Prior to this time she had received fair 
 school advantages, and on arriving at womanhood 
 she gave her hand in marriage to George W. Ja- 
 cobs, the ceremony being' performed in March, 
 1857. Mr. Jacobs was a native of Kentucky, and 
 with his parents came to Illinois, settling in this 
 locality about 1826. The young couple settled 
 on the farm where Mrs. Jacob is still living soon 
 after their marriage. The farm then comprised 
 only eighty acres of wild prairie land, entirely 
 unimproved. They were industrious and undis- 
 mayed at the work before them, and together they 
 wrought out an enviable success. Being frugal, 
 they laid by money and invested in more land, un- 
 til at the time of Mr. Jacobs' death their farm 
 numbered three hundred and twenty acres. He 
 was a successful farmer and a business man of 
 good ability. He was much respected in this en- 
 tire region, and when he was called from the scenes 
 of this life in March, 1872, his loss was deeply and 
 sincerely mourned. His last resting-place is in the 
 Jacobs Cemetery, the grave being marked by a 
 substantial monument. The union of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Jacobs was blessed by three children. Me- 
 linda is the wife of James Northcut, of Trinidad, 
 Colo.; Grant, who is well educated and is a young 
 man of good ability, is now carrying on the home 
 place; and Ida May is the wife of Charles Rice, 
 who is well known in Prairieton Township. By a 
 former marriage Mr. Jacobs had four children. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Jacobs was a Douglas Democrat. 
 During the war he was a supporter of the Union 
 cause and became an adherent of the Republican 
 party. Mrs, Jacobs is a member of the Christian 
 Church and is greatly interested in its growth and 
 
 prosperity. She is a lady of unusual business ca- 
 pacity and has shown herself fully competent 
 to carry on her farm and conduct her business in- 
 terests. She is a lady of noble Christian charac- 
 ter and is greatly loved and esteemed by all who 
 have the pleasure of her acquaintance. For forty- 
 four years she has been a resident of this county, 
 and is well worthy of a place among the honored 
 settlers of this region. 
 
 P. LAWRENCE, who for many 
 years has creditably filled the office of Jus- 
 tice of the Peace in Pana, and is one of the 
 well-known and popular citizens, was born in Nor- 
 folk, Litchfield County, Conn., on the 20th of No- 
 vember, 1830. His father, E. Grove Lawrence, 
 was a native of New York, but was reared in Con- 
 necticut, where he met and married Jerusha Stevens, 
 a native of the Nutmeg State. 
 
 The subject of this sketch spent his early boy- 
 hood upon his father's farm and in a store at Nor- 
 folk, his father being a merchant at that place. 
 He remained under the parental roof until he had 
 attained his majority. lie was well educated, and 
 after enjoying the privileges afforded by the pub- 
 lic schools, he entered Yale College, in 1852, pur- 
 sued the classical course, and was graduated in 
 1856 in a class of more than one hundred. Two 
 of the Judges of the United States Supreme Court 
 were among its members, Judge Brewer and Judge 
 Brown, also Chauncey M. Depew. The father of our 
 subject was extensively engaged in the manufac- 
 ture and sale of dry goods, and invested some of 
 his capital in farm lands in the West. His son 
 Grove, after leaving college, came to the West in 
 order to superintend the business affairs connected 
 with the farm, and in the fall of 1859 he opened a 
 store in Paua, which lie carried on in connection 
 with the management of his father's interests. 
 He improved a farm of four hundred and eighty 
 acres, which is still owned by Mr. Lawrence, Sr.,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 411 
 
 who is yet living in Norfolk, Conn., at the age of 
 eighty-seven years. He also has other landed in- 
 terests in the southern part of the State. 
 
 Our subject carried on general merchandising 
 from 1859 until 1863, when he disposed of the 
 store and returned to Connecticut to die, as he 
 thought. He had been in VCIT poor health for 
 some time, and his physicians gave him no encour- 
 agement. He went to the East, spent a number 
 of weeks in travel, and after a few months again 
 came to this State with health restored. In 1867 
 he went in company with the Exchange Bank in 
 connection with J. C. Hclmick, who died two years 
 later, while Mr. Lawrence still lives and is quite 
 robust. He carried on his banking operations un- 
 til 1873, when, in the spring of that year, he em- 
 barked in railroad construction in Missouri, on a 
 line from Keokuk. Iowa, to Kansas City. About 
 sixteen miles were built, and the work seemed to 
 be progressing finely. The counties through which 
 the road was to pass assisted in its construction, 
 but repudiated the bonds, and in the financial 
 panic of 1873 the concern was closed up. Mr. 
 Lawrence having gone security on the construc- 
 tion, and the venture proving a failure, heavy 
 losses were brought upon him, and he was forced 
 to close his bank, being left without a dollar. 
 Later he became manager for his father's interests. 
 He carried matters along until 1878, and during 
 that time paid nearly all of his creditors. He 
 then accepted the benefit afforded by the bank- 
 rupt act. There had been $5,000,000 issued in 
 bonds and contracted for the road, but on account 
 of the financial crisis of 1873 they were not dis- 
 posed of. 
 
 Turning from the public to the private life of 
 Mr. Lawrence, we note that on the 26th of Octo- 
 ber, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss 
 Ella B., daughter of Dr. D. H. Blackburn. Her 
 father died about a year ago, but her mother is 
 still living in Pana. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence 
 have been born three children: E. Grove, of St. 
 Louis, Mo., who is now engaged as contracting 
 agent of the Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Rail- 
 road; Hiram A., at home; and Lyda B., who is 
 now engaged in teaching music. 
 
 Mr. Lawrence is now serving his twelfth year 
 
 as Justice of the Peace. He has proved himself 
 an able and competent officer, and is also a popu- 
 lar one, and no higher testimonial to his ability 
 could be given than his repeated re-election. With 
 the Presbyterian Church he holds membership, 
 and lakes an active interest in all that goes to 
 promote its growth and upbuilding. The cause 
 of temperance finds in him a warm friend, and he 
 votes with the Prohibition party. His influence 
 was largely felt in securing an anti-license vote in 
 Pana. He is ever on the side of law and order, 
 morality and upright living, and his own honor- 
 able career has gained him universal confidence 
 and esteem. 
 
 C^1^jr_^ fT^L 
 i 'I ?' T ' >>t3 
 
 IF^ICHARD LARGE, a retired farmer resid- 
 |Ufj^ ing in Taylorville, has lived a busy and 
 ^>\. useful life, and now in his declining years 
 is enjoying a well-earned rest. He claims 
 the Emerald Isle as the land of his birth, which 
 occurred on the 19th of September, 1821, in 
 Queens County, thirty miles from Dublin. His 
 father, George Large, was twice married. In 1824 
 he started with his family for Canada, crossing the 
 Atlantic in a sailing-vessel, and three weeks after 
 reaching his destination died, leaving his widow 
 with six children. The family located near Ni- 
 agara Falls, in Canada, where they remained until 
 1828, when they removed to what is now Noble 
 Count}-, Ohio, where Mrs. Large had a sister liv- 
 ing. They purchased a tract of timber-laud, and 
 in the midst of the forest hewed out a farm. 
 Henry Large, the only survivor of the family be- 
 sides our subject, is still living on the old home- 
 stead, and is now worth $300,000. 
 
 Richard Large aided his mother in the cultiva- 
 tion of her land, and remained under the parental 
 roof until eighteen years old, when he started out 
 in life for himself. At that time he became an ap- 
 prentice lo Robert Adair, of Guernsey County. 
 Ohio, serving a three-years term at cabinet-mak- 
 ing. During the first two years he received $33
 
 412 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 a year, and for the last year $66. When his term 
 expired lie followed carpentering during the sum- 
 mer months, and in the winter season worked for 
 his old employer. 
 
 Mr. Large was married in Senecaville in the 
 fall of 1844, the lady of his choice being Mar- 
 garet McGinnis. 'There they began their domes- 
 tic life, but in 1846 they removed to Whigville, 
 and there, building a shop and home, Mr. Large 
 earned on business until 1856. However, in the 
 latter part of 1852, he went by water to Califor- 
 nia, where for a few weeks he engaged in mining, 
 and then resumed his trade, carrying on a sasli 
 and door factory in Nevada, Cal., until 1855, 
 when he returned to his home in the Buckeye 
 State. The same fall he came to Illinois and pur- 
 chased seventy acres of land at $6 per acre on 
 Buckeye Prairie, in Christian County. A few 
 years later he bought another seventy-acre tract 
 at $15 per acre, and in 1856 lie brought his fam- 
 ily to Christian County. For a year he worked 
 in Taylorville at cabinet-making, but in the spring 
 of 1857 removed to the farm, which he operated 
 successfully until the death of his wife, which oc- 
 curred February 9, 1876. 
 
 The family of Richard Large numbered seven 
 children. Elizabeth Ann, who became the wife of 
 Frank M. Winters, of Locust Township, died in 
 1890; Noah H., of Millersvillc, is a dealer in 
 horses and cattle, and is now Supervisor of Lo- 
 cust Township; Eveline C. is the wife of E. W. 
 Cleary, who is now living on the old homestead 
 in Locust Township; Samuel Lewis and Henry 
 Melchior are now in the West; Alfred Bronson 
 died in 1879, at the age of twenty-one; and Cora 
 Illinois is the wife of Clarence Hunter, of Rose- 
 inond Township. Mr. Large was again married, 
 in Noble County, Ohio, February 24, 1878, his 
 second union being with Mrs. Martha A. Hobaugh. 
 She is a daughter of James W. and Henrietta S. 
 (Round) Shankland, and in November, 1843, be- 
 came the wife of William O. P. Hobaugh. They 
 made their home in Monroe County, Ohio, until 
 April, 1866, when they removed to St. Louis, 
 where the husband died of cholera in September. 
 1866. They had a family of live children. Eliza 
 C. is now the wife of B. F. Brua, a photographer 
 
 of Lyons, Kan.; Emma F. is living in New York; 
 and the others are deceased. 
 
 After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Large re- 
 turned to Illinois and located upon a farm, where 
 they made their home until 1882. In that year 
 they removed to Taylorville, where they have 
 since resided. Their home is beautifully located, 
 and their residence is a neat and tasty dwelling, 
 comfortably furnished. Mr. Large still owns his 
 farm of one hundred and forty acres in Locust 
 Township, and it yields him a good income. His 
 successful management of business in former years, 
 and his well-directed efforts, have made him one 
 of the substantial citizens of the community, and 
 he is therefore now enabled to live a retired life. 
 In politics, he was a Democrat prior to the war, 
 but on the organization of the Republican party 
 he joined its ranks, and continued one of its sup- 
 porters until 1884, since which time he has been 
 an advocate of the Prohibition party. 
 
 &m NDREW B. CHAPMAN, whose commodi- 
 @/u[, ous home is on section 19, Prairieton 
 
 I Is Township, has been for nearly half a cen- 
 ^jj tury an honored citizen of Christian 
 County. He claims Connecticut as his native 
 State, his birth having occurred in New London 
 County, on the 29th of February, 1824, and while 
 he is nearly seventy years, of age, he has never 
 witnessed but seventeen birthdays. He is of the 
 fourth generation, all bearing the name of Andrew, 
 removed from John Chapman, who was an English 
 sailor, who founded this family in New England. 
 Our subject's great-grandfather was the founder 
 of the town of Stonington, Conn., while his son 
 Andrew won honors in the Revolutionary War. 
 
 The father of our subject, Andrew Chapman, 
 was born at Stonington, Conn., November 27, 
 178'5, and served as a soldier in the War of 1812. 
 He was married to a Connecticut lady, and reared 
 his family and spent his entire life in his native 
 State. Our subject is one of twelve children, six
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 413 
 
 sons and six daughters, all of whom grew to ma- 
 ture years. He is the youngest of the four 
 brothers and sisters who are yet living. 
 
 The early years of the gentleman whose name 
 heads this sketch were spent in the county of his 
 birth, where, in spite of limited school privileges, 
 he became quite a scholar, and while still j'oung 
 taught in the common schools. He was always 
 especially fond of mathematics, and became an 
 adept in the higher branches. For a number of 
 years he followed teaching as a profession, both in 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1848, he con- 
 cluded to try his fortune in the West, and decided 
 to locate in Christian County, III. His first pur- 
 chase was a tract of one hundred and sixty acres 
 of wild prairie land. This he fenced and placed 
 under cultivation, and as his means increased he 
 invested from time to time in more land, until 
 at the present time he owns about twelve 
 hundred acres of valuable and well-cultivated 
 land. When the law restraining stock from run- 
 ning at large came in force, our subject had already 
 made rails and built forty miles of fencing. Dur- 
 ing the first winter of his settlement here he 
 taught a country school, and for the two succeed- 
 ing years was principal of the Taylorville school. 
 For a number of years he was the leading teacher 
 and educator in the county, and met with flat- 
 tering success as a pedagogue. 
 
 Returning to Stonington, Conn., Mr. Chapman 
 wedded Miss Elizabeth Williams, on the 18th of 
 March, 1852. Mrs. Chapman is a native of Con- 
 necticut, and was herself a successful teacher be- 
 fore her marriage with our subject. During the 
 years he was teaching in Taylorville she was his 
 assistant, and rendered material aid. This worthy 
 couple have two sons, the elder of whom, John 
 W. H., is at present ably serving as Supervisor of 
 Prairicton Township, and in company with his 
 younger brother, Andrew B., has charge of his 
 father's farms. The parents are active members 
 " oT"the Stonington Baptist Church, and our sub- 
 ject has been a member of that denomination for 
 over fifty years. 
 
 Since the organization of the Republican party 
 Mr. Chapman has used his influence and vote in 
 favor of its nominees, and assisted in organizing 
 
 the party in this county in 1856. Prior to that 
 time he was a Jackson Democrat. In local poli- 
 tics he has played an important part, and has 
 served as a delegate to numerous County Con- 
 ventions. It has been forty-five years since he 
 cast in his lot with the pioneers of this county, 
 and he has not regretted the step he then made. 
 Few men are better known in this part of the 
 State, and he has for years possessed the confidence 
 of all to a flattering degree. 
 
 M C. PONTING, a prominent stock-dealer 
 and breeder of Prairieton Township, owns 
 a well-equipped farm on section 36, and for 
 forty-three years has been intimately connected 
 with the march of progress in this county. He is 
 recognized as a man of unusual business ability 
 and force of character, for lie has acquired a for- 
 tune through the exercise of his superior abilities. 
 He is very well known in this portion of the State, 
 and we feel sure that his many friends will take 
 pleasure in perusing the history of this worthy 
 pioneer. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Ponting occurred in Somerset- 
 shire, England, near the cit}' of Bath, on the 26th 
 of August, 1830. He is the son of John and Ruth 
 (Sheron) Ponting. On his father's side the de- 
 scent of the family is traced from the time of 
 William the Conqueror. Until his seventeenth 
 year, our subject's time was passed in his native 
 land. Since reach ing years of maturity he has ac- 
 quired an education, as he had no opportunities 
 in that direction during his youth. 
 
 It was in 1847 that Mr. Ponting emigrated to 
 the United States. Going to London, he took 
 passage in a sailing-vessel, and after being tossed 
 two and fro on the broad Atlantic for five weeks 
 and three da3 r s. arrived in New York City in Sep- 
 tember. He first went to Worcester County, Ohio, 
 joining some friends at Frederickstown. His first 
 experience in a business way in this country was 
 at Columbus, Ohio, where he engaged in buying
 
 414 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and butchering cuttle for the markets. In the 
 spring of 1848 he went to Chicago, then but a 
 small, straggling town, without railroads. For the 
 first year he engaged in buying and selling cattle, 
 after which he went to Milwaukee, continuing in 
 the same line of business and shipping stock to 
 Chicago. His next venture was to go to Texas, 
 where he purchased cattle and started to drive 
 them to the North. On his way to Illinois, he 
 arrived in this township, and, as the custom was in 
 those days, stopped for a night at a hospitable 
 farmer's. He was entertained at the home of the 
 Adams family, and here received his first ideas of 
 this county. Since that date (July, 1853,) lie has 
 made his home here and is still engaged in the 
 stock business. 
 
 In September, 1856, Mr. Ponting was united in 
 marriage with Miss Margaret Snider, the ceremony 
 being performed in the home where he still resides. 
 Mrs. Ponting is a native of this county and has 
 passed all her life in her present home. In 1856 
 our subject purchased his first land in Stonington 
 Township, and to its cultivation devoted himself 
 for many years. He commenced his career in Illi- 
 nois empty-handed, but, with the assistance of his 
 estimable wife, has accumulated a large and valu- 
 able estate. 
 
 The wife of our subject is a daughter of Michael 
 Snider, who was of German birth, and one of the 
 first settlers of this county. He is living at the 
 home of his daughter, and though over eighty 
 years of age is still strong and robust. To our sub- 
 ject and wife have been born the following chil- 
 dren: Jessie, who is the wife of Wheeler Adams, a 
 well-to-do farmer of Shelby County; Everett A.; 
 Earl Wayne; Theophilus, who died in the fall of 
 1882, aged fourteen years; and three who died 
 in infancy. 
 
 Soon after his marriage Mr. Pouting embarked 
 more extensively in the stock business, and has 
 made a great success of this occupation. In 1882 
 he purchased a farm adjoining the corporate lim- 
 its of Moweaqua. He relates that the horse he rode 
 to Christian County was afterward owned by a 
 Mr. Bradley, and was used by Abraham Lincoln 
 the last time he attended court at Urbana. Polit- 
 ically, Mr. Ponting was formerly an old-line Whig, 
 
 supported Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and has since 
 been a Republican. In local elections he is inde- 
 pendent, casting his ballot for the one whom lie 
 thinks best qualified, regardless of party. Relig- 
 iously, Mr. and Mrs. Ponting are not identified 
 with any church organization, but attend the dif- 
 ferent churches of the neighborhood and contrib- 
 ute to their support. They are well thought of 
 throughout this region, and are always active in 
 benevolent enterprises, as well as in all movements 
 tending to advance the public good. 
 
 eUARLES F. ELLIOTT, who is engaged in 
 the livery business in Pana, claims Ohio as 
 the State of his nativity. The place of his 
 birth is in New Holland, and the date is April 3, 
 1866. He is a son of John A. and Elizabeth (Vin- 
 cent) Elliott, both of whom were also born in the 
 Buckeye State. The grandparents also lived in 
 Ohio. The paternal grandfather was a farmer by 
 occupation and reared a family of six children. 
 His death occurred in Ohio, when about sixty 
 years of age. The maternal grandfather also spent 
 his last days in that State. 
 
 John A. Elliott has followed the carpenter's 
 trade during the greater part of his life. lie came 
 to Illinois in 1869, locating in Pana, where he 
 still makes his home. He served during the late 
 war as a member of one of the one hundred-day 
 regiments. Himself and wife are highly respected 
 people and both hold membership in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. Their family numbers 
 four children, two sons and two daughters: Me- 
 lissa J., Charles F., Frederick M. and Annie B. 
 
 Our subject was only three years of age when 
 he came with his parents to Pana, where he has 
 since made his home. He was here reared, spend- 
 ing his boyhood days midst play and work, and in 
 the public schools acquired his education. After 
 arriving at years of maturity, he was united in 
 marriage with Miss Annie Fanner, of Pana. Their
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 415 
 
 union was celebrated on the 22d of December, 
 1891, and has been blessed by one child, a son, 
 Clarence M., who is the light of tlie household. 
 
 In his social relations Mr. Elliott is a member of 
 the Knights of Pythias, belonging to Lytha Lodge 
 No. 159, K. P., also to Mystic Circle. He has fol- 
 lowed in the political footsteps of his father, and 
 exercises his right of franchise in support of the 
 Republican party. "His wife is a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. Both have many 
 friends throughout the community where they have 
 now resided for a quarter of a century. As stated 
 at the beginning of this sketch, Mr. Elliott is en- 
 gaged in the livery business. He owns a large 
 livery barn, and in connection with this has a feed 
 and sales stable. His barn is supplied with a large 
 line of carriages, buggies, etc., and a number of 
 fine horses, in fact it is complete in all its appoint- 
 ments and from the public Mr. Elliott receives a 
 liberal patronage. He is a wide-awake and enter- 
 prising young man, and his ambitious and pro- 
 gressive spirit will no doubt make his business ca- 
 reer one of success. 
 
 YRON TRAVIS, a well-known hardware 
 merchant of Assumption, is one of the re- 
 liable business men of the town, and has 
 spent almost his entire life in this county. 
 It is with pleasure that we place his name among 
 the pioneers and representative men of Christian 
 County, as he has taken so large a part in the up- 
 building of this section. He is a native of Pennsyl- 
 vania, his birth having occurred near Pittsburgh, 
 July 31, 1855. His parents areT. M. and Jane G. 
 (Barrett) Travis. The former is also a native of the 
 Keystone State, and on arriving at manhood was 
 married there. His wife was a daughter of M. L. 
 Barrett, who was one of the pioneers of Christian 
 County, locating here in 1858, and is now one of 
 the worthy citizens of Assumption, though about 
 ninety years of age. Our subject's father was a 
 carpenter and joiner by trade, and followed that 
 
 business in Pennsylvania. In 1855, he came West 
 to Illinois, locating in Shelby County, where he 
 worked at his trade and also engaged in farming. 
 He later removed to Assumption, where he now 
 resides. Here he devotes some time to working at 
 his trade, and is also engaged as an insurance 
 agent. 
 
 Byron Travis was brought by his parents to Illi- 
 nois while in his infancy, and grew to manhood 
 in Shelby County. He was given good common- 
 school advantages, and is an intelligent and well- 
 informed gentleman. Corning to Assumption 
 when a young man, he learned the tinner's trade, 
 which occupation he followed for several years. 
 In 1875 he went West to the Black Hills, Colora- 
 do, Dakota and Montana, and spent about two 
 years very pleasantly in the picturesque West. In 
 July, 1877, Mr. Travis returned to Illinois and 
 started a tin shop in this village. The following 
 year he put in a small stock of tin and hardware, 
 and as business increased enlarged his stock from 
 time to time. In 1892 he built a neat and sub- 
 stantial business house, in which he now has a 
 large and complete line of shelf and heavy hard- 
 ware, tinware and an assortment of fine cutlery, 
 lie has built up a reputation for reliable goods 
 and honorable dealing, and therefore justly de- 
 serves the large patronage which he receives. His 
 life plainly shows what may be done by an enter- 
 prising young man who possesses ability and the 
 traits of industry and perseverance. 
 
 Our subject was united in marriage Novem- 
 ber 19, 1879, with Miss Emma E., daughter of W. 
 G. Henry, of this place. Mrs. Travis was born 
 and grew to womanhood in Christian County, and 
 is a granddaughter of the Rev. Mr. Clokey, a pio- 
 neer minister of the United Presbyterian denomin- 
 ation. He established the church at Spring Creek, 
 and was well known to the pioneers of this part of 
 the State. Two children graced the union of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Travis: Edna, who died in July, 1889, 
 aged five years; and Roy, a bright little lad. The 
 mother is a member of the Presbyterian Church, 
 which our subject also attends and to which he is 
 a liberal contributor. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Travis is a member of the Ma- 
 sonic fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 451,
 
 416 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 A. F. & A. M., of Assumption, in which he has 
 served as Master and as Representative to the 
 Grand Lodge of Illinois on several occasions. He 
 also belongs to Pana Chapter, R. A. M. The' first 
 Presidential ballot cast by him was for Rutherford 
 
 B. Hayes, since which election he has voted for 
 every nominee of the Republican party at the 
 Presidential elections. 
 
 \IL_ ENRY J. YARNELL is one of the old set- 
 [[j! tiers and representative farmers of Christian 
 /iv^ Count}", his home being on section 22, 
 (||| Mosquito Township. He was born Jan- 
 uary 8, 1844, near Carlinville, Macoupin County, 
 111, and was the fourth in a family of seven chil- 
 dren, whose parents were Isnac A. and Rebecca 
 (Bonharn) Yarnell. Our subject has only two sis- 
 ters living, namely: Olive Caroline and Sophronia 
 B. The former is the wife of Francis J. Miller, a 
 farmer of Nance County, Neb. The younger sis- 
 ter married James A. Piper, a grain-dealer of 
 Greenfield, 111. 
 
 Isaac A. Yarnell was born December 13, 1810, 
 near Knoxville, Tenn., and has been engaged in 
 farming all his life. He came to Illinois and en- 
 tered land in Macoupin County in 1833. He 
 there remained until 1845, when he sold his farm 
 and purchased a tract of land in Greene County, 
 111. In the fall of 1867, he came to Christian 
 County, becoming the owner of a farm, which is 
 now the property of our subject. He was called 
 from this life August 7, 1887. Politically, he was 
 first a Whig and later a Republican, and relig- 
 iously was a member of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Church. He was of Irish ancestry, his fore- 
 fathers having located in this country at a very 
 early day. His father, Mordecai Yarnell, was born 
 April 17, 1767, was a farmer, and died July 30, 
 1846. The father of the latter was a soldier in 
 the Revolutionary War. The mother of our sub- 
 ject was a daughter of Benjamin and Olive Bon- 
 ham, and was born November 10, 1811, in Blount 
 
 County, Tenn. She died in the faith of the Meth- 
 odist Church, August 16, 1852, in Greene County, 
 111. Like her husband, she was of Irish descent. 
 
 Henry J. Yarnell was reared on his father's farm 
 in Illinois, and during the winter terms attended 
 the country schools until nearly eighteen years of 
 age. On the 8th of September, 1862, he became a 
 private of Company K, Ninety-first Illinois Infan- 
 try, having enlisted for a term of three years. He 
 served for two years and ten months, when he re- 
 ceived his discharge, as Lee had surrendered. He 
 had been a soldier for about four months when he 
 was taken prisoner at Elizabethtown. Ky. With 
 his company, he was obliged to surrender to John 
 Morgan on December 27, 1862. He was sent to 
 the parole camp at Benton Barracks, near St. 
 Louis, and was exchanged June 5, 1863, with his 
 regiment, and newly equipped. On the 7th of the 
 following July he went to Vicksburg, and with his 
 regiment was attached to the Thirteenth Army 
 Corps, remaining as a part of that body until Sep- 
 tember. He was sent to Morganza, on the Missis- 
 sippi River, and later to Point Isabel, Tex., where 
 he arrived November 3, 1863. For several months 
 he did provost duty in New Orleans. On the 17th 
 of March, 1865, with his company placed in ad- 
 vance, he started for Mobile and had to march 
 forty miles. On the 27th of the same month they 
 met the enemy, and our subject was under fire for 
 fourteen days. His regiment was in the last en- 
 gagement East of the Mississippi River, at a point 
 called Eight-Mile Creek. Being mustered out July 
 12, 1865, he returned home, having escaped with 
 slight injuries. 
 
 Feeling the need of a better education than he 
 yet possessed, Mr. Yaruell went for one term to a 
 private graded school at Scottville, Macoupin 
 County. Afterward he assisted his father on the 
 farm, and during the winter six-months term he 
 taught for sixteen years. 
 
 On the 4th of Apiil, 1872, Mr. Yarnell and Miss 
 Jane A. Wilkinson were married. The lady was 
 born in April, 1844, in Macoupiu County, her 
 parents being Thompson and Mary A. Wilkinson, 
 early settlers of that county. The father was bora 
 in England, and settled in Virginia with his par- 
 ents. When a young man, he came to Illinois,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and is now a resident of Nebraska. His wife, who 
 was a native of Vermont, is also living. Our sub- 
 ject and his wife have two children: Oscar, a 
 young man of good education, who has taught 
 school and is now reading medicine; and Maud, 
 who is a bright little girl of four years. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Yarnell supports the Republican 
 party. He resides in a Democratic township, but 
 has so far won the friendship and confidence of 
 his neighbors and friends that he has been honored 
 by them with various positions of trust and honor. 
 For two terms he was the efficient Supervisor of 
 the township, and in 1889 was a candidate for 
 nomination as Representative of Christian County, 
 and had the support of nine of the seventeen 
 townships in the county. He is a member of the 
 Masonic order, belonging to Lodge No. 682, of 
 Blue Mound, of which he is a charter member. 
 He and his worthy wife are members of the Bap- 
 tist Church, in which he is one of the Deacons. 
 The property of Mr. Yarnell comprises one hun- 
 dred and forty acres, which are cultivated and 
 improved. Here the owner carries on general 
 farming and stock-raising with ability and si 
 
 C. BUTTS, the popular and effl- 
 cient Postmaster of Pana, is an honored 
 veteran of the late war, who entered the 
 service as a valiant defender of the Union, and 
 throughout the struggle was always found at his 
 post of duty, guarding the Stars and Stripes. He 
 was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, July 17, 
 1837, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Cryder) 
 Butts, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and 
 the latter of Ohio. When a lad of eight years the 
 father removed to the Buckeye State with his father, 
 William Butts, formerly of Somerset County, Pa. 
 The mother of our subject died when he was eleven 
 years old, and for about seven years he lived with 
 an uncle near New Philadelphia. Prompted by 
 patriotic impulses, he enlisted July 26, 1861, as a 
 member of Company G , Forty-first Illinois Infantry. 
 21 
 
 In 1850, he had accompanied his uncle to Bureau 
 County, III., and after a year went to Ogle Coun- 
 ty, 111. Three years later he went to Iowa, and in 
 1857 to Kansas, residing in Lawrence, Douglas 
 County, for a time, and later in Coffey County. 
 In 1860, he removed to Missouri. During these 
 various removals he lived with his father. In 
 1861, he returned to Illinois and settled on Buck- 
 eyc Prairie, Christian County, where he remained 
 until he entered the service. Three sons of the 
 Butts family served in the war. While at Padu- 
 cah, our subject was visited by his father, who then 
 returned home and resided in Locust Township 
 until his death, which occurred May 24, 1865, at 
 the age of sixty-three. His second wife, whom he 
 married in Virginia, is still living in Somerset 
 County, Pa., and their daughter makes her home 
 in the Old Dominion. 
 
 Dies Butts, the brother of our subject, served in 
 the same company and regiment as Gabriel, and is 
 now a teacher in Pana. Elisha, who had been a 
 sailor in early life, enlisted in Philadelphia in the 
 Ninety-first Pennsylvania Infantry, and served 
 through the war. He had previously been in the 
 regular army for three years on a man-of-war. 
 He made his home in Christian County from 1865 
 until 1871, then removed to Nebraska, and is now 
 living in Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Butts whose name heads this record en- 
 listed at Taylorville, and joined the regiment 
 which was organized at Decatur, with F. M. Long 
 as Captain and Col. I. C. Pugh at the head of the 
 troops. They were ordered to St. Louis, then to 
 Biid's Point, and on to Paducah, which was then 
 under the immediate command of Gen. Grant. 
 In February, 1862, they went on the steamer 
 "Minnehaha" to Ft. Henry, and the Forty-first 111- 
 nois was the first to open the battle at Ft. Donel- 
 son, where they lost about two hundred men. 
 Proceeding to Pittsburg Landing, they were the 
 first to set foot on that historic field. They be- 
 came a part of the famous Fourth Division under 
 Stephen A. Hulburt, and as such took part in the 
 battle of Shiloh. They held the key to that bat- 
 tle, having been stationed at Peach Orchard, 
 where charge after charge was repulsed. The For- 
 ty-first did good service in that terrible encounter,
 
 418 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 and was in the last line of defense when the final 
 charge was made by the enemy. Mr. Butts was 
 wounded on the first day by a minie-ball, and by 
 the aid of a comrade made his way to the rear. 
 He was forced to remain in Savannah, Tenn., for 
 four weeks, was then sent to the hospital in Quincy, 
 111., for five weeks, and subsequently to Paducah. 
 After an absence of four months, he rejoined his 
 regiment at Memphis. 
 
 With his command, Mr. Butts then took part in 
 the siege of Vicksburg, and while making a charge 
 at Jackson, Miss., was captured by the enemy. He 
 was incarcerated at Atlanta and Columbus, S. C., 
 spent one day and night in Libby Prison, and 
 was later sent to Belle Isle, remaining for one 
 hundred days. He w.is then paroled and sent to 
 City Point and Annapolis, and thence to Benton 
 Barracks, Mo., where he was exchanged six months 
 later. In the spring of 1864, he rejoined his reg- 
 iment in Nashville, and took part in the Sherman 
 campaign up to the time of the killing of Gen. 
 McPhersou, when his regiment was detailed to es- 
 cort the remains back to Louisville, Ky. Our sub- 
 ject then went to Springfield, III., where he re- 
 mained until mustered out, September 26, 1864, af- 
 ter three years and three months of service. He 
 was detailed for special service at Vicksburg with 
 the Fifth Ohio Battery, having charge of a twen- 
 ty-six pound gun and two field pieces. He carried 
 a one hundred and sixty-four pound shell to the 
 gun, which was stationed upon a high elevation, 
 about half a mile from the court house. 
 
 After his return home, Mr. Butts engaged in op- 
 erating a threshing-machine, and in November, 
 1864, went to St. Louis, where he spent two years 
 learning photograph}'. He then spent some six 
 months in Bureau County, 111., after which he re- 
 turned to Christian County, and in the succeeding 
 fall located in Pana, where he entered a drug store 
 as clerk. He was afterwards with Mr. Coyner, a 
 druggist, and subsequently with Sumner, Brown <fe 
 Co., of Nokomis, for a month, and then returned 
 to Mr. Coyner, remaining with him untilJanuary 1, 
 1882, when he formed a partnership with his 
 brother-in-law, under the firm name of Butts & 
 Shaffer. Enos W. Shaffer died May 22, 1893, at 
 the age of forty-two, but business is still carried 
 
 on under the old name. Mr. Shaffer was born in 
 Carlisle, Pa., and entered the drug store with Mr. 
 Butts in 1882. He was a modest, unassuming 
 man, highly respected, and was buried under the 
 auspices of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, of which 
 he was an honored member. He was quite popu- 
 lar and had a large circle of friends and acquaint- 
 ances. 
 
 On the 30th of November, 1871, in Pana, our 
 subject married Miss Leah, daughter of John 
 Shaffer, a farmer and carpenter. She was born in 
 Cumberland Countv, Pa., and by her marriage has 
 become the mother of three sons: Claude, a drug- 
 gist, who aids his father in the store; Freeman, who 
 is clerking in the postoffice; and Benton, who is 
 yet attending school. The family is one of prom- 
 inence in the community and its members rank 
 high in social circles. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1890, Mr. Butts was ap- 
 pointed Postmaster of Pana, and has since served 
 in that office with credit to himself and satisfac- 
 tion to the community. He is a stanch Republi- 
 can and an inflexible adherent of the principles of 
 his party, doing all in his power to promote its 
 growth and insure its success. He served eight 
 years as Alderman and also as Town Clerk. He 
 holds membership with the Grand Army Post 
 of Pana. Prominent in business circles, he is 
 honored by all as a man of sterling worth and 
 strict integrity. His faithful service during the 
 late war has been followed by faithful performance 
 of duty during his official career, and it is said of 
 Mr. Butts that he is true to every public and pri- 
 vate trust. 
 
 JLLIAM MORGAN is a native-born citi- 
 zen of Christian County, his birth occur- 
 ring on the 4th of September, 1838. He 
 carries on his farm of three hundred and twenty 
 acres on section 13, Mosquito Township, in addi- 
 tion to which he has for the past six years been
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 419 
 
 engaged in the mercantile business in the village, 
 now known as Morganville. He is an able and 
 enterprising agriculturist and business man and 
 has made a success of his various undertakings. 
 
 John Morgan, our subject's father, was born in 
 Kentucky, being a son of Lambert Morgan, of 
 Virginia, who emigrated to Kentucky in an early 
 day. The father participated in the War of 1812, 
 and was in the battle of New Orleans. In 1820 
 he settled in Indiana, where he resided for twelve 
 years. He later went to Vandalia, 111., his parents 
 proceeding further West. After living for a time 
 at that place, Mr. Morgan went to St. Louis, Mo., 
 where he was employed on a ferry boat. After 
 some wandering he finally settled in this county, 
 where he married Miss Nancy Watkins, a native 
 of Tennessee, whose father was an early settler of 
 central Illinois. Our subject was the only child 
 of this marriage. The father located on a farm in 
 Mosquito Township, where he passed his remain- 
 ing days. His second wife was a Mrs. Allen, who 
 bore the maiden name of Lucinda Loyd. She was 
 a native of Kentucky, and became the mother of 
 six children, one of whom is now deceased. 
 
 William Morgan was raared on the pioneer farm 
 of his father in this county and received but 
 limited advantages in an educational direction. 
 He embarked in business at Mt. Auburn on attain- 
 ing manhood, but soon turned his attention to 
 farming. Though he has continued as an agricul- 
 turist up to the present time, he has always been 
 interested in commercial lines, and in 1887 opened 
 his mercantile store in Morganville. He does 
 general mercandising and commands a good trade. 
 His farm, which is well developed, covers three 
 hundred and twenty acres and is one of the best 
 in the township. 
 
 In August, 1866, was celebrated the marriage of 
 Mr. Morgan and Miss Margaret A. Nicholas, daugh- 
 ter of A. E. and Julia Nicholas, of Sangamon 
 Count} r , 111. Five children have been born to 
 them, namely: Emma, wife of Albert Allen, of 
 Decatur; Lucy E., wife of Harvey Clements, who is 
 living on the old farm; John R., W. E. and George 
 A., who are all at home. 
 
 Soon after his marriage Mr. Morgan located on 
 a farm of one hundred and forty acres, which has 
 
 since been extended to its present limits. His fa- 
 ther, in order to give him a start, deeded ninety 
 acres to him, and by hard labor and economy he 
 has acquired the remainder. In 1862 he was elec- 
 ted Constable of Mosquito Township, a position 
 he ably filled for twenty years. For three years 
 he has served as Road Commissioner, and for two 
 decades has been School Commissioner. In poli- 
 tics, he is a stanch Democrat, having voted for its 
 nominees since casting his first, vote for James 
 Buchanan. He is a member of the Fraternal 
 Mystic Circle, and, religiously, both himself and 
 wife are devoted members of the Christian Church 
 and are highly thought of and honored by their 
 neighbors. 
 
 >1LLIAM KNOTT, who carries on farming 
 on section 30, Pana Township, was born 
 in the county of Hereford, England, De- 
 cember 5, 1820. His father, Richard Knott, was 
 a native of the same locality, and there spent his 
 entire life, his death occurring at the age of sixty- 
 three years. The mother bore the maiden name 
 of Ann Lem. She. too, was born in the same 
 community, and her death occurred at the age of 
 forty. They were the parents of five children, 
 four sons and a daughter, all of whom grew to 
 mature years, while four of the number are yet 
 living. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who was third in 
 order of birth, was reared in the county of his na- 
 tivity as a shepherd boy and received such educa- 
 tional privileges as the common schools of that 
 dav afforded. Having arrived at man's estate, he 
 was married in England to Ann Gwilharn, of 
 Hereford. The wedding tour of the young couple 
 was a long one, consisting of a trip to America. 
 On the day of their marriage they boarded a 
 Westward-bound vessel, which sailed for the New 
 World, and on the 6th of August, 1851, they 
 landed in New York. On they came to Peru, 111., 
 and soon after his arrival Mr. Knott was robbed
 
 420 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 of all he possessed, about $400. He awoke in the 
 morning to find that he had only an English six- 
 pence with which to start in life. He and his wife 
 both began working in order to make a beginning, 
 Mr. Knott following any pursuit whereby he 
 might earn an honest dollar. He sawed wood 
 for seventy-five cents per cord, and did various 
 labor for two years, when, with the assistance of 
 Mr. Coffin, a banker of Peru, who bought a team 
 for him, he was enabled to begin farming for 
 himself. He rented eighty acres near Peru, and 
 for four years engaged in its cultivation. At 
 the end of that time he had enougli capital to 
 buy a team and wagon, and rented a farm on the 
 Illinois River bottoms, but the floods came and 
 over-ran the place and he lost all of his hard-earned 
 savings. He then did what he could for a living 
 until the following spring, when he again rented 
 a farm. In 1861 he entered one hundred and sixty 
 acres in Bureau County, where he remained until 
 1866, when he came to Christian County and pur- 
 chased eighty acres where he now resides. It was 
 all prairie and unimproved, and he at once began 
 its development. The boundaries of the farm 
 have since been extended, until it now comprises 
 two hundred and eighty acres, the greater part of 
 which is under a high state of cultivation. Many 
 improvements he has placed upon it, and it has 
 become one of the valuable farms of the neigh- 
 borhood. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Knott have been born five 
 children and they have an adopted daughter. 
 Thomas W. is now living in Pana Township; John 
 aids in carrying on the home farm; Henry is liv- 
 ing in Kansas; Sarah is the wife of Samuel Hawk- 
 enbury, of Iowa; Eliza is' the wife of Isaac Brand, 
 of Polo, 111.; and the adopted daughter is Lottie, 
 who has been with them since her fifth year. 
 
 Mr. Kuott was formerly a Republican in politics 
 but is now a supporter of the Greenback party. 
 He aided in the organization of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church of Millerville, and has been one 
 of its prominent members and influential workers. 
 He served as Steward of the church and Superin- 
 tendent of the Sunday-school, and is found in the 
 foremost rank of every good work connected with 
 the organization. Many reverses and difliulties has 
 
 Mr. Knott encountered, but with wonderful per- 
 severance and enterprise he. has overcome these 
 obstacles and has achieved a high degree of suc- 
 cess, which is certainly well deserved. He may 
 truly be called a self-made man. 
 
 OSIAH H. DODGE, M. D., who enjoys a 
 large and lucrative practice in Pana, being 
 recognized as one of the leading physicians 
 of this part of the county, was born in 
 Montpelier, Vt., April 26, 1821, and is a son of 
 Winthrop and Luceba (Dodge) Dodge. His par- 
 ents, though of the same name, were not of the 
 same family. They were natives of the Green 
 Mountain State, and when our subject was a lad 
 of ten years they emigrated to Ohio, locating in 
 the Western Reserve, where they spent their re- 
 maining days. 
 
 The Doctor remained upon the home farm until 
 nineteen years of age, but his tastes led him to 
 seek some other pursuit than that of agriculture, 
 and he began reading medicine in Ohio with Dr. 
 W. Streeter, now of Cleveland. He afterwards 
 pursued a course of study in the Medical College 
 of Willoughby, Ohio, and then engaged in prac- 
 tice with his old preceptor for a year. Thinking 
 that the West was a better field for the labors of 
 a young and ambitious physician, he removed to 
 Indiana in 1840, and engaged in teaching and in 
 practicing for two years. In 1844, during the 
 high water, he took two flatboats, loaded with pork, 
 down the river to New Orleans, and then went to 
 the lead mines of Galena. He was engaged in 
 mining at Shellsburg, Mineral Point and Dodge- 
 ville for four years with most excellent success, 
 and then returned to Ohio on a visit. After a 
 short time, however, he started to Galena by way 
 of St. Louis. 
 
 While in the latter city, the Doctor went up to 
 the lecture rooms of the McDowell College, and 
 meeting an old friend he there remained and at-
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 421 
 
 tended a course of lectures, in the winter of 1848- 
 '49, graduating the following spring. The cholera 
 was then in progress,and the Doctor went to Vanda- 
 lia, 111., where he arrived with only two five-franc 
 pieces in his pocket. These he paid out to a man 
 who drove him to Bowling Green, Ky. He had 
 been there only a few days when he had twelve 
 cases of pneumonia, and doctored one hundred for 
 that disease before lie lost a single patient. Dr. 
 Dodge there remained for five years, enjoying an 
 extensive practice, and then located at Oconee, 
 where he practiced his profession for two years, and 
 also engaged in merchandising as a member of the 
 firm of Roberts & Dodge. He then sold to his 
 partner and established a separate store, which he 
 continued for three years. 
 
 In the fall of 1857, the Doctor came to Pana, 
 where he opened a store and office, but the finan- 
 cial panic followed, and he was forced to sell his 
 store; however, he had gained a good practice in 
 the mean time. In 1862, he was appointed Assis- 
 tant Surgeon for the Fifty-fourth Illinois Infantry, 
 with Maj. York as superior, and went with the 
 regiment to Washington and Tennessee, under 
 Gens. Davis and Dodge, of Iowa. He was with the 
 troops at the battle of Merriweather's Ferry, but 
 in the fall of 1862 he was compelled to resign on 
 account of ill health. He assisted in recruiting two 
 companies of the regiment at Pana. 
 
 In 1852, in Bowling Green, Ky., the Doctor was 
 united in marriage with Miss Mary A. McClanahan, 
 who died September 9, 1892, having been his faith- 
 ful companion and helpmate for forty years. Five 
 children were born unto them: Eugenia, wife of 
 Jesse Reese, of Pana; Louisa, wife of David Owens, 
 an operator of Mattoon; Laura, wife of J. O. 
 Gurney, superintendent of the roundhouse of Pana; 
 Josephine, wife of A. II. Miller, a machinist of Se- 
 dalia, Mo.; and Josiah, who died in his twenty-sec- 
 ond year. The Doctor was married May 4, 1893, 
 to Miss Oclava B.iteman, of Pana, a friend of his 
 earlier years. 
 
 On his return from the war, Dr. Dodge resumed 
 practice in Pana, and for five years was engaged 
 in partnership with Dr. Armstrong. Later Dr. Dem- 
 ing, now of Chicago, became his partner, and the 
 connection was continued until about live years 
 
 since. For the past three years, Dr. Dodge has 
 been engaged in office practice, treating chronic 
 diseases. His professional career has been one of 
 excellent success. He possesses both skill and 
 ability, and lias done all in his power to perfect 
 himself in his chosen vocation. He has ever been 
 a close student of the science, and his deep re- 
 searches have placed him in the front rank among 
 his professional brethren, a position which is justly 
 merited. 
 
 JC. Me BRIDE, one of Christian Coun- 
 ty's most prominent attorneys, was born 
 on the 16th of July, 1845, near Palmyra, 
 Macoupin County, 111. The ancestors of the 
 McBrides were Scotch, and the family was founded 
 in America at a period long prior to the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle. They were a patriotic and 
 country-loving people, and the family has fur- 
 nished gallant soldiers for nearly every war that 
 has taken place in this country. Two brothers 
 fell at the bloody battle when Braddock was de- 
 feated, during the French and Indian War. It fur- 
 nished heroes for the struggle for independence; 
 and its sons were in the War of 1812, and in the 
 Mexican and other wars. The family of McBrides 
 were to some extent pioneers of three States: Vir- 
 ginia, Tennessee and Illinois. 
 
 Thomas W. McBride, father of our subject, was 
 born in Tennessee, and thence came to this State 
 as a pioneer. He was then only a boy, and the 
 greater part of his life was spent in Macoupin 
 County. His wife, the mother of our subject, 
 Margery A. McBride, was the daughter of Sandy 
 and Melvina Wiggins, and came to Illinois from 
 Kentucky when but a child. She lived here prior 
 to the memorable winter of the deep snow, and 
 often around the fireside told her children tales 
 of the many hardships and experiences of pioneer 
 life. In the family were three sons and five daugh- 
 ters, all of whom are still living. 
 
 The subject of our sketch spent his boyhood
 
 422 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 days on the farm near Girard, 111., working in the 
 fields during the summer and attending school 
 during the winter. Anxious to secure a good edu- 
 cation, in the winter of 1865-66 he attended Earl- 
 ham College, of Richmond, Ind.,and in the fall of 
 1866 began a course of study at Lincoln Univer- 
 sity, of Lincoln, 111., where he remained for three 
 years, being graduated June 17, 1869, with the 
 degree of Bachelor of Science. He was a thorough 
 and diligent student, in fact was always at the 
 head of his classes. He took a great delight in 
 the Literary Society, and did much to make the 
 Athenian Society, of which he was a member, a 
 great success. Mr. McBride was always a fine de- 
 bater, for he presented his views in a clear, able 
 and earnest manner. In the winter of 1869-70 
 he taught school, and read "Blackstone's Commen- 
 taries," and other noted works of law during his 
 leisure hours. The following spring he entered 
 the law office of Judge W. R. Welch, of Carlin- 
 ville, 111., with whom he read until his admission 
 to the Bar the following fall. About the 1st of 
 January, 1871, he moved to Taylorville and opened 
 an office. 
 
 On the 17th of May, 1871, Mr. McBride was 
 married to Mattie Wheeler, a former schoolmate, 
 then living in Lincoln, 111. She has aided him 
 in bearing the misfortunes and disappointments 
 experienced by so many young lawyers in begin- 
 ning practice, and has, indeed, proved herself to 
 be a true helpmate. She is a daughter of Aaron 
 and Elmira (Stockwell) Wheeler. Her father died 
 many years ago, but her mother is still living in 
 Lincoln on the old homestead, and is remarkably 
 well preserved for one of her years. During the 
 present summer (1893) she spent ten days at the 
 World's Fair. Mr. and Mrs. McBride have four 
 children: Willis Brammer, born September 9, 1872; 
 Horace C., December 26, 1874; Elma, March 8, 
 1879; and Marcella, July 12, 1890. The eldest 
 son is now engaged in teaching school in this 
 county, and the next two children are attending 
 school. 
 
 Christian County recognizes in Mr. McBride one 
 of its leading and influential citizens, and every 
 one speaks well of him. It is such men as he that 
 make the dignity of the law and are an honor 
 
 to the profession. He takes a great interest in 
 his clients, and spares neither time nor labor in 
 working for those by whom his services are en- 
 gaged. He has been connected with some of the 
 most important cases of the county, including the 
 famous Emma Bond case, in which he was associ- 
 ated with Judge McCaskill and Judge Thornton, 
 of Shelbyville, 111. This trial lasted four weeks 
 and excited great interest all over the country. 
 Mr. McBride has an excellent law library, and 
 his familiarity with the contents of these works 
 has made him a most excellent and successful 
 practitioner. He is a most enterprising citizen, 
 and is connected with various interests. He is 
 President of and owns nearly a-fourth interest in 
 the mines of the Taylorville Coal Company, in 
 which enterprise he has taken an active and lead- 
 ing interest from its inception. He is also a stock- 
 holder in the First National Bank and one of its 
 Directors. He owns three hundred and twenty 
 acres of valuable land. Mr. McBride takes quite 
 an active part in politics and campaign work, but 
 has never sought official preferment for himself. 
 He is a member of the Board of Education of the 
 High School, being associated with Messrs. Pro- 
 vine, Vanderveer, Jayne and Adams. This board 
 planned and erected at a cost of over $30,000 the 
 High School Building, which adds greatly to the 
 beauty of Taylorville and to its literary influence. 
 
 UTTON WOOD, a retired lumber dealer 
 of Pana, has been prominent in business 
 circles, and is recognized as one of the 
 valued citizens of the community in 
 which he makes his home. -He was born in Ban- 
 gor, Me., on the 17th of January, 1821, and is a 
 son of Henry and Mary (Radicker) Wood, the 
 former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter 
 of New Brunswick. Our subject comes from one 
 of the old families of the Bay State. His paternal 
 grandfather was a native of Concord, Mass., and 
 spent his entire life in his native State. He reared
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 423 
 
 a family of fourteen children. The father of our 
 subject was a painter by trade, and followed that 
 business for many years. Removing to Bangor, 
 he there spent the remainder of his life, and was 
 called to his final rest at the age of fifty. His 
 wife, who survived him five years, passed away at 
 the age of forty-five. They had a family of six 
 children, four sons and two daughters, of whom 
 four are yet living, as follows: Calista, wile of 
 Gilbert Emerson, of Bangor, Me.; Dutton, of this 
 sketch; Peleg, of Pasadena, Cal.; and Henry, of 
 Van Buren County, Ark. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of the gen- 
 tleman whose name heads this sketch, knowing 
 that it will prove of interest to many of our read- 
 ers, for he is widely and favorably known in this 
 locality. The days of his boyhood and youth 
 were passed in the Pine Tree State. His parents 
 died when he was quite young, and after his moth- 
 er's death he left Bangor and went into the coun- 
 tiy. When he became a man he began operating 
 a sawmill, and in some way or other has been con- 
 nected with the lumber business since that time. 
 His education was acquired in the common dis- 
 trict schools, and through experience and observa- 
 tion he has become a well-informed man. 
 
 On the 1st of October, 1850, Mr. Wood was un- 
 ited in marriage to Miss Rosanna, daughter of 
 Timothy and Laura (Twitchell) Adams, of Massa- 
 chusetts. Seven children graced the union, but 
 Ellen, Osborn, Clarence D. and Othello are now de- 
 ceased. Flora A. is the widow of Charles Dawdy, 
 by whom she had two children, Eugene and 
 Lora. Charles married Miss Nellie Kennedy, and 
 with their two children, Lottie and . Dutton, they 
 reside in Vera, 111. Eva completes the family. 
 
 In 1855, Mr. Wood came from Massachusetts to 
 Illinois, and located twenty miles north of Cairo, 
 where he carried on a sawmill. After a residence 
 of ten years he came to Christian County, where 
 he has since made his home. He now owns two 
 hundred and seventy acres of land in Fayette 
 County, III., besides his comfortable home in Pana, 
 and his sawmill on his farm. In politics, he is a 
 supporter of Republican men and measures. His 
 business career has been one of prosperity. By 
 careful attention to all the details of his business, 
 
 by industry, enterprise and upright dealing, he 
 has met with a high degree of success as the re- 
 sult of his labors. For twenty-seven years he has 
 lived in Pana, and during all this time as been 
 found in the front ranks in support of every en- 
 terprise calculated to benefit the community and 
 promote the general welfare. It is with pleasure 
 that we present this record of his life to our read- 
 ers. 
 
 OHN HEDGES resides on section 32. Pana 
 Township. Among the prominent and rep- 
 tative farmers of this county our sub- 
 ject certainly deserves mention. He is not 
 only a leading agriculturist, but is also an honored 
 veteran of the late war, who in her hour of peril 
 gave to his country his services, faithfully de- 
 fending the Old Flag and the cause which it rep- 
 resented. Mr. Hedges was born in Berkshire, Eng- 
 land, December 13, 1841, and is a son of James 
 and Ann (Stratten) Hedges, who were also natives 
 of Berkshire. In 1857 they came with their fam- 
 ily to the New World, and located near Griggs- 
 ville, in Pike County, 111., where they made their 
 home until 1869, coming from there to Christian 
 County. Here the father died in his eightieth 
 year, and his wife passed away in her eighty- 
 fourth year. Their family numbered six children, 
 who grew to maturity. 
 
 Our subject, who was the third in order of 
 birth, was a youth of fifteen when he crossed the 
 broad ocean with his parents and came to Illinois. 
 He began his education in the schools in Eng- 
 land, and completed it by study in his own room 
 after the hours for out-door work were over. He 
 began work as a farm hand at $12 per month, and 
 gave his wages to his parents to help them buy 
 the little farm in Pike County which was their 
 home for a number of years. He remained w'ith 
 them there for seven years faithful and true to 
 the interests of his employer, as his long service 
 well shows. In 1862, however, he entered the 
 service of another master. In that yeaf Mr.
 
 424 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Hedges became a member of Company H, Seventy- 
 third Illinois Infantry. He enlisted as a private, 
 but was made Sergeant, and after three years was 
 honorably discharged, in 1865. He participated 
 in all the battles of his regiment, including the 
 engagements at Stone River, Chattanooga, Mis- 
 sionary Ridge and Knoxville. During all his 
 service he never received a wound. He was 
 struck on the knee by a spent ball, a bullet passed 
 through his clothing, and one struck his gun, but 
 never penetrated his flesh. He participated in all 
 the battles of the Atlanta campaign under "Sher- 
 man, and when the war was over was honorably 
 discharged in Nashville, in June, 1865. 
 
 Mr. Hedges at once returned to Pike County, 
 111., and resumed fanning. He was married Feb- 
 ruary 18, 1869, to Miss Hattie A. Dean, who was 
 born in Pike County February 9, 1846, and is a 
 daughter of Henry E. and Mary A. (Coughenour) 
 Dean. In their family of nine children she was 
 second in order of birth. The union of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hedges has been blessed with a family of four 
 sons and three daughters, as follows: Charles A:, 
 who is married and resides in Pana Township; 
 Alice, John A., Mary E., Arthur J., Alvin R. and 
 Mabel A. 
 
 Mr. Hedges' residence in this county dates from 
 1869. On his arrival he located upon the farm 
 which is yet his home, and at once began its devel- 
 opment. It now comprises one hundred and thir- 
 ty-three acres, the greater part of which is under 
 a high state of cultivation. His first home, a small 
 frame house, has been i-eplaced by a two-story resi- 
 dence of eight rooms, built in a modern style of 
 architecture. There are good barns and outbuild- 
 ings, surrounded by well-tilled Qelds, which yield 
 to the owner a golden tribute in return for his 
 care and labor. 
 
 Mr. [ledges has led a busy and useful life, yet 
 has found time to devote to public interests. In 
 politics, he is a Republican. He served as Path- 
 master, School Trustee and School Director for 
 many years. He holds membership with Pana 
 Post No. 744, G. A. R.,and belongs to Pana Lodge 
 of the Modern Woodmen. The Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church of Millersville finds in him an ac- 
 tive worker and leading member, and he is now 
 
 serving as Steward and Trustee. With the work 
 of that organization he has been prominently iden- 
 tified, and his aid is always given to all objects 
 calculated to prove of public benefit. 
 
 AVID LACHARITE, a merchant of As- 
 sumption, has been a resident of this place 
 for three decades, and is too well known 
 to the business men of this and adjoining 
 counties to require a special introduction. He is 
 numbered among the'most esteemed citizens and 
 public-spirited men of this region, and is well 
 worthy of representation among the pioneers and 
 foremost business men of Christian County. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Lacharite occurred near Mont- 
 real, Canada, November 12, 1839. He spent his 
 youth and grew to man's estate in his native land, 
 and at that time had meagre educational advan- 
 tages. Since arriving at mature years his educa- 
 tion has been mainly acquired. While still a lad, 
 he commenced learning the carpenter's and join- 
 er's trade, and it was in the pursuit of that voca- 
 tion that he first crossed the border to the United 
 States. For some time he worked in Minnesota, 
 from there going to Louisiana, where he remained 
 until 1863. At that time he came to Illinois and 
 joined some friends in Assumption. After loca- 
 ting here he engaged in contracting and building 
 for a number of years with good success. In 1868, 
 he entered into partnership with A. Cazalet and 
 embarked, in the general mercantile business. Af- 
 ter continuing together for about ten j'ears, our 
 subject purchased his partner's interest and suc- 
 ceeded to the whole business, which he carried on 
 for several years by himself, but now has asso- 
 ciated with him Joseph Lambert. The firm carries 
 a large, well-selected and complete stock of gen- 
 eral merchandise, and has built up a very large 
 trade in this locality. They have established a 
 reputation for fair dealing and honorable treat- 
 ment of customers which is truly enviable. The
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 425 
 
 building in which is located their stock is large, 
 well constructed and finely lighted. This proper- 
 ty and his residence belong to our subject. It is 
 said that while doing a business of $50,000 annual- 
 ly, he would countermand a $15 order if he con- 
 sidered it not to his advantage, yet his biographer 
 feels inclined to question the truth of this state- 
 ment, as Mr. Lacharite is considered one of the 
 foremost business men of Assumption. 
 
 February 14, 1865, Mr. Lacharite and Miss Ella 
 Lambert, were married in Assumption. The lady 
 is a daughter of Benjamin Lambert, one of the 
 pioneers of Christian County. Like her husband, 
 Mrs. Lacharite is a native of Canada, and was a 
 child of only five years when brought by her par- 
 ents to this county. Seven children have graced 
 this union, namely: Mary, Clara, Arthur A., 
 Henry, Ella, Herman C. and Leah. Arthur A., an 
 enterprising business man, has entire charge of the 
 books of his father's business. The family are 
 members of St. Marie's Catholic Church. 
 
 In local politics our subject has taken quite an 
 active part, and has been elected to several official 
 positions. Among others he has served as Super- 
 visor of the township, and has been a member of 
 the County Board. For ten years he was a Coun- 
 ty Commissioner, and to that fact is due in a large 
 measure the excellent roads of this locality. He 
 supports the nominees of the Democratic party, 
 and is quite an active worker in the ranks. Fora 
 period of ten years he was a School Trustee, and 
 has done much to advance the cause of education. 
 In whatever position he has been called upon to 
 fill, he has been ever found a faithful and efficient 
 officer. 
 
 yiLLIAM GUDEHUS, who is successfully 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits in Pana 
 Township, owns and operates a fine farm 
 of one hundred and eighty acres on section 31. 
 He also has two hundred acres of land in Shelby 
 County, and twenty acres of timber-land in Mont- 
 
 gomery County, his possessions therefore aggregat- 
 ing four hundred acres. All has been acquired 
 through his own industrious efforts, and is there- 
 fore a monument to his thrift and enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Gudehus was born in Brunswick, Germany, 
 September 19, 1819, and is a son of Henry and 
 Augusta (Lehman) Gudehus, who were also na- 
 tives of the same locality. His father was a team- 
 ster, and engaged in freighting with teams. His 
 death occurred in his eighty-third year, and his 
 wife passed away at the age of fifty-eight years. 
 Unto them were born seven children, five sons nnd 
 two daughters, and all grew to mature years. 
 
 Our subject, who was the third in order of birth, 
 remained in the place of his nativity until twenty- 
 six years of age. When a youth of fifteen years 
 he commenced learning the shoe-maker's trade, at 
 which he served as an apprentice until eighteen 
 years of age. When he had arrived at man's es- 
 tate, in accordance with the laws of his native 
 land, he entered the army and served as a private 
 for five years. Immediately after his discharge, 
 he bade adieu to friends and Fatherland and 
 sailed for the New World. This was in 1845, and 
 he located first in Philadelphia, Pa., where he re- 
 mained for four years working at the shoemaker's 
 trade. 
 
 During that time, Mr. Gudehus was married. 
 Miss Hannah Butt becoming his wife in 1847. She 
 was born and spent her maidenhood days in Ger- 
 many. In 1849. they removed to Louisville, Ky., 
 where our subject carried on the shoe business for 
 ten years. He was also proprietor of a hotel in 
 Elizabethtown, Ky., during that period. While 
 in Louisville, his wife died, in 1858. Five chil- 
 dren were born of that marriage, of whom four 
 are still living: William, Henry, Charlie and Jo- 
 hanna. In Louisville, Mr. Gudehus was again 
 married, May 8, 1859, his second union being 
 with Miss Victoria Zix, who was born in Baden, 
 Germany. They became the parents of eleven 
 children: Augustus, now deceased; Victoria; Min- 
 nie, wife of Frank Beyers; Theodore, who mar- 
 ried Dora Shutt; Frank, who wedded Maggie Rel- 
 ligar; Matilda, wife of Ed Beyers; Emma, wife of 
 Frederick Sliuchs; Edward, Martha, Katie and 
 Oscar. Four of the children are still at home.
 
 426 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 During the war, Mr. Gudehus lost everything 
 that he had at Elizabethtown, Ky., and in Feb- 
 ruary, 1863. lie came to Christian County a poor 
 man with eight children to support. He located 
 upon his present farm, which was then an unim- 
 proved place with a log cabin upon it. He began 
 its cultivation with characteristic energy, and in 
 course of time his labors were rewarded with 
 abundant harvests. In the years that followed he 
 regained his lost- possessions, and is now very com- 
 fortably situated, having a handsome competence. 
 Having laid aside business cares, he now rents his 
 land and is living retired in the enjoyment of a 
 well-earned rest. In politics, he is a supporter of 
 the Democracy. Although he has met witli some 
 reverses since coming to America, it was not an 
 unfortunate venture when he left his native land 
 to seek a home in the New World. 
 
 eHRISTOPHER C. HOLLIER is one of the 
 honored early pioneers of Christian Coun- 
 ty, and is a native of the Prairie State, 
 having been born February 13, 1825, in Belleville, 
 111. His farm, which he is engaged in operating, is 
 situated on section 14, Mosquito Township. It is 
 within his recollection when this county was a 
 wild prairie, having very few settlements upon it, 
 and when he arrived here there were only five 
 families within a radius of twelve miles. The 
 country abounded with wolves, deer and other 
 wild game, and our subject has seen as many as 
 sixty deer in one herd. Decatur was onl}' a small 
 town, having one store, and the early settlers had 
 to do their trading at Springfield. Our subject 
 has resided here longer than any man in the town- 
 ship, and lias the acquaintance and friendship of 
 many people in this and adjoining counties. 
 
 Christopher C. Hollier, Sr., the father of our 
 subject, was born in England, and on his arrival in 
 America settled in southern Illinois. He was a 
 tinner by trade and peddled, and when our subject 
 was a small child the father left home on a ped- 
 
 dling trip, and they have not since heard from him. 
 His wife, whose maiden name was Clara Osborn, 
 was born in Dayton Count}-, Ohio, and came to 
 Illinois with her uncle when young. She married 
 for her second husband Asa Reed, of Rock Island, 
 and removed to Sangamon County in 1830. Three 
 years later the family settled at the head of Mos- 
 quito Creek, in Macon County, where they contin- 
 ued to reside for a score of years. In 1853, they 
 purchased land in Mosquito Township, where Mr. 
 Reed died only two years later. By the second 
 union were born ten children, who are all deceased 
 but Clara, who is the wife of Al McKinney, a resi- 
 dent of Taylorville. The mother died at the home 
 of our subject, at the age of fifty-five years. One 
 of her sons, Edmond R., was killed at the battle of 
 Ft. Donelson. 
 
 Mr. Hollier whose name heads this sketch was 
 only a small child when his parents located in Ma- 
 con County, their home being just across the line 
 from his present place of residence and only two 
 miles distant. When eighteen years of age he left 
 home and went to Sangamon County, where he 
 worked for farmers for a time, but still continued 
 to return to the old home from time to time. He 
 enlisted in Company D, Fourth Illinois Infantry, 
 under the command of E. D. Baker, during the 
 Mexican War, and was in the service for one year. 
 
 On his return to Sangamon Countj', Mr. Hollier 
 worked on a farm until December 10, 1849, at 
 which time was celebrated his union with Miss 
 Nancy McKinney, of that county. Coming to 
 Christian County soon after, our subject purchased 
 forty acres of raw land, for which he paid $3 per 
 acre. He had previously entered one hundred 
 and sixty acres of land in Macon County, in 1848, 
 on an old Mexican land warrant. His property 
 now comprises two hundred and sixty-one acres, 
 which represent his own unassisted efforts and 
 years of honest industry. 
 
 Twelve children blessed the union of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hollier, four sons and eight daughters, but 
 six of the children died in infancy. Samuel is a 
 resident of Bozeman, Mont.; Mary is the wife 
 of Jicob Bliler, a prosperous farmer of Montana; 
 Edmund is also a resident of Bozeman; Alice be- 
 came the wife of Eli Bliler, a farmer of Mosquito
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 427 
 
 Township; Ida is the wife of William Cormony, 
 who farms a part of the old homestead; and Lucy 
 is Mrs. James Harris, her husband being engaged 
 in farming in the same township. 
 
 In his social relations, Mr. Hollier belongs to the 
 Masonic order, and is a member of Lodge No. 682, 
 of Blue Mound, III. For a number of years he 
 has been one of the School Directors, and has 
 served as Town Clerk for two years. He stands 
 by the Republican party and nominees in general 
 elections. He and his wife are members of the 
 Christian Church, and are active in religious and 
 benevolent work. 
 
 PHILIP B. KEMMERER, who is now living 
 a retired life in Assumption, is one of the 
 honored early settlers of the county, who 
 dates his residence here from April, 1857. 
 He is recognized as one of the enterprising and 
 substantial men of the community and this work 
 would be incomplete without a record of his life. 
 A native of Ohio, he was born in Fail-field County 
 January 16, 1826. His father, Joseph Kemmerer, 
 was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1796, while 
 the grandfather, Philip Kemmerer, was also a na- 
 tive of the Keystone State. John Kemmerer, the 
 great-grandfather, was a native of Scotland, and 
 was one of the Huguenots who came to America 
 with William Penn. Philip Kemmerer served as 
 a soldier in the Revolutionary War. In 1801 he 
 removed with Ids family to Ohio, locating in the 
 forests of Fail-field County, near Lancaster, where 
 he cleared and opened up a farm. 
 
 The father of our subject was there reared to 
 manhood and married Siloma Bowser, a native of 
 Switzerland, who came to the New World when a 
 child of two years with her father, John Jacob 
 Bowser, a pioneer of Fail-field County of 1812. 
 After his marriage Mr. Kemmerer located upon a 
 part of his father's farm, which he purchased, and 
 began its development and improvement, for it was 
 then wild land. There he reared his family and 
 
 spent his remaining days, dying at the age of fifty- 
 four yeais, on the 1st of September, 1847. The 
 family numbered six sons and four daughters, 
 all of whom grew to mature years. The eldest 
 brother, Emanuel, however, died in 1845, when a 
 young man studying for the ministry. The sur- 
 vivors of the family are Philip B., of this sketch; 
 John, who is now living in Assumption; Mrs. John 
 Harper, of Shelby County, 111.; and Mrs. P. L. 
 Myers, of Assumption. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who was the fourth 
 in order of birth, grew to manhood in Fail-field 
 County, Ohio, and in the common schools acquired 
 his education. At the age of eighteen he began 
 teaching, and while following that profession also 
 pursued a course of study. He taught in Ohio for 
 eleven years and in Illinois for two years. In 
 1855 lie came to Christian County and purchased 
 two hundred acres of land, which he still owns, 
 but he did not make a permanent location until 
 1857. At that time he settled on land in Assump- 
 tion Township, and devoted his time and atten- 
 tion to its cultivation, lie continued agricultural 
 pursuits until 1870, when he rented his land and 
 came to Assumption. He had made all necessary 
 improvements upon his place, had erected a good 
 residence and outbuildings, and in fact had made 
 his place one of the model farms of the county. 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1876, our subject mar- 
 ried Miss Sarah A. Kemmerer, a daughter of Mar- 
 tin and Sarah Kemmerer, of Allentown, Pa., where 
 the wedding was celebrated. The lady was born 
 in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pa., 
 and was there educated. Mr. and Mrs. Kemmerer 
 have always made their home in this community. 
 
 In politics, our subject has been a Democrat 
 since casting his first Presidential vote for Frank- 
 lin Pierce in 1852. He has taken quite an active 
 part in local politics, was elected the first Assessor 
 of Assumption in 1872, was re-elected and served 
 for four consecutive years. He was then elected 
 Justice of the Peace and is now serving his second 
 term as Police Magistrate. He has frequently 
 served as delegate to the conventions of his party. 
 Since coming to Assumption he has lived a retired 
 life, yet has improved fourteen residence proper- 
 ties in the village. He now owns about one thou-
 
 128 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 sand acres of land, two hundred and sixty-three 
 acres in one farm in Clay County, and seven hun- 
 dred and thirty-two acres in Assumption Town- 
 ship, divided into four well-improved and highly- 
 cultivated farms. lie is one of the industrious 
 and successful business men of the county. Him- 
 self and wife are members of the Presbyterian 
 Church, and ho belongs to Brownwell Lodge No. 
 451, A. F. & A. M. His public duties have been 
 discharged with a promptness and fidelity that 
 have won him the commendation of all concerned. 
 For thirty-six long years he has been a resident of 
 Christian County and has witnessed its growth 
 and development. He is well known throughout 
 its borders and is a man of upright character and 
 worth, who in connection with his estimable wife 
 holds an enviable position in the regard of their 
 many friends. 
 
 /jtjsi IIARLES H. HILL, who is Justice of the 
 A\ r Peace an<i Notary Public of Rosemond, is a 
 ^^^/ native of the old Granite State. He was 
 born in Northwood, N. II., July 10, 1826, and is a 
 descendant of one of three brothers who emi- 
 grated from England to America in 1680 and es- 
 tablished the Hill family in the Colonies. One of 
 the brothers, Samuel, held a grant from King 
 George III. for the entire site of the city of Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 From a genealogical history of the Hill family, 
 compiled and published by Edmund J. Lane, of 
 Dover, N. H., we learn that the Hill name runs 
 back to John Rogers, the martyr. Benjamin 
 Hill, the great-grandfather of our subject, was 
 born at Brentwood, N. H. He married Betsey 
 Dudley, of Stratham, N. H., and reared a family 
 of eight children. On the 18th of March, 1752, 
 Benjamin Hill removed with his family from 
 Brentwood to Northwood, N. II., taking up the 
 land which has ever since been occupied by the 
 Hill family. Its present occupant is Frank R. 
 
 Hill, a lineal descendant of Benjamin, and of the 
 fifth generation from him. 
 
 Benjamin Hill was drafted for the Revolution- 
 ary War, and his son, Nicholas Dudley, not wish- 
 ing him to go alone, also enlisted. The father 
 died at Ticonderoga, and the son returned to his 
 home, then being his mother's chief dependence. 
 Nicholas Dudley Hill was born at Brentwood, 
 N. H., and was the eldest of his father's family. He 
 married Mary Crockett, and they also had eight 
 children, of whom John, the father of our subject, 
 was second in order of birth. The latter was 
 born in Northwood, March 21, 1785, and was a 
 farmer by occupation. He married Susan Pearl, 
 who was born in Farmington, N. II., March 31, 
 1785, and was a daughter of Ichabod Pearl, who 
 was a native of the Granite State, and was of Eng- 
 lish lineage. His wife, our subject's maternal 
 grandmother, who bore the maiden name of Mary 
 Young,was a native of the same community and 
 her ancestors came from the same family. The 
 Pearl family are hneal descendants of the Earl of 
 Northumberland, who was the father of' Lady 
 Jane Grey, who made claim to the throne of Eng- 
 land. The parents of our subject both engaged 
 in school teaching. During the War of 1812, Mr. 
 Hill abandoned that profession and removed to 
 Middleton, N. H., where he opened a store and 
 tavern. They became the parents of eight chil- 
 dren, four sons and four daughters, all of whom 
 grew to manhood and womanhood. Mary E. died 
 June 17, 1886; John C. died in 1813; Caroline G. 
 died January 23, 1886; Susan L. died in St. Louis, 
 Mo., March 1, 1879; Sophronia E. died in Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., November 5, 1857; David C., who 
 was a member of the senior class of Dartmouth Col- 
 lege, N. H., died August 24, 1849; and George W. 
 resides in Providence, R. I. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is a twin brother of 
 George. They are the youngest and the only mem- 
 bers of the family now living. Charles remained 
 with his parents for some years, and when quite 
 young accompanied them to Great Falls, N. H., 
 where his father died when he was five years of 
 age, leaving the mother with eight children to 
 support. When a youth of nine years our sub- 
 ject began working for William Shaw, of North
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 429 
 
 Berwick, Me., with whom lie remained for two 
 years, when, at the age of eleven, he went to 
 Farmington, N. II., where he spent two years in 
 the employ of Benjamin Wingate. On the ex- 
 piration of that period he went to Milton, N. H., 
 to make his home with his uncle, Joseph Pearl, 
 with whom he remained until twenty years of age. 
 liis place of residence then changed, and we find 
 him at Natick, Mass., in the family of Vice-Presi- 
 dent Henry Wilson, who was reared by an aunt 
 of our subject, Mrs. Temperance Knight, of Farm- 
 ington. From 1846 until 1849, Mr. Hill there re- 
 mained, and in September of the last-named year 
 he went to Gilmantou Academy, which he at- 
 tended for three years. He taught school at Strat- 
 ford, N. H., in the winter of 1849-50, returning 
 to the academy in the spring. 
 
 On the 26th of December, 1854, in Gilraanton, 
 N. H., Mr. Hill was united in marriage with Mary 
 F., daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Smith) 
 Morgan, the former a native of Brentwood,N. H., 
 and the latter of Ipswich, Mass. Both were of 
 English descent. Mrs. Morgan was the youngest 
 in a family of four sons and three daughters and 
 was born in Gilmanton, N. H. After his marriage, 
 Mr. Hill was employed with the firm of A. G. Far- 
 well & Co., wholesale flour merchants, for ten 
 years, and in December, 1863, was appointed Pay- 
 master of the United States navy, with his head- 
 quarters on the steamer "Saco" for three years. On 
 the loth of April, 1866, he left that position and 
 was appointed Constable in Massachusetts, serv- 
 ing as such until 1868, when he came to Rose- 
 mond, 111., where he has since resided. He is now 
 serving as Notary Public, and for four years was 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hill were born four children, 
 George C.; Charles R., who died leaving a wife 
 and two children, George R. and Bessie W.; Min- 
 nie W., wife of Henry P. Denbow, of Pana, by whom 
 she has a daughter, Pearl I.; and Susan E., wife of 
 Howard A. Koogle, of Pana. Mr. and Mrs. Hill 
 have almost pleasant home and own a fine farm of 
 fifty-one acres. In his social relations he is a Mason, 
 belonging to Pana Lodge No. 226, and he is also a 
 Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic. In the public duties which 
 
 he has been called upon to fill, he has ever per- 
 formed his part with faithfulness and fidelity and 
 to the credit of himself and the satisfaction of his 
 constituents. His life has been an honorable and 
 upright one, and the high regard of all with whom 
 business or pleasure has brought him in contact is 
 his. 
 
 
 APT. ALFRED COWGILL, who is one of 
 
 the honored veterans of the late war, hav- 
 ing as a member of the boys in blue de- 
 fended the Union in her hour of peril, is now a- 
 grain and hay dealer in Rosemond. He is widely 
 known throughout this community, and it is with 
 pleasure that we present to our readers this record 
 of his life work. He was born in Tuscarawas 
 County, Ohio, on the 16th of August, 1833, and 
 conies of an old Canadian family, his great-grand- 
 father having been born in Canada. His grand- 
 father was Samuel Cowgill, and the father of our 
 subject also bore the name of Samuel. The latter 
 was a native of Delaware, and throughout his entire 
 life followed the occupation of farming in pursuit 
 of fortune. He married Louise Dorsey, a native 
 of Mary land, and a daughter of Seth Dorsey. The 
 wedding ceremony was performed in Tuscarawas 
 County, where they lived for many 3 r ears. In 
 1853, they came to Christian County, 111., locating 
 in Rosemond Township, where the father died at 
 the age of eighty-seven years, while the mother 
 survived him until she had reached the allotted 
 three-score years and ten of the Psalmist. 
 
 Our subject is the eldest in a family of five sons 
 and two daughters. He lived quietly in the county 
 of his nativity until he had attained his majority, 
 spending his boyhood days midst play and work 
 and acquiring a good English education in the 
 common schools of the neighborhood. At the age 
 of twenty-one he came to Christian County. Af- 
 ter the breaking out of the late war, he entered the 
 service of his country, in August, 1861, and was 
 assigned to Company H, Ninth Illinois Infantry. 
 Ho was promoted to the rank of Second Lieu-
 
 430 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 tenant, and was afterwards made First Lieutenant. 
 In October, 1863, he was transferred to the Vet- 
 eran Reserve Corps as First Lieutenant, and was 
 mustered out with the rank of Captain in 1865, 
 after more than four years of faithful service. He 
 participated in many hard -fought battles, includ- 
 ing the engagements at Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, 
 Corintli and many others. He was wounded by a 
 minie-ball in the left knee at the last-named bat- 
 tle on the 3d of October, 1862, and was struck in 
 the breast. .Had it not been for some letters and 
 a memorandum book which he had in his pocket 
 he would have been killed. He was always found 
 at his post of duty and stood by the Old Flag until 
 the war was over, and the Stars and Stripes floated 
 "triumphantly over the united Nation. 
 
 Returning to Christian County in 1865, Capt. 
 Cowgill embarked in the hardware business in As- 
 sumption, as a member of the firm of H. H. Baltz- 
 ley & Co., which connection was continued three 
 years, when he sold out and removed to Pana. 
 There he worked for Joel Beckwith in the grain 
 business for two years, after which he entered the 
 employ of S. M. Hawood <fe Son, grain dealers, as 
 manager. In 1874, he came to Rosemond, and 
 here carried on the grain business for that firm for 
 two years. His place of residence changed again 
 in 1876, when he went to Montrose, Mo., where he 
 dealt in grain for a year. He then returned to 
 Rosemond, and ic-entered the employ of Hawood 
 & Son, with whom he continued until 1878. Since 
 1891 he has been connected with J. B. Wadding- 
 ton in the grain business, and the firm is now en- 
 joying a good trade. 
 
 In 1864, in New Philadelphia, Ohio, Capt. Cow- 
 gill was united in marriage with Sarah Bear, a na- 
 tive of Tuscarawas County, Ohio. By their union 
 have been born seven children: Catherine, wife of 
 B. F. Carper, of Rosemond; Sarah, who is engaged 
 in teaching; Alfred B., of Rosemond; Edward G., 
 deceased; Mary, who is also a teacher; Casanna, 
 deceased; and Jesse, who completes the family. 
 
 Our subject is a member of Pope Post No. 411, 
 G. A. R., of Pana. He has followed in the polit- 
 ical footsteps of his father, voting with the Re- 
 publican party, of whose principles he is a stanch 
 advocate. He is a man of good business ability, 
 
 and is now doing well in the enterprise to which 
 he devotes his time and attention. He is a faith- 
 ful citizen in times of peace as well -as in times of 
 war, and Rosemond recognizes in him a valued 
 representative of the community. 
 
 JOHN SMITH is an extensive land-owner 
 and one of the representative farmers and 
 stock-raisers of Christian County, owning 
 one of the best farms in May Township, his 
 residence being on section 15. He was born in 
 England, on the 18th of April, 1838, being a son 
 of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cooper) Smith. They 
 were the parents of four children, three of whom 
 are deceased. 
 
 Our subject's father was reared in England, and 
 came in 1844 to seek a home in Illinois. He re- 
 mained for a short time in Pike County, and in 
 the following year entered land in Christian Coun- 
 ty. He was one of the pioneers and leading men 
 of the county in an early day. The farm which 
 he entered is now owned and operated by our 
 subject. At the time of his death the father left 
 about four hundred acres of property, upon which 
 he had made good improvements. On leaving 
 Pike County, his wife and family remained, and 
 in some unaccountable way they lost all trace of 
 each other. After a quarter of a century had 
 elapsed they accidentally met, and the children 
 who were young when he left them, were all 
 grown up at that time. 
 
 Mr. Smith was for twenty-six years Justice of 
 the Peace in this township. His death occurred 
 in January, 1877, and he was placed to rest in the 
 Harris Cemetery. His wife was also a native of 
 England, and her death occurred in Adams Coun- 
 ty, in October, 1873. In 1844 the mother of out- 
 subject was left with her four small children in 
 Pike County. On account of poor health the 
 whole family had chills and fevers. Mrs. Smith's 
 parents desired her to leave and go to Jackson- 
 ville. Her husband wrote a number of letters,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 431 
 
 but, failing to receive any reply, concluded that 
 she had deserted him and returned to her parents. 
 In a few years he was therefore married in Sanga- 
 mon Count_y, and after the death of his wife he 
 was again married, but afterward obtained a di- 
 vorce. 
 
 After a few months from the time of her hus- 
 band's departure, the mother of our subject re- 
 moved to Jacksonville, 111., and therefore on his 
 return to Pike County he could learn nothing of 
 their whereabouts. At the end of twenty-six 
 years, during which time he had accumulated a 
 large estate, Mr. Smith again began searching for 
 them, and at last his labor was rewarded. He 
 found that his wife, thinking he was dead, had 
 married in the mean time Daniel Leviltou. who 
 was then deceased. Of his family, but two were 
 living, William and our subject, who were both 
 married and had families. The mother was mak- 
 ing her home with our subject. After the matter 
 had been thoroughly investigated, it was found 
 that Mrs. Smith's relatives were to blame for the 
 whole trouble. 
 
 John Smith was only six years old when his father 
 left home, and he went to live with a farmer, with 
 whom he made his home for a year. Next, going 
 to Naples, he worked for a man who ran an hotel 
 and livery stable. For a year he ran errands and 
 waited on the table, after which he went to Jack- 
 sonville and drove a stage from that point to 
 Brighton, and also helped at the hotel at odd 
 times for three years. Then, being fifteen years 
 old, he hired out to farmers for the following 
 two years. The next five years he was employed 
 in Brown County, 111., and then returned to Pike 
 County, where he rented a farm for three years. 
 
 The first property owned by our subject was a 
 tract of eighty acres in Adams County. He be- 
 came a thorough agriculturist and success crowned 
 his labors, for in 1878 his property in that county 
 comprised three hundred and fifty acres. This 
 farm he still owns, but in 1878 he came to take 
 possession of the farm that was given him by 
 his father. This place comprises three hundred 
 and sixty acres, and is one of the best-improved 
 farms in the township. 
 
 On the 10th of April, 1864, Mr. Smith and 
 
 Miss Ruth Kaylor were joined in matrimony. She 
 was born in Pike County, 111., and died in 1875, 
 having had four children: Lydia E., who is now 
 the wife of John Robinson, a farmer of Christian 
 County; Ellen G., deceased; George Thomas, who 
 is also a farmer of this county; and John Will- 
 iam, who is still at home. On the 7th of Novem- 
 ber, 1875, our subject married Miss Sarah E. Lane, 
 who was born in Adams County, 111., and is a 
 daughter of Jasper Lane. Four children have 
 been born of this union, three of whom died in 
 infancy. Myrtle resides with her parents. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Smith is a supporter of the Pro- 
 hibition party. With his wife, he holds mem- 
 bership with the Methodist Episcopal Church. lie 
 has never been desirous of official positions, but 
 at one time served as Road Commissioner. As his 
 boyhood years were passed under such unusual 
 circumstances, it can plainly be seen that his edu- 
 cational facilities were almost entirely lacking, and 
 whatever he has accomplished in life has been en- 
 tirely due to his courage and other other worthy 
 qualities. He has surely had the greatest diffi- 
 culties to surmount, but even in childhood was 
 brave and ambitious to succeed, and he has been 
 prospered beyond his expectations. 
 
 JOSEPH C. CREIGHTON is an able mem- 
 ber of the legal profession of Taylorville. 
 Christian County has many lawyers of wide 
 reputation some, men of years and experi- 
 ence, and others comparatively young in practice. 
 Among the latter class is our subject, but skill and 
 ability have won him a reputation which may well 
 be envied by many an older practitioner. 
 
 Mr. Creighton is descended from Southern fam- 
 ilies, and on his father's side traces his ancestry 
 back to Scotland, although his progenitors lived 
 for two or three generations in Ireland prior to 
 coming to this country, and one branch of the 
 family remained in the Emerald Isle, where many 
 of the descendants are still to be found. The
 
 432 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 great-grandfather, John Creighton, reared eight 
 sons, six of whom, with most of their descendants, 
 remained in the Southern States, the others being 
 scattered in the North and West. The family in 
 Scotland. Ireland, England and America has con- 
 tributed largely to the clerical profession, and has 
 also furnished many distinguished physicians and 
 lawyers. The grandfather of our subject, Joseph 
 Creighton, was born in South Carolina, and came 
 to the Territory of Illinois about 1868, locating 
 in what is now White County. The maternal 
 grandfather, John Crews, was a native of Virginia, 
 and came to Illinois in 1817, locating in what is 
 now Wayne County. Both grandfathers were 
 farmers and Methodist poachers. 
 
 The father of our subject, John M. Creighton, 
 was born in White County, 111., in 1821, and 
 wedded Mary Ann Crews, who was born in Wayne 
 County, in 1827. They had eight sons and one 
 daughter, namely: James A., Judge of the Cir- 
 cuit Court of Springfield, 111.; Jacob R., now an 
 attorney of Fairfield, 111., who has been twice 
 elected as State's Attorney and was candidate for 
 Attorney-General on the Democratic State ticket; 
 Charles E., a Methodist minister, now deceased; 
 Joseph C-, of this sketch; Martha E., wife of Dr. 
 W. S. Borah, of Baldwin, La.; Walter, who died 
 in infancy; Milton M., an attorney of Li teh field, 
 111.; and John M. and Thomas F., both of whom 
 are living on the home farm in Wayne County. 
 The father of this family died in 1869, but the 
 mother is still living on the old homestead, four 
 miles east of Fairfield. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of Joseph 
 C. Creighton, whose birth occurred in Wayne 
 County on the 13th of January, 1855. He was 
 reared to manhood under the parental roof, and 
 remained in the county of his nativity until Au- 
 gust, 1881, when he came to this county. He 
 fitted himself for his profession by reading law 
 with his brother, Judge Creighton, of Springfield, 
 111. He was admitted to the Bar in Taylorville, 
 and here opened an office in 1881. Four years 
 later the present firm of Ricks & Creighton was 
 formed, and has since continued. They have had 
 a successful career, and Mr. Creighton lias been 
 honored with the following official positions: In 
 
 1882, he was elected City Attorney, and re-elected 
 in 1884. The same year he was appointed Master 
 in Chancery, was re-appointed in 1886, and filled 
 the office until 1888. In that year he was elected 
 State's Attorney for the county, was again chosen 
 for the position in 1892, and is still creditably 
 filling the office. 
 
 On the 17th of June, 1884, Mr. Creighton was 
 united in marriage with Miss Cordelia B. Allen, an 
 accomplished young lady of Taylorville. They 
 occupy prominent positions in social circles and 
 are highly esteemed by all. They are people of 
 literary tastes, and Mr. Creighton has in his library 
 a very valuable, as well as rare, work on medical 
 jurisprudence, which formerly was owned by Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, and as such is cherished as an inter- 
 esting relic. The public and private life of our 
 subject are alike above reproach, and the faithful- 
 ness and fidelity with which he has ever performed 
 his official duties have won him the highest com- 
 mendation of all concerned, whether of his polit- 
 ical belief or not. 
 
 <^ffLONZO A. AUSTIN, one of the repre- 
 /' II sen t a ti ve agriculturists of Pans Town- 
 jl I* ship, residing on section 33, has the holloi- 
 ng of being a native of Illinois. He was 
 born in St. Clair County January 21, 1861, and is 
 the eldest child of Jesse W. and Mary M. (Miles) 
 Austin. His father, who is now deceased, was a 
 prominent farmer of this community. He was 
 born in Indiana September 19, 1832, and was the 
 third child of George and Polly Austin, the 
 former a native of Tennessee, and the latter a na- 
 tive of the Hoosier State. Jesse Austin was reared 
 from infancy in St. Clair County, III., and the 
 public schools afforded him his educational privi- 
 leges. At the age of eighteen he started out in 
 life for himself. Going to St. Louis, he spent a 
 portion of his time in a livery stable and on a 
 farm. Three years later he went to Cairo, 111.,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 433 
 
 where he worked in a sawmill for a time and then 
 returned to St. Glair County, where he ran a 
 threshing-machine. 
 
 Mr. Austin was married March 19, 1860, to 
 Mary Miles, and they began their domestic life in 
 St. Clair County, coming thence to Christian 
 County in 1867. He here purchased one hundred 
 and sixty acres of land on section 35, Pana Town- 
 ship, and began its improvement. In 1879, he 
 added to it two hundred and forty acres and built 
 a fine residence. He was a very prosperous farmer 
 and accumulated a handsome property. In early 
 life- he was a Democrat and voted for Stephen A. 
 Douglas, but at the breaking out of the war be- 
 came a Republican. He held membership with 
 -the Odd Fellows' Lodge. He died July 3, 1891. 
 His widow still lives on the homestead. 
 
 Mrs. Austin, mother of our subject, was born in 
 St. Clair County February 2, 1842, and is the 
 daughter of Alex and Sarah (Clarke) Mills, both 
 natives of New York. Her father died when she 
 was only eight years old. Her mother is now 
 living in St. Clair County, at the age of eighty 
 years. Mrs. Austin was the third child in order of 
 birth in a family of twelve. She has become the 
 mother of four children: Alonzo A., William J., 
 Owen J., and Amy, wife of Jesse Adams. Mrs. 
 Austin is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred 
 and sixty acres, which is now rented to her son 
 William. 
 
 In taking up the personal history of Alonzo 
 Austin we learn that he spent the first six years of 
 his life in his native county, and then came with 
 his parents to Christian County. He had previ- 
 ously begun his education, which was completed 
 in the schools of -Pana. To his father he gave 
 the benefit of his services throughout his youth, 
 remaining at home until twenty-five years of 
 age. He then chose as a companion and help- 
 mate on life's journey Miss Maria, daughter of 
 Cyrus and Hannah (Wilson) Rayhill. She was 
 born in Indiana, and their marriage was celebrated 
 March 11, 1886. One child graces their union, 
 Epho F., born February 20, 1889. 
 
 Mr. Austin located upon his present farm in 
 1876. He here owns one hundred and twenty 
 acres, and in addition has one hundred and ten 
 22 
 
 acres on sections 27 and 36, which he rents. In 
 politics, he is an advocate of the Republican 
 party, and is now serving as School Director. He 
 belongs to Pana Lodge No. 226, A. F. & A. M., 
 and also to the Woodman Lodge of Pana, and to 
 the Protective Association. He carries on general 
 farming and stock-raising, and is recognized as 
 one of the leading young agriculturists of Chris- 
 tian County. He possesses good business ability, 
 is industrious, and the success that comes from 
 earnest toil will no doubt crown his efforts in a 
 high degree. 
 
 /*P OL. WILLIAM M. READING, one of the 
 (if popular citizens and prominent stock-buyers 
 ^^^/ of Pana Township, residing on section 6, 
 well deserves representation in the history of his 
 adopted county, an,d with pleasure we present this 
 record of his life to our readers. He was born in 
 Pike County, Mo., June 25, 1828. His grandfather, 
 George Reading, was born near Reading, Pa., and 
 in an early day removed to Kentucky. He was a 
 miller and farmer, and built a gristmill in that 
 State. John Reading, father of the Colonel, was 
 born in Harrison, Ky., and after arriving at years 
 of maturity married Sarah D. Maxwell, who was 
 born in Bourbon County, Ky. The marriage of 
 this couple was celebrated in Pike Count}', Mo., 
 and they immediately afterwards located on a 
 farm near the border of Louisiana, their respective 
 families having removed thither in an early day. 
 The paternal grandfather and the maternal great- 
 grandfather were both Revolutionary soldiers. In 
 1830, the parents removed to what was then 
 Marion County, Mo., but afterwards became Lewis 
 County, Mo. The father there built a grist and 
 saw mill, but he was not long permitted to enjoy 
 his new home, his death occurring in 1832, at the 
 age of thirty-six years. His wife long survived 
 him and passed away at the age of sixty-eight. 
 The Colonel is their only son, but they had five 
 daughters, all of whom grew to womanhood.
 
 434 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Nancy M. is now the widow of Robert Creasy, of 
 Lewis County, Mo.; Elizabeth is the widow of 
 Daniel Creasy, and resides in the same county; 
 Jane E. is the wife of James Dickson, of Quincj', 
 111.; Sarah Ann is now deceased; and Mrs. Rebecca 
 Susan Jennings has also passed away. 
 
 Col. Reading, who was the fourth iu order of 
 birth, was reared in the county of his nativity 
 and was educated in the district schools. He was 
 a lad of only four years when his father died- 
 When he was still quite young the care of his 
 widowed mother and sisters fell upon him. They 
 lived in a new country, and the development of 
 the land was an arduous task. In 1853, he went 
 to La Grange, Mo., where he was employed as. a 
 collector for a general store. In 1855, he bought 
 an interest in the business and continued operations 
 in that line until 1861, when he sold out. 
 
 In August, 1862, Mr. Reading organized a regi- 
 ment of militia in Lewis and Clark Counties 
 Mo., and on the 19th of December, that 3'ear, he 
 was commissioned Colonel of the Sixty-ninth Mis- 
 souri Infantry. He commanded his troops until 
 1864, and was engaged in fighting bushwhackers 
 and guerrillas and in keeping order in that much- 
 disputed territory, his headquarters being at 
 La Grange, Mo. He received an appointment as 
 Assessor of the Tenth Division of the Second Dis- 
 trict of Missouri, and discharged the duties con- 
 nected with that position, when not engaged in 
 skirmishing. The regiment was orderqd to dis- 
 band in 1864. Col. Reading then resumed mer- 
 chandising in La Grange, where he remaind until 
 1878. That year witnessed his arrival in Christian 
 County, 111., since which time he has been engaged 
 in farming and stock-raising He is now one of 
 the largest stock-dealers in the community. 
 
 The Colonel was married May 23, 1848, to 
 Sarah Ann Hampton, who was born in Missouri, 
 and died April 12, 1854, leaving two daughters: 
 Sarah, wife of Charles Roth, of East German town, 
 Ind.; and Susan, wife of Calvin Wiseman, of Lewis 
 County, Mo. On the 1st of November, 1855, Mr. 
 Reading was joined in marriage with Miss Mary J. 
 Ring, a native of Greenbrier County, W. Va. 
 They have had a family of nine children: John J., 
 deceased; William M., of St. Paul, Minn.; Anna 
 
 Mary, who died in infancy; Joseph G., at home; 
 James A., who died in infancy; Nannie May, wife 
 of Edward Coonrbd, of this county; Emma J.. who 
 is engaged in teaching; Maud, who is also a teach- 
 er; and Grace, a student in the High School at 
 Taylorville. 
 
 In politics, the Colonel was a Whig until the or- 
 ganization of the American party, and since 1864 
 he has been a stalwart Republican. He served as 
 Councilman and Treasurer of the town of La 
 Grange, and in politics takes quite a prominent 
 part. He has organized many Republican clubs, 
 and does all in his power to promote the interests 
 of his party. He is a popular, genial gentleman, 
 who makes friends wherever he goes. He is a man 
 of kindly and generous impulses, and his sociabil- 
 ity and sterling qualities have gained him univer- 
 sal confidence and esteem. 
 
 JOHN S. FRALEY was a successful farmer of 
 May Township for a great many years, and 
 at the time of his death left a considerable 
 estate. His children are numbered among 
 the best citizens of the community, as they were 
 reared to lives of usefulness and industry. The 
 birth of Mr. Fraley occurred in Franklin Count}-, 
 Ohio, June 6, 1818. In 1850 he removed to 
 Christian County, 111., casting in his lot with the 
 few pioneers who had previously located here. 
 
 On the 26th of July, 1867, Mr. Fraley and Miss 
 Augusta Anderson were married. The lady was 
 born January 17, 1841, in Wyandotte County, 
 Ohio, being a daughter of William and Eliza 
 (McCoy) Anderson. The father was a native of 
 Pittsburgh and grew to manhood in Pennsylvania. 
 He came to Christian County after his marriage, 
 arriving here in 1851, and engaged in farming 
 for a number of years in this county. His death 
 occurred in Colorado at the age of eighty-three 
 years. He was of German descent, while his wife's 
 people were of Irish ancestry. She was the mother
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 435 
 
 of twelve children, only three of whom are now 
 living. One of the number, Benjamin F., is a 
 farmer of Colorado. Amanda Jane became the 
 wife of John Secrest, who is a well-known farmer 
 of this county. Mrs. Anderson died at the age of 
 sixty-one years. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Fraley was born a family of 
 three children. Wallace is one of the progressive 
 and well-to-do farmers of this county; Oscar re- 
 sides with his mother; and Nellie died when only 
 three years of age. Oscar, who is twenty-four years 
 of age, is an invalid, never having walked. Wallace 
 was married to Miss Frances Goodrich, of Shelby 
 County, November 20, 1890, and is now farming 
 the home place. 
 
 The farm formerly operated by Mr. Fraley is 
 one of the best in the township, the residence be- 
 ing on section 29. He was very successful as an 
 agriculturist and was numbered among the enter- 
 prising business men of the neighborhood. He 
 was called from this life March 1, 1888, and lies 
 buried in Fraley Cemetery, which is located on 
 the old homestead. He was a man of strict integ- 
 rity and was highly thought of by his friends and 
 neighbors. 
 
 EDWIN HARRIS, one of the honored early 
 pioneers of Christian County, owns and 
 operates a farm on section 10, May Town- 
 ship. For over half a century he has been identi- 
 fied with the remarkable progress of this part of the 
 State, having settled in this county in 1840. He 
 was born October 18, 1824, in Dixon County, 
 Tenn., being a son of Silas and Toboisy (Shappcl) 
 Harris. The father was a native of North Caro- 
 lina, where he remained until arriving at man's 
 estate. After his marriage he removed to Tennes- 
 see, where he engaged in farming until 1840. At 
 that time he came to Illinois, and entered land 
 from the Government in Christian County. On 
 this place he continued to reside until his death, 
 which occurred in his seventy-eighth year. He 
 
 was among the first settlers of the county, and 
 among them he was favorably known. He was a 
 descendant of English and Irish stock. His wife 
 was also born in North Carolina, where she grew 
 to womanhood and was mariied. She passed from 
 this life in 1848, on the old homestead, and lies 
 buried by her husband's side in the Harris Ceme- 
 tery, situated on the old farm. 
 
 Edwin Harris is one of a family of fourteen 
 children, being the eleventh in order of birth. His 
 boyhood and early youth were passed in Tennes- 
 see, where he pursued the usual life of a farmer 
 lad. He was sixteen years of age when he came 
 to this county with his parents, and to them his 
 services were dutifully given in clearing and cul- 
 tivating the new farm until he attained his ma- 
 jority. He then started out in the battle of life 
 for himself, working for his father on the home 
 farm, which he operated for some years. 
 
 For his life companion Mr. Harris chose Miss 
 Ann Bugg, their union being celebrated Novem- 
 ber 28, 1850. Mrs. Harris was born June 7, 1829, 
 in Yorkshire, England, and is a daughter of 
 Thomas and Mary Ann (Bradley) Bugg. The fa- 
 ther was a native of Yorkshire, and emigrated to 
 the United States in 1837, first settling on a farm 
 near Terre Haute, Ind., where he remained for 
 eight years. In 1845 he came to Christian County 
 and entered land from the Government. There 
 he made his home until his death, which occurred 
 January 31, 1858, at the age of fifty-five years. 
 His wife, who is still living, was born July 21, 
 1805, in Yorkshire. She is making her home with 
 her daughter, Mrs. Harris, and has been blind for 
 thirty-four years. Otherwise she retains all her 
 faculties, and well remembers when this localKy 
 was a wilderness, with numerous wolves and other 
 wild game. 
 
 Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Harris. Robert T. is a prosperous farmer of Chris- 
 tian County. He is mairied and has a family of 
 six living children: Mary E., Edwin C., Schuyler, 
 Rowley, Hattie May and Orville, who are all liv- 
 ing at home. Two children, Robert and Minnie, 
 ilied in infancy. Harriet E., our subject's younger 
 child, is the widow of Delbert C. Pinney, and is 
 now living with her parents and has the care of
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 her son, Otis D., now thirteen years old. Mr. Pin- 
 ney died in Ohio, in 1882. Mary L., her step- 
 child, is now in Ohio. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Harris is one of the best in the 
 township and comprises eighty acres. He has im- 
 proved it materially since it first came into his 
 possession, and it is a model one in every respect. 
 In his political views, Mr. Harris is on the People's 
 ticket, and, religiously, holds membership witli tlie 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
 
 ^ILLIAM HENRY HARP, a well-known 
 dentist of Morrisonville, has made his own 
 way in the world from early years, and is 
 self-educated. His success in life is due entirely 
 to his industrious and persevering efforts and his 
 ambition to rise in the world. His birth occurred 
 in Dayton, Ohio, February 23, 1869, and his early 
 years were passed on a farm near Hillsboro, 111. 
 
 Our subject's parents, Henry and Eliza (Kuhn) 
 Harp, are natives of Ohio. The father was a 
 son of Jacob Harp, also a native of the Buckeye 
 State, and a merchant and successful trader. He 
 died when over eighty years of age, at Dayton, 
 Ohio. Mrs. Harp is a daughter of Benjamin 
 Kuhn, of Ohio, who died at the age of sixty-five 
 years. Henry Harp is a cooper by trade, but of 
 late years has devoted himself to agricultural pur- 
 suits. In 1870, he came to the Prairie State and 
 purchased a farm of ninety acres, east of Hillsboro, 
 which has since been his home. He was a valiant 
 soldier in the late war, enlisting in an Ohio regi- 
 ment and serving for over three years in behalf of 
 the Union cause. He and his wife are devoted 
 members of the Methodist Church. 
 
 In a family of seven children, three sons and four 
 daughters, the Doctor is the second in order of 
 birth, the others being as follows: Frank, John, 
 Amanda, Lydia, Alice and Emma. When fourteen 
 years of age, Dr. Harp went to school at Irving, 
 111., and remained there pursuing his studies for 
 three years. He afterward attended school at Lin- 
 
 coln, after which he taught school for two terms 
 in Logan County. After taking the prescribed 
 course of study in the Indiana Dental College, at 
 Indianapolis, he graduated from that institution 
 in 1891. He came to Morrisonville in the spring 
 of that year and began the practice of his profes- 
 sion. Though but little over two years have 
 elapsed since that time, he has already acquired an 
 extensive practice, and lias made a reputation for 
 conscientious and reliable work. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1891, occurred the wed- 
 ding of Dr. Harp and Miss Daisy May Vorhees, of 
 Morrisonville. The lady is a daughter of Dr. 
 Charles and Margaret E. (Lindsey) Vorhees, who 
 are well-known citizens of this place. 
 
 In regard to the question of politics, Dr. Harp 
 uses his influence and ballot in support of Demo- 
 cratic nominees and measures. He is a young man 
 of promise and the course he has pursued in life 
 thus far is worthy of commendation. It is his con- 
 stant aim to keep entirely abreast of the times in 
 everything relating to dentistry, and he there- 
 fore peruses the best medical journals and keeps up 
 with his studies in that direction. He is a most 
 estimable young man, and has made many friends 
 during the two years of his residence in this place 
 
 J^fF UGUST MUNDHENKE, who is a farmer 
 I1OI residing on section 23, Ricks Township, is 
 I ifc one of the German-born citizens of Chris- 
 ||f tian County, and has taken no little share 
 in the promotion of her prosperity. His birth oc- 
 cured in Elanover, Germany, in the city of Hammel, 
 October 2, 1835. He is a son of Frederick and 
 Carolina (Langen) Mundhenke. The father was a 
 farmer and followed that vocation throughout life. 
 He reared a family of five children, and died in 
 1873, at the age of seventy-two years. His wife 
 had passed awa} - the year before. They were 
 members of the Lutheran Church, and brought 
 up their children to be good and useful men and 
 women. Their eldest son, William, served for ten
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 437 
 
 years in the German army; Henry, now deceased, 
 settled in 1857 near Palmer; Carolina is the wife 
 of William Michaelman, of Greenwood Township; 
 Louisa died at the age of forty years; and our sub- 
 ject is the youngest of the children living. 
 
 The boyhood of August Mundhenke was passed on 
 the old farm in Germany, and for eight years he 
 attended the public schools and assisted in farm 
 work. At the age of twenty, he came to America, 
 leaving Bremen and landing in New York City 
 after a voyage of forty-nine days. Coming to 
 Illinois, he took charge of a farm in Montgomery 
 County which belonged to his brother, who had 
 preceded him here about four years. The date of 
 our subject's arrival in the Prairie State is 1856, 
 and for three years he worked by the month at 
 farm labor. He had only $7.50 on arriving at his 
 brother's, but was so industrious and frugal that he 
 soon managed to lay by considerable money, which 
 he invested in a farm. Later selling out, he came 
 to his present home, in 1869, and bought the farm, 
 which was then wild prairie land, and he turned the 
 first sod on the place. This beautiful and fertile 
 farm bears little resemblance to its former condi- 
 tion, as it is well drained and cultivated. He has 
 three hundred and twenty acres, which he has made 
 by honest labor and economy. 
 
 In Macoupin County, Mr. Mundheyke married 
 in 1859 Phoebe Richardson, a native of that 
 county. She died in Montgomery County, leav- 
 ing one son, Oscar, a well-to-do farmer of Ricks 
 Township. Our subject afterwards married Sarah 
 Jane, daughter of William King, now deceased. 
 She was born in Shelby County, Ind., and came 
 with her parents to Illinois, where she grew to 
 womanhood. Unto our subject and wife were born 
 the following children: Ernest, who died in infancy; 
 John Henry, a teacher in Bushnell College, of Bush- 
 nell, 111.; James, who is engaged in farming with 
 his brother Oscar; Lina May, wife of William 
 Casine, of Jersey County; George, who has charge 
 of the home farm; Dell, Norman, Ida and Ethel, 
 who are at home. They have been educated in the 
 common schools and are thus well equipped for the 
 battle of life. 
 
 In all questions of politics, Mr. Mundhenke is 
 greatly interested, and is one of the loyal suppor- 
 
 ters of the Republican party. He cast his first bal- 
 lot in 1864 for Abraham Lincoln and had the 
 pleasure of hearing him speak in Hillsboro. He 
 also attended a lecture delivered by the great 
 statesman Douglas. He usually attends the con- 
 ventions of his party. He has served for one term 
 as Road Commissioner, but is not desirous of of- 
 ficial honors. He still adheres to the faith of the 
 Lutheran Church, in which he was reared, and is a 
 worthy, industrious citizen, who is loyal to his 
 adopted country and has always endeavored to up- 
 hold her laws. 
 
 EONARD HOOVER, who owns a well- 
 $. equipped farm on section 17, May Town- 
 )ip ) js a self-made man, having started 
 out in the battle of life without capital, and in 
 spite of adverse circumstances and the discour- 
 agements that come to all, he has acquired a good 
 competence and a well-improved farm. He is one 
 of the honored veterans of the late war, and was 
 several times wounded while serving in the de- 
 fense of the Union. 
 
 A native of Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Hoover's birth 
 occurred January 18, 1833. He was next to the 
 youngest in a family of ten children born to 
 Samuel 'and Phoebe (Westbrook) Hoover. The 
 family are all now deceased with the exception of 
 our subject and his two brothers, Richard and 
 Timothy. The former is engaged in farming in 
 Missouri, and the latter follows a similar calling in 
 Texas. Samuel Hoover was a native of the Key- 
 stone State, where he grew to maturity. Thence 
 he went to Ohio, where he was married, after 
 which he engaged in farming in the Buckeye 
 State for several years. About 1837 he came to 
 Illinois, making a settlement at Woodburn, Ma- 
 coupin County, where he resided until his death, 
 which occurred when he was about sixty years of 
 age. His ancestors were natives of Germany, who 
 settled in the United States at an early day, and
 
 438 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 his father participated in the Revolutionary War. 
 The mother of our subject was born in New York 
 State, and died in Christian County at an ad- 
 vanced age. 
 
 Leonard Hoover was only a small boy when he 
 came to this State with his parents. He lived at 
 home until his father's death, when he took his 
 mother and supported her during the remainder 
 of her days. He learned the blacksmith's trade in 
 St. Louis, at which calling he worked for about 
 eleven years. In 1857, he came to this county 
 and purchased the farm where he now resides, at 
 that time only owning forty acres, however. The 
 land was in a wild condition, and he at once began 
 its improvement. For several years he worked 
 more or less at his trade in connection with carry- 
 ing on his farm. 
 
 In July, 1861, Mr. Hoover enlisted as a member 
 of Company G, Forty-first Illinois Regiment, and 
 was in active service for three years. He par- 
 ticipated in the siege of Ft. Donelson and Ft. 
 Henry, in the former battle receiving two flesh 
 wounds and being taken prisoner by the rebels. 
 In a few hours, however, he managed to escape, as 
 the enemy thought he was too seriously injured 
 to travel and therefore did not place him under 
 strong guard. At the battle of Shiloli he also sus- 
 tained slight injury. Under the circumstances 
 most men would have felt it impossible to leave 
 home, but Mr. Hoover felt impelled to take up 
 arms in defense of the Flag. He made arrange- 
 ments for his three children to live with a neigh- 
 bor during his absence, and left his farm and other 
 interests to take care of themselves. 
 
 On his return from the war our subject resumed 
 farming in this county and has ever since devoted 
 his entire attention to the cultivation and im- 
 provement of his place. It comprises one hun- 
 dred and fifty acres of feitile land, which has been 
 so well improved that it is considered one of the 
 most desirable pieces of property in May Town- 
 ship. 
 
 In 1853, Mr. Hoover and Miss Barbara Rubey, 
 of Ohio, were united in marriage. She was called 
 from this life in May, 1860, leaving three children 
 to mourn her loss. John, the eldest, is a well-to- 
 do farmer of Idaho. Phoebe Ann became the wife 
 
 of Alonzo Mayo, and is a resident of Nevada, Mo. 
 Samuel is engaged in farming in the State of 
 Washington.- In 1866, our subject was married to 
 Miss Mary Ann Chatham, of Fayette County. 
 They have one child, Charles W., who is a resident 
 of Taylorville, Christian County. Mr. Hoover is 
 in political faith a Republican, and is a member of 
 Taylorville Post No. 392, G. A. R. He is now 
 serving his sixth year as a Commissioner of High- 
 ways, and in that office has done much toward the 
 improvement of roads in this locality. 
 
 ILLIAM BUGG, one of the representative 
 farmers and pioneers of Christian County, 
 is engaged in farming, as lie has done for 
 many years past, on section 14, May Township. He 
 succeeded to a part of the old homestead belonging 
 to his father, who was one of the early settlers on 
 this prairie. Our subject was in the service in the 
 late war, taking part in many battles and engage- 
 ments and acquitting himself with distinction. 
 
 The birth of William Bugg occurred January 4, 
 1840, in this county, where he has passed nearly 
 his entire life. He is a son of Joseph and Susanna 
 (Peck) Bugg, a full account of whom may be 
 found in the sketch of Edward Bugg, on another 
 page of this volume. William is the fourth in a 
 family of eight children. His early years were 
 passed in the uneventful manner of farmer lads, 
 and his education was acquired in the district 
 schools. 
 
 When twenty-two years of age, our subject went 
 to the defense of the Stars and Stripes, enlisting 
 August 12, 1862, in the One Hundred and Fif- 
 teenth Illinois Regiment as a member of Company 
 A. He continued in the army until peace was de- 
 clared, and was in much active service. For three 
 days he fought in the front of the battles at Chick- 
 amauga and Lookout Mountain. He wont with 
 Sherman on his inarch from Nashville, Tenn., to 
 Huntsville, Ala., and was most fortunate in escap- 
 ing without receiving a wound or being taken a 
 prisoner at any time.
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 439 
 
 On his return from the war, Mr. Bugg came to 
 the old homestead and here engaged in agricul- 
 tural pursuits. On the 21st of December, 1871, he 
 was united in marriage with Miss Allie Creath- 
 baum, whe was born October 22, 1844, in the Key- 
 stone State. She is a daughter of Elias and Sus- 
 anna (Kamp) Creathbaum. Mrs. Bugg's parents 
 removed from Pennsylvania to AVest Virginia 
 when she was quite young, and there she was 
 reared to womanhood. They were of German de- 
 scent, and after their removal to West Virginia 
 they there made their home until called from this 
 life. Three children have blessed the union of 
 our subject and wife. George II., the first-born, 
 died in infancy; Bertha V., next in order of birth, 
 is very well educated and resides with her parents; 
 Dwight L. completes the family. He assists his 
 father in the care of his farm and is a young man 
 of promise. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Bugg affiliates with the Repub- 
 lican party. He is not ambitious for political 
 preferment, but has served as Commissioner of 
 Highways. He is not a member of any church or- 
 ganization, but attends the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, to which his wife and daughter belong. 
 In addition to general farming, he devotes consid- 
 erable attention to the raising of stock, and has 
 made a success in this line of business. He owns 
 two hundred and ninety acres in his home farm, 
 a part of which was formerly comprised within 
 the limits of his father's farm where he was born. 
 The remainder of the place he has purchased in 
 later years, and his farm is noted as one of the 
 best for raising stock in May Township. 
 
 . ICHARD PECK is one of the oldest survi- 
 vors of pioneer days in Christian County. 
 He has made his home for some forty- 
 I three years in this immediate locality, 
 and has been a prominent factor in the develop- 
 ment and prosperity of this county. His residence 
 is on his farm, which is located on section 36, May 
 
 Township. Mr. Peck is a native of Yorkshire, 
 England, his birth occurring January 8, 1816. He 
 is a son of Samuel and Jane (Routledge) Peck, 
 who were also natives of the same shire. The fa- 
 ther was born in 1778, and was an agriculturist 
 in Yorkshire for upwards of thirty years. In 
 1834 he determined to try his fortune in Amer- 
 ica, and soon after his arrival in the United States 
 settled on a farm near Terre Haute, Ind. He con- 
 tinued to carry on agricultural pursuits until his 
 death, which occurred in this county when he had 
 attained to an advanced age. His wife passed 
 away on the farm in Indiana. She was the mother 
 of ten children, of ^ whom our subject was the 
 fourth in order of birth and the only one now 
 living. 
 
 When a youth of fourteen years, Richard Peck 
 left the parental roof and started out to make his 
 own way in the world. For some four years he 
 worked by the month for neighboring famers, 
 and in 1834, when in his eighteenth year, he de- 
 cided to come to America with his parents. For 
 several years he worked a portion of the time on 
 his father's farm in Indiana, while the remainder 
 of his time was spent as an agriculturist in the 
 vicinity. For a period of two years lie worked at 
 the molder's trade. 
 
 In 1850 Mr. Peck came to Christian County, 
 where he entered two hundred and forty acres of 
 wild land on the open prairie. At that time there 
 were very few settlers in the district. They were 
 located along the edge of the timber, but there 
 were no settlements on the prairie prior to Mr. 
 Peck's arrival. His farm, which he still owns and 
 cultivates, he has greatly improved since it came 
 into his possession. He has disposed of a portion 
 of his land, but still owns two hundred acres, 
 which are under good cultivation. Coming here 
 a poor boy, he acquired a competency sufficient for 
 his declining years entirely through his own in- 
 dustry and honest labor. 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1842, occurred the mar- 
 riage of Mr. Peck and Miss Naomi Gould, of Vigo 
 County, Ind., where her parents were early settlers. 
 Mr. Peck affiliates with the Republican party, and 
 though not an aspirant for official honors has been 
 prevailed upon by his fellow -citizens several times
 
 440 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 to accept local positions. He was the first Town- 
 ship Collector of May Township, holding that 
 position for seven years after its organization. 
 For fourteen successive years he was the efficient 
 Township Assessor, and in whatever capacity he 
 has served his efforts have been marked with com- 
 mendable fidelity and zeal. Fora number of years 
 he has served as a School Director, and has been a 
 stanch supporter of education. In his social rela- 
 tions he is a member of the Masonic order, belong- 
 ing to Lodge No. 451, of Assumption. He is 
 not identified with any church organization, but 
 is honorable and upright in his dealings with 
 all. He is justly esteemed one of the leading ag- 
 riculturists of his township, in the prosperity of 
 which he is greatly interested. 
 
 NNW 1 
 
 JACOB HUBER, M. D., who for twenty- 
 seven years has engaged in the practice of 
 his profession in Pana, was born April 11, 
 1840, in Logan County, Ohio, and is a son of 
 Emanuel and Barbara (Sellers) Huber. The family 
 lived upon a farm, and in the usual manner of 
 farmer lads his early boyhood days were passed. 
 At the usual age lie entered school, easily mastering 
 the common branches. At the age of fifteen, he 
 began teaching school, and although so young he 
 met with success and was thus employed for four 
 years. He then completed his literary education 
 in the seminaries at DeGraff and Bellefontaine, 
 Ohio, which ended his regular school days. On 
 making choice of a business which he wished to 
 follow through life, he determined to enter the 
 medical profession, and began the study of med- 
 icine under the direction of T. L. Wright, M. D., 
 of Bellefontaine. He afterwards entered the Ohio 
 Medical College of Cincinnati, and was graduated 
 from that institution in March, 1862, with the de- 
 gree of M. D., and still later graduated from the 
 Bellevue Hospital Medical College, N. Y., in the 
 Class of '79 and '80. 
 
 The Civil War was now in progress, aid for 
 
 the wounded and suffering was needed, and, 
 prompted by patriotic impulses, Dr. Huber, the 
 day following his graduation, entered the Forty- 
 seventh Ohio Infantry, March 11, 1862, as As- 
 sistant Surgeon under Stephen P. Bonner. He 
 enlisted in Cincinnati in what was called the Wil- 
 stack Regiment, named for the Mayor of the city. 
 He did service in West Virginia and at the siege 
 of Vicksburg, being with his regiment in field serv- 
 ice. From the 19th of May to the 4th of July, 1863, 
 during the siege of Vicksburg, his regiment lost 
 about half its force. Dr. Huber was with the Army 
 of the Tennessee, and was present at the battles of 
 Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain under 
 Gen. Sherman. He accompanied the expedition to 
 the relief of the troops at Knoxville, Tenn., and 
 spent the winter at Larkinsville, Ala. He veteran- 
 ized in March, 1864, and returning from a vet- 
 eran furlough joined Sherman's army at Alabama, 
 then just starting on the Atlanta Campaign. He 
 was in all the battles of that campaign and on the 
 memorable march to the sea. On reaching Sa- 
 vannah, the Surgeon of the regiment having re- 
 signed, Dr. Huber was appointed to that position. 
 His last service was in Little Rock, Ark., and on 
 the 1st of September. 1865, he was honorably dis- 
 charged. 
 
 When the war was over, Dr. Huber returned to 
 his home in DeGraff, Ohio, where he remained a year 
 and a-half, when he came to Pana, where he has 
 since been in active practice. For fourteen years, 
 he served as local surgeon for the Ohio & Mis- 
 sissippi Railroad Company, and has been a member 
 of the Pension Board for twelve years. He is also 
 a member of the Central District Medical Society 
 and the American Medical Society. He is well 
 versed in the science of medicine, keeps abreast 
 with everything connected with the profession, 
 and well deserves the high reputation which he 
 now enjoys. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1867, in DeGraff, Ohio, 
 the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss 
 Amanda Harbor, of Urbana, Champaign County, 
 Ohio. They lost two children in infancy and 
 have now no family. This worthy couple, 
 throughout the community where they are so 
 widely known, rank high in social circles. The
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 441 
 
 Doctor is a Democrat in politics, has twice served 
 as Alderman of Pana, and in 1890 was elected 
 Mayor. While on the Council and in the May- 
 or's chair, his faithful performance of duty and his 
 painstaking service won him the commendation 
 of all. The Doctor is secretary of the Electric 
 Light Company, and takes an active interest in 
 everything pertaining to the welfare of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 ,-___ 
 
 f OHN D. HACEENBERG, who comes from 
 one of the honored pioneer families of Chris- 
 tian County, was born and has passed his en. 
 tire life on his father's old homestead, situ- 
 ated on section 13, May Township. He is one of 
 the leading and enterprising young farmers of the 
 neighborhood and owns a beautiful and well-equip- 
 ped farm, the greater portion of which he inher- 
 ited from his father's estate. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Hackenberg occurred February 
 20, 1860. He is a son of Joseph and Rachel (Dorst) 
 Hackenberg, and is the third in order of birth in 
 their family of four children. The eldest, Jennie, 
 is now deceased. Newton is a well-to-do stock- 
 raiser in Lincoln County, Kan. Matie became the 
 wife of Isaac Mills, who is the well-known State's 
 Attorney of Decatur. The father of this fam- 
 ily, whose ancestors were natives of Germany, 
 was born in Pennsylvania, and was still young 
 when his parents removed with their family to 
 Ohio. He grew to manhood in the Buckeye State 
 and there acquired his education. About the year 
 1855, he emigrated Westward and located on a farm 
 which he purchased in May Township. To its cul- 
 tivation he devoted the remainder of his life, and 
 was one of the respected early pioneers of this lo- 
 cality. He was a stanch Republican after the or- 
 ganization of that party, but prior to that time 
 was a Whig. He had many warm friends, and his 
 death, which occurred at the age of sixty-two 
 years, was sincerely deplored as an irreparable loss 
 to the community in which he lived. His wife, 
 
 who is also of German extraction, was born in 
 Ohio, and is still living, making her home with 
 her daughter in Decatur, 111. 
 
 John D. Hackenberg in his youth worked on his 
 father's farm and, intending to become an agricul- 
 turist, devoted himself to acquiring a practical 
 knowledge of the best methods of carrying on a 
 farm. He acquired his education in the common 
 schools of the neighborhood, and made his home 
 with his parents until arriving at his majority. 
 Starting in life for himself, he commenced by rent- 
 ing a farm, which he operated until 1884, when he 
 purchased a part of the place where he now resides. 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1885, a marriage cere- 
 mony was performed by which Miss Victorine Sol- 
 liday, of this county, became the wife of our sub- 
 ject. By their union have been born three children, 
 who are called respectively Claude, Merl and 
 Lelah, and are all living at home. Mrs. Hacken- 
 berg is a member of the Reformed Church, to 
 which her husband contributes, although he is not 
 a member. 
 
 The farm owned by our subject is conceded to 
 be one of the best in May Township, as the land 
 is very fertile and yields abundant harvests, in ad- 
 dition to which there are many substantial im- 
 provements on the place. It is valuable for stock- 
 raising purposes and Mr. Hackenberg raises a great 
 many horses, cattle and sheep. There are three 
 hundred and fifty-five acres within the boundaries 
 of his farm which are under cultivation, and in 
 addition to this he owns forty acres of timber-land. 
 He is a man of upright character and is well and 
 favorably known in this county, where his life has 
 been passed. 
 
 ffi^, J. RIVARD, M. D., is one of the best- 
 /(< : known physicians and surgeons of Assump- 
 ^y2( tion, and is a member of the village Board 
 of Health. He belongs to the American Medical 
 Association, and by study and research makes it 
 his constant endeavor to keep fully abreast with
 
 442 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 the times in everything relating to the theory and 
 practice of medicine. As a citizen he is highly 
 esteemed, and is always foremost in every enter- 
 prise for the benefit of the community. lie has 
 been in successful practice here since 1881. 
 
 The Doctor is a native son of Illinois, born in 
 Konkakee County November 5, 1859. His father, 
 Oliver Rivard, is a native of Canada, and came to 
 the United States when a lad of only ten years, 
 making the journey with his brother, who is num- 
 bered among the pioneers of Kankakee County. 
 He grew to manhood there, and upon reaching his 
 majority wedded a lady of French descent. She 
 was a Miss Philomen Frazer, a daughter of August 
 Frazer, who was one of the first to settle in Kan- 
 kakee County. Mr. and Mrs. Rivard spent their 
 lives and reared their family in the same locality 
 in which the former settled upon his arrival in 
 Illinois. In the fall of 1892 the father met with 
 an accident which cansed his death, being killed 
 by a train while walking on the railroad. At the 
 time of his decease he was fifty-nine years of age, 
 and his loss was deeply felt in the community. 
 
 The boyhood days of Dr. Rivard were passed in 
 his native county, and he was fortunate in being 
 given the best of school advantages. Entering 
 St. Viateur's College, he completed the classical 
 course, graduating from that institution at the 
 age of eighteen years. He had given special at- 
 tention to the classics and scientific studies. Be- 
 ing ambitious, he concluded to adopt one of the 
 professions, and in pursuance of that determina- 
 tion went to Chicago, and after a three-years 
 course in the Chicago Medical College was grad- 
 uated, March 28, 1881. At this time he was just 
 past his twenty-first birthday anniversary, which 
 fact shows the unusual diligence and industry of 
 this young student. Upon completing his colle- 
 giate course, Dr. Rivard located in Assumption, 
 and began his practice. Necessarily at first he 
 met with Considerable discouragement, as is the 
 case with nearly every young doctor, but his 
 perseverance soon brought him many patients. 
 At the present time he has a large and increasing 
 practice and has built up an enviable reputation 
 as one of the successful physicians of Christian 
 County. He has used good judgment in the 
 
 investment of his means, and owns considerable 
 local real estate. He owns two good business 
 houses and a valuable and well-improved farm 
 of one hundred and sixty acres in Shelby Coun- 
 ty, besides several residences. He is recognized 
 as one of the substantial and well-to-do busi- 
 ness men of the community. He has been a 
 stockholder in the Assumption Coal and Mining 
 Company, which enterprise he was prominent in 
 organizing, and also is a member of and Director 
 in the People's Building, Saving and Loan Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 On October 25, 1882, the Doctor and Miss Leah 
 M. Beauchamp were wedded. The lady is a native 
 of Kankakee County, and is a daughter of Felix 
 Beauchamp, who located there before the now 
 flourishing city of Kankakee was started. The 
 Doctor and his wife have three children, namely: 
 Rita, Queena and George J. The family attend 
 the Catholic Church of Assumption and are active 
 in its work. Politically, our subject is a Republi- 
 can, having supported that part} 7 with his ballot 
 and influence since arriving at his majority. He 
 is not a politician, having preferred to attend to 
 his professional duties and private interests, and. 
 though he has been requested to do so, has never 
 accepted any official position. 
 
 JAMES B. MICHAEL, a member of the firm 
 of Michael Brothers, dealers in hay and ex- 
 tensive shippers of the same product, is lo- 
 cated in Assumption, 111. He has made his 
 home here since 1865, and has long been numbered 
 among the substantial business men of the place. 
 He has been a witness of its growth and pros- 
 perity, in which he has been an important factor. 
 The birth of Mr. Michael occurred near Zanusville, 
 Muskingum County, Ohio, March 23, 1856. His 
 father, Jacob Michael, was a native of Mary- 
 land, and there grew to manhood. He then re- 
 moved to Ohio, settling in Muskingum County,
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 443 
 
 where lie met and wedded Miss Mary Walters, 
 whose birth occurred in that county. For several 
 years, Mr. Michael carried on a farm in the Buck- 
 eye State, and in 1865 proceeded to Illinois, mak- 
 ing a seltlement in Shelby County, where he 
 bought a good farm. He afterward removed to 
 Iowa, but after a residence there of some four 
 years returned to this village and led a retired 
 life until his death, which took place in 1885. 
 His wife passed away in 1872. 
 
 James B. Michael is one of a family of three 
 sons and four daughters, who grew to mature 
 years. Oue sister is now deceased. Our subject 
 was a lad of only eight years when with his pat- 
 ents he came to Illinois, and his youth was spent 
 in Shelby County. His educational advantages 
 were very good and lie improved them with 
 commendable zeal. He remained under the pa- 
 rental roof until eighteen years of age, when he 
 started out to acquire his own fortune. As he 
 had been brought up to life on a farm, it was nat- 
 ural that he chose to become an agriculturist, 
 and his first undertaking in this line was on a 
 rented farm in Christian County. This he carried 
 on successfully for ten years, or until 1877, when 
 he went to Iowa, and bought a farm in Ringgold 
 County. At the expiration of four years he re- 
 turned to Christian County, which lias since been 
 his place of abode. In the year 1884 he engaged 
 in the ha}' business in Assumption and h.is built 
 up an extensive trade. The firm annually ships 
 about four hundred car-loads of this commodity. 
 Mr. Michael has shown good executive ability in 
 the management of his business interests and has 
 made wise investments of his profits. 
 
 A marriage ceremony was performed June 9, 
 1885, which united the fortunes of our subject 
 and Miss Celena Andibert. Mrs. Michael was 
 born in Christian County, 111., near the village of 
 Assumption, and is a daughter of Peter Andibert, 
 one of the early settlers of the county. Three 
 children have blessed the union of our subject 
 and his wife. In order of birth they are as fol- 
 lows: Ina, Eva and Leila Lorena. Mis. Michael 
 is a member of the Catholic Church. 
 
 Our subject belongs to Hackberry Camp No. 251, 
 M. W. A. He has spent almost his entire life in 
 
 this part of Illinois, where lie is well known and 
 highly esteemed. He is a man of upright charac- 
 ter and sterling worth. To his well-directed ef- 
 forts and business ability he owes the fact that he- 
 possesses to-day a comfortable fortune and modern 
 home. In his political faith he is a Democrat 
 and has always cast his ballot in favor of the nom- 
 inees of that party. 
 
 RS. CATHERINE II. POPE, who resides 
 on a fine farm on section 6, Pana Town- 
 ship, was born near Utica, in Herkimer 
 County, N. Y., May 7, 1814. Her father, 
 Henry Rosencrantz, was born and reared in tiie 
 same county, and was a son of Rev. Abram Rosen- 
 crantz, a native of Paltz, Germany. When a young 
 man he crossed the briny deep to New York, where 
 he met and married Miss Anna Maria, daughter of 
 Gen. Herkimer. He then took up his residence in 
 the township of Little Falls, and was the first 
 preacher of Herkimer County, the old German 
 church being built expressly for him. He was a 
 prominent and influential citizen and a most 
 highly-respected man. His death occurred at the 
 age of seventy years. His eldest son became 
 a United States Congressman. The second son, 
 Henry, was a prominen I farmer of Herkimer County. 
 Nicholas, the next younger, was a soldier in the 
 War of 1812. Abram followed farming in the 
 same county. Joseph, who was a soldier of the 
 War of 1812, was also a leading agriculturist. 
 The daughters of the family were Margaret, Katie 
 and Polly. 
 
 Henry Rosencrantz, the father of Mrs. Pope, was 
 a farmer by occupation, and in his native county 
 married Patience Easterbrook. She was born in 
 Rhode Island, and was a daughter of Abel Easter- 
 brook, also a native of Rhode Island. His people 
 were sea-faring men, but he followed farming and 
 blacksmitliing. Mr. and Mrs. Rosencrantz began 
 their domestic life in Herkimer County, N. Y.,and 
 there remained until 1826, when they removed to
 
 444 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 St. Lawrence County, locating on a farm, where 
 the father died at the age of fifty-eight. The 
 mother died in this county in 1857, while visiting 
 her daughter, Mrs. Pope. She was then in her sev- 
 enty-ninth year. Their family numbered seven sons 
 and four daughters, of whom seven grow to mature 
 years: Anna Maria, who married Luther Davis, 
 both of whom died in Sangamon County; Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Talmau; Mrs. Henrietta Sturtevant, de- 
 ceased; Mrs. Catherine H. Pope; George, deceased; 
 Margaret and Patience, also deceased; and Abram 
 Rosencrantz, who died at the age of fifteen. The 
 other children died in infancy. 
 
 Mrs. Pope spent her early girlhood days in her 
 native county, and then went with her parents to 
 St. Lawrence County. The common schools af- 
 forded her her educational privileges. On the 
 14th of January, 1833, was celebrated her marriage 
 with Abel Smith Pope, who was born in St. Law- 
 rence County January 7, 1810, and was the fourth 
 son of Timothy and Hannah (Stickney) Pope. 
 His father was a prominent citizen and large land- 
 owner, and was a a cloth-dresser, miller and tanner. 
 
 Mr, and Mrs. Pope began housekeeping in St. 
 Lawrence County, N. Y., and he engaged in cloth- 
 making, tanning, etc., in company with his father. 
 After the death of his father he removed to Spen- 
 cerville, Canada, six miles west of Prescott, where 
 he engaged in hotel-keeping for two years. He 
 then went to Prescott, where he ran a 'bus line 
 for two years, after which he returned to St. Law- 
 rence County, N. Y., and followed the same busi- 
 ness in Ogdensburg, coming thence to Christian 
 County, 111., in 1853. They were numbered among 
 the early settlers, and went through all the expe- 
 riences of life on the frontier. In 1868 they re- 
 moved to the farm on which Mrs. Pope now re- 
 sides, and he carried on its cultivation until his 
 death, which occurred in 1882. He was a mem- 
 ber of tiie First Baptist Church of Pana, and was 
 a Republican in politics. He possessed many ex- 
 cellencies of character, was upright and honorable 
 in all things, and had the confidence of the entire 
 community. Many friends mourned his loss. 
 
 Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pope were born the follow- 
 ing children: Henry H., who was born in New 
 York, enlisted in Company D, Thirty-third Illinois 
 
 Infantry, served throughout the war, and for mer- 
 itorious conduct was promoted to the rank of Col- 
 onel; Henrietta M., the next younger; Melissa M. 
 and George, who are both deceased; James, a trav- 
 eling salesman for a Kalamazoo firm; Albert, who 
 carries on the home farm; and Sarah E., who died 
 in infancy. The family have a very pleasant home, 
 situated in the midst of a fine farm, comprising 
 three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land, 
 which yields to them a good income. The house- 
 hold is the abode of hospitality, and its members 
 are widely and favorably known in the neighbor- 
 hood. Mrs. Pope is a member of the Baptist Church, 
 and is a most estimable lady. 
 
 EVAN A. HUMPHREYS, JR., who is engaged 
 in the practice of law in Pana, is one of the 
 public-spirited and progressive citizens of 
 this place and manifests a commendable interest 
 in everything pertaining to the public welfare. 
 The record of his life is as follows, and it is witli 
 pleasure that we present it to our readers. He 
 was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 20, 1852, 
 and is a son of Evan A. and Martha J. (Skeen) 
 Humphreys, the former a native of England, and 
 the latter of Kentucky. The paternal grandfather 
 of our subject, also bore the name of Evan A. 
 Humphreys, and lie too was born in England. 
 With his family he left the land of his birth and 
 crossed the Atlantic to America, landing in New 
 York. He afterward removed to St. Louis, where 
 he lived for many years, and there followed con- 
 tracting and building. His .death occurred in 
 that city in 1873, when past the age of eighty 
 years. The father of our subject was one of a 
 family of five sons and three daughters. He ac- 
 companied his parents to the United States and be- 
 came a plasterer by trade, which business he lias 
 followed throughout the greater part of his life. 
 He is now living retired. Himself and wife are 
 worthy members of the Methodist Church. Unto 
 them have been born nine children, live sons and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPH'CAL RECORD. 
 
 445 
 
 four daughters, of whom four sons and two 
 daughters are now living, namely: Charles M., Ed- 
 ward D., Evan A., Andrew J., Ella, and Dollie, 
 wife of Henry C. White. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of our 
 subject, who remained in his native city until six 
 years of age, when he accompanied his parents on 
 their removal to Illinois, the family locating in 
 Jonesboro. From there he went to Carbondale, 
 and in April, 1861, came to Pana, where he has 
 since made his home. The public schools afforded 
 him his educational privileges and he is now a 
 well-informed man. Turning his attention to the 
 legal profession, he began the study of law in 
 1869, under A. C. McMillan, and was admitted to 
 the Bar in 1873, since which time he has been in 
 active practice. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1875, Mr. Humphreys 
 was united in marriage with Mrs. Ann E. McMil- 
 lan, widow of A. C. McMillan, and a daughter of 
 Charles and Sarah J. (Parker) Barker, natives of 
 New York. Their union has been graced with 
 one child, Arthur. The mother is a member of 
 the Presbyterian Church and is a lady of culture 
 and refinement, who ranks high in social circles. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys is a member of the Modern 
 Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, 
 and the Fraternal Mystic Circle. For about six- 
 teen years he has held the ottice of City Attorney, 
 his repeated re-elections being a high testimonial 
 to his ability and fidelity. He has a good home 
 and other city property in Pana, where he has now 
 lived for thirty-two years. In politics, lie is a 
 supporter of the Democracy. In the line of his 
 profession he has met with success, and his clients 
 are many. 
 
 
 JOHN S. BILYEU is one of the extensive 
 land-owners of Prairielon Township, his 
 pleasant residence being situated on sec- 
 tion 4. He lias long been a resident of this 
 community, having arrived here in 1841. The 
 birth of our subject occurred in Miller County, 
 
 Mo., the date of the event being January 1, 1834. 
 His father, John H. Bilyeu, was a native of Ken- 
 tucky, and went to Tennessee with his father, 
 Peter Bilyeu, who was of French descent. His 
 youth was passed in Tennessee, and on arriving- 
 at a suitable age, he chose for his wife Elizabeth 
 Workman, also a native of Kentucky. The young 
 couple removed to Illinois, and, settling in San- 
 gamon County, located on a farm, which Mr. 
 Bilyeu carried on for several years. He then re- 
 moved to Miller County, Mo., where he staid for 
 only four years, returning in 1837 to Sangamon 
 County. A few years later he entered and bought 
 land on Flat Branch, now comprised within the 
 limits of Prairieton Township. He opened up a 
 large farm of over twelve hundred acres, and to 
 its cultivation devoted the remainder of his life. 
 He was called from the shores of time May 15, 
 1867, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife is 
 still living, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. 
 Bilyeu was quite active in local politics, and 
 many times held offices of trust and honor. 
 
 The subject of this sketcli is one of a family of 
 nine sons and three daughters, who all lived to 
 mature years. Two brothers and two of the sis- 
 ters are now deceased. John S. remained under 
 the parental roof until he had reached his major- 
 ity, after which he settled on a part of the old 
 homestead, the place where he still resides. This 
 property was then raw prairie land, and the young 
 man with industry and diligence proceeded to 
 develop a farm, fencing and making many im- 
 provements upon the place. He started with about 
 one hundred acres, but in a few years was en- 
 abled to purchase more land. As the years passed, 
 the boundaries of his farm were extended until 
 his homestead farm comprises three hundred acres, 
 in addition to which he owns four hundred 
 acres. A part of this land is timber, and the rest 
 is rich bottomland. Large barns and convenient 
 outbuildings have been erected on his farm, 
 and his commodious home completes the pleasant 
 picture. 
 
 When Mr. Bilyeu had just completed his twen- 
 tieth year he was united in marriage with Miss 
 Melinda Workman, their marriage being cele- 
 brated January 22, 1854. The lady is a native of
 
 446 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Illinois, and is a daughter of Stephen Workman, 
 one of the early pioneer of Christian County. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Bilyeu have had nine children. J. H. J. 
 is married and is carrying on one of his father's 
 farms; Mary Ann is the wife of David Workman, 
 of this county; Josiah assists in carrying on the 
 home farm; Elizabeth is deceased; Peter also lives 
 at home; Lydia, Edmund. Hiram and Isaac com- 
 plete the family. The parents are members of the 
 Christian Church and are valued workers. 
 
 Thr first vote of Mr. Bilyeu was deposited for 
 the Hon. James Buchanan in 1856. since which 
 time he has ever supported the Democratic party. 
 He has never been an aspirant for official honors, 
 but has found his time fully taken up in oversee- 
 ing his farms and business projects. In the sev- 
 eral walks of life he bears a reputation for un- 
 blemished honor, and his example as a business 
 man is worthy the emulation of the coming gener- 
 ation. 
 
 eHARLES VICTORY ROCKWELL, M. D., 
 deceased, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, on 
 the 4th of March, 1833, and died July 29, 
 1888, in Taylorvillc, 111., where for many years he 
 had successfully engaged in the practice of his 
 profession, winning a place in the front rank 
 among his brethren of the science. Throughout 
 the community he had many friends. The first 
 eight years of his life were spent in his native 
 city, and he then went to Chicago with his parents, 
 John and Jane Desire (Tousley) Rockwell. His 
 father was an architect of Chicago. His death 
 occurred in Decatur, while visiting his daughter, 
 Mrs. S. T. Trowbridge, now of Napa, Cal. The 
 mother is now living with Mrs. Trowbridge. 
 
 The Doctor was educated in the schools of Chi- 
 cago, and, with the desire of entering the medical 
 profession, he went to Decatur, where he began 
 reading along that line under the direction of 
 Dr. Trowbridge, a brother-in-law. He was subse- 
 quently graduated from the St. Louis Medical 
 
 College in the Class of '57, and at once located in 
 Taylorville. He had engaged in practice here for 
 one year before his graduation as a partner of Dr. 
 Curtis, and after his graduation began practicing 
 alone. He was a thorough student of his profes- 
 sion, a man of deep research, and his merit and 
 ability won him a foremost place among his pro- 
 fessional brethren. During the war the Doctor 
 spent some three months in the South, whither 
 he was sent by the State to assist in the distribu- 
 tion of supplies. He also aided in hospital work 
 for a time. On his return he resumed practice 
 and secured a most liberal patronage. For some 
 years he was surgeon for the Wabash Railroad, 
 and was an active member of the Tri-State and 
 District Medical Societies. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1858, the Doctor was 
 united in marriage with Miss Ellen Torrey, of 
 Springfield, 111. She was bom in that city April 
 4, 1841, but was married in Taylorville, at the 
 home of her sister, Mrs. Albert Sattley. By their 
 union were born the following children: Luella, 
 wife of Rev. H. P. Fullenweider, a Presbyterian 
 minister of Chicago; Susie E., who is employed 
 as a stenographer in the Remington Type Writer 
 Office, of Chicago; Gertrude, at home; Estella L., 
 wife of Fred C. Barnett, who was formerly a grain 
 dealer of Litchfield, but is now in business in Chi- 
 cago; and Grace A. at home. 
 
 In connection with his other business interests, 
 the Doctor was proprietor of a drug store in Tay- 
 lorville. In politics, he was always a stalwart sup- 
 porter of the Republican party, and whenever he 
 so desired gave expression to his views on the sub- 
 ject without fear or favor. He was appointed 
 Postmaster of Taylorville by President Arthur, 
 and held that position at the time of his death, 
 although President Cleveland was then at the 
 head of the Government. He served as a member 
 of the School Board, and was Director of the Cem- 
 etery Association. He owned some good residence 
 property in Taylorville, also an eighty-acre fruit 
 farm two miles from the city. He was a man of 
 firm convictions, and, though he was undaunted 
 in espousing his own view, gave to others the 
 same right. He was popular with all classes, for 
 he had a pleasant, cheery manner, and those who
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 447 
 
 knew him esteemed him highly for the excellen- 
 cies of his character. His death was widely 
 mourned throughout the community and proved 
 a loss to the public as well as to his immediate 
 circle of relatives and friends. Mrs. Rockwell 
 and her family are members of the Presbyterian 
 Church, and in social circles hold an enviable po- 
 sition. 
 
 JOSEPH R. BUGG, who carries on a good 
 farm located on section 34, May Township, 
 comes from one of the honored pioneer 
 families of Christian County, and was born 
 in this township on November 30, 1846. His en- 
 tire life and labors have been in this county, and 
 he is very well known throughout its borders. 
 
 Our subject is the fifth in order of birth in a 
 family of eight sons, whose parents were Joseph 
 and Susanna (Peck) Bugg, who were natives of 
 Yorkshire, England. The life record of this worthy 
 couple may be found in the sketch of their son, 
 Edward Bugg, on another page of this work. Joseph 
 remained with his parents, assisting in carrying on 
 the home farm, until he had reached man's estate. 
 Educational facilities during his boyhood were 
 of a very limited description, and thus his ad- 
 vantages in that direction were extremely meagre. 
 To the best of his ability he has endeavored to 
 compensate for this deprivation in early yeais by 
 reading, study and observation. 
 
 When in his twenty-third year, Mr. Bugg wed- 
 ded Miss Laura A. Bradley, the date of the event 
 being July 4, 1 868. Mrs. Bugg's parents were early 
 settlers of Christian County. The young couple 
 commenced housekeeping on a farm of one hun- 
 dred and twenty acres which our subject inherited 
 from his father's estate, aud here they have made 
 their home continuously. The boundaries of the 
 farm have been extended, and at the present time 
 our subject owns some one hundred and sixty-five 
 acres, well improved and cultivated. The place is 
 situated six miles southeast of Taylorville, and 
 would bring a good price if put on the market. 
 
 Five children have blessed the union of our 
 worthy subject and his wife. Emma is the wife of 
 Allen McKnight, who is a farmer of Clay County, 
 111.; Luella E. is the wife of Will Atkinson, who 
 is engaged in farming in Christian County; Ger- 
 trude and Glenn are still at home; and Jessie died 
 in infancy. Mrs. Bugg and her elder daughters 
 are members of the United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Preferring rather to give his entire energy and 
 time to carrying on his farm, Mr. Bugg hassteadily 
 refused to serve in positions of trust and honor in 
 his township. He deposits his ballot in favor of the 
 nominees and principles of the Republican party. 
 Though he is not identified with any church or- 
 ganization, he is interested in their prosperity and 
 contributes to their support. He is well and favor- 
 ably known in this county as a man whose word 
 is as good as his bond, and by his genial and 
 friendly manner he has always made every onehia 
 friend. 
 
 OOYES LADD, one of the early settlers and 
 representative farmers of Christian Coun- 
 ty, who now resides on section 23, Buck- 
 hart Township, was born in Franklin Township, 
 New London County, Conn., on the 31st of March, 
 1822. His father, Noyes Ladd, Sr., and his grand- 
 father, Darius Ladd, were both natives of the Nut- 
 meg State, and the family is of English descent. 
 The former married Harriet Williams, who was 
 born in Connecticut, and was a descendant of Elias 
 Williams, a sea-captain, a descendant of William 
 Williams, one of the signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and of Capt. W. Stanton, who served 
 in the Revolutionary War. His father, Joseph 
 Stanton, was a son of Thomas Stanton, who ran 
 away from home when a boy of fifteen years, took 
 passage on the "Mayflower," and came to America 
 with the Pilgrim Fathers. Here he learned the lan- 
 guage of the Indians and became an interpreter. 
 He was considered a man of prominence and influ- 
 ence in the community where he lived. Fifty out
 
 448 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 of one hundred and one of the colonists dying 
 the first winter, he left them and went among the 
 Indians, Chief Massasoit being the one who taught 
 him to become an interpreter. He was afterward 
 the interpreter for the five colonies until his death, 
 and he assisted Chief Uncas in writing the history 
 of their achievements. After leaving the Indians 
 he returned to his father, who fitted him out with 
 a store at Hartford. 
 
 Mr. Ladd is a third cousin to President Cleve- 
 land. Mrs. Ladd's paternal ancestors married 
 into the Hyde family of England, to which family 
 Mr. Cleveland traces his lineage, and through which 
 the Cleveland family made claim to Hyde Park, 
 London. There is no doubt of their inheritance 
 centering there, but there are missing links in the 
 evidence for the claim. Chauncy Cleveland, an 
 eminent lawyer and Governor of Connecticut, 
 made a strong effort, but finally abandoned it. 
 
 Our subject became first acquainted in Spring- 
 field, 111., with Abraham Lincoln, he being the 
 first man he got acquainted with in that place. 
 Afterward he became the bosom friend of Lincoln, 
 many times discussing the slavery question with 
 him at Lincoln's home until midnight. Mr. Ladd 
 has in his possession a rare relic, in the shape of a 
 picture of his grandfather, Capt. Elias Willis, a 
 painting over a hundred years old, painted on 
 glass, and a picture of his grandmother, taken 
 over fifty years ago. She died in Charleston, S. C., 
 of yellow fever. 
 
 The parents of our subject were married in the 
 Nutmeg State, and located on a farm in Franklin 
 Township, New London County, where they re- 
 sided until 1834, when they removed to Stoning- 
 ton. Conn., where the father died at the age of 
 forty-one. The mother afterward came to Illinois, 
 and departed this life in the home of our subject, 
 nt the age of seventy-two. They had been the 
 parents of the following children: Noyos, of 
 this sketch; Harriet Z., who died when one year 
 old; William, who died at the age of sixteen; 
 Elizabeth, widow of John A. Rolston, and a resi- 
 dent of Springfield, Mo., whose son is W. C. Rol- 
 ston, Judge of Pocahontas County, Iowa; Curtis 
 K., who died at the age of nineteen; and Cyrus F., i 
 Darius, Nathan and Elias, all of whom were i 
 
 drowned from the steamer ''Empire," on North 
 River, off Newburg, N. Y., while coming to this 
 State. Our subject, his wife and three children 
 and his mother were on the same boat, but were 
 saved. In that collision, however, fifty-four lives 
 were lost. 
 
 Mr. Ladd whose name heads this record was 
 reared in Connecticut, and on the 20th of Janu- 
 ary, 1843, married Phoebe Williams, a native of 
 New London County, that State. Seven children 
 were born unto them: Anna, now deceased; Har- 
 riet H., wife of Samuel Headen; William Slanton, 
 who died at the age of sixteen; Curtis K.,of South 
 Fork Township; John P. W., also a farmer of South 
 Fork Township; Jesse Y., a farmer of Taylorville 
 Township; and Julia, who died in infancy. The 
 mother of this family died, and January 30, 1868, 
 Mr. Ladd married Eliza J. Kennard, a native of 
 Mifttin County, Pa., but reared in Pickaway Coun- 
 ty, Ohio. Three children grace this marriage, Eliza 
 Jane, Emily Augusta and Lillie. 
 
 Our subject carried on farming in Connecticut 
 until 1848, which year witnessed his arrival in 
 Christian County. The farm on which he now 
 resides he entered from the Government. It was 
 a raw tract of land, upon which not a furrow had 
 been turned nor an improvement made. The en- 
 tire county was wild and undeveloped. There 
 were only nine voters in the township, six miles 
 square. Mr. Ladd has been prominently identi- 
 fied with the development and upbuilding of the 
 community. He was one of the committee to 
 build the first schoolhouse in the township, and 
 was taxed for that purpose $1.50. His entire taxes 
 were only $20. lie is now the oldest resident of 
 the township, the others who were here at his ar- 
 rival having removed or been called to the home 
 beyond. He devotes his energies untiringly to 
 the cultivation of his farm, and at one time owned 
 one thousand acres of land. His possessions have 
 all been acquired through his own efforts and 
 stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Ladd was a Whig in early life. Although 
 not old enough to vote himself, he aided the elec- 
 tion of Gen. Harrison by carrying voters to the 
 polls. In 1856 he supported Fremont, and has 
 since been a stalwart advocate of the Republican
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 449 
 
 party. He was instrumental in tiie convention 
 which nominated Gov. Bissell, the first Republican 
 Governor of Illinois, and did campaign work in 
 liis behalf, making speeches throughout this part 
 of the State. He has never been an office-seeker, 
 iii fact has steadily refused to hold office. 
 
 Mr. Ladd holds membership with the Presby- 
 terian Church. The history of pioneer life in 
 Christian County is certainly familiar to him, and 
 the county owes to him a debt of gratitude 
 for the labors he lias performed in its behalf. He 
 has done all in his power to aid in its upbuilding 
 and advancement, and his labors have not been 
 without their result. As an honored pioneer and 
 valued citizen of the community, he 
 representation in this volume. 
 
 ETER L. MYERS, a resident of Assump- 
 tion, is one of the honored old settlers of 
 the county, where he has resided for thir- 
 ty-two years. He has ever taken an act- 
 ive part in its growth and has been identified with 
 its welfare. He is a native of Ohio, born in Fair- 
 field County, December 4, 1828, and is a son of 
 Henry F. Myers, who was a native of the Key- 
 stone State. The latter on arriving at man's es- 
 tate removed to Ohio, settling in Fairfield County, 
 in the wilderness, where he cleared and improved 
 a farm. He married Miss Sarah Clare, whose birth 
 occurred in Ohio, and whose father, Adam Clare, 
 was one of the first settlers of Fairfield County. 
 After a residence in the Buckeye State of a num- 
 ber of years, Henry F. Myers removed to Illinois, 
 in 1854, and passed the remaining years of his 
 life in Tazewell County. His demise occurred in 
 1860, and his wife, after surviving him a few years, 
 passed away, in 1872, and lies buried beside her 
 husband in Holland Grove Cemetery. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is one of a family of 
 five sons and ten daughters. Of the number, thir- 
 teen are still living. The youth of Mr. Myers 
 was passed in his native county, and his educa- 
 23 
 
 tional privileges were of the most limited descrip- 
 tion. In 1854, he came to Illinois and first located 
 in Tazewell County, where he bought land and 
 cleared a farm. For eight years he devoted him- 
 self to this enterprise and in time found himself 
 possessed of three hundred and twenty acres, which 
 he had entered and developed. A portion of this 
 was located in Christian County and the remain- 
 der in Shelby County. It was in 1861 that he 
 removed to the farm which he still owns and 
 operates. In the year 1865, he purchased a 
 farm in Assumption Township, which is now un- 
 der good cultivation and has. become a desirable 
 piece of property. At times since 1864, Mr. My- 
 ers has engaged in the butcher's business and was 
 the first to open a meat-market in Assumption. 
 He was one of the organizers of the Assumption 
 Coal and Mining Company, of which he was made 
 the first President. This position he held to the 
 satisfaction of all until he saw fit to resign, in the 
 summer of 1893. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Myers was celebrated in 
 Fairfield County, Ohio; November 5, 1850, when 
 Miss Mary M. Kemmerer became his wife. Mrs. 
 Myers is a sister of Philip B. Kemmerer, whose 
 sketch may be found on another page of this 
 work. Two children came to bless this union, the 
 eldest of whom, Meredith M., is a partner of his 
 father in the meat business and resides in Assump- 
 tion; the daughter is the wife of Lloyd B. Fer- 
 rell,and lives in Wichita, Kan., where Mr. Ferrell 
 is engaged in the real-estate business. 
 
 Mr. Myers since the organization of the Repub- 
 lican party has been loyal to it. Recognizing 
 his ability and worth, the friends and neighbors of 
 Mr. Myers have frequently elected him to hold 
 local official positions, and the wisdom of their 
 choice has been always shown. He has always 
 been a true friend and upholder of our public- 
 school system, and was one of the prime movers 
 in securing the first schoolhouse in Assumption. 
 For a number of years he has served as a member 
 of the School Board, and has given liberally of his 
 time, influence and means for benevolent purposes 
 and movements for the general good. He is 
 friendly to churches and has contributed to every 
 church building in the village. With his worthy
 
 4f>0 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 
 
 wife, son and daughter, he is a member of the 
 Presbyterian Church. He has belonged to the 
 Masonic fraternity for many years; is a Master 
 Mason and has passed nearly all the chairs of that 
 order. He is President of the Fair Association, 
 having served as such since its organization, and 
 having always taken a leading part in its success. 
 He is also President of the Building and Loan 
 Association, and, in short, there are few local 
 movements or enterprises with which he has not 
 been identified. 
 
 EDMUND B. BILYEU, a farmer residing on 
 section 21, Prairielon Township, is one of 
 the well-to-do and enterprising agricultur- 
 ists of the community, and one of the early set- 
 tlers, his residence dating from 1841. Numbered 
 among Illinois' native sons, he was born in Sanga- 
 mon County, February 15, 1839. His father, John 
 H. Bilyeu. was born and reared in Kentucky. He 
 was twice married, his second union being with 
 Elizabeth Workime, a native of Kentucky. Re- 
 moving'to Illinois, he located in Sangamon Coun- 
 ty, becoming one of its first settlers. Subsequent- 
 ly he went to Miller County, Mo., but after four 
 years spent in that place ho came to Sangamon 
 County, 111., once more, and made it his home un- 
 til March, 1841, when he removed to Christian 
 County. Here he opened up a large farm and 
 spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 
 May, 1867. His wife still survives him, and has 
 now reached the age of eighty years. Mr. Bih'eu 
 had a family of twelve children, eight of whom 
 are yet living: Peter, a farmer of this county; 
 John S., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this 
 work; Sampson B., deceased; Lydia, wife of Isom 
 Adams, whose sketch is also given elsewhere; Ed- 
 mund, of this sketch; Josiah, deceased; George 
 and Isaac, who are living on the old homestead; 
 Hiram C., who is now in the West; Sarah Ann, 
 who died in Loekwood, Mo., leaving four chil- 
 dren; and David Bilyeu, of Blue Mound 
 
 The subject of this sketch spent his youth in 
 this county, being reared amid the wild scenes of 
 the frontier. He remained with his father until 
 after he had attained his majority, and then set- 
 tled upon an eighty-acre farm, where he resided 
 until February, 1864. It was a tract of raw prai- 
 rie, but the first season he broke forty acres and 
 planted it in corn. He built a little house, fenced 
 the entire farm, and in course of time placed it all 
 under cultivation. He has since purchased two 
 hundred and eighty acres, and now has about 
 three hundred and sixty acres, of which two hun- 
 dred and forty are in the home farm. This is a 
 fine body of land, under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion, and improved with all the accessories of a 
 model farm. The owner has erected a commo- 
 dious and substantial residence, good barns and 
 outbuildings, and may well feel a just pride in 
 this valuable homestead. 
 
 On Christinas Day of 1861, Mr. Bilyeu married 
 Miss Percy Reed, a native of Christian County, 
 who died July 5, 1889. There were nine children 
 born of that union: John H., who is married and 
 follows farming in this county; Lydia Ann, wife 
 of Thomas Barnett; Edmund, who is married, and 
 follows farming; Elizabeth; Sarah; Linda, wife of 
 George Jacobs; Peter C., Isom and Wilbur P. Mr. 
 Bilyeu was again married, September 29, 1891, 
 his second union being with Mrs. Nancy Easley, 
 daughter of John Finn. She is a native of this 
 State, and by her former marriage has three chil- 
 dren. The second union has been blessed with 
 one son, Earl, who is the joy and light of the 
 household. 
 
 Mr. Bilyeu is a member of the Christian Church 
 and his wife belongs to the Baptist Church. Since 
 casting his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 
 1860, he has supported each Presidential nominee 
 of the Democratic party, but has never sought or 
 desired public office, preferring to give his entire 
 time and attention to his business interests. He 
 has met with excellent success in his undertak- 
 ings and by his own enterprise and industry 
 has accumulated a handsome competency, which 
 numbers him among the well-to-do fanners of 
 Christian County. For the period of fifty-two 
 years, he has made his home in this county, and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 451 
 
 has witnessed almost its entire growth and devel- 
 opment. He has seen its wild land transformed 
 into beautiful homes and farms, and hamlets have 
 become thriving towns during his residence here. 
 In the work of public improvement he has ever 
 borne his part, and in the history of his adopted 
 c'.unty he well deserves mention. 
 
 TEPHEN WILLEY, deceased, was born on 
 the 7th of June, 1827, in Hamilton Coun- 
 ' Ohio, and came to this county with 
 his parents about 1843. Here he grew to 
 manhood. No event of special importance occur- 
 red during his boyhood and youth, but after 
 arriving at years of maturity he was married, on 
 the 26th of December, 1849, to Miss Nancy Blunt, 
 a native of Tennessee, born March 10, 1831. She 
 came to this county with her father when quite a 
 small child, and it has since been her home. 
 
 Mr. Willey began life for himself a poor boy, 
 but he possessed an indomitable will, energy, 
 courage and perseverance, and made the most of 
 his opportunities. Steadily he worked his way 
 upward, and at the time of his death he left a 
 valuable estate of seven hundred and twent\ r 
 acres of choice land. He was a very prominent 
 farmer and stock-dealer, and brought the first 
 herd of Shorthorn cattle to this county, also in- 
 troduced some fine hogs. Mr. Willey was of 
 German descent, and possessed the excellent traits 
 of character of that people. He was progressive 
 and public-spirited, and the community found in 
 him one of its valued citizens, who always gave 
 his support and co-operation to those enterprises 
 calculated to prove of public benefit. He took 
 quite an active interest in political affairs, and 
 was a stanch supporter of the Republican party 
 and its principles. His death occurred on the 2d 
 of August, 1870, and he was laid to rest in Tay- 
 lorvillj Cemetery. His wife passed away July 5, 
 1890, and was placed by his side. She was of 
 English and Irish extraction. 
 
 Both of the children of the Willey family are 
 yet living. Mary, the elder, was burn March 15, 
 
 1851, in Christian County. She acquired a good 
 education, and remained at home until twenty 
 years of age, when, on the 20th of Febiuary, 
 1871, she became the wife of William J. Ettinger, 
 who was born October 17, 1841, in Dauphin 
 County, Pa. He became a harness- dealer of Tay- 
 lorville, and there carried on that business for a 
 number of years previous to his death, which oc- 
 curred May 11, 1882. He too was buried in Tay- 
 lorville Cemetery. During the late war, he vali- 
 antly served for three years and nine months in 
 the Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and took 
 part in many important engagements. 
 
 Mr. Ettinger left three children. Hayden, who 
 was born July 1, 1873, is a highly-educated young 
 .man, who now aids his mother in managing the 
 home farm; Jessie was born July 10, 1877; and 
 Allen on the 6th of May, 1881. Mrs. Ettinger is 
 still living upon her farm of four hundred and 
 forty acres, which is one of the best in the county. 
 It is improved with all modern conveniences and 
 accessories, being complete in all its appointments. 
 She also owns an eighty-acre farm in Taylorville 
 Township, and a residence in the city of Taylor- 
 ville, where she spends the winter seasons, while 
 in the summer months she again goes to the farm. 
 On her father's death, in 1870, she inherited two 
 hundred and forty acres of land, to which she has 
 added, from time to time, until she now has five 
 hundred and twenty acres. She possesses most 
 excellent business and executive ability, and her 
 property has been increased through her own good 
 management and well-directed efforts. She pos- 
 sesses many excellencies of character, and is a 
 most estimable lady, whose friends throughout the 
 community are many. Her brother Anthony is a 
 progressive farmer of this county. The family is 
 honored in the town of Willey, which bears their 
 name. 
 
 ZRA M. MILLER, who resides in Assump- 
 tion, is numbered among the honored early 
 pioneers of this part of Illinois. He lo- 
 cated in Shelby County, near the present town of
 
 452 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 Assumption, when this region was an undeveloped 
 wilderness. In many places the grass grew as 
 high as a man's head while sitting on his horse. 
 The few settlements were widely scattered, and the 
 work of progress and development seemed hardly 
 begun. 
 
 Mr. Miller is a native of Fail-field County, Ohio, 
 born on the 9th of December, 1832. His father, 
 Christian Miller, was a native of Germany, and 
 when a child came to the New World with his 
 parents, the family locating in Pennsylvania. 
 There he grew to manhood, and when a young 
 man went to Ohio, locating in Fairfleld County, 
 where he was married. He was a cooper, carpen- 
 ter and millwright, and followed all three trades 
 in the Buckeye State. In 1842 he emigrated 
 Westward to Illinois, locating in Shelby County, 
 where he bought a tract of land and opened up a 
 nice farm. There he reared his family and spent the 
 last years of his life. He was called to his final rest 
 February 24, 1893, at the advanced age of eighty- 
 nine years and four months. He was twice mar- 
 ried, his first wife dying in 1837, and his second 
 in February, 1879. Two children were born of the 
 former marriage, Ezra M., and James C., now de- 
 ceased, and by the latter union there were seven 
 children. 
 
 We now take up the personal history of our 
 subject, who was a lad of only ten summers when 
 he came to Illinois, where Ins boyhood and youth 
 were passed. He had but limited school advant- 
 ages in liis early life and is almost wholly self- 
 educated. He remained with his father until he 
 had arrived at years of maturity, when he began 
 to earn his own livelihood by hauling rails. Af- 
 ter one winter spent in this way lie engaged in 
 trading in stock, and the succeeding year em- 
 barked as a dealer in hedge plants. For fifteen 
 years his energies were devoted to the raising and 
 setting out of hedge fences. He has planted miles 
 and miles of hedge in Shelby and Christian 
 Counties. In 1862 he turned his attention to 
 farming, and was actively and successfully en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits for twenty years. 
 He first purchased forty acres of land, to which 
 he added from time to time until he now owns 
 four hundred acres of valuable and well-improved 
 
 land about six miles east of Assumption, and also 
 another tract of forty acres just east of the cor- 
 poration limits. He is also the owner of a fine 
 residence property in Assumption, in which he now 
 makes his home. lie is a worthy example of a 
 self-made man, who commenced life for himself at 
 the lowest round of fortune's ladder, and has 
 steadily climbed upward to a position of affluence, 
 being now numbered among the substantial citi- 
 zens of the county. 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1849, in Shelby County, 
 Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Alice 
 McSherry, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of 
 John W. McSherry, who died in the Hoosier State. 
 Four children have been born of their union: Eva 
 L., wife of George Dickson, a merchant of Finley. 
 III.; Lillian, wife of Lon Milligan, a railroad en- 
 gineer, residing in Amory, Miss.; Rose, wife of 
 W. L. Ilinto, a merchant of Decatur; and Maud 
 A., a young lady at home. They also lost three 
 sons and a daughter in early childhood. The par- 
 ents have given all their daughters good educa- 
 tions. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Miller has been identified with 
 the Republican part}' since casting his first Presi- 
 dential vote for Hon. John C. Fremont, in 1856. 
 He always votes the Republican ticket at State 
 and national elections, but in local -elections votes 
 independently, supporting the man whom he thinks 
 best qualified for the office, regardless of party 
 affiliations. Mr. Miller has spent almost his en- 
 tire life in Shelb} 7 and Christian Counties, and is 
 well known here and in adjoining counties. He 
 possesses good business ability and is an excellent 
 financier, hence his success in life. He is a man 
 of upright character and sterling worth, and he 
 and his estimable wife have the respect and esteem 
 of all who know them. 
 
 GEORGE E. MAXON.a resident of Morrison- 
 ville, is one of the large land-owners of 
 Christian County, where he has lived since 
 1878. In 1881 he located in this village, where 
 he has a fine residence properly. lie was born in
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 453 
 
 Watertown, X. Y.. January 9. 1838, and is the son 
 of George W. and Julania (Moore) Maxon. The 
 father was a fanner in the Empire State, and re- 
 moved to Wisconsin about the year I860, locating 
 near Princeton, where lie earned on farming. His 
 death occurred in 1885. at which time he was sev- 
 enty-six years of age. His father was a native of 
 Scotland, and emigrated to America when very 
 young with his father, who settled in New York, 
 lie was a farmer and died while still in the prime 
 of life. He had a family of five sons and three 
 daughters. Our .subject's mother died when sev- 
 enty-four years of age, in 1882, in the faitli of the 
 Methodist Church, to which she had belonged for 
 many years. Her father, Verannis Moore, was a 
 native of New York State, and lived to be nearly 
 four-score years of age. His life was also de- 
 voted to agricultural pursuits. 
 
 George E. is the youngest of four children, the 
 others being Ellen, wife of Warren Baker, a resi- 
 dent of Marcellus, N. Y.; and Orin and Clark, 
 both deceased. The early years of our subject 
 were passed in the Empire Slate, and until he was 
 seventeen years of age he continued to live with 
 his parents on the farm, receiving his early educa- 
 tion in the district schools. In 1855 he removed 
 to Chicago, where he entered the employ of a firm 
 dealing in hides, wool and leather. At the end of 
 six years, or in 1861, he purchased the interest of 
 J. C. Coe, of the firm of Coe & Van Duyn, of Spring- 
 field, III. The firm then became G. A. Van Duyn 
 & Co., Mr. Maxon being the "Co." Two years later 
 the firm bought twelve hundred acres of land in 
 th is county, near Morrison ville. Mr. Maxton'schief 
 reason for becoming a farmer was on account of 
 his poor health. He still, however, retained his 
 interest in the business in Springfield until 1878, 
 when he made an arrangement by which Mr. Van 
 Duyn became proprietor of his interest in the 
 Springfield concern, and he the exclusive owner of 
 the land in this county. In 1891, he sold the land 
 and first located in Christian County, and in the 
 same year, in company with Messrs N. D. Ricks 
 and William Provme, of Taylorville, purchased 
 tin' Tuse interest in what is known as the Darcv 
 tract of land, lying near Morrison ville and com- 
 prising nearly six thousand acres, all of which is 
 
 under cultivation and among the best corn lands 
 of the State. Mr. Maxon now devotes his time to 
 the care of these lands for the firm. In all his life 
 our subject has only made three changes of loca- 
 tion from the East to Chicago, from Chicago to 
 Springfield, and from Springfield to this county. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Maxon and Miss Lina H. 
 Potter was celebrated on the 10th of October, 1862. 
 She is the daughter of Caleb M. and Harriet (Part- 
 ridge) Potter, natives of the Empire State, and 
 residents of Skaneateles. Mr. and Mrs. Maxon are 
 the parents of three children: Adelbert P., Nina 
 II. and Howard L. The two first-named are now- 
 deceased. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Maxon is a member of the Ma- 
 sonic order, and in politics is a Republican. In 
 1890 he was elected a. member of the Board of 
 Supervisors, and has also served for two terms as 
 a member of the Village Board. The one thousand 
 acres of land which he owns in this county are all 
 well improved and very valuable. Mrs. Maxon, 
 who is a well-educated and most agreeable lady, is 
 a member of the Presbyterian Church of Morrison- 
 ville. The success which our subject has achieved 
 is entirely due to his own native characteristics 
 and business talent, as he started out to make his 
 fortune without possessing a dollar as capital. His 
 example as a financier is well worthy the emula- 
 tion of young men. 
 
 S. GARDNER, Supervisor of the Poor 
 i, and a prominent and influential cit- 
 izen of Christian County, resides on sec- 
 tion 3, Rosemond Township. He was born in 
 Fayette County, 111., February 5, 1852, and is a 
 son of Nathan Gardner, who was born in Knox 
 County, Ohio, August, 10, 1817, and was 'reared 
 in middle Tennessee. The grandfather, Britton 
 Gardner, was a native of Germany, and when a 
 small boy came with his parents to America. He 
 served in the Revolutionary War. The mother of 
 our subject bore the maiden name of Frances T. 
 Harrison, and was born March 2, 1818, near Rich-
 
 454 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 mond, Va. When a maiden of sixteen, she went 
 to middle Tennessee, and on the 1st of June. 
 1831, became the wife of Mr. Gardner. In 1840 
 they emigrated to Fayette County, 111., and in 
 1856 came to Christian County. Here the father 
 died in 1893, but the mother is still living, and 
 throughout the county is known as "Aunt Fan- 
 nie." 
 
 The Gardner family numbered eleven children, 
 seven sons and four daughters, of whom seven 
 grew to mature years. Our subject is the sixth in 
 order of birth. He was a lad of four summers 
 when he came with his parents to this county, and 
 the first school he attended was taught by the 
 present County Superintendent of Schools, Prof. 
 R. W. Orr. After attending the district schools, 
 he became a student in the High School of Taylor- 
 vilic. At the age of nineteen he began teaching, 
 and in 1862 he attended the State Normal School, 
 of Normal, 111., to fit himself for becoming a pro- 
 fessor, but on account of ill health he was forced 
 to abandon this plan. He then turned his atten- 
 tion to the carpenter's trade, which he followed 
 for some time. 
 
 Mr. Gardner was married in this State on the 
 31st of January, 1883, to Miss Hettie Little, daugh- 
 ter of James and Eliza (Seaton) Little, and a na- 
 tive of Fayette County. Her father was a native 
 of Tennessee, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. 
 He became one of the early settlers of Fayette 
 County, and there took up land from the Govern- 
 ment. Mrs. Gardner is the fifth in order 'of birth 
 in a family of seven children. Her mother died 
 when she was eight years of age, after which her 
 father married Frances Beck, and they became the 
 parents of five children, four sons and a daughter. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gardner began their domestic life 
 upon a farm. Subsequently they removed toTay- 
 lorville Township, where they spent six years, and 
 in 1890 our subject assumed the management of 
 the Poor Farm, of which he still has charge. 
 Their home has been blessed with a little daughter, 
 Emma Ethel, who was born on the 3d of Septem- 
 ber, 1885. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Gardner is a 
 Democrat. Socially, he is a member of the Ma- 
 sonic fraternity of Edinburgh, and also of the 
 
 Anti-Horse Thief Association. He likewise holds 
 membership with the Baptist Church. He is giv- 
 ing excellent satisfaction as manager of the Pool- 
 Farm, for he is a man of sterling worth, true to 
 every trust reposed in him. A well-spent life has 
 won for him universal confidence and esteem, and 
 gained for him the high regard of all. 
 
 |X ORICE DWIGIIT SHUMWAY, of Taylor- 
 
 I ) ville, is a native of Christian County, and 
 Q / y was born on a farm about four miles east 
 of the city December 19, 1845. He is the 
 second son and third child of D. I), and Emily R. 
 A. (Rountree) Shumway, of whom extended men- 
 tion is made in another part of this work. 
 
 Mr. Shumway spent the first few years of his 
 life on the farm where he was born, and his edu- 
 cation began in the country school. After the 
 family removed to Taylorville he attended school 
 for a short time in this place, and spent two years 
 at an academy in Hillsboro. In the spring of 
 1857, he entered the employ of W. W. Anderson, 
 as clerk in a general store, and served until the 
 fall of 1860, during which time he was also Dep- 
 uty Postmaster of Taylorville. In the winter of 
 1860-61 he attended the Normal School at Nor- 
 mal, Hi., when failing health caused him to aban- 
 don his studies and return to Taylorville. The 
 following winter he taught a country school, after 
 which he spent a few years working on his father's 
 farm and attending the public school. 
 
 In 1866 he practicalh' commenced his business 
 career on his own account, when he went to Hills- 
 boro and engaged in merchandizing in partner- 
 ship with his uncle, A. A. H. Rountree. This con- 
 nection continued. until January 1, 1869, when he 
 sold his interest to his partner. 
 
 Returning to Taylorville, he became a member 
 of the firm of Shumway <fe Sons in a general store. 
 The death of his father, which occurred in the 
 spring of 1870, necessitated the closing out of this 
 business. During the summer of 1870 Mr. Shum- 
 way and his brother, II. P. Shumway, compiled a
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 455 
 
 set of abstract books of Christian County, which 
 were the first ever made, and are now in use by 
 the Christian County Loan & Abstract Company. 
 In 1871 Mr. Shuinway associated himself wilh 
 W. W. Anderson in the banking business, under 
 the firm name of W. W. Anderson & Co., and in 
 1874 they opened a branch house at Pana, under 
 the name of Anderson & Shumway, which a year 
 later they transferred to Messrs. Hay ward & Sch uy- 
 ler, of that place. 
 
 On returning to Taylorville, he again assumed 
 the management of the banking business here, 
 and continued in charge until 1882. Subsequently 
 he opened a grocer}' store in Taylorville, and did 
 business in that line until 1889. 
 
 On the organization of the Taylorville Coal 
 Company, in 1887, Mr. Shumway became one of 
 the stockholders and was made its Secretary, which 
 position he has held continuously since. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1890, he was made general manager of the 
 Coal Company, and holds that position at this 
 writing. This is the most important industry of 
 the city. It gives employment to about two hun- 
 dred men all the year round, and under Mr. 
 Shu m way's able management yields satisfactory 
 results to the stockholders. 
 
 Our subject is also President of, and the largest 
 stockholder in, the Christian County Implement 
 Company, a stockholder and Director in the First 
 National Bank of Taylorville, a stockholder and 
 Director in the Citizens' Gas, Fuel and Light 
 Company, and in the Taylorville Electric Light 
 Company. He has served the city for two terms 
 in the Council, and was Chairman of the Board of 
 Waterworks, and made the contract with George 
 C. Morgan, of Chicago, for the construction of the 
 present efficient system of waterworks now in use 
 in this city. 
 
 Mr. Shumway is an enterprising and energetic 
 business man, who is always alive to the bust in- 
 terests of the city and county. In his many and 
 varied business ventures he has achieved a well- 
 earned success. 
 
 On the 25th of September, 1877, at Salem, 111., 
 Mr. Shumway was married to Miss Mary I. Fin ley, 
 daughter and only child of Dr. W. M. and Lucy 
 (Watson) Fin ley, of that place. She was born in 
 
 White County, 111., and comes of one of the pio- 
 nee'r families of southern Illinois. The family 
 born of this union is three sons, Glenn Finley, 
 Ilnam McLin and Doiice Dwight. Mrs. Shum- 
 way is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church, in which she was reared, and she and her 
 husband stand high m social circles in the city in 
 which the}' live. 
 
 JC. McQUIGG, who is engaged in the prac- 
 tice of law in Pana, has for a number of 
 years been a leading member of the legal 
 profession in Christian County. He claims 
 Ohio as the State of his nativity, his birth having 
 occurred in Wayne County, August 1, 1840. His 
 parents, John and Sarah McQiiigg, were natives 
 of County Antrim, Ireland. In 1838 they crossed 
 the briny deep to the New World and located in 
 Wayne County, Ohio. 
 
 In the family of nine children, all of whom 
 have reached mature years and are still living, 
 our subject was the sixth in order of birth. No 
 event of special importance occurred during his 
 youth, which was quietly passed upon his father's 
 farm. During the winter months he attended the 
 common schools, and in the summer aided in the 
 labors of the field. He also attended the People's 
 College, an excellent school, in which he made 
 rapid advancement, becoming proficient in the 
 higher branches of mathematics, and also making 
 considerable progress in Latin and other lan- 
 guages. At the age of nineteen he became a stu- 
 dent in Fredericksburg A<;adem3', of Wayne Coun- 
 ty, where he remained until the breaking out of 
 the war. 
 
 When Ft. Su inter was fired upon, and it was 
 seen that the South really meant to take up arms 
 against the Government, Mr. McQuigg responded 
 to the first call for troops, for he had watched the 
 progress of events and had resolved if war came 
 he would strike a blow for the Union. He joined 
 the boys in blue of Company A, Fourth Ohio In-
 
 156 
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 fan try, and the regiment was ordered to West 
 Virginia. After the expiration of his three-months 
 term, he returned home, and on the 16th of August, 
 1861, enlisted as a private of Company G, Six- 
 teenth Ohio Regiment, for three years. He was in 
 all the engagements of his command until May, 
 1863, when lie was wounded in one of the assaults 
 on the works before Vicksburg. Being thus dis- 
 abJed for further service, he was honorably dis- 
 charged. 
 
 Mr. McQuigg at once returned to his home in 
 Ohio, :nid the same year entered Vermilion Col- 
 lege, at Hajsvillo, Ohio, where he remained until 
 the autumn of 1865, pursuing a classical course; 
 he also took a course in French, but. did not 
 complete Greek, and on that account did not 
 graduate. His law studies were carried on in the 
 law department of the Michigan University, at 
 Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in the 
 spring of 1867, with the degree of B. L. On the 
 8th of May following, at Columbus, Ohio, he was 
 admitted to the Bar, and, thinking the West would 
 prove a good field of labor for an ambitious and 
 enterprising young man, lie took up his residence 
 in Pana, where for six months he practiced as a 
 partner of A. C. McMillan, since which time he 
 has been alone. 
 
 Mr. McQuigg has been married three times. 
 His first marriage was to Miss Marian Patton. of 
 Pana, June 8, 1869, at the home of her mother, 
 Martha Pattou, her father, William R. Patton, a 
 railroad contractor, having died while she was a 
 child. She was born at Allegheny, Pa., and died 
 January 22, 1883. She was a woman of fine en- 
 dowments, well educated, and highly respected by 
 all who knew her. Two children graced this mar- 
 riage, M. W. and Florence M. They are very 
 popular and have many admiring friends. His 
 second marriage was to Mrs. Mary E. Amberson, 
 of Allegheny, Pa., February 10, 1885, a lady very 
 highly accomplished and greatly esteemed by her 
 numerous friends and acquaintances. Her maiden 
 name was McKenney. She died April 12, 1887. 
 William McKenney, her father, and Margaret, her 
 mother, are still living, He is engaged in the 
 iron industries of Pittsburgh. She had one daugh- 
 ter, Maggie, by her former marriage. She is a ! 
 
 young lady of rare accomplishments and an ex- 
 pert performer on the piano. She makes her home 
 with Mr. McQuigg. Maggie and Florence are 
 graduates of a female academy. They are among 
 the leading belles of Pana. Mr. McQuigg married 
 his present wife, Miss Sadie McKenney, at Alle- 
 gheny, Pa., September 15, 1892. She is a sister of 
 his former wife, and a lady of rare domestic vir- 
 tues. She makes her home a model one, and all 
 beneath her roof admire and love her. She is ac- 
 complished and refined in her every act and deed. 
 As a lawyer, our subject has won an enviable 
 reputation, which is well merited, by the skill and 
 ability which he manifests in the prosecution of 
 his chosen profession. He exercises his right of 
 franchise in support of the Republican party and 
 is a warm advocate of its principles. He takes 
 quite an active part in local politics, and in 1876 
 was candidate for State's Attorney. Although the 
 county at this election was Democratic by nine 
 hundred majorit}-, owing to his popularity and 
 ability he was beaten by only eighty-three votes. 
 In public a-nd private life, Mr. McQuigg has been 
 true to all that goes to make up an admirable 
 character, and the high regard of many friends is 
 freely given him. 
 
 VINCENT E. FOY, County Judge of Chris- 
 tian Count}-, 111., was born in Tuscarawas 
 County, Ohio, October 31, 1845. His fa- 
 ther, Archibald Grennleaf Fo}'. was a farmer, a 
 native of Belmont County, Ohio, of Irish parent- 
 age. His mother, Emeline Brisben, was born in 
 the same county as the son; her parents were of 
 Scotch-Irish descent, and natives of Pennsylvania. 
 Archibald Foy and wife were the parents of ten 
 children, nine of whom grew to maturity, and all 
 of these except one are now living. They con- 
 sisted of six sons and four daughters, one of the 
 latter dying in infancy. The fourth child and 
 eldest son is he whose name heads this article. In 
 1865, the family moved to Christian County, and
 
 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 
 
 457 
 
 sixteen years later to Sumner County, Kan., where 
 the mother and one daughter died in 1891. 
 
 The youth of Judge Foy was passed on his fa- 
 ther's farm, and his education was supplied by the 
 common schools, except one term at the Graded 
 School of Uhrichsville, Ohio. He left the home 
 farm at seventeen years of age, and in the spring 
 of 1864 he enlisted in Company P:, One Hundred 
 and Sixty-first Ohio Infantry, being mustered in 
 May 2, 1864, at Camp Chase. He served at dif- 
 ferent points in the Shenandoah Valley, and was 
 mustered out at Camp Chase September 2, 1864. 
 In March, 1865, he came to Christian County, and 
 was variously employed as stage-driver, farm la- 
 borer and school teacher. In 1868 he borrowed 
 some books from J. B. Jones, a lawyer of Taylor- 
 ville, now of Little Rock, Ark., and began the 
 study of law. This he pursued in his leisure mo- 
 ments until 1871, when he entered Mr. Jones' of- 
 fice, and was admitted to the Bar in 1874. He 
 practiced in partnership with his preceptor for 
 one year, and afterward alone until 1891, when 
 he took a partner in the person of Mr. Grafton, 
 the firm being Foy & Grafton. 
 
 He was for over eleven years Treasurer of Tay- 
 lorville Township, and one year City Attorney 
 In 1876 he was elected State's Attorney, and in 
 1882 County Judge, which position he has filled 
 continuously since, being twice re-elected. For 
 
 four years he was editor and proprietor of the 
 Ta.ylorville DEMOCRAT, bringing up the circulation 
 of that journal from three hundred and fifty to six- 
 teen hundred. He is a persevering and painstak- 
 ing worker, and his ability is evinced by the fact 
 that none of his decisions have ever been reversed 
 either by Circuit, Appellate or Supreme Courts. 
 
 As a private citizen, Judge Foy is active in fos- 
 tering any enterprise calculated to develop and 
 benefit his home city. He was a member of the 
 Taylorville Coal Company from its organization 
 to 1891, and is a stockholder and Director of the 
 hotel company which built the Antlers Hotel. 
 He is a man of strong personality and fine pres- 
 ence, and bears the stamp of a born leader. He is 
 a pleasant and approachable gentleman, wholly 
 destitute of pedantry or ostentation. His heart 
 reaches out to all mankind, and he classes himself 
 as a member of the "great human family." The 
 only organization with which he is connected is 
 the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 On the 30th of November, 1877, he was married 
 to Miss Anna Michels, a native of Macon County, 
 111., of German parentage, whocame with her fam- 
 ily to Christian County when a child. She is a 
 woman of great intellectual force and sagacity, 
 and the Judge attributes much of his success in 
 business and public life to her wise counsels and 
 extended influence.
 
 
 
 Buchanan. James 
 
 . ... 75 
 
 DeBarr, Adolphus 
 
 . . .245 
 
 Gray,R.A 
 
 ...275 
 
 
 
 Bugg. Edward 
 
 . . ..254 
 
 De Camp, Capt. Dan. 
 
 .. ..242 
 
 Greb. Charles 
 
 ...209 
 
 A 
 
 
 Bugg.J. R 
 
 ...447 
 
 Dickerson, J. H 
 
 ...317 
 
 Greenwood, Dr. B 
 
 ...365 
 
 
 
 Bugg, William 
 
 438 
 
 Dodge, J. H..M.D 
 
 ...420 
 
 Grimes, William 
 
 . . .355 
 
 
 
 Burchfleld, David 
 
 ...235 
 
 Dodge.P.L 
 
 . . .329 
 
 Gudehus, William 
 
 ...425 
 
 
 
 Butler. A. C 
 
 . . .345 
 
 Drennan F P 
 
 .321 
 
 
 
 Adams, Isom 
 
 387 
 
 Butts, G.C 
 
 ...417 
 
 Drennan.J.G 
 
 ...314 
 
 
 
 Adams, John 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 Drennan , Hon . J. L 
 
 330 
 
 
 
 Adams, John Q 
 
 39 
 
 
 
 Duncan, Joseph 
 
 ...131 
 
 H 
 
 
 Adams, Hon. Joseph... 
 
 335 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adelhart.J. G 
 
 204 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ainsworth. Samuel 
 
 202 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alderson, Anthony 
 
 389 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 Hackenberg, J. D.* 
 
 441 
 
 Itgeld, John P 
 
 187 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hailey.B.H 
 
 ..325 
 
 Iverson.E. M.,M. D... 
 
 379 
 
 Carhn, Thomas 
 
 ...135 
 
 
 
 Hainefe, Fletcher 
 
 ..301 
 
 nderson, H. R 
 nders"n. J. R 
 nderson, J. T 
 
 3B9 
 383 
 293 
 
 Carper.B.F 
 Carter, Joseph 
 Cazalet, August 
 
 ...318 
 ....257 
 
 Eberle, J. K., M. D 
 Edwards, Ninian 
 Elliott C F 
 
 ..372 
 ..119 
 
 Haines.W.C 
 Ham; Prof. L. S 
 Hamilton, John M 
 
 . .393 
 ..399 
 . . 179 
 
 nderson, Samuel 
 
 3C5 
 
 Chalfant.N. B 
 
 . . .378 
 
 Elliott, T. J 
 
 2 
 
 Hammer, A. F., M. D 
 
 ..250 
 
 nderson, W. W 
 
 199 
 
 Chapman, A. B 
 
 .. .412 
 
 Emerson J N 
 
 370 
 
 Hankins.G.B 
 
 . .1142 
 
 rmitage, George 
 
 340 
 
 Cheney, Harry 
 
 ...217' 
 
 Emerson, R. N 
 
 . . "05 
 
 Hanoti, Jesse 
 
 ..288 
 
 rmstrong, William... 
 
 407 
 
 Clarke, Rev. E. W 
 
 ...371 
 
 Ewing, VV. L. D 
 
 .. .127 
 
 Hargraves, B. H 
 
 ..304 
 
 rlhur, Chester A 
 
 ... 99 
 
 Cleveland, S. Grover 
 
 ...10:1 
 
 
 
 Harp, W. H 
 
 .436 
 
 ustin, A. A 
 
 432 
 
 Coffman, W.D 
 
 . . .2)8 
 
 
 
 Harris, Edwin 
 
 
 
 
 Cohenour, W. L 
 
 ... 344 
 
 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin 
 
 ..107 
 
 
 
 Coleman, J. M 
 
 ...384 
 
 F 
 
 
 Harrison, William Henry 
 
 .. 51 
 
 
 
 Coles, Edward 
 
 115 
 
 
 
 Hawkes.O.M 
 
 ..319 
 
 B 
 
 
 Cornell, D. K., M. D 
 
 356 
 
 
 
 Hayes, J. H 
 
 ..201 
 
 
 
 Corzine, Allen 
 
 265 
 
 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B 
 
 .. 91 
 
 
 
 Corzine, Warren 
 
 ...372 
 
 Fifer.J. W 
 
 ...183 
 
 Hayward.J.S 
 
 ..38S 
 
 
 
 Council, A. M 
 
 ..232 
 
 Filhnore, Millard 
 
 .. 7 
 
 Hayward.W. E 
 
 ..208 
 
 Bailey, W. W 
 
 ....359 
 
 Cowgill, Capt. Allrea 
 
 ...429 
 
 Ford, Thomas 
 
 .139 
 
 Hedges, John 
 
 .423 
 
 Barnes, A. G 
 
 ....308 
 
 Creighton, J. C 
 
 ..431 
 
 Foy.V. E 
 
 ..456 
 
 Hedrick, L. R 
 
 . .:;HO 
 
 Bauer, J. T 
 
 276 
 
 Cullom, Shelby M 
 
 ...175 
 
 Fraley, J. S. 
 
 ..434 
 
 Hewitt.A M 
 
 ..M 
 
 Bauer, Weert 
 
 . . . .290 
 
 Culp.S. W 
 
 ...211 
 
 French, Augustus C 
 
 ..143 
 
 Hill.C.H 
 
 . . 12S 
 
 Beaman, W. R 
 
 ....231 
 
 Curran.M. J 
 
 ..291 
 
 Fringer, Dr. George 
 
 ...377 
 
 Hogan, Capt. J. E 
 
 .343 
 
 Berry, Mrs. Isabel 
 
 ....219 
 
 Cutler, C. D 
 
 ..395 
 
 Frink, Judge W. S 
 
 ..229 
 
 Hollier, C. C 
 
 ..426 
 
 Beveridge.John L 
 
 171 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hoover, Leonard 
 
 .4:17 
 
 Beyers, John 
 
 . . ..322 
 
 
 
 
 
 Housley.O.Z 
 
 .269 
 
 Biyeu.J.S 
 
 . . . .445 
 
 
 
 
 
 Huber, Jacob, M. D 
 
 ..Ull 
 
 Bilyeu, E. B 
 
 ....450 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 
 Hufman.J.L 
 
 .385 
 
 Blssell, William H 
 
 151 
 
 
 
 
 
 Humphreys, E. A., Jr 
 
 .444 
 
 Bohn, H. C 
 
 ....236 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hutchms, Moses 
 
 .:;GI; 
 
 Bellinger, Ephraim 
 
 256 
 
 
 
 Gardner, H. T 
 
 .244 
 
 Hutchinson, George 
 
 .381 
 
 Bond, Shadrach 
 
 ....111 
 
 Dappert, John 
 
 ..306 
 
 Gardner.L.S 
 
 ..453 
 
 
 
 Boyd, J. A 
 
 ....295 
 
 Davis, Dial 
 
 ..234 
 
 Garfleld, James A 
 
 95 
 
 
 
 Boyd J H 
 
 300 
 
 Davis E H 
 
 311 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 Bradley, Thomas 
 
 ...259 
 
 Davis, W.B 
 
 ..213- 
 
 Goodrich, W. A 
 
 ..327 
 
 
 
 Brentz, M. C 
 
 .272 
 
 Dawdy , J. H 
 
 ...401 
 
 Gore, John 
 
 2-'0 
 
 
 
 Brisben, Andrew 
 Brown, Samuel 
 
 ...402 
 ...313 
 
 Dawson, Joseph 
 Deal, George 
 
 ..350 
 ..211 
 
 Gore, W.F 
 Grant, Ulysses S 
 
 .230 
 . 87 
 
 leou, W. L. . . . 
 
 214
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ...421 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 McCoskill, Judge A 
 McQuigg,.T.C 
 
 . . .271 
 ...455 
 
 Price, J. W 
 Provine.W.M 
 
 ...348 
 ....324 
 
 Temple, R. B 
 Teppe, Rev. Aloysius 
 
 ...303 
 ...-.'11 
 
 Jacobs, Mrs. Melinda 
 Jackson, Andrew 
 Jelterson. Thonr.as 
 Johnson, Andrew 
 Johnson Brothers 
 Johnson, Richard 
 Johnston, J.H 
 
 .409 
 .. 43 
 .. 27 
 .. 83 
 ..2B7 
 ..221 
 ..247 
 
 Michael, J. B 
 Michaels, A.T 
 Michels, Peter 
 Miller.E.A 
 Miller, E. M 
 Miller, J.F., M.D 
 Milligan, Samuel 
 Monroe, James 
 Moore. D. M 
 
 . . .4<2 
 
 ...382 
 ...284 
 ...224 
 . . .451 
 ...287 
 ...337 
 ...35 
 ...2B8 
 
 R 
 
 Rayhill, Cyrus 
 Raylnll. John 
 Reading, Col. W. M 
 
 ...357 
 ...SIX) 
 ...433 
 
 Travis, Byron 
 Turner, J. L 
 Tyler, John 
 
 V 
 
 ..415 
 ...255 
 
 K 
 
 
 Morgan, G. W 
 Morgan, William 
 
 ...307 
 ...418 
 
 Reynolds, John 
 
 ...123 
 
 Valentine. G. R 
 
 . . .210 
 
 
 
 Morrison, O. F 
 Morrison. W. E 
 Mundher,ke,_ August 
 
 . . .226 
 . . .Sol 
 . .436 
 
 Richards, C. G 
 Ricks.J.B 
 Ridge, David 
 
 ...311 
 . . .320 
 . . .203 
 
 Van Buren, Martin 
 Vanderbelt, J. R 
 Vidler, John 
 
 ...237 
 
 Kemmerer, P. B 
 Kester, J. K 
 
 ..427 
 ..274 
 
 
 
 Ridge, James 
 Rivard,G.J.,M.D 
 Rockwell, C.V. , M.D 
 
 ...441 
 ...44B 
 
 W 
 
 
 Kinney, A.T 
 Kirk, Henry 
 
 ..279 
 
 N 
 
 
 Rollins, J.O 
 Ross, George 
 
 ....206 
 . . .32B 
 
 
 
 Kitchell, J. W 
 Knott, William 
 
 ..306 
 ..419 
 
 
 
 
 
 Waddell.J.N 
 Waddington, J. B 
 
 . . .278 
 
 
 
 Neel, S. M 
 
 ....283 
 
 S 
 
 
 Walker. J. P 
 
 ...354 
 
 L 
 
 
 Nelms.J. N..M.D 
 
 ...3?0 
 
 
 
 Walton, George, M.D... . 
 Ward, I. N 
 
 .,.351 
 . .,.215 
 
 
 
 Nicodemus, J. W 
 
 ...250 
 
 Salliday.J.H 
 
 ...290 
 
 Warren, Nelson 
 
 . ...400 
 
 Lacharite, David 
 Ladd.Noyes 
 Langen, VVilliam 
 Lantz, B. F 
 Large, Richard 
 Lawler, H. C 
 
 ..424 
 
 . .323 
 ..392 
 ..411 
 ..212 
 
 
 
 Oats, Michael 
 
 
 Sanders, JY4, 
 Sattley, Albert 
 Schrantz, Lee 
 Schrantz. Sylvester 
 Seaton.W.E 
 ghafer.J.C 
 
 . ..336 
 ....292 
 ....26!) 
 ...282 
 . ..247 
 . . .394 
 
 Watt, Robert 
 Weedon, Rev. W. W 
 Weiser,John 
 Wenzler, Christian 
 Wheeler, Fred 
 Whitecraft, J. A 
 
 . . .362 
 . ..338 
 . . .239 
 . . .858 
 ...274 
 . . .225 
 
 Leigh, E. T 
 
 ..376 
 
 Ojrlesby, Richard J 
 Orr. R. W 
 
 ...IBS 
 ...2SI 
 
 Sibley.C. W 
 
 ...243 
 
 Wilkinson . Reuben 
 
 ...246 
 
 Lienhart. George 
 Lincoln, Abraham 
 Long.F.M 
 Long.W. L 
 
 ..370 
 .. 7!) 
 . ..302 
 ..251 
 
 Owen, B. F.,M. D 
 Owen.O.J 
 
 ...2fiO 
 ....277 
 
 Simpson, Judsre Andrew. 
 Simpson, J. M 
 Simpson. Wesley 
 SKelton.W. H 
 
 ...364 
 ...353 
 . . .?91 
 ....339 
 
 Willey,D.C 
 Willey, Stephen 
 Winters, S. F 
 WolfT.J.A 
 
 ...207 
 ....284 
 . . .105 
 . 223 
 
 M 
 
 
 P 
 
 Palmer. John M 
 
 ....167 
 
 Smith, John 
 Staples, M. W., M. D.... 
 Stewart, Francis 
 Stivers, W. M 
 
 ...430 
 ...21S 
 ...273 
 ...305 
 
 Wood.John 
 
 Y 
 
 
 Madison, James 
 Malin, Jeremiah 
 Manners, Hon. C. A 
 Marion. J. N 
 Martin, B. V. B 
 Martin, J.H 
 Matteson, Joel A 
 
 ... 31 
 ..238 
 ...363 
 ..375 
 ...249 
 ..240 
 ...147 
 
 Payne, Frederick 
 Peabodv, H. A 
 Peabody, S. M 
 Peck, Richard 
 Phinney.J. C 
 Pierce. Franklin 
 Polk. James K 
 Ponting.T.O 
 Pope, Mrs. C.H 
 
 ....347 
 ....26S 
 ....439 
 ...343 
 ... 71 
 
 .... r,9 
 ....443 
 
 Stork, Conrad 
 
 T 
 
 Taylor, A. J 
 
 ...312 
 ....222 
 
 Yarnell, H. J 
 Yates, Richard 
 Yockey, Jacob 
 
 ...41B 
 . . .159 
 . . .M9
 
 INDEX. 
 
 IFOIR/riR/.A.ZTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adams, John Q 
 Adams, Hon. Joseph.. 
 
 332 
 
 Corzine.Mrs. J. A. ... 
 Cullom, Shelby M 
 
 263 
 174 
 
 Harrison, W. H 
 
 Altgeld, John P 
 
 186 
 
 Edwards, Ninian 
 
 us 
 
 Jeirerson, Thomas.. 
 
 Arthur, Chester A 
 Beveridge, John L 
 Bissell, William H 
 Bond.Shadrach 
 Buchanan, James 
 Carlin, Thomas 
 Cleveland, S. Grover. . 
 Coles, Edward 
 
 98 
 170 
 150 
 110 
 74 
 134 
 102 
 114 
 
 Fillmore, Millard 
 Ford, Thomas 
 French, Augustus C.. 
 Frink.W.S 
 Garfield, James A 
 Grant, U. S 
 Hamilton, John M 
 
 Bti 
 138 
 
 228 
 ill 
 86 
 
 178 
 
 Lewis, Alfred 
 Lewis, Mrs. E. J 
 Lincoln, Abraham.. 
 Madison, James.. .. 
 Matteson, Joel A.... 
 Monroe, James 
 Oglesby, Richard J. 
 
 Palmer.John M 
 
 PiercH.Frankiin 
 
 Polk, J. K 
 
 Keynolds. John 
 
 Staples, M. W., M. D. . 
 
 Staples, Mrs. M. I 
 
 Taylor, Zachary 
 
 Tyler, John 
 
 Van Buren, Martin.... 
 Washington, George. . 
 
 Weiser, John 
 
 Wood, John 
 
 Yates, Richard